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 @lizelle has started a community. I urge you to become aware of this wonderful community for ages 40 to 100. A place to share wisdom, stories, experiences, or like me, failures and learning from them haha.
Hive.I will add the following message from @lizelle who is a wonderful blogger, cook, and inspiration here on
A humble request, OCD has placed #silverbloggers on a one month incubation period; dependent upon the engagement, posting and growth in #silverbloggers.May we ask of all members to support this community by posting and engaging with others in our community. Please pass this notice on to others, as it is to everyone's benefit and invite friends who you believe would fit into Hive Silver Bloggers Thank you guys and dolls for being here!
And thank you from little old me for stopping by!
design by: @KidSisters
Hi carolynstahl,
Visit curiehive.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thank you kindly!
This stuff is the reason I can't trust Mexican food, even when it's vegetarian or vegan. I've been to several Mexican restaurants that even had vegan options on the menu, but when I ask in my terrible Spanish if they cook the vegan food with "Manteca," they always confirm. This means everything is usually tainted with pork fat, so Mexican cuisine has to be made exclusively in-home for me.
I guess what I'm saying is I trust you, chef, and I would love to eat your Mexican rice and refried beans, the whole spread looks absolutely delicious. !LUV
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Wow it's true. We spent six months in Mexico and cooked our own food except for one vegan restaurant in Cancun and one vegan restaurant in Acapulco. Both places had bland and boring food. But we knew to ask for something in a regular Mexican restaurant would not work. When the restaurants tried to get us in to eat, we just said we were vegan and they let us go.
If you get to ever come to Canada Montreal is swarming with vegan restaurants and ours is owned by a vegan Mexican so there isn't a thing in our place that is not plant based. Indian vegan however is not really a thing here that I know of. There's ghee in everything. You make the best Indian food anyway.
Gross. They wouldn't do that in Australia. Way too many vegetarians and vegans to contend with
Looks good! ^_^ I swear, that dish is common to my country... But I am just wondering if you don't mind madam? How old are you? I have a question after...
Yes I am not the kind who hides her age so I am fifty eight.
You are still young!
Good skills right there young man.
Very colourful rice! Now I wanna try some!!
It's a switch from my favorite rice. Thai rice!
I rarely cook rice! I must have been an Italian in my past life! 😂😂🌷🌺🌈
It looks good and I want to taste some. The best food I know how to make is fried rice or just fried.
I could eat rice almost everyday haha. Thanks @kidsisters!
I did not know that authentic refried beans are usually made with lard 😳 I always learn from your posts! You probably already know of this little trick, but if you want to season food with an alternative approach, vegetable bouillon is often a good choice. I've used it in soups and stews, and even made a "Sawmill Gravy" with it to cut-down on the saturated fat that is present in sausage gravy. I usually keep a box of veggie bouillon cubes on-hand all the time!
That plate of food looks incredibly yummy! 😋
Yes it's true veggie bouillon is something that is a perfect seasoning. I often make my own as well as store bought cubes to have on hand. Our city is extremely vegan friendly. My area has around twelve or more vegan restaurants within walking distance of my house. Not that we bother ordering food or anything. And the stores usually always have marked vegan items.
Thank you so much @thekittygirl!
You are awesome 😎
Thank you @sagarray!
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That's sound like delicious and great pictures. I have never eat Mexican inspired but I used eat tacos. Your life is so busy and you can take your delicious food and share it with us. Thank you very much for your time my friend 😊.
Oh that's so kind of you to say but I am only physically busy. I get three days off from work. Today is day two. I share because Hive is the only thing that's fun in a city that is closed for most things. It also is where my friends are.😊 I think you have a much worst time and I hope you get out soon.
Yes, I am too, I do not have a job and do not have friends more here. I just have a hive and my girls are my job now. So hive is good for me to have friends more and enjoy to make post. If I do not have a hive I think it very difficult life for this time.
Hi @carolynstahl, you were just shared some LUV thanks to @justinparke. Holding 10 LUV in your wallet enables you to give up to 3 LUV per day, for free. See the LUV in your wallet at https://hive-engine.com or learn about LUV at https://peakd.com/@luvshares https://ipfs.io/ipfs/QmUptF5k64xBvsQ9B6MjZo1dc2JwvXTWjWJAnyMCtWZxqM
Lol, i never think of you as old. I LOVE this new OLD AGE silver power on HIVE... Makes our age group so recognizably AWESOME.
I dont think you NEED meat with every dish or even a traditional protein. This looks nutritious and delish. If it has jalapenos and lime, im in.
Its really fun experimenting with different world flavours.
I haven't been doing any plant based posts as its winter here and gets dark too early!!!
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