Raspberry Éclairs

Behind a beige desk, on a green metal chair connected securely to the desk by a thick piece of metal, is my spot. Every day, very carefully, I must climb over the bar to sit in my spot – a spot that must be fought for daily. If I stop in the hall to tie my shoe, I lose the spot and am banished to the back of the room. Law class is so argumentative that there are even arguments about seating. We are so loud that we close the door to the hallway to keep the hallway quiet.

Raspberry éclair with pink fondant and fresh fruit

M stood up to close the wooden door that separated our dystopia from the hallway. My phone began to ring. Usually, it just vibrates. But this time it rang, and quite loudly too. I had to take it out of my pocket to turn it off – I could not wait for it to simply finish ringing. That was a challenge though because of the desk design. The only way I could take my phone out was if I got up from my desk. I slid out the left side and placed my hand into my pocket, grabbing the ringing phone. I flipped it over to read the caller ID as I was turning it off. It was an important call that I couldn’t miss.

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Banana-Caramel Doughnuts

A few weeks ago K posted on my Facebook wall: “ILAN. CALL ME. QUICKLY.” This was pretty strange since I hadn’t spoken to K for months, since I moved to Toronto and switched high schools. Wondering what was so important, and sudden, I ran around searching for my cellphone. Once I finally found it, hidden under my pillow and connected to a tangled wire, I dialed K’s phone number and listened anxiously to the tones. “Hi Ilan,” she said calmly.

Banana-caramel yeast donuts

K told me that one of her family’s friends, Emanuela, was the host of a cooking show called Home Cookin’ (also known as Home Cooking) on Rogers Television (that’s a Canadian television station) and she showed her my blog. As I listened I wondered where the conversation was going. No, really, I had no idea where the conversation was going. I soon found out that Emanuela talked to her co-producer and they wanted me on the show!

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Cinnamon Rolls

Have you ever heard of Panama before? It’s a country in central America that’s known for its canal. If I was a country I wouldn’t want to be known for my canal. That’s a pretty strange thing to be known for. Americans are known for baseball and apple pie, Canadians for cold weather and hockey, and Panama is known for its canal. I saw the canal before. It’s a nice canal, but still.

Cinnamon rolls on a baking tray

Next week I’m making my second trip to Panama for a family vacation and we plan to go on a salt-water fishing trip and to the tropical fruit market (you can read about the tropical fruit market here). The one thing that really stuck out to me last time I went to Panama though wasn’t the food, it was a car accident.

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