When the call was put out to  “Cook, Snap & Share your most memorable travel recipe” to win a Sri Lankan food adventure, I heard it loud and clear and jumped at the chance to enter.

My most memorable travel recipe is a simple one— yet poignant and oh so memorable to me. It’s taken from a page ripped straight out of my Au Pair diaries—ephemera from my halcyon days of my first year in Madrid—and serves to remind me of when I was young and fearless. I had Life and the whole world ahead of me.

Recipe for a Good Day
A Recipe for a Perfect Day in el Retiro Park, Madrid

Being a vegetarian—with strong vegan tendencies—in Madrid means my food choices can be limited and often times, boring. Couple that with the fact that I grew up with a Mexican mother (from Jalisco no less), I’m used to—nay, crave—spicy food all the time. However the average Spanish tongue does not tolerate spicy food—most “flavoring” are often limited to: olive oil, garlic, coarse salt, parsley and occasionally, pimentón (a Spanish paprika of sorts). Whenever I go home for visits, you better believe I come back to Madrid with a suitcase stuffed full of bottles of Tapatío and Tajín.

World Nomads, Intrepid Travel, hear my call, I sound my barbaric yawp over the rooftops of the world: I’m in desperate need of spicing up my Life, ehm, tongue.

You say “adventurous foodie.” I say, “baby, I was just born (and raised) this way.

Sri Lanka, bring it.

Former Au Pair Extraordinaires, turned best travel buddies ever
Former Au Pair Extraordinaires, turned best travel buddies ever

I even threw in my old video application—in which I made the Top 5!—for the Entirely Kiwi, Entirely World Famous travel competition for good measure.

For more articles on Sri Lanka featured on Tango Diva, take a look at co-founder Teresa Rodriguez’s emotional article on the powers of connecting and learning about different cultures through letter exchanges “A Letter From Sri Lanka.”