Monday, October 03, 2005

Perceptions of Salsa

So, we went home to my family this weekend and made salsa...a lot of salsa. It's a Meyer family tradition, and we all gather for it. Our property backs up to a farm, so we head around the block (a country block- 1.5 miles square) and get a bunch of tomatoes and peppers and onions and garlic. We cut it all up, boiled it all down, and canned it all!

Now, most of you know I come from a large family; I'm the oldest of 7 kids, to be exact, and two of us are married. So, most of our meals together are presented in a quantity most families just don't ever see at one time. I'm used to large quantities of meals on the table at dinner, and- even thought it's only Nick and I- I still have trouble cooking meals for two. I never realized fully how skewed my perception of "family-sized meals" was until we finished canning salsa, and counted the spoils...

115 quarts of salsa.

When I first heard this number, I wasn't blown away, I didn't stagger, I was actually...and I can't believe this...but, DISAPPOINTED. I have no idea why- I think I had the number in my head in the 200's or something. But, I just figured out why. I have NO IDEA how to visualize a quart...but I do know how much a gallon is. So, the number that DOES stagger me is...

29 GALLONS of salsa.

Now THAT'S impressive.

2 comments:

Jessie said...

Holy cilantro! That amount of salsa could kill a man! (forgive me.)

I think it's excellent that you have a hard time cooking for two people. I think food is inherently meant to be shared--like, it's better if it is. It's easier to cook a lot of food, things don't go bad as often, and it's more fun. It's like communal eating was built into the original concept of eating itself.

RZ said...

Hi Beth! I just discovered your blog! Thanks for the link, and for the Evite comment... I too, am a bit disgruntled about the hold up on instantaneous travel...