You know how a lot of women say they dreamed of their wedding ever since they were little girls? For me, I would think about my Quinceañero. Ever since I learned about this tradition and knew that I’d have a choice of celebrating with such a party, I knew that I wanted one. I’d sit and think about what I wanted the room to look like, what kind of dress I’d wear, and who’d be there, much like one does when preparing for a wedding.

My two older brothers had been provided with a trip to New York City to spend the summer with family when they both turned fifteen. When my turn came about, I too was given a trip as a choice, or I could have a Quinceañero to celebrate my birthday. I chose the party.

What is a Quinceañero?

Similar to the American custom of a Sweet Sixteen, a Quinceañero (sometimes referred to as a Sweet Fifteen) is a celebration of a young girl’s fifteenth birthday and signifies leaving childhood behind and beginning the journey towards womanhood. It is celebrated in many Latino countries in different manners, but is generally a rather festive occasion.

By the time I was turning fifteen, we were no longer living in Puerto Rico – in fact we had already been living in Florida for seven years. Even still, my parents and I wanted to keep tradition alive and so we set to plan the biggest birthday party I’ll ever have.

Back in 1995, there weren’t a lot of available resources for planning a Quinceañero in Orlando. Though there were quite a bit of Latinos in the city, the community wasn’t as large as it is today. Even with a few challenges, we were able to find a proper venue, an event planner familiar with the celebration and traditions, and everything else we needed to pull off the party.

Traditionally, in a Quinceañero, the birthday girl will have an accompanying court – akin to a bridal party – that consists of fourteen girls, aged 1 to 14, signifying each year of her life. There are also escorts for many of the girls, particularly the older ones. However, being that back in 1995 we did not have a lot of family living near us, were not living in Puerto Rico, and I did not have many Latino friends, we improvised. I had several of my friends be the girls in my court and only had one male in the party – my own escort.

However, even with some necessary improvisation, we maintained many of the traditions of a Quinceañero. I wore a traditional dress and my court and I did the formal procession. Additionally, my father and I danced the traditional dance to Julio Iglesias’ song “De Niña a Mujer” (From a Girl to a Woman) and the rest of the court danced a waltz. My father also changed my shoes from slippers to heels, in a very Cinderella-like fashion – a ritual that as you can guess means the girl is now a woman and no longer a girl.

Looking back on it, it was a very beautiful night and I’m happy to have participated in something so symbolic and full of tradition. I now have many memories to share with my daughter as she grows. The fact that I celebrated when I turned fifteen with a Quinceañero instead of celebrating a Sweet Sixteen, provided me with another link to my heritage. It was another way of keeping my Latino culture alive even while living in the United States.

I look forward to sharing this tradition with my daughter when the time comes, showing her pictures of my own Quinceañero and providing her with another choice – one that will allow her to tap into half of her heritage, should she choose to do so. My husband already asked her a few weeks ago, “When you turn 15, would you like to have a big party or get a car?” Can you guess what our 4 year old responded? “A party.” Of course she did – she’s just like her mama!

Have you ever heard of the Quinceañero tradition before? Did you have one yourself?

I’ve been asked a difficult question.

I was asked to write about what it means to me to be a Latina.

To be honest, I had never really given it much thought until now.

I mean, do people normally go around thinking, “What does it mean to me to be a woman?” Or a man? Or do Americans think to themselves, “What does it mean to me to be American?”

It’s just who you are. It’s you. To me, it’s much the same.

Being Latina is a large part of my identity. To be specific, being Puerto Rican is really a major influence in who I am.

I was born in Puerto Rico, but we moved to Florida when I was 8 years old. Although I’ve spent many more years in Florida than I did in Puerto Rico, my parents made sure to maintain our culture in our house. I was raised pretty much the same way I would have had we stayed in Puerto Rico. (Ok, like 90% since obviously there are outside influences from school, friends, etc.) But, my parents spoke Spanish in the house (and still do), we listened to Spanish music, we ate Puerto Rican food, and I was taught values and traditions that are important to our culture.

All of those things helped to make me who I am. However, being Latina is not just a matter of “I listen to Spanish music,” or “I eat rice and beans.” That is not what makes me Latina.

To me, it’s more about the overall culture, values, traditions, and beliefs. It’s about understanding why family is so important to us. Or understanding why my parents believed that as the youngest sibling and the only girl, I couldn’t do some of the same things my brothers did. And, how about the fact that now that I’m older and my parents are aging, I must understand why my father prefers to speak with my brother (who lives in Milwaukee) about his health issues than with me who lives 10 minutes away?

These may seem like trivial points, but if you understand the way our culture operates and the overall mentality, it’s easier to understand why these things happen the way they do.

