Making Tortillas with Mom

Roxy sat in the living room playing with her dolls.  She told her dad goodbye as he left to go to work at his night job at his company.

Setting her dolls down she ran into the kitchen just as she heard her mom humming in the kitchen to the radio.  

“There you are!”  Her Mom said.  “Did you come to help me?  Remember that I told you your uncles are coming over tonight for dinner?”  Her Mom said.  

“Oh yay!”  Roxy clapped her hands together.  She remembered it was Saturday night and it was her favorite night.  Her Mom liked to make homemade Mexican food on Saturday nights and the house always smelled so very good.

“Now, you pull up a chair to stand on, and I’ll be right back.  I want to check on your baby sister after her nap and see how your little brother is doing playing in his room.”  Her Mom said as she left the kitchen.

Roxy pushed the chair up to the counter and waited.  She listened to the music as she noticed the little skillet ready on the stove ready for the yummy tortillas her mom would make.  Roxy also noticed flour, baking powder, lard, salt and water already set out to begin the process of making tortillas.  She often wondered how these simple things would create something so good.

Her Mom came back into the kitchen with her baby sister on her hip and her little brother in tow following behind with his little toy cars.  Her Mom set up her baby sister in the highchair with some crackers and her water cup and told her little brother to play with his cars in the next room beside them.  

Roxy watched as her mom stirred the flour, lard, baking powder, salt and water together.  It formed a large ball.  She pinched some of the dough off and stretched and pulled it into a small circle.  She kept stretching and pulling until finally she threw it into the air like a pizza crust.  Roxy loved watching her mom do this.  She was amazed at how fast she could work and how the tortilla could stay so round yet never caught and tore on her mom’s bright red fingernails.

After her mom had made several tortillas, she heated up the skillet on the stove with a little oil.  She started to fry them up one at a time.  After they were finished, she began work on the rest of the meal.  She browned ground beef, added beans and then added several spices.  Roxy didn’t know what exactly only knew that it was starting to smell so very good.  She shredded cheese and chopped some onions.  Then she took some of the tortillas that had cooled and rolled the beef, beans and cheese and onions into enchiladas. Then she spooned on some sauce and put these in the oven to bake.

Finally, her mom turned to Roxy.  She said to her, “Roxy, there is still some leftover dough.  Would you like to try and make a tortilla?”  Her Mom smiled at her as she asked.  Roxy thought about it and nodded yes.  She wanted to try and make a tortilla, but wasn’t sure it would work out.  Her Mom was so good at it, and she was a little nervous.

Roxy pinched the dough off like she had watched her mom do.  She stretched and pulled at the dough to form a circle.  It wasn’t exactly round like her mom’s tortillas had been.  She kept working the dough and pulled it into a “semi-circle”.  Finally, she knew she needed to toss it into the air like her mom had done.  She took a breath and flung it into the air.  It twirled around twice, and then when Roxy tried to catch it, it flopped on the floor.  Roxy exclaimed “Oh no!”   Her Mom scooped up the dough and threw it away.  

She smiled at Roxy and said, “That has happened to me before too!”  

“It has?”  Roxy asked her mom.  She found it hard to believe.  

“Yes, it really has.  And the best thing to do is try again!” Her Mom said as she smiled at Roxy.

Roxy pinched off another piece of dough.  She stretched it out as before.  She made the best circle that she could by flattening and stretching it.  She lifted it into the air and this time she caught it.  It came down in her hand and she looked down at her tortilla.  It wasn’t a neat circle like her mom’s.  It wasn’t fully round.  As she sat staring at her tortilla, she noticed her little brother had come into the kitchen.  He laughed at her attempt to make a tortilla.  

“It looks like a fat worm!”  Her little brother said.  Her Mom gave him “the eye” and told him to be nice.  He ran out of the kitchen, but not before sticking his tongue out at Roxy out of sight of their mom.  

“Now, Roxy, don't you worry about it.  You stretch that tortilla out and we’ll get it on the skillet.  I will show you how all of this will work out.”  Her Mom said. Together they put the tortilla on the skillet and it sizzled and cooked.  When it was ready with her mom’s help she flipped it over.  After it was done, they put it on a plate to cool.

“Now, Roxy, I will show you the best part.  This is what I always do with the tortillas that don’t get quite as round as the others.  They are special tortillas”.  Her Mom said as she winked at her.  She showed Roxy how to take a small paper sack.  Then they added sugar and cinnamon into the brown sack.  Roxy broke up the uneven tortillas as her mom said and then dumped them in the sack.  She handed the sack to Roxy.  “Now for the fun part!” her mom said as she smiled.  She reached over and turned up the radio.

Moving to the music, and humming she showed Roxy how to shake the paper sack.  Roxy shook the bag, and they laughed and hummed to the music.  “Now, put those sweet pieces onto the dessert plate here.”  Her Mom said.

Later, when her uncles arrived, they came and gave everyone hugs...and they always had a silver dollar for her little brother and Roxy to spend how they wished.  They laughed and enjoyed the wonderful meal that was served.   

When the meal was finished, Roxy’s Mom brought out coffee for the adults and had Roxy go get the dessert plate full of the wonderful cinnamon sugar tortilla pieces or crustos as her mom called them.

“Well, what a sweet treat this is!  Roxy is bringing us a wonderful dessert.”  One of her uncles exclaimed.  

“Yes, Roxy helped make these herself!”  Her Mom smiled as she said.  Everyone agreed they were delicious.  

“Nice tasting worms!  Can you pass the honey?” Her little brother said.

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Roxy helped her mom in the kitchen for several years after that day, but she never could quite make tortillas as perfect as her mom’s.  Later on, as an adult she remembered how her mom had helped her to create something so good and sweet out of broken pieces.  Something she tries to remember still to this day, long after her mom has passed on. She has tried to apply it to life too. All it takes is sugar, cinnamon, a little honey…oh and good music!