Tuesday, October 26, 2010

A love exchange

Today I made peanut butter cups. AT HOME. Wow.


Oh you bet I ate them too. Then I saw my landlady sweeping outside and decided to give her some too. She liked them. I said, "it's a typical sweet from America". I want people to know as much as possible that America has typical and good food too, not just big macs. She was so pleased that I had given her something that she took me inside her kitchen and promptly gave me three things: homemade marmalade, quince jelly (geleia de marmelos) and diospiros from her tree. It's a fruit.


I used to be really insecure about my relationship with my landlady. She lives alone and likes company so I felt bad about not hanging out with her enough. I used to compare myself to the girl she talks about that rented the apartment before me, that "was really nice and still comes to visit". Now I think I care a little less. Which actually helped our relationship... strange. The fact is I really like and admire my landlady. So I don't watch soap operas with her every night. Or plant flowers with her over the weekend. Big deal. Yesterday she called me "minha querida" (sweetie) for the very first time. Maybe she didn't notice but it was very important for me. It was a proof that she likes me. I'm a words person.

So today I gave her peanut butter cups. And she gave me presents. It's like a love exchange. I admire all widows, but especially ones like my landlady... that have this survivor spirit. She definitely knows how to appreciate the small pleasures in life... walks she takes with her neighbor by the ocean, watering her millions of plants, talking to her bird that sings, eating fruit from her own trees. She loves flowers and describes them like I've never seen anyone else describe flowers. "It's very small and delicate, a clean white, and has this little part in the middle that's purple..." She says she is amazed by creation when she thinks about the infinite varieties of flowers there are around the world. She's also very certain about what she likes and what she wants. She doesn't waste time with things that don't matter. She went on a trip to Fatima this weekend with a group that goes on many trips all the time, but she says the other trips don't interest her. She just likes that one, once a year. It's good enough for her. I admire that.

1 comment:

  1. Peanut butter isn't that easy to find but it's possible. Reese's, on the other hand, don't exist! That's why I was so happy to find out they aren't that hard to make.
    Here is the recipe I used: http://www.cinnamonspiceandeverythingnice.com/2010/10/how-to-make-peanut-butter-and-salted.html
    I am so flattered my blog is obsession-worthy. Really! And believe me, I know obsession. :P

    ReplyDelete