I am one of the oldest female line cooks in the city. There's no doubt about it. Most women my age wouldn't keep doing this in Canada. In fact I've never worked with a line cook male or female that was as old as I am in my late fifties. I live in a bilingual province of French and English of which I speak English mostly, so there is no better option for work except the restaurant business in the back of a kitchen.
Each day that I work, I am exhausted not because of my age but because of the awkward hours between 1 p.m and 9 p.m. We usually don't eat at work but cooking before work has to be done fast (we go to bed late), and cooking after work is crippling most of the time. My partner works with me. We are the only cooks in the kitchen. Our manager is in front dealing with the deliveries. We are not open for dining and don't anticipate for it to happen soon. There has been no dining for almost eight months now. Fortunately there are still people ordering for pick up and delivery.
Last evening we managed to finish super early. It was not busy so we were out the door five minutes after the place closed. I work in a Mexican vegan restaurant with tacos being the main item. I like the Mexican flavors but I'm tired of looking at our food at work.
One thing we don't have is Mexican rice so that is what I made for our Mexican inspired dinner.
The ingredients were pretty basic, but within each household in Mexico, and each area, we are bound to have differences in the ingredients as well as the method. My ingredients and method are that of my household by me the Canadian.
Mexican inspired rice
2 cups long grain rice
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup tomato sauce
1 diced onion
2 diced jalapeno or 1 diced green bell pepper
1 cup corn
2 tablespoons minced cilantro roots and/or stems
3 cloves garlic minced
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon oregano
Salt to taste
Rinse the rice many times. I usually do it around ten times to get the starch out.
I start by heating a non stick pan with oil and adding the rice. Turn the heat down to medium high and cook the rice stirring the whole time.
Try to get the rice a golden brown color by stirring constantly.
Add the onions, garlic, jalapenos and seasonings. Cook for a while still stirring then add the broth and the tomato sauce and corn.
Turn down low and simmer until the liquid has evaporated. I ended up adding a little more liquid because it was drying too fast. You have to be attentive but it doesn't take long.
I didn't bother with a protein because of the refried beans that I made. I had some pinto beans that I had soaked overnight then cooked.
Authentic refried beans are usually made with lard but I don't see the need for that. For a vegan version you could use vegan shortening but I find that way too heavy and kind of unappetizing. That's just me though.
For my refried beans I mashed the cooked beans than added them with onions and garlic that had been pan fried in olive oil. I added cumin, salt, pepper and chili powder. I kept it simple and it didn't take long. It became dry while in the pan so I stirred in a little vegetable broth and lime juice.
I may have had more time last night but I didn't bother making tortillas. This would never be missing in most Mexican households. I just got out some leftover store bought pumpernickel. which throws a wrench in the Mexican theme. I didn't eat it but I knew Marc would want bread or something for the beans. You gotta do what you gotta do.
In a non vegan Mexican household there would be some kind of meat on the table as well as all of this. We don't eat meat so we could have had tempeh or tofu or faux meat of some kind but I didn't bother. There is just the two of us and late evening is a bad time to eat too much. We put most of it away after enjoying a feast.
The jalapenos that are in the stores here are not hot enough for heat lovers, I still like the flavor though. I bought the avocados from a Mexican super market down the street that just opened. I was surprised at the difference between those and the ones found in the regular markets. They were perfect.
For me lime is the thing that completes Mexican and also Asian dishes. The lime and the hot peppers are probably what attracts me to these cuisines. I do like other things as well, to take a break from those things. I guess I'm interested in all culture's cuisines.
The final plate
I will end this with a side note.
Recently our dear hiver 
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