Sam

I was doing the dishes this morning after breakfast. Husband tried to froth some milk in a jar for my coffee. The milk boiled over and thin layer was stuck to the bottom of the pan.

I immediately remembered my grandpa. For as long as I can remember, he heated milk for his night-time coffee (!) and quite often boiled it over. Then he would clean the stove top with a frown and, out loud, wonder what was wrong with milk. Then, he'd pour his milky coffee onto *his* mug and enjoy it with some lucha libre in the background .

He made the best impression of Donald Duck and the best fish broth. I wish I had known him better and had a grown-up relationship with him. He passed in 2012.

I came around today to tell you that once there was a man who raised his grand kids as his own. He liked to bring milk into a boil for his coffee, make impressions of Donald Duck and day drink. I loved him to pieces.

Food is probably the thing I miss the most from Mexico. I love food, but I'm also a professional nostalgic, and many fond memories of mine are attached to food. Like my mom's taquitos de huevo revuelto, a staple breakfast in the Campos house, or the "toritihuevo" (tortillas mixed in with scrambled eggs), one of her most acclaimed culinary inventions (by my siblings and me, at least). I got inspired at lunchtime. I got my tortilla press and my cornflour out. My rainy day melancholy was ready to revive childhood memories. As I prepared the dough and pressed the tortillas, I decided to fry some bacon with dry chillies. The smell took me back to 1999: drinking a banana smoothie and playing video games with my brother while my mom made late breakfast.

When I first met my husband three years ago, the sun was in Pisces and astrology was not a part of my life in the slightest.

I remember going to pick him up from the Mexico City’s airport a bit nervous and a bit worried. It was my first time as a Couchsurfing host and I didn’t know I was being a bit extra cooking a welcome diner and giving him closet space. I was particularly worried about my English, what if I was not as good as I thought it was?

Has estado buscando trabajo por más de seis meses y no te contratan en uno que te satisfaga. Es verdad que has tenido cositas temporales: los call centres no fallan, los freelances ayudan, pero ese trabajo estable, feliz y próspero aún no lo encuentras. Igual y porque no existe. Ocho meses viviendo en una tierra ajena, hablando un idioma extranjero para convencer a un corporativo del que no has escuchado antes que sí, que eres lo que han estado buscando toda la vida. La renta no se paga sola. Renuente, decides hacer lo que mejor te sale: hacerte de mañas.