In the HomeCook'n Monthly Newsletter for January, I mentioned that I will be taking Camille's place as a newsletter writer. In addition to writing for the monthly newsletter, I will be writing articles for the Cook'n weekly newsletter as well. I hope you enjoy my articles!

As you know, my boy Carson is serving a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Guatemala. He sent us the following video yesterday.

It's interesting to see how people live in other parts of the world, isn't it? Can you imagine chickens walking around your kitchen? Can you imagine having a cow standing within 10 feet of your back door? We have so much to be grateful for, don't we?!

What an experience Carson is having, huh? He also sent this video yesterday:

Can anyone tell me what kind of fruit that is? Did you see the way it jiggled? Green shell, transparent center...jiggly? I'm so curious! Add a comment to the bottom of this article and let me know!

Coincidentally, there are a couple men, brothers Juan and Elvis, from Guatemala who have been doing work for me on the Oaks Family Farm every Saturday for the past few months.

Whenever they walk past my chicken pen, their mouths start to water and they long to take one of those chickens home to eat it...which is ironic because most people who walk past the chicken coop see dirty birds in a dirty pen and they probably notice the slight, foul (and fowl too!) odor of the chicken coop. The last thing an American would feel when walking past that chicken pen is hunger!

I have gifted Juan some of my chickens from time to time and he is so grateful! He often returns to my house with homemade chicken soup or homemade tamales made from my chickens! I gave him a duck just before Christmas and that duck turned into the Christmas Eve dinner!

This is Juan, by the way, who came to visit us on Christmas Eve to bring us some "Ponche" and some fresh duck tamales
Juan and Elvis rave about how yummy those chickens of mine are. And, they're so grateful for them! This sort of thing has happened to me many times with friends from Mexico and Chile who visit me.

The truth is, the meat from my own personal flock is not my favorite to eat. So, since I have gotten to know Juan pretty well, I asked him (in Spanish of course because he doesn't speak a lick of English)..."what is it that you love so much about these birds? Why are they so delicious to you?" He said "...mucha vitamina!" which means "they're loaded with vitamins!"

Since they are raised outside, indeed, they are much healthier than the chickens that we get in the grocery store. They get sunlight daily so they are rich in Vitamin D. And, they eat grasshoppers, spiders, weeds, and leftovers from our kitchen so they get a variety of different foods in their diet. What's more, the chicken meat (and eggs) that we get in the grocery store is often filled with antibiotics and steroids.

However, while my chickens may be filled with lots of vitamins, I don't really think that's the reason why Juan craves them so much. I think there's something more.

Some of my other hispanic friends who have eaten my chickens say that they love the texture and the flavor. This is interesting because I find the meat tough.

I think that, at the end of the day, the reality is, much of our tastes and preferences in food comes from the way we were raised. The smell that many find revolting when they walk past my chicken coop probably feels like home to someone who was raised in an environment like the one in the video above. And, the texture of the meat in the bowl of soup that my boy Carson is eating is probably much tougher than the meat we are used to here in the States.

It really makes you think, doesn't it? Is our food really better? Or, is it just familiar to us because that's what we ate when we were young. Would it help us to try new things, experiment with different foods, and expand our palette?

I think so. What do you think? (add your comment below!)

Finally, did you notice the weather where Carson is? We got buried in snow over the weekend! When Juan arrived on Saturday, I asked him a tongue-in-cheek question and said "Como le gusta el frio?" (i.e. how do you like this cold weather?) He responded with a tone of sarcasm in his voice and said "me encanta" (i.e. I love it.). "Jaja" (fyi...that's how you say haha in Spanish if you ever text someone).

In fact, we got so much snow that cars were getting stuck on our street! I had to go to church early on Sunday morning (8:00 am) to set up chairs. When Kathy arrived she whispered to me and said "I think the Mathis' [the older couple who lives next door] might be stuck in the snow. Their car was stopped at the end of their driveway." So, I looked through the Ring video camera on our front door and saw that their car was still there at the end of their driveway.


So, I jumped in the Jeep, drove back home, and pulled them out. They were so grateful!!

My son, Jackson, got stuck in the street in front of our house Sunday night and I had to dig him out! With this being the case, it's such a shock to see Carson in such warm weather, isn't it?

I hope you are warm and well in your part of the world. And, remember, as you use Cook'n to put your meal plans together this week...consider trying something new! It might seem different and even unappealing at first. But, who knows, you might just develop a taste for it!