Buen Provecho

Buen Provecho

I am doing it again. I get busy during the day with homeschooling and house-chores, that I forget about my postaday challenge.  My family and I, spend a lot of time in the kitchen, we love to cook together. The question is always, what’s for dinner?

And then…TA-DA! It came to me, like thunder: why not share my experience I have everyday cooking in my kitchen? I thought about my cooking blog.  I have many, many recipes, I have collected throughout the years. I have been cooking, creating and experimenting different recipes. Among other cooking books and magazines I have books from Uruguay, Argentina, Turkey and soon Portugal. It always fascinates me the different tastes from different homes and from around the world. I want to learn and practice Argentine,  Uruguayan, Turkish and Portuguese cuisine. So, here I am, telling you and sharing with you, ideas and recipes from my cooking blog. It  will be part of the postaday challenge for 2012.

 I am very excited, to share with you my experience in perserving family traditions, this time: Cooking. Buen Provecho!

Carnaval…what I remember

Once upon a time was a great time to remember in this far, far away country. This country had many, many towns. Every one of them had its own culture and unique ways of expressing itself. However, there was a few things that the habitants of these unique towns celebrated the same way, and at the same time. One of those things was….the Carnaval!

The Carnaval was a time to share with family and friends. It was celebrated  during summer time and around January and February. Even with only the sound of the word Carnaval, anyone in the country would feel happy and full of joy. It was truly a time to enjoy family, friends and good food. Extended family members would travel from far away distances to join the festivities. During the Carnaval; the main attractions were the Carrozas, Costumes, Corso and Parade.

The Carrozas were one of the main attractions during this event. The Carrozas resembled big stages on wheels, or, some times, they would be tied to pick up trucks. Either way people would get very creative when building these big floats. The Carrozas were built based on different themes. For instance, book characters, important people at the time, nature, countries around the world, etc. One time the theme of the entire Carnaval was “Around the World” so the designers of the floats got very creative and excited about this theme. Every float had a country to represent and it was a magnificent sight to behold.

There were many elaborate costumes worn by the direct participants of the Carnaval. When the theme was “Around the World”, every town had its own country to represent, and the people and color and songs and everything was exclusive of the country the town was representing g at that time. The costumes were super elaborate, and usually the family members had hand-made these costumes from scratch. It would take them an entire year to finish. Usually the children within the family were involved and mothers were the ones making these extraordinary pieces of clothing. I am talking about a time when sophisticated sewing machines did not exist, and if they did, these talented and creative people could not afford them, and yet the sight was breath taking.

Corso was always at night and it was during this time when the host in each town would give the big opening and with loud music, controlled traffic and families gathering, he would open the Corso! At the same time, and with one goal, the hosts around this far, far away country would give opening to the Carnaval! Before the Carrozas and colorful clothes of the people would start the parade, there was always some important and famous singer invited to the event to make the evening sparkle even more! People that were not on the stage were eating in the restaurants along the traffic controlled streets. Children would be playing with water or with foam. It was the custom during Corso , among children, and sometimes adults, to play with water and/or foam. When the parade started it was a delightful sight. It always began with the Fire Department, with the loud sirens along with the police on horses.  There were feathers, shiny clothes, big hats with different colors, clowns, ballerinas, smiling faces and children everywhere. There was music and dances they choreographed themselves and had practiced all year long. The whole feast would last for hours and even more.

Everybody knew that the parade was ending when the kids would shout, “I can hear the Firemen’s siren, mom!” Nobody wanted that time to come. But, it did. While the Firemen were leaving, the little children followed it running, trying to touch the Fire truck. It was the sign that everything was over. Each family  started to head home thinking about next year’s Carnaval, where the magic would come around again!

Oil

Suddenly, there I was going down the hill on my scooter, totally out of control. I could here my puppy, Choco, barking in desperation. He was riding in my seat; I was helplessly looking around  for somebody to come to my rescue, but in vain. I had to get control of my scooter myself.  I knew that if I frantically tried to hit the brakes. My situation was not going to be a very fortunate one.

