Day 3 – Favorite Latino influenced ;) food

Pernil Asado

 There are plenty of foods I do not eat. I hate chick peas. Mustard can die slow. Don't even get me started on sea food. I respect people's choice to not eat meat, or even be vegan. I do. In Syracuse, the first dorm I lived in, Flint/Day, was known as the place to go for the best salad bar, the most in vegetarian/vegan options of any dining hall and so many types of bread! But, I am someone who cannot live with meat in my life - my favorite is pork - chuleta, pernil, masita de cerdo, sandwich cubano. I could eat it all! When I was younger beef was my favorite but my parents decided to stop cooking it (trying to be healthier in diet) and my stomach grew increasingly intolerant. However, I'm grateful for the shift because red meat is pretty harsh for the tummy. Of course, who doesn't love chicken and turkey burgers are a delightful alternative to red meat.

Chuleta Frita

I hate to admit it, but being away from home and in Syracuse made me realize that the world did not live off of rice, beans, a side of meat, and depending on how Papi felt that night, a bonus of peas, sweet corn, or if we were really lucky tostones or maduros (fried or sweet plaintains). I was genuinely freaked out to find no rice, no meat resembling the cooked meat I grew up with... what was I going to eat?! Pasta for 7 days? Burgers for 7 days .. (yum, but hello freshman 15)?

In our family, turkey is not the meat of choice for holiday - Pernil is the centerpiece for our dinner. For the past 2 years or so I've taken the chef's hat and have made our holiday meat. It has been important to me for the past few years to extract cooking knowledge from my mother so that I can continue the tradition. No offense to the turkey, but there's something about the smell of roasting pork shoulder in a house that beyond amazing!

Hungry now...
Z

Day 2 – What Latin American Country/Island I would love to go to.

Blogging everyday has already proven to be a challenge so I may have to start blogging in advanced and scheduling these bad boys...

It would be easy to say Ecuador (given my last post) since this is where my birth family is from ---- however I think I would rather go with an acquaintance or even by myself! I view traveling the way I view living with someone ---- it's just not recommended to live with friends... the bad side of people's habits and tendencies come out QUICK. For me, I think staying in one place for too long is no bueno! I'd rather just take a month or 3 off and visit every country in South America! It's just such a different world down there and every country is so different I feel like I'd be in heaven to get it all in one gulp :)

Besides South America, I would have to say Cuba. And yes, it's totally because of the risk and the thrill of being in a forbidden country! Why the hell not! I learned late in life that you cannot always believe what you see in the media or even in textbooks - therefore the antagonized politics of Cuba is one that I love to debate about for hours & learn more about. In fact, my blog may even be blacklisted by the government as we speak~ However, Cuba's history and culture is a fascinating one, and I can only imagine how beautiful their land and beaches are!

Anyway, my coworker and soon to be blogger (hooray!) will be leaving us to fullfill her life long dream of traveling the world in October! She will be traveling through South America until the holidays and then head to Europe and Asia after the New Year. I'm so EXCITED for her and extremely jealous she will be traveling all throughout South America. HOPEFULLY I can get my life together and do some traveling soon as well! I may even have to track her down over in Amsterdam ;)

Day 2 DONE!
Z

Day 1 - What I love most about being Latino...


For me to explain this would require a separate blog with multiple entries.. in fact committing myself to this 30 day challenge, is in itself, a clear indication on how much I love the culture I come from and grew up with. Though I have to say, as a kid, I would not have always agreed with that statement. The best way I think for me to explain this entry is to pose this question - what if you found out you weren't Latino? I actually did encountered this question not so long ago, and it definitely changed the way I viewed everything.

I had joked for a long time that there was no way I could truly be part of my family - I looked different, acted different (my mother commented recently that of course my blood pressure is low because nothing ever bothers me, unlike her and my father who scream about the firmness of a tomato), and generally felt different. When my mother finally confirmed my adoption, and my sister gave the look of confirmation... the thought was out there, even if it was only for a moment - what if the culture I had represented for so long is not in fact the culture that belonged to me? At that point, I felt pretty horrible to think that I wasn't Latina and that everything I held near and dear to me wasn't rightfully mine. It was pain in my heart that I cannot describe and I suddenly realized how much of my culture surrounded me in my day to day ----- I had Puerto Rican & Dominican flags all over my apt, I was president of the Latino org on my campus, my alarm was set to play Marc Anthony and Don Omar ---- even some of my personal emails had "DRPR" in it... This was a classic example of you don't know how much you love something until it's taken away from you...

Turns out my blood has the spirit of Ecuador, so though I don't have Caribbean blood, I still have Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic attributes. I cook a mean pernil and could eat mangu all day... Sometimes there is no other word I can think of to say but coño ... and lets face it.... there's a feeling that we Latinos get when we hear the congas that we don't get when we hear Jon Bon Jovi (though amazing in his own right!).

If you ask me today, I am Ecuadorian, Puerto Rican and Dominican (I change the order depending how the person I'm talking to, and if I want to piss them off... mu ha ha). Yes I am all three. Don't try to tell me otherwise or my blood pressure will in fact rise as one poor soul learned the hard way... ~=|

Anyway, between the music, the food, the comradery and even the controversial histories of each country there's a lot to love about being Latino. I hope you have one in your life! Ha~

- Z