Just when I start thinking I’m a pretty savvy expat something pulls me back and reminds me that what I really am is a rather bumbling midwesterner who just happens to be living in Mexico.

It might be when the clerk gives me a bag of eggs at the local grocery when I thought I had asked for cheese. Or when I can’t find a napkin quick enough after learning that what I’m eating is cow tongue. Or when I take my grandson to a birthday party and arrive exactly on time. Again. 

This time it was hamburger.

I don’t do the majority of cooking or grocery shopping at our house, but this week the rest of the family was on vacation and I was on my own for meals. So off I went to the grocery to buy the fixings for all the things I miss because no one else in the family will eat them. Like tuna casserole. And green beans cooked with bacon and red potatoes. And something I call Macaroni Skillet Meal.

I’m not sure why I like Macaroni Skillet Meal so much, but it’s probably because of its rarity. My mom never made it. My kids wouldn’t eat it. And I’ve only made it once here in Mexico because the outrageous cost of hamburger always has me putting the package down and heading to the hot dog aisle instead.

This week was different. I splurged and decided to pay the  nearly ten U.S. dollars for slightly less than a pound of hamburger. To help me get over the mild depression brought on by paying so much, I also bought myself a six pack of Nestle Crunch candy bars for considerably less.

It was only when I got home and started making dinner that I realized something was wrong. The hamburger filled up the whole skillet with no room for the macaroni and tomatoes. 

I’m not sure what possessed me to search in the trash can for the hamburger packaging – although it probably had something to do with not being able to find a bigger skillet.

In any event, there it was, a little “kg” right next to my hamburger’s weight, which a little googling told me was actually well over 2 pounds.  

Reminding me once again that I’m a bumbling midwesterner. But one who can now buy hamburger without the need for a Nestle Crunch.