Chips and salsa

As humans, I suppose we are drawn to experiment and test boundaries. That feature is exactly what makes experiential learning such a powerful educational tool, right? Learning something first-hand through trial and error leaves a strong impression, and, although you may find yourself retesting some of those boundaries now and then, you do usually remember not to purposefully set your hand near the hot clothes iron or not to click mercilessly on an object on your computer screen when it does not react as you think it ought. (Doubtless, we all can remember times when we've temporarily "forgotten" the consequences for these actions by accident, distraction, or distress). In addition to learning from experience, I imagine it is also healthy to retest what we know as adults to retain a healthy amount of wonder (or skepticism?) and to resist becoming stagnant know-it-all schoolmarms. When living in a new environment, I catch myself doing things that I otherwise might not. In fact, often my past experiences should lead me to better conclusions and decisions.

Case in point. I just finished licking my fingers after cleaning the crumbs out of the bottom of a bag of Santa Maria Chili-flavored tortilla chips. I feel about as disgusting as I might after cleaning out an off-brand bag of cheese puffs. Santa Maria is a Finnish Tex-Mex brand sold here in Estonia. Probably I should know better from the start as Finland is about as far from Texas or Mexico as one can get, and the palate of the local target consumer market here has no proclivity towards the piquant. (A short diversion--because it is too good of a story not to share: A well-meaning neighbor recently gave me some feedback on some pumpkin bread I made for her family. She inquired about the "essence" or spices used(nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice) and mentioned that her children thought their mouths were on fire. The adults managed to choke it down but thought that I had messed up the recipe!)

As someone who considers chips and salsa as a food group unto itself, I sometimes waver over to the "exotic foods" isle of the supermarket just to see if anything new has appeared. Although the shelf has become fuller of these Santa Maria products over the years, there generally is not too much of interest. Sometimes though, I convince myself and those chips and salsa may have improved. Sometimes, I buy them. Almost always, I bring them home and gobble too many of them up, and I am left with an artificial taste in my mouth and an unsatisfied craving. I make yet another mental note to myself about Finnish Tex-Mex products, only to expire when I eventually I waver over to that particular isle and decide to retest the boundary.