The Meal That Needs To Be Assembled
In a Mexican restaurant. It is a modest place, where most of the action is at the takeout counter. I want something that is not on the regular menu, and they say that can make it for me. The waiter has little or no English, so I communicate with him in Spanish. I order a margarita con sel y con hielo.
I don’t understand what he brings. There is a little glass with slices of lime and a small amount of what looks like sweet syrup. And a second glass filled with a light yellowish liquid, and another with water. I sample each glass and realize that the second glass contains neat tequila. He has given me the fixings for a margarita, not the finished drink. I’ll need to mix it according to my own taste. Not such a bad idea, though it’s strange that a Mexican restaurant can’t deliver a finished margarita.
The food delivery is equally strange. I am given some small plates with different ingredients that are not yet a finished dish. I poke around, wondering what’s going on, looking rather hungrily at other customers who are picking up regular specials (including chicken and fries). I don’t understand that I am supposed to make my own dish until the waiter starts to remove plates of meat and peppers that I have barely touched, while delivered rice and beans and tortillas on separate plates. I bark at him to leave my food on the table!
I don’t understand what he brings. There is a little glass with slices of lime and a small amount of what looks like sweet syrup. And a second glass filled with a light yellowish liquid, and another with water. I sample each glass and realize that the second glass contains neat tequila. He has given me the fixings for a margarita, not the finished drink. I’ll need to mix it according to my own taste. Not such a bad idea, though it’s strange that a Mexican restaurant can’t deliver a finished margarita.
The food delivery is equally strange. I am given some small plates with different ingredients that are not yet a finished dish. I poke around, wondering what’s going on, looking rather hungrily at other customers who are picking up regular specials (including chicken and fries). I don’t understand that I am supposed to make my own dish until the waiter starts to remove plates of meat and peppers that I have barely touched, while delivered rice and beans and tortillas on separate plates. I bark at him to leave my food on the table!
Feelings: Cheerful, laughing at myself
Reality: It’s certainly possible I could go to a disorganized or bad Mexican restaurant in the future! But it’s the symbolism of the meal and the drink that need to be assembled that strikes me here.
We get to recognize our personal styles of dreaming, and this dream in very much in the mode of those I often have when starting to move forward with new book projects. The state of the kitchen or the restaurant in my dreams often reflects, rather exactly, the state of my progress and organization in relation to a new book. When the scene is a restaurant, the theme can extend to relations with publishers and the marketing and commercial aspects of a book project.
I’ve ordered something beyond the regular menu, as well as a drink that is very popular and familiar. For both to be completed and fixed according to my taste, I have some mixing and assembling to do. The good news is that the ingredients are all there! And also that, while I need to speak a different language in this place, I am competent in that language.
We get to recognize our personal styles of dreaming, and this dream in very much in the mode of those I often have when starting to move forward with new book projects. The state of the kitchen or the restaurant in my dreams often reflects, rather exactly, the state of my progress and organization in relation to a new book. When the scene is a restaurant, the theme can extend to relations with publishers and the marketing and commercial aspects of a book project.
I’ve ordered something beyond the regular menu, as well as a drink that is very popular and familiar. For both to be completed and fixed according to my taste, I have some mixing and assembling to do. The good news is that the ingredients are all there! And also that, while I need to speak a different language in this place, I am competent in that language.
One-liner (also my Action Statement): You have all the ingredients. Mix it up! (And don't let anyone take anything off the table until you're done.)
Fajitas photo by Eric T. Gunther
wonderful, sensory dream. if it were mine, I would also consider that it's important not to get sidetracked by how all the parts fit together, because if I'm distracted by the little bits, the meat of the matter might be snatched away. That said, what a great invitation to remember to see, taste and smell all the flavors and colors that go into the dish!
ReplyDeleteNice feedback, Honor. Yes, there was the risk that by taking too long to figure things out, the meat could be taken away! As I look around my desk right now, I realize that the brightly colored folders in which I have been placing pages of drafts and sketches are not unlike the colorful dishes on the restaurant table.
ReplyDeleteI had a dream last night that I was traveling down a two lane road with Roger driving. A Robert and Wanda character were pulled over on the side of the road with another woman. Thier car was from a differnt time and it felt like they were waiting on us. We all ended up at a nice restaurant where you New Yorkers had been to before. As we were walking to our table, me and this Robert character went to a side room first. We were discussing the wood floors and walls. We were looking at the veins in the wood and there was several colors flowing, like the wood was alive still. I woke up feeling warm and intrigued.
ReplyDeleteNice timing, Patricia. Wanda and I had a long conversation this morning about a possible mutual venture that might involve travel to New York City. Though we have been close friends for more than 20 years, we don't see or speak to each other often, except via email and Facebook.
ReplyDelete