This week is the way life is supposed to be when you’re not retired, I think, with enough work to fill the coffers but not completely crush your soul with tedium, and plenty of time to stop and enjoy your ‘island’ paradise.

Amazingly, every single one of my clients has me on deck this week, even a couple of one-offs that I never expected to hear from again. It’s long days, but since I’m not doing the same thing hour after hour and a lot of work can be done from my armchair, it’s not hard the way my old transcription marathons were.

After finishing my eight-hour proofing shift, I went for a long beach walk, enjoying how quiet it is before the tourists come. Then, I came home to start on some graphic design-type work when an email came in asking if anyone from proofing could do a job right that minute. I knew that this writer’s copy is very clean and it wouldn’t be super tedious, so I claimed it… and may have had a beer while working on it. That done, I did a bit of work on the other project, but since I have to work on the PC and I’d already put in nearly 10 hours, I didn’t have enough patience to do much more than lay out the work to do. But at least I got started on it and have an idea of how long the job will take.

It was then time to put my feet up for a bit and read. I’ve been reading a lot since I got back to Isla and I know that chair has something to do with it! I really missed having a cozy chair and living room to retire to last winter since the sofa was so useless. I really didn’t use the house to its full potential. I’m much happier in it this year. My landlady also put something in my bedroom that she told me might be useful in my office, and she was right:

What an amazing unit for my office! I love having a drawer for my office supplies and the printer higher up than when it was on the night table I was using last year! Some may say that she should have put a desk in here for me, too, but I don’t need one. The plastic table I was using last year is exactly the right height and size.

But I digress. By now, I’m sure you’re curious about the dang torta I mentioned in my post title… I vaguely remember reading about tortas last year, but didn’t think much of them. Maybe it’s because I’ve mastered the taco, but I seem to be seeing tortas everywhere this month and so I started to get curious. They really don’t sound like anything special, just a sandwich with a lot of stuff in it, but they’re quintessential Mexican food, so I decided to try one.

My riding friend Joan told me about a Miguel-ish restaurant at the other end of Isla, near the village embarcadero, called Estanquillo Osuna (not to be confused with the Osuna restaurant on the beach), that is open most evenings. I decided to check it out tonight.

Joan likes their papas locas (crazy potatoes), but that doesn’t appeal much to me since I’m not much of a potato fan unless they are fried Quebec style. The first thing on Osuna’s menu is tortas so I decided that I would try one. My choices were ham, carne asada (steak), pierna (similar to pulled pork, I’m told), and especial. I asked the server what the latter entailed and she slowly recited that it meant ham, steak, cheese, veggies, crema, and chiles. Sign me up!

I don’t know why, but I was expecting a cold sandwich. What arrived had been pressed on a grill, like a panino. The bread was delicate and buttery and one side had a slice of yellow (American/processed cheese). The meat had also seen the grill, with the ham reminding me of the fried baloney my dad used to serve when I was a kid (and that’s not a criticism!). On top of that were bite-sized pieces of steak, some of which were bonded with browned Chihuahua cheese (mmmmmmm), but most of which were loose and reminded me of one of Roseanne Connor’s loose meat sandwiches. There was also lettuce, onions, tomatoes, crema, and chiles, and I may have added a few extra of the chiles (and I had serranos in my lunch; I really am developing a Mexican palate!).

The whole thing was ridiculously messy, way too calorific, and incredibly delicious. Tortas are apparently a lunch food, meant to satisfy the appetite of a hard worker, not be dinner for someone who sits on her butt all day. So they’re a treat I will reserve for days when I’ve done a lot of walking. I’m told there’s a restaurant at the Mercado that does amazing pierna tortas, so I’ll plan to do that one day after a long Malecón walk!

Mexican food tends to combine a lot of different things together, and some combinations seem really odd, but I’m learning to have faith that they’ll work. I just have to avoid the mayo if at all possible. Asking for no mayo never works, even at Miguel’s, so I was really glad that the torta came with crema instead. Next thing I want to try is tostilocos!

I enjoyed eating at Osuna. It was a lot quieter than at Miguel’s (but there were still several customers), and I liked watching the lights of Maz. The price for dinner was $55 with water. A bottle of water at a restaurant is normally an outrageous $12 to $15, so I’d say the torta was probably about $40. So the prices are in line with Miguel’s, too, and it’ll be good to have that other option for a sit down restaurant now that Patty is gone (No, I’m not over it. Patty was wonderful!).

Yikes, look at the time! 7:30 is shutdown time for me since I like to be up by 4:30, 5:00 so I can hit the beach before work. You all feel sorry for me, don’t you. 😉 😉 😉