NEW YEARS EVE: Satisfying a Craving for Homemade Tamales ...

8 lbs pork + garlic + onion + salt = boil for 1.5 hours

Ever since mi mami left for CA earlier this month, I've had a severe craving for homemade pork tamales. Being in the midst of the holidays, prime tamale-making season, and missing her got me into the car this morning and en route to the local Latino tiendita.

Who do you think I called for that twenty-minute ride home? I realized at that moment how much of a blessing it is to have her a phone call away. It served as a reminder, too, of how much more I need to pay attention, so as not lose the connection to my family's Mexican traditions.

Remojando las ojas en agua tibia.

With each passing generation traditions get passed on and are adapted ... well, I'm starting my own traditions, here, a ver como salen tamales hechos estilo Ezzy! Mi mami swears I made them solita once while expecting my son. Honestly, I don't remember. But, hey, at this point, I'm lucky if I remember what I ate yesterday. Unless, of course, it's a TAMALE!

Mmmm, yeah, chile guajillo ... my husband's eyes are watering in his office ... jijiji : p

Simmered chile guajillo + Onion + Garlic = Blender
(Do not touch your face after handling these chiles.)

Strain

Add strained chile sauce to shredded pork.

Add salt to-taste. : )
Nice and spicy!

A masar! No messing around here. This part makes me nervous.

These photos courtesy of my mi'jito. : D

Ready for the sauna. Steam for about 1.5 hours.

Satisfaction

No frijoles refritos, no arroz, nothing else -- just pork tamales (y mi Tecate : ).

Abrazos y besos a todas mis amigas y los cuantos amigos que me visitan.

FELIZ Año!

MIERCOLES MUDO: Lego Love at the Lego Store

Procrastination and Writing a Lit Review (This is so me!)

Wish I weren't clutch. o_O

Examining the representation of ELL students in alternative education programs relative to the population,
but must first learn of the challenges ELLs face, e.g. lack of teacher multicultural training, attitudes, poverty ...

My Bible <3

Platicamos de Esperanza Renace [Los Aguacates]

Photo by Farmanac

En "Los Aguacates," nos encontramos una Esperanza que no parece la misma niña. Sí se acuerdan, ella soñaba de algún día ser la dueña del Rancho de Las Rosas, adinerada como su mama. Pero cuando sus tíos matan a su papa y le roban a su mama la propiedad después del fuego, para sobrevivir ellas tienen que irse a trabajar en los campos de California. Sí se quedan en Aguascalientes, la mama de Esperanza no tendría otra que casarse con uno de los tíos asquerosos ...

Ahora, la mama de Esperanza sigue en el hospital, pero peor. El médico le aconseja a Esperanza que no la venga a ver por una temporada porque teman que la señora contraiga otra enfermedad a causa de gérmenes que vienen de fuera del hospital. Esperanza se pone bien triste y resuelve a trabajar lo mas posible para ahorrar el dinero que necesita para traer a su abuelita de Aguascalientes. Ella sabe que a ver su abuelita, mama se aliviará.

Esperanza comienza a trabajar en el campo, atando ramas de vides, y dentro de poco tiempo sus manos parecen las de una anciana, rosadas y llenas de cortadas y cicatrices. Hortensia le ve la condición de sus manos y machuca algunos aguacates, mezclandolos con glicerina. Esperanza se acuerda que en el rancho, su mama se untaba algo parecido a guacamole en sus manos después de pasar horas haciendo jardinería. Esperanza se unta la preparación, pero sus manos siguen rojas y maltratadas. En ese momento, ella realiza que ya no tiene las manos de una jovencita adinerada, si no de una pobre campesina.

Photo by Tobias Higbie

"En los cines había secciones destinadas a negros y mexicanos. En la ciudad los padres no querían que sus hijos fueran a las mismas escuelas que los mexicanos. Vivir alejados de la ciudad, en el campamento de la compañia, tenía sus ventajas ... Todos los niños iban juntos a la escuela: blancos, mexicanos, japoneses, chinos y filipinos. No se discriminaba a nadie porque todos eran pobres."

Hortensia manda a Esperanza a hacer la compra, pero a una tienda japonesa que queda mas lejos del campamento. Esperanza no entiende porque no van a la que queda mas cerca. Miguel le explica que los dueños de muchas tiendas no quieren a los mexicanos y es por esa razón que van a la tienda del Sr. Yakota ... el los trata "como personas." Esta es la primera vez que Esperanza se entera de la discriminación contra los mexicanos.

