Orange Peelings in the Drink

Frieda, my mom, is sharing a story today that I remember hearing many times though the years.  It makes me laugh every time!  Enjoy!

Esther, your story of Jason putting lettuce in the blended drink reminded me…

One time we were at your house and Jason blended onions in with the tomatoes.  Onions are very good for you, right?  It looked like tomato juice, but it tasted like very strong onions.  We drank a little for the healthful benefit, but Jason was not offended at our turning down any more.

In 1963 blenders had been around for awhile, but were as not common as they became later.  I remember reading that you could make healthful drinks by blending fruit with the peeling and pulp.  That year, not long after we arrived as new missionaries in Costa Rica, we were invited to the wedding of some young missionaries we met at the Spanish Language Institute.  At the reception, along with the cake, we were served something that looked like orange juice.  It tasted like orange juice, but it was horribly bitter.  I heard it whispered around that they had blended the peeling with the rest of the orange, but thinking back, they had probably just blended the whole orange with the pulp.  Young ladies kept coming around with pitchers of the concoction and urging everyone to have more.  We drank very slowly so they wouldn’t see empty glasses and insist on refilling them.  It tasted really awful.

A few years later we moved to Guadalajara, Mexico, with our three children ages 2-6.  I met a lady who had children about the same ages and who lived a block or two away in a very nice neighborhood.  She invited me and our kids to a piñata party for the birthday of one of her children.  I was having trouble with allergies, so I took an antihistamine before leaving for the party.  Everything was going well, the kids were behaving, and I was chatting with ladies I hadn’t met before.  We mothers were served something that looked like orange juice, but when I tasted it, it was horribly bitter.  “Oh, no,” I thought, remembering my earlier experience, “they have blended the peeling with the oranges!”  I sipped politely and got it down, but I was dreading them serving the children.  I knew one of mine would blurt out, “This tastes awful.”  However, to my surprise, the children happily drank and didn’t say a word.

Meanwhile, I was getting unbearably sleepy.  You have probably guessed by now, they had put some kind of liquor in the punch for the mothers.  Not being used to any kind of alcohol, that on top of the antihistamine was putting me to sleep.  I think I managed to stay awake, though if I conversed, I doubt if I made any sense.  I really don’t remember much about the rest of the party except that as soon as it seemed socially admissible, I excused myself and managed to get home with my children.  For some reason, I was never invited back to the home of that lady nor to the homes of any of the others who were present.