So, what does it mean to me to be Latina? It means a rich culture, deep values, traditions, pride, and an overall appreciation for yourself and your family.

What does it mean to you?

This post is part of a paid campaign.

As I’ve mentioned before, in Florida, it seems like it’s always summer. Spring runs into summer which runs into fall. We have very slight variations in the weather. Our winters are questionable as well. Even my baby girl has noticed: “Is it still summer?” “Yes.” “Man, summer is a looong time!”

That means, that the traditional summer activities reserved for June-August by the rest of the nation, are activities that we can do in Florida the majority of the year. However, for some reason or another, my family reserves beach trips for summer. It’s not that we can’t go other months in the year, since the weather certainly allows it. It’s just something that has become part of our routine – once September comes around, we don’t make any beach trips until the following May or June.

Because of that, our beach trips are what make summer the most memorable for me. That, and maybe the fact that I am from a tropical island and spent much of my early childhood on the sand under palm trees. I love la playa. From the cool wind and water, down to the hot sand and even the sea smell. It’s great to see that love was inherited by my daughter.

I can’t share the palm trees and coconuts with her, since the beaches near us don’t have anything but pure sand for miles and miles. I can, however, share many memories with her: collecting sea shells, swinging under a palm tree in the hamaca, and playing in the water, for example. Since she visited Puerto Rico with us last year, she’s able to remember the beaches in Puerto Rico and relate.

Now, we’re making our own memories by visiting the beach every summer. Since she was only about 6 months old, we’ve made beach trips during the summer. She loves it and can’t get enough of playing on the beach. We may not have many standard summer activities that differentiate the summer from any other season in Florida. Yet, somehow, our family has managed to find something to make summer our own.

This summer, we’ve also had the opportunity to try out some frozen pops courtesy of Popsicle. After tasting the Popsicle® Jolly Rancher™ ice pops, we then tried the new Slow Melt Ice Pops – specifically of the Dora variety, since baby girl is a fan. She loved the different shapes they come in and, of course, tried the pink one first, because what other color is there? These Popsicle Slow Melt pops are meant to last longer (Get it? Slow Melt), which in turn means less mess on your kids’ clothes. This is especially handy when you have a kid like mine who takes for.e.ver to eat her food. No lie, she can sit there for nearly an hour eating the same plate I put in front of her. Of course, with popsicles, she never takes as long, but still eats slower than I would. I did notice that the Dora Slow Melt pop took longer to start melting than I’m used to. So, I guess it works!

Don’t forget that Popsicle is also holding a contest this summer. You can enter the Anything’s Possible With Popsicle Sweepstakes where kids have the chance to win one of three great prizes: dinosaur dig, dolphin dive, or Space Camp®! See more information and official rules on the Popsicle site.

What special summer time memories do you enjoy sharing with your kid(s)?

Disclosure: I am a Popsicle Brand Ambassador through a compensated Mom Bloggers Club member program. This post was written in conjunction with the program, but all opinions and thoughts are original.

Disclosure: I received Little Pim products for review purposes. No other compensation received.

By now you know that my husband and I have committed to raising bilingual children. Coming from different cultures ourselves, our daughter has the benefit of growing up multicultural and learning two languages – English and Spanish. Though my first language was Spanish, having moved to Florida at a young age and living here the majority of my life, has resulted in me speaking mostly Spanglish rather than true Spanish. I often have to force myself to think of the words in order to hold a Spanish-only conversation. That is why I love to compensate speaking Spanish around the house with Spanish books, shows, games, and music, so that my baby girl can be exposed to Spanish as much as possible.

I’ve had the pleasure of receiving some additional Little Pim products to add to the Little Pim Spanish DVD I had previously received and reviewed. This time, I was able to review the Little Pim Spanish Word and Phrase Cards, Little Pim Spanish Bop CD, and the new Little Pim Word Bag app for the iPhone or iPod Touch.

Little Pim Spanish Word & Phrase Cards

With 60 cards to choose from, my daughter has fun picking out a few cards at random and making up a story about Little Pim. I love this for two reasons: 1) She’s not just staring at the card and words and repeating them one after the other. It’s much more interactive, which helps (in my opinion) her learn the word or phrase better. 2) Making up stories is a great way to encourage imaginative play!

We take out these cards a few at a time and either make up stories or just review how to say the word/phrase in Spanish. But, we’re usually making up stories – it’s much more fun!

Little Pim Spanish Bop CD

This CD has 15 songs from artists like Dan Zanes and Milkshake. There are three songs that are repeated in English at the end and all the lyrics for each song are included in the pamphlet in both Spanish and English. My daughter especially liked “Tía Monica” and its merengue rhythm, but other fun songs include “Clap Clap Clap” and “Las Comidas.” Of course, a personal favorite of mine is “El Coquí” since Coquís are native to Puerto Rico (no bias whatsoever here).

