Nuyorican Discovery #238
I was in Stater Bros. yesterday afternoon picking up a few quick things for me and my mother. I was going down the "ethnic" food aisle, when something made me look to my right. Staring me in the face was a staple from my childhood...Goya's pasta de guayaba (guava paste) in the giant round tin. That was the first time I've seen it in Riverside. I blinked a couple of times just to make sure a Nuyorican devil wasn't playing tricks on me...but, lo and behold, there it was and into my shopping basket it went. Now any righteous boricua knows that you can't serve pasta de guayaba without a special cheese to go with it...boricuas call it Queso del Pais (cheese of the country...which country? no one knows). It's made from cow's milk and tends to be very mild, slightly salty, and almost crumbly. Really, a cheese-lover's delight. Now being the cheese addict that I am, I know for a fact such a thing cannot be found in Riverside. As I cruised down the dairy aisle, I contemplated the mexican cheese...something told me to pick up a cheese called "panela." I have no explanation as to why I picked up that particular cheese. Maybe it was a Boricua angel coming to my rescue after having been systematically pissed off by things like jalapeno bagels.
Now pasta de guayaba and queso del pais is something you serve after dinner as a snack....especially when you need something sweet to clear the palate. It's a wonderous combination that manages to produce a delicate sweet and salty experience simultaneously. So, there I was in the kitchen preparing my little concoction. I sampled the cheese, stopped cold in my tracks, and contemplated what was going on in my mouth. My brain immediately registered what it was. After recovering from that experience, I sped over to the living room where my mother was watching TV. I looked at her, held out a piece of the panela for her, and said, "Mom, try this." Now my mother will sample most things without fear (unlike me). If I say to her, "hey mom, is this milk still good?" she will most certainly give me her opinion after sampling the milk in question. So without hesitation, my mother tried the cheese, looked at me with a wide-eyed expression, and said, "Honey, this is queso del pais."
And then the rejoicing began which included me doing a little happy dance induced by the fact that I found pieces of home in Riverside.
Now pasta de guayaba and queso del pais is something you serve after dinner as a snack....especially when you need something sweet to clear the palate. It's a wonderous combination that manages to produce a delicate sweet and salty experience simultaneously. So, there I was in the kitchen preparing my little concoction. I sampled the cheese, stopped cold in my tracks, and contemplated what was going on in my mouth. My brain immediately registered what it was. After recovering from that experience, I sped over to the living room where my mother was watching TV. I looked at her, held out a piece of the panela for her, and said, "Mom, try this." Now my mother will sample most things without fear (unlike me). If I say to her, "hey mom, is this milk still good?" she will most certainly give me her opinion after sampling the milk in question. So without hesitation, my mother tried the cheese, looked at me with a wide-eyed expression, and said, "Honey, this is queso del pais."
And then the rejoicing began which included me doing a little happy dance induced by the fact that I found pieces of home in Riverside.