Corn and California Summer

I am a Catholic. I was raised as a Catholic, educated as a Catholic. Along with the desire to lead a pious way of life, ingrained with this Catholic upbringing is also the fear of eternal fires as consequence of swaying away from the church’s teachings. Yet, how can one, even devout, worry presently about the afterlife when there is a California summer to contend to first? With these recent days seeing temperatures tip close to 100 degrees and an everyday job in a kitchen that has four commercial ovens burning all day, it is like I found hell on earth! Pity my staff and others who have crossed my path today because I was pretty, pretty short with my dealings! Forgive me as I am but human. Maintaining my best behavior was a tad difficult what with heat literally steaming out of my ears!

Heaven, however, always has its way of reprimanding me for sweating the small stuff. As I was rounding the few blocks to my house on my way home this afternoon, I eyed this guy pushing a shopping cart. He was shouting “elote”, “elote” at the top of his lungs and clanging incessantly a hand bell to alert the tenants of the row of houses on that street of the merchandise he was peddling. He was selling corn on the cob fixed the Mexican way: boiled and slathered with mayonnaise, margarine, cotija cheese, lemon juice and chili powder. I readily stopped my car and flagged him down as these are my favorites! While he was preparing my corn with all the condiments, we started discussing the weather. From my limited understanding of Spanish and his of English, I gathered that he has been out on the streets with his cart since 10 AM. He has been under the blistering sun for a good five hours, trying to sell fifty pieces of corn for a dollar a piece. It was nearing dusk by then but he still had fifteen cobs to go. What a back-breaking way to make a living! Still, he patiently answered my curiosity and gamely agreed to my request for a photo. You can just imagine how abashed I was during our whole conversation. My whole day of griping and complaining about my “too hot” office became trivial…shameful. Call this selfish and self-centered, but as I watched him pushed on with his wares and I climbed back to the comfort of my car, I felt just a little bit more blessed.

To prepare your corn this summer, fix it mexican-style with:
mayonnaise
melted margarine or butter
cotija cheese or parmesan cheese
lemon juice
chili powder

Recipes from Across the Border in The CookMobile Archive:

Mexican-Style Pizza (Clayuda with Tasajo)

 

 

 

Pork Pozole