Row, row, row your boat.

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream......
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Puerto Rico. My Puerto Rico. My happy place. My heart. My home. 

La Nogada that makes me puffy

This recipe makes me sad because I can't eat it or cook it. Damn you nut allergy.

Chiles en Nogada (Chilies in Walnut Sauce) Recipe

You must start this dish one day ahead by soaking the walnuts for the nogada sauce overnight.

INGREDIENTS

The Picadillo:
2 lbs of boneless pork
1/2 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 Tbsp salt, or to taste
6 Tbsp of lard or the fat from the broth
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
The cooked meat (about 3 cups - note if you use more than 3 cups, you will need to increase the amounts of the other ingredients)
A molcajete (mortar and pestle)
8 peppercorns
5 whole cloves
1/2 inch stick cinnamon
3 heaping Tbsp of raisins
2 Tbsp blanched and slivered almonds
2 heaping Tbsp acitron or candied fruit, chopped
2 tsp salt, or to taste
1 1/2 pounds of tomatoes, peeled and seeded
1 pear, cored, peeled and chopped
1 peach, pitted, peeled and chopped

METHOD
1 Cut the meat into large cubes. Put them into the pan with the onion, garlic, and salt and cover with cold water. Bring the meat to a boil, lower the flame and let it simmer until just tender - about 40-45 minutes. Do not over cook. Leave the meat to cool off in the broth.
2 Strain the meat, reserving the broth, then shred or chop it finely and set it aside. Let the broth get completely cold and skim off the fat. Reserve the fat.
3 Melt the lard and cook the onion and garlic, without browning, until they are soft.
4 Add the meat and let it cook until it begins to brown.
5 Crush the spices roughly in the molcajete and add them, with the rest of the ingredients to the meat mixture. (If you don't have a molcajete, you can use the blunt end of a pestle to crush the spices in a bowl.) Cook the mixture a few moments longer.
6 Add chopped peach and pear to the mixture.
The Chilies:
6 poblano chiles (you MUST use this type of chile)
7 Put the poblano chiles straight into a fairly high flame or under a broiler and let the skin blister and burn. Turn the chiles from time to time so they do not get overcooked or burn right through. (See How to roast chile peppers over a gas flame tutorial using Anaheim chiles.)
8 Wrap the chiles in a damp cloth or plastic bag and leave them for about 20 minutes. The burned skin will then flake off very easily and the flesh will become a little more cooked in the steam. Make a slit in the side of each chili and carefully remove the seeds and veins. Be careful to leave the top of the chili, the part around the base of the stem, intact. (If the chilies are too hot - picante, let them soak in a mild vinegar and water solution for about 30 minutes.) Rinse the chilies and pat them dry.
9 Stuff the chilies with the picadillo until they are well filled out. Set them aside on paper towels.
The Nogada (walnut sauce)
The day before:
20 to 25 fresh walnuts, shelled
cold milk
10 Remove the thin papery skin from the nuts. (Note, these are Diana Kennedy's instructions. I have found it virtually impossible to remove the skins from the fresh walnuts that come from our walnut tree. The above photo shows the sauce which includes the skins. I think it would be creamier without the skins, but what can you do? We found that blanching the walnuts did not help get the skin off. Completely cover the walnuts with cold milk and leave them to soak overnight.
On serving day:
The soaked and drained nuts
1 small piece white bread without crust
1/4 lb queso fresco
1 1/2 cups thick sour creme (or creme fraiche)
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar
Large pinch of cinnamon
11 Blend all of the ingredients in a blender until they are smooth.
To Serve
To assemble the dish, cover the chilies in the nogada sauce and sprinkle with fresh parsley leaves and pomegranate seeds.

Why don't you celebrate Columbus?

I've been asked this a few times. There isn't one simple answer but this is probably the one that I hate to like the most:


When the Spanish settlers first came in 1508, since there is no reliable documentation, anthropologists estimate their numbers to have been between 20,000 and 50,000, but maltreatment, disease, flight, and unsuccessful rebellion had diminished their number to 4,000 by 1515; in 1544 a bishop counted only 60, but these too were soon lost.

