M is for Mexican

More specifically, M is for 'Mum's Away Mexican Monday'. This is a little tradition that my siblings and I have developed to perfection through years and years of careful trial and error.



Mum's Away Mexican Monday is a silly but awesome tradition from our childhood that has survived right through until now. It started when I was about 14.  We all still lived at home, and often when the subject of dinner came up, we would ask for Mexican food. Mum would always 'um' and 'ah' about it, and then she would always say 'No, not tonight. Maybe another time.'
After a while, we got sick of asking and instead, every time she was away we would cook up every type of Mexican food we could think of. Usually quesadillas, tacos and burritos, and sometimes fajitas or enchiladas.

We carried on doing this for a few years and as we got older, we discovered how much better Mum's Away Mexican could be when you threw ice cold Coronas or frozen Margarita's into the mix. We even made a trip to Taco Bill to earn ourselves some free sombreros by drinking giant frozen margaritas. That night didn't end well for me, but such is the awesomeness of Mum's Away Mexican that even violent illness can't put you off.

Now, despite the fact that we're older and my brother and I have long moved out of home, we still keep up the tradition. Mum is travelling overseas at the moment and last Monday we got together and cooked up a big Mexican Feast - Nachos, Tacos and Fajitas. It's just as good today as it was 14 years ago when we first started.


Mum has always been a bit put out by the whole thing. I guess it's a bit cruel to have a celebration in honor of her not being there, but it's not so much that we're celebrating her absence, it's that we're eating a meal that we wouldn't otherwise be able to have.

I always thought her dislike of the event was just because we all got together while she was away and she wanted to be there, but I asked her about it recently and as it turns out the real problem she has is that we get together AND we do the cooking. Usually when we all get together Mum cooks.

I guess she's just out of luck, because as long as she won't eat Mexican food with us, our cooking will be dedicated to Mexican meals, and the Mum's Away Mexican Monday tradition will continue.