I let my unfortunate event follow its own direction. I was scared. It looked for a moment as if everything around me stopped; yes, it seemed so unrealistic. I remember exactly how scared I was, going very fast without control. I glanced at my surroundings. The trees around me looked very green and people were getting out of the cars ready to go to the big supermarket on my left hand side. I also remember the school where my tia taught, located next to the supermarket.

 I had more situations like this one. My sisters and I had a blast riding Mom’s scooter everywhere. It was refreshing and exciting! However, the oil on the street story was not one of my favorites, however my sense of calmness in emergency situations, I think, was born that day.

Inspiration that Clicks

Inspiration that Clicks.

What a wonderful idea! Poetry was always a very delicate subject to me. As an avid reader, it is almost embarrasing to admit that I have never paid much attention to this form of writing. In other words, poetry books were never on top of my book list I borrowed from the library. After reading Erica’s post, I felt diffrently about poetry. I have checked out books from Shel Silverstein and Beowulf in the past and I have also read some poetry in Spanish like Martin Fierro and Don Quijote de la Mancha. I understand that, with my limited knowledge about poetry and the magnitud of these type of books, it might heen quite too much to digest, except those from S.S. But, I think by subscribing to poets.org I will spend a few minutes a day and that, will probably, give me more “tangible” material to work with.

I am very excited to learn about poetry and also to get to know and read more this form of writing. This inspiration really clicked! This tip was really useful. I hope writers out there are taking advantage of these great sites. Thank you!

There was a land…

…the land was what we, now know, as the South part of Argentina, Patagonia, to be precise. This desolate part of the world was occupied by only a small group of humans, they were nomad. Nomadic are a group of people who move from one place to another. Patagonia was also occupied by big animals who were hunted by these nomadic communities. Among other animals there were Mylodons , Hyppidions, guanacos, llamas and ñandúes everywhere!

These animals were hunted by the nomads to eat and to protect themselves from the cruel climate of the zone. Patagonia is the coldest part of Argentina. Mylodon lived in Patagonia, South part of Argentina. Mylodons were like big gigantic grizzly bears! They were pacific animals and they ate only plants, and tree leaves. These gigantic teddy bears were not aggressive, therefore, they had no enemies except humans who would chase and hunt them for its fur.

Hyppidions were horses and they were the first horses in Argentina, it is too bad there are no longer in existence. Every time I read stories about horses I think about my father, who was very fond of horses. He did not only owned a few horses himself, but he knows a lot about them and when you listen to him talking about horses, it is impossible for you not to love them they way he does! llamas, guanacos and ñandúes are part of Argentina’s fauna today. The history and amazing discoveries about Patagonian animals and nomads are found today in Santa Cruz, Argentina province in Patagonia; precisely in a cave called Museo de Piedra. However another historical site was found 100 kilometers north from Museo de Piedra called Los Toldos where another group of people, apparently, lived in this part of the region. The animals and the few people who lived in this part of the world were mysterious and full of life as the animals and people living today.

Knowing the past of the land I come from helps me understand better, my future and my children’s future. I understand that we are not individual people without a past, without history. Taking time to understand our history prepares to be better humans.

Writing Honestly

Writing Honestly is after all something that I have always wanted to do. This is why; I still keep trying this fascinating craft. I find myself writing, and re-writing, editing, and never publishing. This article really struck me, as I read it, it seems that the writer knew me deep inside!

I am all about doing the challenge this year more than before. English is my second language, but the idea of practicing it right always fascinated me . My husband and children are from North America, and my desire to learn it is great. I am a homeschool mother and we spend a lot of our time working on grammar and writing.

As I write on my blog this morning, I am constantly thinking about “writing honestly” I truly need to stop myself from thinking negatively, it is really and exercise, like any other exercise; it is amazing! It is my hope to keep writing honestly and someday my words would come very articulated and in a gracious way. I hope =i=