Dad's going to Ecuador was what started the whole thing. It was just a business trip, but after that he was intent on learning Spanish. He went to classes at night, got books on learning Spanish and started listening to tapes. Then one day he met Margarita, a lady from Mexico. She was working at KSL, where he worked. In time, Dad met her husband. And soon we all met them.
Margarita and Israel became good friends of ours and we did many things with them. Since they were from Mexico and were new to the Salt Lake area we took them all over the city. We took them on hikes, to Bingham Cooper mine, to the Great Salt Lake, and to Temple Square.
But the funnest times we spent with them and probably the most long-lasting memories for us started when they showed us how to make corn tortillas.
It was already about ten years since I had eaten my first taco. That was a food that had come up from Mexico and was gradually taking hold on us in Utah. We were used to having tacos in a hard corn shell. Occasionally we had soft corn tortillas and even flour tortillas, but we never knew what awaited us with freshly made corn tortillas.
The first thing we had to do was get a tortilla press. This consisted of two round flat pieces of metal which mashed a ball of corn flour dough into a flat tortilla. There was a special handle which caused the top of the press to smash down on the bottom part.
The next thing was a big bag of corn flour. This was not the same thing as corn meal. Corn meal is hard and crackly. Corn flour is softer and is essential for making corn tortillas. Margarita and Israel explained this to us as we were getting everything ready to do it all Mexican style.
(Attached is a picture of Israel, but for some reason I could't find one of Margarita. The lady who taught us how to make such a staple as the quesodilla, and we don't have a picture of her!)
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