Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Life Lesson #2: Take a leap of faith.

           Our waiter rattled off a list of dishes we could choose to order. I understood most of the names, but there was one I simply could not translate to myself: carrilleras. I beckoned my professor over and asked if he knew what it was. He gave the students on either side of me a shifty look, leaned down, and whispered in my ear, “I don’t want to say what it is out loud. Everyone will probably think it’s gross.”
            “You can tell me,” I replied, but he said he wouldn’t until after I’d eaten it. My curiosity piqued, I boldly told our waiter I wanted the carrilleras. As he left, the student on my right asked me what I’d just ordered. When I told her I wasn’t quite sure, she goggled at me and said, “So you’re eating something without even knowing what it is?”
            “Yep,” I replied cheerfully.
            Twenty minutes later, my carrilleras arrived. Four lumps of meat lay on the plate, drenched in a rich brown sauce. I admit I felt a slight sense of foreboding as I poked the meat with my fork. Flakes of it instantly slid from the chunk, a good sign. I took a bite, and the most wonderfully tender meat I’d ever tasted touched my tongue. It seemed to melt away as soon as it reached my mouth. Within five minutes, an entire chunk was gone, and everyone in my area of the table had tasted the delicious meat.
Beef carrilleras, Madrid
            As I started on the second chunk, my professor wandered over and asked if I liked the carrilleras. I said yes and asked if he’d tell me what they were now. His grin grew even wider and he said, loudly so that the whole table could hear, “Cow’s cheeks.” Everyone at my end of the table, including me, laughed and we went right on eating them.
            The carrilleras contained an important lesson. I had no clue what they were, and I wanted to find out, so I tried them. They turned out to be one of my favorite dishes in Spain. I might not have wanted to try them had I known what they were before I ate them. The carrilleras showed me that sometimes, asking no questions and taking a leap of faith can lead you to some wonderful food indeed.

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