When I first made the decision to move from California to join my then fiancee in Texas I knew that it would be difficult. To try to get use to the Texas culture again and leave behind friends and a place that I loved was not easy. It was a hard three years but it really brought me and my husband closer. So when we then made the decision last year to move to the UK, which was even further away from California, you would think it would be even harder, but in truth it hasn’t been. Yes there are things that I really miss about California and I probably always will. But the life that my family is starting here is one that I am happy with. Recently I met up with some people that spend a long time complaining about the town that we live in, saying they wished they lived somewhere else. Listening to people complain about their situation reminded me about my time in Texas. I resisted that move more then any other, I struggled to build friendships and had a hard time seeing anything good about my situation. But now that I look back I do see a lot of good that came out of my time there. And even though I would never choose to live there again I have to say there are some wonderful things about Texas that I can only now see. But that is me looking through hindsight, at the time I as depressed, I was starting to gain weight and incredibly lonely. It was very hard for me during that time to see any of the good around me. So when I was listening to these ladies complain about their situation here it reminded me how about how easily we can all fall victim of thinking the grass is greener on the other side and spend our days hating our situation rather then make the best of it. I am not saying it is wrong to want to be somewhere else, just that if we spend our whole time wallowing in self-pity, like I did in Texas, we might miss some of the amazing things around us. There are pros and cons of every place you live in and we can either choose to focus on one or the other. Personally after living for years focusing on the negative and suffering the emotional and physical consequences I am trying to instead choose to focus on the positive. If there is something about my environment that I don’t like that I can change then I will change it, if not I will work at be okay with it.
One thing about my new home environment that makes me a little bit sad is the lack of variety in our restaurant choices, specifically when I am craving Mexican food. Now one of my future goals is to actually fix this by opening a restaurant of my own, but in the mean time I have been perfecting my Mexican cooking at home. Just like in Texas when I couldn’t find good Chinese food so I set about perfecting my Chinese cooking. My main influence these days has been going back to my sunny, beach days in California. Emphasizing on the simple, light dishes that remind me of summer days in the sun. I might not have the beach down the street from my house any more, nor do I have that little taco shack where I could get the best tacos for less then $5 but I can find a way to bring that back into my home. So put on some Beach Boys and dance away while you make these delicious and always easy, Prawn Quesadillas.
Prawn Quesadillas
250g (1/2 lb) prawns (or shrimp), peeled and deveined
1 lime
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1 garlic clove, minced
small handful of coriander (cilantro), chopped
80g (1 c.) cheddar
4 tortillas
olive oil
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