Starting today, SpanglishBaby, is hosting 7 days of Mamás Blogueras (Blogging Moms) and highlighting posts about our bi-cultural holiday traditions. I’m honored to be 1 of the 7 mamis being featured! You can find my post up today: Embracing Puerto Rican Christmas Traditions.

A little excerpt for you:

Growing up, we always knew Navidad had arrived in our house when our father began playing his musica navideña. He would break out his tapes (yes, I said tapes not CDs) and play endless Puerto Rican folkloric music.

Click over to read the full post and enjoy reading the remaining 6 posts from other Latina moms.

Before I left for our vacation, I shared with you which foods from Puerto Rico I was most looking forward to eating while on our trip.

I didn’t get to eat all of them, but did eat many and some that weren’t even on my list.

Food Tour of our Trip to Puerto Rico

Alcapurrias

I ate these twice on our trip. The first time was at a little kiosk in La Parguera after our boat ride. It wasn’t very good, though.

The second time was actually at a restaurant in El Yunque. Though a bit overpriced, it was really good that time.

Pastelillos

We ate these a couple of times as well in several places. Some places call them empanadillas, others pastelillos.

Chicharron y Pan de Cachete

Although it was on the last day of our trip, we did get some chicharron from Bayamon. We had plenty leftover, so it came back to Florida with us.

Coco Frio

I caught one of these in El Yunque on the way back down before heading back to Cabo Rojo. After having hiked all day, it was definitely refreshing to drink some cold coconut water.

Limber

I used to run to the house behind ours when I was little to buy some of these. The lady who lived there ran a little store from her marquesina. Much in the same fashion, we got some limbers from a lady selling food in her marquesina just up the street from the house we rented.

Piragua

After having walked all of El Morro in the very hot sun, the strategically-placed cart outside selling piraguas was definitely welcomed. Talk about great marketing. At $2 each, I’m sure that man is making a killing. (By the way, these used to be A LOT cheaper back in the day.)

Helados

And right next to the piragua cart, was another cart selling helados. Pineapple, coconut, and passion fruit. It was hard to pick just one flavor.

Pinchos

“Meat on a stick,” as my husband calls them. He was in search of these since the first day there when he saw them in Aguadilla. We didn’t stop to buy them that day due to rain, so of course, it was his mission to find some after that. And he did. In both chicken and pork.

Got any favorite foods from Puerto Rico? Or maybe you see some you’d like to try? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

***No photos in this post are my own. Click on each image for original source of photo.***

I know you’re all waiting on me to post all about our trip to Puerto Rico and post pictures.

I know. I know.

I’ve been slacking this week on getting our pictures onto the computer and all that good stuff.

Mainly, I’ve been trying to catch up here and there on email and social networking, but have also been stricken by a bad case of “not feeling good.”

I’ll spare the details on all that and will just tell you that I’ll post about the trip next week.

In fact, it’s going to be a full week of nothing BUT Puerto Rico!

• Monday – I’ll give you the run down on what we did and saw.
• Wednesday – I’ll update you on what we actually ate and if I got to eat any of the Puerto Rican foods I was looking forward to.
• Friday – I’ll post a photo album so to speak and you’ll get to bask in the loveliness that is La Isla del Encanto.

Looking forward to sharing all about our trip with you. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

If you haven’t heard, in a few days, we’re going on vacation to Puerto Rico.

Of course, we’ve planned several must-do activities and sightseeing. But, is it wrong that I’m planning visits to specific areas of the island just so I can grab up certain foods?

Foods that I’m Looking Forward to Eating in Puerto Rico

Bacalaitos

Alcapurrias

Relleno de Papa

Pastelillos

Quenepas

Chicharron y Pan Sobao

Coco Frio

Asopao

Naaaa….I didn’t think so either.

Now, go look up each food to see what it is if you don’t already know.

***No photos in this post are my own. Click on each image for original source of photo.***

I often get asked what type of Thanksgiving my family and I have. The question arises from the fact that folks know I’m Puerto Rican and that I don’t always eat dishes common to the American culture.

For example, my co-workers were recently very surprised to learn that I have never eaten green bean casserole. It’s not a dish that my family even knows how to make.

So, naturally, the next questions are, “What kind of food do you serve? Do you have rice and beans? Do you even make a turkey?”

The answers to those questions are: 1) We serve a variety of dishes; 2) Yes, definitely rice and sometimes beans; and 3) Yes, we have turkey.

As I’m sure is true in your families, every household does things a little different. Side dishes vary. Desserts and appetizers vary. Such is the case in our culture and even within my immediate and extended family.

I figured I’d go ahead and share with you the menu that I will be serving for tomorrow’s dinner, as a sample. It might help to put it all in perspective. I have made notes to explain the dish and if there are any differences from what you might know it to be.

Modern Mami’s 2008 Thanksgiving Feast

1. Turkey - We season the turkey a bit differently using Adobo
   and Sazon as opposed to cloves, etc.
2. Stuffing - My family’s stuffing is meat-based (ground beef specifically) and then we add bread
   crumbs, potatoes, and carrots to it.
3. Arroz con Vegetales – Translation is Rice with vegetables. This will be a yellow rice with some mixed vegetables (peas & carrots, corn, etc).
4. Sweet Potatoes – Standard sweet potatoes but instead of adding brown sugar or marshmallows and such, we just cut them up into thirds or quarters and boil them with salt. Sweet potatoes already have a great taste on their own.
5. Macaroni Pie - Ok, this dish is actually not Puerto Rican, but from Trinidad. It has been added to my menu in recent years because my husband is Trinidadian and I have begun to blend some of his traditions with mine so that our daughter can learn about both of her cultures. Macaroni pie is similar to mac & cheese, but different. I’m unable to find the recipe I actually use, but this one uses the same ingredients. It just puts it all together in a different order.
6. Guineos en Escabeche – I see this being translated around the web as Green Banana Salad. I suppose that’s an ok way to say it. This picture and recipe from sazonboricua.com will help. The recipe is in Spanish, but here’s one in English from elboricua.com.
7. Macaroni Salad – Macaroni, shredded carrots, cut-up green olives, and mayonnaise.
8. Cranberry Sauce – straight out of the can
9. Pumpkin Cheesecake – This one too is absolutely not Puerto Rican. I found a recipe a few years ago from Kraft and it actually came out good on my first try, so it’s become part of my Thanksgiving now.

Appetizers

There’s nothing particularly special about the appetizers I will be serving tomorrow, except for item #2.

1. Chips & dip – no note needed here
2. Pasta de guayaba w/ queso blanco & crackers – Enough spanglish for you there? This is slices of guava paste and white cheese served with crackers.
3. Chex Mix – This is actually a new one for me/us. I’m going to give it a try because I want a dish that my two year old can help me “cook.” She should have fun mixing it all up.

I hope that this has helped you get a glimpse into our traditions.

Now it’s your turn.

I’d love to hear about any special dishes and/or traditions you and your family include as part of your Thanksgiving. Looking forward to reading all about it in your comments.