The idea of not eating out in a restaurant has been more traumatic for Tom than it is for most people. But as with anything, there is a silver lining. Tom’s silver lining to this “situation” is: not being dragged by the Marys to La Caretta.
It’s not that Tom doesn’t like our favorite Mexican joint. It’s that Tom doesn’t understand our obsession with it. Also, if he didn’t complain constantly, it wouldn’t be fun. Oh, wait…
What is most interesting about the last six weeks (yes, six now) is that the place we frequent more than any other had been one of the few places from which we hadn’t gotten take-out. I realized why that is when I went yesterday to get take-out from La Caretta. Emotionally, we couldn’t take it. ML refused to go and pick it up, and I understood immediately when I arrived at the patio where we have spent countless hours. It was all boarded up.
In truth, we don’t need La Caretta. We don’t need any of it. There have been many conversations in this house about how nice it is to cook at home and how nice it is to not spend that money and how will it be when we can again? Will we even want to?
NOTE: None of these conversations include Tom, who is counting the minutes till he is sprung.
I waited on the extra-sanitized patio because I just couldn't bear to sit in the car. It was nice to see our friends, the waiters who know our order before we sit down. It was sad to see them change gloves with every order they ran to a car.
I brought back the order that we usually consume at a high top on the deck basking in the sun. It came in nasty styrofoam containers - this is why I never get food to take out. All I see is chemicals. But I had to push back such thoughts yesterday because this was our beloved choriqueso, from La Caretta. One bite caused that Vienna-Sausage-on-saltine-crackers-at-the-bottom-of-the-Grand Canyon-moment, where no matter what you are eating it is the pinnacle of your existence.
The pico de gallo in nasty styrofoam, the cheese enchiladas in aluminum take-out containers, the carnitas tacos, all of it resonating emotionally so powerfully that our primal question of the last six weeks can be answered definitely.
As soon as the chairs on the patio at La Caretta are righted, we will be among the first in them.