At their arrival the Spaniards expected the Taíno Indians to acknowledge the sovereignty of the king of Spain by payment of gold tribute, to work and supply provisions of food and to observe Christian ways.

The Taínos rebelled most notably in 1511, when several caciques (Indian leaders) conspired to oust the Spaniards. They were joined in this uprising by their traditional enemies, the Caribs. Their weapons, however, were no match against Spanish horses and firearms and the revolt was soon ended brutally by the Spanish forces of Governor Juan Ponce de León.

(as taken from www.topuertorico.org)

Dreaming of Puerto Rico

I'm feeling torn.....on one hand, I have so many things in CA that I love but on the other, I literally have my heart crying and wanting to move away to Puerto Rico. I'm so happy when I'm there (the earth, the air, the rhythms) on such a cellular level that I find it hard to explain to people.

I told myself that I wanted to move by 2012 and now less than half a year away and not a step closer than I was two years ago is depressing.

New York Puerto Rican Day Parade

http://www.nationalpuertoricandayparade.org/

HISTORY

The National Puerto Rican Day Parade (NPRDP) takes place annually along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, on the second Sunday in June, in honor of the nearly 4 million inhabitants of Puerto Rico and nearly 4 million people of Puerto Rican birth or heritage residing in the United States.

Originally, the Desfile Puertorriqueño, Inc., was born of the imperative necessity of translating Puerto Rican achievements into a visible demonstration of the dynamism of the Puerto Rican community, in order to achieve Puerto Rican unification and support all the other Spanish-speaking people. The first parade was held on Sunday, April 13, 1958, in Spanish Harlem “El Barrio”. The second parade was held for the first time along Fifth Avenue in New York City. (In 1980 was incorporated the New York Puerto Rican Parade, Inc. , a successor of the Desfile Puertorriqueño, Inc.) The National Puerto Rican Day Parade, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization, is a successor of the New York Puerto Rican Parade, Inc. it was incorporated and founded by Dr. Ramón S. Vélez and others members in 1995. Founding members still active in the organization are Madelyn Lugo and Maria Román Dumén. This new organizational structure not only expanded the scale of the parade itself but enhanced its ability to promote cultural awareness, education, leadership and community engagement among Puerto Ricans.

Annually, the NPRDP hosts over fifteen major events throughout the city including, but not limited to, educational banquets, scholarship receptions, music festivals, health walkathons, Miss Puerto Rico – cultural pageant, Boricua Games “Juegos Boricuas”, and our “Golden Age Fiesta” for seniors.

In 2007, for the 50th Anniversary, more than 100,000 participants marched and nearly three million spectators lined the parade route. The parade continues to attract prominent leaders in the Puerto Rican community from celebrities like Ricky Martin and Jennifer Lopez to Geraldo Rivera and Rosie Perez just to name a few.

The parade marches along Fifth Avenue from 44th Street to 79th Street and has grown to become the largest demonstration of ethnic pride in the nation. The parade is a cultural icon and a permanent fixture of the Puerto Rican diaspora.

MISSION

The NPRDP was established to create national awareness of Puerto Rican contributions to culture and our socioeconomic impact in the United States.

Our mission is to empower the Puerto Rican community through promoting economic development, education, social advancement and culture. We must emphasize the achievements made by thousands of Puerto Ricans in business, government, and industry to inspire our youth and instill a strong sense of self worth and pride in our community.

Great ancient civilizations of Mexico

It always strikes me when I travel in Mexico how many foreign visitors don't know the Olmecs from the Toltecs, never mind the Totonacs. Most of what we've learned about Mexico's ancient cultures begins and ends with the Aztecs and the Maya. Those justly renowned civilizations arose relatively late in the country's history, building on traditions that came before and incorporating influences from other peoples near and far.
Mesoamerica at its height was home to more than 25 million people. The 280 languages still spoken in Mexico today show that despite shared traditions and influences, many distinct civilizations arose because of geography, climate and contact with other cultures.