Tanto pasa en este capitulo. Esperanza sigue contando sus centavos, comprando giros postales cada dos semanas. Espera la temporada de durazno, sabiendo que Marta y los huelguistas (por buena razón) planean a "cerrar" todo.

Que ira pasar!?

Photo by Brian Lee Clements

Algunas palabras nuevas ...

hoguera = bonfire

aspera = rough, rugged, cragged, grained, knotty; horrid (my new favorite word!)

gérmen = germ

horquilla = hairpin

distinta = distinct, different, diverse

ausencia = absence

espigada = tall, graceful, slender

crisálida = chrysalis

alga = seaweed

jengibre = ginger

desgana = lack of appetite/enthusiasm

salpicado de = peppered with

sendero = trail

partidario = partisan 

acequia = irrigation channel or ditch

Arrastrando los pies a Los Espárragos ... no quiero que termine este libro. Solo quedan tres capitulos ; (

MIERCOLES MUDO: Se Parte El Sol Por La Luna

Car Safety and Education ... Thank you!

I felt safe in my 2002 Ford Explorer (loved her).

My Ford Experience

In 2002, when we were expecting our son, my husband and I agreed that I needed a vehicle that was safe to drive through snow and ice. Three years had passed since I'd experienced my first New England snow storm. I'd moved from Southern California and knew nothing of salt melting ice on the roads, that snowplows tore mailboxes from their posts, or how people managed to get-to-and-from work in extreme weather conditions. Heck, I was used to the Santa Ana winds, rain, flooding, mud-slides, fires, earthquakes, the Night Stalker, even ... but snow and ice? Nuh-uh. I remember on the news, watching drivers abandon their vehicles on the highway and thinking to myself, "There's-no-freaking way-I'll-survive."

Well, I did. I adapted to my new environment, fell in love with the seasons, but, still, never felt safe driving in the wintertime. This is the reason my husband and I visited our neighborhood Ford dealership. I was seven months pregnant and wanted something super-safe: an Explorer. The next best-thing for me on the safety-scale, at the time, would've been a Suburban with bullet-proof windows. I kid you not. I've calmed down a little, since. ... really.

Why a Ford? My parents and husband had driven Fords. When I was a kid, my parents purchased a previously-owned pea-green 1976 Mustang that they later handed down to my middle sister (who soon drove it into a tree, she was okay). Years later, my mom bought a Focus that she handed down to my sister (same one, both are doing fine : ). Then there were the four company cars my husband drove, over the years, since we were married, all Fords.

Source: www.oldcarbrochures.com

My Ford loved flooded and snowy conditions. | Mi mama cleans-off her Ford Focus. : )

So imagine my surprise when I learned that had it not been for Ford Latino's generosity, I might not have been able to attend last month's #Latism11 conference, in Chicago. Had I known this when I first met Fernando and Jesus from Ford Latino, I would've given them each a huge hug and said, "Gracias, por todo."

In hindsight, gentlemen, thank you for not only for making it feasible for me to attend #Latism11, but for your commitment to Latinos and education, something I learned about doing my own little investigation.

Commitment to Latinos and Education

For example, did you know that in the first nine months of 2011, Ford Motor donated more than $1.8 million to schools through their Drive One 4 UR School Program? Or that they're the first car company to partner with General Mills' Box Tops for Education Program to help raise funds for schools?

I'm beyond proud to have been sponsored by a company that has shown their commitment, not only to safety, but to education and to helping Latinos youths through programs such as Ford Driving Dreams Through Education, their partnership with the Hispanic College Fund that assists Latino college graduates transition to from school to careers, and the new Ford Capital Grant Program that awards $400,000 in grant money to programs in "education, automative safety, community needs and the arts."

FORD Driving Dreams Program

FORD Partners with Hispanic College Fund

¿Qué mas puedo decir? Truth is that had it not been for programs such as these, I might have not been able to fund my college education.

Ford and Ford Latino, gracias and keep up the awesome work.

To learn more about Ford in English, or to check out the new Escape (one of my hub's next company car choices :), click here, or if you speak Spanish/Spanglish, please show your support and "like" the Ford en Español FB page.

Besos y abrazos for the rear-sensors!