Back to School...x2!

So here I am, after a hiatus, writing again...

I have been busy with the back to school routine. My daughter is now a third-grader. Ah, where has the time gone?

And, I am back in college! Yes. Time to finish that forgotten degree. Life has been good to me without it. But a part of me realizes how important education is. How am I going to tell my daughters to continue their education if I don't do the same?

I am attending a womens-only college in my area. I go to school on weekends. And I love it so far. Their teaching style is different. The style I like. But still, it is a lot of work.

But there is a sense of empowerment in going back. I am reevaluating some of my beliefs. I am revising a little how I have been thinking, and becoming more concientious about my surroundings and the world I am in, specially this time of the year with elections coming up. Thinking more of the issues important to me, and what can I do about those issues in my community, in my world.

I am a mother. A Puertorican mother living in the USA. A full time employee and mother, and also, now a student. Wow! What issues affect me that I could do something about, is what I ponder?

Education, women's rights, race relations, affirmative action...? The possibilities are endless, and I am learning more about those possiblities, and what I can do with them...

I hope many others do the same. I cannot change the world alone, but if we all do a little, then, maybe...

Family Vacation

I was out of town.

I was at Wisconsin Dells, a city in South Central Wisconsin, near Madison, which is known to many as the "Waterpark Capital of the world". I have seen it featured in travel shows and magazines.

Wisconsin Dells is a fun place. For someone like me, who comes from a tropical island where beaches were readily accessible year round, this is a great place to be in the summer. And it has plenty of indoor waterparks as well, which are kept at very warm temps. So I would not mind scaping there in the winter.

My father-in-law and mother-in-law were gracious enough to book a condo in one of the biggests resorts up at the Dells. So we had a family reunion. There were 17 of us. 10 adults, 7 kids.

Besides the natural friction that could result from having so many people and personalities together, in general, we had a great time. The children particularly had a blast from playing in the many water park attractions. We had three days of fabulous weather. And I have a nice tan.

Hanging out by the outdoor park, I felt as if I was back in the Island again. I felt nostalgic and sad at times. As a matter of fact, I felt sad leaving the Dells, the same way I feel sad after saying goodbye to Puerto Rico from the airplane window after a visit...

I did not leave any relatives back at the Dells. Just memories and wishes, just moments where, for a moment, I pretended to be at a resort in Puerto Rico.

I wish to go back again. The girls loved it...maybe in the middle of our brutal winter, we can escape...

Divine Puertorican Food

So, last Saturday I ventured into the predominantly Hispanic area of Milwaukee, hunting for yummy Puertorican food.

I know how to cook some of it. However, I don't cook it often. To me, it tastes better when someone else cooks it. Besides, to make it with the real flavor I am used to means cooking with ingredients that are not exactly the best for my health. So Puertorican food is a treat. And if it is a treat, I don't want to cook it!

My grandma used to make killer "pasteles" (a mix of shreded plaintain, meat and other ingredients you wrap in a plaintain leaf and boil until cooked, similar to a "tamale"). She also grew her own "gandules" (pigeon peas)in the yard, and sat for hours taking them out of their pods. I helped her sometimes. I remember rainy afternoons doing this, our hands stained green when we were done. Unfortunately, she left us before being able to pass on her culinary talents to me.

Then, there was "Tity" (Aunt) Carmen. Oh, she could cook! She taught me how to make rice and other things. I was never able to equal the taste of her food, though. One of my cousins, Noemi, learned from her and cooks pretty good, almost like Tity Carmen. Yet, not the same.

People asks all the time if Puertorican food is the same as Mexican food. I like Mexican food. But no, is not the same. When you see a box of Spanish rice at the grocery store, is not the same rice we make. There are as many differences as our people is different.

I miss the smells of our food everywhere, as you can get when you visit the island. If you are driving along the coast line, you can smell the sea along with the wind bringing the "tastes" of the seafood cooked in those restaurants around there. If you drive through the mountains, you can smell the rice, a pig roast, pasteles, the beans...occasionally, even an accident..."Alguien quemo las habichuelas!" (Someone must have burnt the beans!).

And in the urban centers, the smells of quick cafe-style restaurants, "cafeterias", where you find a case filled with lightbulbs keeping different fried delicacies warm, like "empanadillas" (a form of pasty filled with either meat, cheese, or any filling your imagination can find), "pastelillos", "bacalaitos"(fried cod), "rellenos"(potato balls filled with meat and fried), "mofongos" (plantain balls), and all sorts of sweet pastries people pick up for a quick, inexpensive lunch, or just as a feel-good snack...

Ah, I miss those smells. When I go visit, is the food that makes it all feel as if I never left. The foods of my childhood and youth. The tastes that are as fresh as the memories.

Yes, I went and had me some Puertorican, yummy food. I can't wait to do it again!