In the beginning
The earliest Mexicans might have been Stone Age hunter-gatherers from the north, descendants of a race that crossed the Bering Strait and reached North America around 12,000 B.C. Or, according to more recent theories, they might have been even earlier explorers from Asia. We do know Mexico was populated by 10,000 B.C., and sometime after 5200 B.C., roughly 2,000 years before the dawn of the Greek Bronze Age or the building of the Egyptian pyramids, these early people were practicing agriculture and domesticating animals.


The mother culture: The Olmecs
Mexico's Preclassic, or Formative, period generally coincides with the height of the Olmec civilization, from about 1300-400 B.C. Considered Mesoamerica's mother culture, these enigmatic people inhabited the tropical plains of today's Gulf Coast, including the states of Veracruz and Tabasco. The Olmec created a basic calendar, developed a writing system and established principles of urban layout and architecture, all of which would be perfected by the Maya, who began developing late in the Preclassic. During this period, Greece came through its Dark Age and into (and out of) its Classical Period, the Roman Empire was founded and Buddha was born.
The Olmecs were the first to leave signs of their culture for succeeding civilizations to contemplate, but the colossal stone heads, each carved from basalt rock weighing as much as 30 tons procured from hundreds of miles away, raise more questions than they answer. The best place to ponder those mysteries is at Parque Museo La Venta in Villahermosa, capital of Tabasco State, which houses some of these enormous carvings.



The making of a classic: Teotihucacan
Inspired by Olmec culture, the city of Teotihuacan, about 25 to 30 miles northeast of Mexico City, is one of the country's most-visited ancient cities. Its origins remain shrounded in mystery: Though the Totonacs maintain that they built it, the Olmec influence is inescapable, and some archaeologists and scholars believe the Toltecs were the true founders.
Teotihuacan reached its height between 700 B.C. and A.D. 700, a period that saw construction of Greece's Parthenon and the great works of Homer, Sophocles and Plato. Its influence remained strong through much of the Classic period (A.D. 300-900). It was conquered by northern tribes in 700, and its widespread influence rapidly diminished.
The city's most impressive structures are the magnificent Temple of the Feathered Serpent, the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, all lining the central thoroughfare, the Avenue of the Dead. The Palace of the Jaguars and the Palace of the Quetzal-Butterfly feature well-preserved murals, and the Temple of Quetzalcoatl includes numerous bold sculptures.



Reading, writing and arithmetic: The Zapotecs

The Classic period, A.D. 300-900, is best known for producing the Maya's greatest accomplishments. In the rest of the world, Attila the Hun was busy invading Europe, which soon entered the Midde Ages following the fall of the Roman Empire; the Chinese built the Great Wall and invented porcelain; and Mohammed marched from Mecca to Medina, launching the Muslim era.

The Maya weren't the only sophisticated culture in Mexico during the Classic period. Rising to ascendancy as the Olmec civilization declined, the Zapotecs dominated the Oaxaca region by 200 B.C. City dwellers and formidable warriors, their art, architecture, religion and mathematics show influence from the Olmec and the Maya. The heart of Zapotec culture was the mountainous area at and around Monte Alban, but they spead their influence into the coastal regions and traded with the Maya to the south.
Though the Zapotec civilization peaked between the third and eighth centuries A.D., their culture endures even today. They presented one of the Spanish conquerors' most vigorous challenges, and Benito Juarez, revered as Mexico's greatest president, was a Zapotec.