Little Pim Word Bag iPhone/iPod Touch App

Little Pim’s Word Bag allows your child to play in either Spanish or French. We enjoyed playing with this app on our iPod Touch and I love how it matches the style and feel of the DVD. Using the app, my daughter was able to easily find what words were in Little Pim’s word bag. It’s easy for her to use her finger to “take” the words out of his bag, hear and see the word, and laugh along with Little Pim.

Image from AppShopper

However, I think that it would have been much more cool to be able to “match” the words to the picture and make it a bit more interactive and game-like. It would have been fun to play a game and perhaps help Little Pim find his way through a story scenario by finding the words he needs. Or something like that anyway. Clearly, I’m not a game designer; I just think an interactive element to the app might make it even more fun than it already is.

Where to Purchase

You can purchase the Word and Phrase Cards and the Spanish Bop CD directly from the Little Pim site for $14.95 each or you can also find them on Amazon for the same price (in case you have Amazon gift cards you want to use).

• Purchase Little Pim Spanish Word & Phrase Cards on Amazon for $14.95
• Purchase Little Pim Spanish Bop CD on Amazon for $14.95

You can buy the Little Pim Word Bag iPhone App for $1.99 in the iTunes App Store.

Giveaway

One of you will win a set of the Little Pim Spanish Word & Phrase Cards and the Spanish Bop CD.

How to Enter

If you’d like to enter this contest for a Little Pim Spanish Word & Phrase Cards and Spanish Bop CD, simply leave a comment below and tell us which product you think your kids will enjoy from the Little Pim site.

For extra entries:

1. Tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.
2. Follow @Little_Pim on twitter and tweet the following: “@little_pim Hola Little Pim! Following from @modernmami for the #modernmami contest!“
3. Become a fan of ModernMami.com on Facebook and leave a comment with your Facebook name.
4. Subscribe to this blog via email and leave a comment with the email you used to subscribe. (You can use the email field to do this instead of putting your email in the comment if you prefer.)
5. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
6. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing with your readers your favorite Little Pim product you found on the Little Pim site. Make sure to link back to this contest page in your post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Thursday, March 11 at 11:59 pm EST. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.)

Disclosure: This post is part of a “I Heart Beef” campaign with TheMotherhood.com on behalf of The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. I will receive compensation for sharing my memories with you, but my opinions are mine. In fact, I have always loved beef.

We are what you would call meat lovers. That is to say that we could never be vegetarians. The word itself is one that would get you looks of “Are you crazy?” in our family. Now that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with being a vegetarian (Seinfeld anyone?), it’s just that we are carnivorous by nature.

Join me in a flashback real quick…

We had only been married a few months. Times were tough, of course, as is normal for a young couple just starting out. We were living off of rice, beans, and PB & J sandwiches. (How’s that for multicultural?) Since meat was the biggest expense on our grocery bill at the time, I began to make it last as long as I could. One day, after a tiring day at work, I came home and decided not to cook any meat that night. I remember my mami would sometimes make a great meal out of just yellow rice, beans, and a big salad. I opted to do the same.

A proud new wife, I set a plate of my home-cooked dinner in front of my husband and said “Buen provecho!” as I sat down across from him. He looked down at his plate, looked back up at me and said, “Where’s the meat?”

I can still remember that day. We laugh about it now, of course, but believe me that every meal since then has had some sort of meat in it. As I said…meat lovers.

Image from Wikipedia

And, though we’re equal opportunity meat lovers, this post will be all about the beef. We often ate beef growing up in a Puerto Rican house. From carne molida to bistec encebollado to barbecuing steaks at parties, many meals I grew up eating – and some of my favorites – involve beef. One of my all time favorites is bistec encebollado. I wish I had a nice video showing you how to make it, but I didn’t have time to make one right now (Note to self: Make video in the future!). So, I’m going to give you the basic recipe.

Image from CSU Meat Sciences

The key to making bistec encebollado is that you have to use cubed steak. If you can’t find it pre-packaged, just ask the butcher to run a piece of beef through the machine and it’ll come out cubed for you. Then, you really only need some onions and the basic ingredients for making sofrito – a staple when cooking Puerto Rican food.

Image from Puerto Rican Recipes Online

Recipe for Bistec Encebollado – Puerto Rican Cubed Steak with Onions

Ingredients

• Cubed Steak
• Onions
• Cooking Oil
• Adobo
• Meat Tenderizer
• Black Pepper

Cooking the Steak

1. Season el bistec with adobo, black pepper, and meat tenderizer.
2. Cut your onions into nice ring slices.
3. Using a large covered pan, heat a bit of cooking oil.
4. Put your steaks in and drizzle a little water under to help create steam.
5. Cover the pan and cook on low-medium heat.
6. When the steak is tender and nearly done, add your onions on top of the steaks.
7. The steak will cook slowly on low heat and the onions will wilt creating a perfect combination of steak and onions.
8. I highly suggest you serve over white rice and red beans with a side of tostones. Heaven!

