Puerto Rican Delight

A good friend of mine flew in from Germany this past week. I haven't seen her in years so I was uber excited to catch up. Her parent's house was near Hula Hut, so after I got off work I met her for drinks there. After drinks I was invited to join in a family dinner. The party consisted of me, her, the boyfriend, and her parents. I was in for a Puerto Rican Delight.

Her mom had cooked up some flank steak dish, rice, beans, and tostones (delicious friend bananas - kinda tasted like french fries, but better). All of those dishes were amazing, but what made the meal complete was the homemade pumpkin pie. I've never had pumpkin pie that fabulous, and I'm not even a huge fan! Usually I can handle one or two bites, but her mom's pumpkin pie, I was ready to devour slices. Even though the pie wasn't Puerto Rican, I think I really like Puerto Rican food. I hope to try more in the future.

While the dinner was fantastic, what occurred during dinner was a bit awkward for me. I haven't participated in a formal dinner in years. There was a seating arrangement (Each parent at the head of a table, my friend and her boyfriend on one side of the table, and me on the opposite), classical music playing in the background, proply set up silverware, wine, and the 'rules for food.' The guest is supposed to serve herself first, and then pass the dish clockwise? or was it counterclockwise? and seniority was considered as well. Anyways, basically they had to instruct me to where to pass/put the dishes. Also, there was constant conversation. I felt like I had to impress the parents because they asked what I was doing now, talked about jobs and my qualifications, and I think I did well. My favorite line came when I was talking about my Hong Kong experience and her dad asked, "Hong Kong was given back to China recently, isn't that correct?" My friend and I looked at each other and laughed and said it was over 10 years ago so no, and he simply replied "11 years ago is recently to me" and the boyfriend replied "11 years ago is half our lives!" Amusing.

I'm not sure how proper American family dinners are, but I have to wonder if there is less conversation. In Latin America, dinner is used as a platform to converse for a long period of time, and that's exactly what we did at the Puerto Rican dinner. It was a nice change for me, considering at home, if it's not a special holiday, I eat dinner alone and infront of a television.