Adaptability: Saturday Morning Breakfast in Kyrgyzstan

One of the challenges of being an expat living in a remote place is the disconnection you feel from that which you are accustomed. And food is one of the biggest challenges.

Adaptability and resourcefulness are what a person must possess in abundance in order to maintain one's sense of equanimity. My Saturday morning breakfast was my humble effort to live up to this credo.

I always try to cook up something comforting and special on my Saturday morning. It is a reminder of a family custom, as my parents would endeavor to make french toast or Swedish Custard Pancakes or omelettes or a decadent breakfast casserole for our breakfasts when I was a child. And so today it was a breakfast burrito that I hoped to make in order to create a warm, pleasant Saturday.

But the only ingredients for breakfast burritos that can be obtained in Naryn are eggs, milk, and onions. The rest must be tracked down, invented or adapted. No tortillas? That's OK, I can use the wonderful roti that I have in my freezer, a gift from a co-worker; they work as well, maybe even better. Don't forget the salsa and American cheese I managed to find last time I was in Bishkek. Resourcefulness: that comes from the chipotle sauce I managed to create and invent, almost from sheer determination.

Ahhh. The final product. Not a typical breakfast burrito. In fact it was unlike any breakfast burrito I've ever had. But, oh, it was a hot, rich, creamy, spicy, and savory plate of goodness.

In all the world, and even in the familiar lives of our customary homes, the joy that comes from adapting and transforming what we have to what we enjoy: it is a challenge that defines how we live and how we feel. And it is important to remember that these potential moments of zen can even be found in something as simple as the act of creating a breakfast burrito.