I might just be a mexican woman trapped in an irish woman's body...

monica had given me some homemade tortillas from her mom a few months ago and i mentioned that would be something i'd be interested in learning how to do. well i guess in her 30 some odd years, monica has only helped roll and eat them - she didn't even know what exactly went into them. of course, it literally is her mom going by feel - some flour, a small handful of salt, a handful of crisco, etc. (think italian grandmother's marinara sauce that is crafted in her head after years of experience and nothing is written down).

monica was up for learning how to do it as well so last night she had her mother come over and teach us how to make flour tortillas. armed with measuring cups and spoons - monica made an attempt to bring the recipe into the written word. it was a really cool experience to learn how to do it and i must say - it is quite the workout for the arms. between the kneading, making the little "pancakes" and then rolling them ultra-thin.

we each made a batch of 50 tortillas - i was a bit slow and it took about an hour to get to the rolling stage. so i actually ended up rolling and cooking only 20 tortillas - which took me over another hour (hey, i was learning). i was worried i was doing something wrong because my tortillas kept having REALLY big bubbles in them, but then monica's mom told me that the big bubbles were the sign of a "good mexican woman." she said it is rumored that some men have divorced their wives because they couldn't make their tortillas bubbly ( no such luck that j would leave me over my tortillas ;) ). and by the end, some of my tortillas were rolling out to be nice circles too! i was quite proud of myself.

i must say though - i have no idea how these women did it all these years ago without air conditioning. yesterday it was about 101 degrees here - but fortunately monica has central air. still, i was hot and tired after standing on my feet for hours (carrying an extra 25 lbs in my belly probably doesn't help either). i finally had to give up on my dream of making all 50 tortillas. although, i'm hoping between making some with her mother and the recipe, i'll be able to repeat my initial success.

ps - monica taught me the trick of making a quesadilla with a raw tortilla and cooking it all together at once - soooooo much better.