A watched bagel never browns

Most likely resulting from my current Michael Pollan reading spree, I have recently developed a heightened sense of my food experience here in Guatemala.  Now I don't know enough about agriculture to make grand claims about the environmental sustainability of Guatemalan food production (I do know that chemical pesticides tend to be highly overused here, but that factory farms are extremely uncommon.)  However, judging from my market day experiences and visiting locals' kitchens, people are definitely more connected with their food--where it comes from, how it grows, how to store it, medicinal properties of plants, etc.  (For example, a Guatemalan will NEVER cook up a pot of black beans without first adding chopped onion and/or garlic. I can never really taste the flavors of these add-ins, but found out later that both onions and garlic have special properties that prevent excess gas).

Also, I can safely say that foods here tends to be local, seasonal, and whole.  Sure, people eat Doritos and Frosted Flakes here.  But generally speaking, you have to have quite a bit of money to be able to afford such processed items in Guatemala.  Here, we have the reverse McDonald's effect: a meal at McDonald's (at around Q35-40) is extremely expensive compared to a meal comprised of whole foods bought at the local market (Q5-10).  If you're a poor Guatemalan, you really can't afford to buy or eat processed foods.  As a poor American, it's hard to eat anything but.  That's not to say that malnutrition isn't a problem among Guatemalans--it's actually a pretty huge problem here.  It's just interesting that in a developing nation such as Guatemala, fast foods (the same fast foods that are believed to be causing many of the major health problems in the U.S.) are seen as luxury.

On a personal level, I'm forced to be much more creative and interactive with my food here than I ever was back home.  Unless, of course, I want to eat black beans, eggs, and tortillas everyday.  Example: homemade bagels.

My beautiful sesame seed and plain bagels.

I made bagels today that I had long-promised to Jareau.  They turned out quite yummy, and were half gone in a matter of minutes.  But as I was sitting at his glass oven door, watching my bagels bake, I realized how true that old saying really is: a watched pot never boils.  There I was, watching my bagels bake, and I came to a realization: my life, and service, are flying by now at imperceptibly quick speeds.  I've been here a year.  Those first three, four, even six months were seemingly endless.  Painfully slow, at times.  But once I stopped "watching" my time so closely, and began instead to focus on my work and my experience as it was happening (living in the "now" is something I've always had to work at), the pace picked up.  And here I am, a year in.  And I couldn't tell you where these last six months have gone.  I wasn't watching.

Also, those bagels?  Damn tasty (and thanks to my patient fervor, perfectly browned).  Thank you, Chef Jim Berman for the wonderful recipe.