Birdmen of El Tajin: The Totonacs
The Totonacs, rivals of the Aztec, might well be the civilization most responsible for what Mexico is today. Their city-state extended through a great swath of central Veracruz and Puebla states. Peaking from A.D. 800 to 1100, the Totonacs ruled up to a quarter of a million people (archaeologists vigorously debate any population estimate). Between 25,000 and 100,000 residents occupied their capital, Cempoala, 5 miles inland from today's city of Veracruz.
The Totonacs, endowed with an abundance of water and fertile land, grew a wide variety of crops. One of the most important was cotton, which they used to make armor. After their conquest by the Aztecs in 1480, the Totonacs were forced to pay tributes of cloth, fruit, vegetables, honey and even slaves. Cortez' great good luck was to encounter the Totonacs first of all Mexico's native people; they were only too glad to mobilize their considerable forces to help the Spaniards defeat the Aztecs and establish North America's first European city at today's port of Veracruz.
The Totonacs' Danza de los Voladores de Papantla, a religious ceremony for communicating with nature and the gods, is still performed at El Tajin, one of their major cities. Four voladores (birdmen), one each for the gods of sun, wind, earth and water, swing from a rope tethered to their ankle around a pole as high as 100 feet and gradually descend to the ground. Each circles the pole 13 times, the total of 52 representing the weeks in a year. The archaeological site's Pyramid of the Niches is known for its 365 "niches" carved in and around the pyramid to symbolize the days of the year.


All's fair in commerce and war: The Toltecs
The Postclassic period, from A.D. 900 to the time of the conquest, was a busy time all over the world, from Marco Polo's travels to China to the founding of Cambridge University to Columbus' arrival in the New World. Europe's Renaissance was at its height, and Charles I of Spain had just been elected emperor of the Holy Roman and Germanic Empires, when Cortez made his first foray into Mexico.
Although the Postclassic has become virtually synonymous with Aztec rule, central Mexico was Toltec domain from A.D. 950 to 1200, with their influence spread throughout central and eastern Mexico. The capital, Tula (a.k.a. Tollan), in the Valley of Mexico, was home to 40,000 to 60,000 people.
The Toltecs' power lay in their expertise in war and commerce. One of their notable inventions was the tzompantli, a wall adorned with the heads of sacrificial victims, particularly prisoners of war. Their vast commercial network ranged from the southeastern United States to the southern reaches of Central America. Although they leveled many Maya cities, the Toltecs also built others with the Maya's help, most notably Chichen Itza. Droughts, rebellions and invasions eventually diminished Toltec influence.
The Tula archaeological site, 40 miles north of Mexico City, is best known for its nearly 15-foot-high stone warriors, which once served as columns supporting a pyramid. Structures worth seeing include the Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli Pyramid, Coatepantli (Serpent Wall) and the Burnt Palace. There is also a small museum.


Conquest and beyond: The Mixtecs
The Mixtecs, whose documented history stretches back to the Preclassic period — their agricultural villages have been dated to 1350 B.C. — began to dominate the Oaxaca Valley soon after the rival Zapotec culture peaked, supplanting the Zapotecs in Oaxaca, Puebla and parts of Guerrero states. They are most famous for their stone and metal work, their elaborately carved wood and bone objects and painted pottery.
The Mixtec's considerable influence on other cultures is especially evident in the sites of Mitla and Monte Alban, Zapotec cities taken over by the Mixtec during an extended war. The Aztecs finally conquered them 30 years before Cortez arrived, but Mixtec people still live in the area today.

Former Chronicle travel editor Christine Delsol is the author of "Pauline Frommer's Cancún & the Yucatán" and contributor to "Frommer's Mexico 2011" and "Frommer's Cancún & the Yucatán 2011."

Puerto Ricos 65th Infantry Regiment U.S. Army

 The 65th Infantry Regiment, comprised primarily of Puerto Ricans, began as a volunteer regiment in 1899 and participated in WWI and WWII.  


It was during the Korean War, that they made their mark and saw extensive combat.


In this website dedicated to their accomplishments, you will find their history, photographs, newspaper articles, listings of their many award recipients, and sadly, a listing of those who sacrificed their lives defending American ideals.


As we celebrate Veterans Day, we invite you to pay tribute to those Puerto Ricans and fellow Americans who served proudly. 


Visit these pages and remember and honor them. We would be honored and grateful if you considered adding this website dedicated to Puerto Rico's 65th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army, as a link on your website.


http://www.valerosos.com/