I apologize for the lack in detail with the ingredients and the steps, but it is true to how I and everyone in my family cooks. We do not measure and just go along pouring items into the pot.

If you want to get some more ideas for cooking with beef, check out Beef It’s What’s for Dinner, which has many recipes, videos, and information for buying, cooking, and handling beef. February is actually “I Heart Beef” month so have fun looking up fun ideas for dinner this week; they even have a Quick Meals section with simple recipes fit for any busy parent.

Now, let’s get on to the contest.

Giveaway

One of you will win a $100 Omaha Steaks gift card!

How to Enter

If you’d like to enter this contest for a $100 Omaha Steaks gift card, simply leave a comment below and share your favorite memories of making everyday occasions special with beef and let me know your favorite recipe from the Beef It’s What’s for Dinner site.

For extra entries:

1. Tweet about this contest with a link back to this post and include @modernmami in your tweet. You must leave a separate comment with a link to your tweet for your entry to count.
2. Follow @BeefForDinner on twitter and tweet them with a recipe you like from their site.
3. Become a fan of ModernMami.com on Facebook and leave a comment with your Facebook name.
4. Become a fan of Beef It’s What’s for Dinner on Facebook.
5. Subscribe to this blog via email and leave a comment with the email you used to subscribe. (You can use the email field to do this instead of putting your email in the comment if you prefer.)
6. Subscribe on friendfeed and leave a comment with your friendfeed ID.
7. Write a blog post on your own blog sharing with your readers something you found helpful on the Beef It’s What’s for Dinner site. Make sure to link back to this contest page in your post. Leave a comment with your post link.

All entries must be in by Sunday, February 28 at 11:59 pm EST. Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen using Random.org and will be notified via email. (Please be sure to provide a valid email address with your entry.)

Photo from Photobucket - Click on image for original source

Happy Three Kings Day! Feliz Dí­a de los Tres Reyes Magos!

We did it. Last year, after not celebrating, I resolved to celebrate Three Kings Day this year. And, though it’s a normal work day and baby girl is at preschool today, she did get her gift this morning and participated in the traditional Three Kings Day festivities.

It’s nice for me to share this tradition with her and remember my own childhood memories of celebrating El Día de los Reyes. I remember making my basket with my family, filling it with grass on La Víspera de Reyes (the Eve of Three Kings Day), and being excited the next morning when I found the grass had been replaced with candy and the kings had also left me a gift.

There was one particular year that I remember vividly because I did something that I regret to this day. I can remember that I wanted one of those Barbie motorcycles; I think they were a hot item back then. When I opened my gift, it was a Barbie scooter instead, or maybe it was a moped. What I know is that it wasn’t the motorcycle I wanted. And I said, in my little whiny voice too, “Esto no es lo que yo queria!” (This isn’t what I wanted!) I was of course quickly reprimanded and told to appreciate what the kings had brought me because other kids may not have gotten anything. But, I can still remember my mami’s face right before she scolded me. When I was old enough and learned that my parents were the ones that actually provided the gifts and that it wasn’t actually Los Reyes, I felt horrible. I know that I apologized to my mom at one point or another, maybe even multiple times. I will probably apologize again today and we’ll laugh it off.

So, how do we celebrate Three Kings Day? I believe that each Latino culture has their own special way of doing so. I can only tell you how we personally celebrated in Puerto Rico and what I am passing down to my baby girl so that she can learn about the tradition.

Celebrating Three Kings Day (El Día de los Tres Reyes Magos)

1. First, you will need either a plain shoebox or a basket made from a shoebox. Here is a picture of the basket my brother and father made for my daughter a couple of years back:

   

   The basket is normally decorated with bows made out of wax paper, but we’ve had trouble finding such paper. So, we also used regular wrapping paper.

2. Then, the night before Three Kings Day - La Vispera de Reyes – have your child collect some grass from your yard and put it in the basket. The grass is for the kings’ camels. This is analogous to setting out milk & cookies for Santa or carrots for his reindeer.
3. The basket then goes under the bed (or next to it if it doesn’t fit).
4. In the middle of the night, after your child is sleeping, throw out the grass and replace it with candy. Place a gift next to the basket.
5. The next morning, your child will be delighted to find the gift and candy that the Three Kings left behind!
6. Don’t forget to explain that Los Tres Reyes left a gift for him/her the same way that they brought gifts for baby Jesus when he was born. That is the meaning behind all this and why we celebrate.

It’s a fun holiday and I’m so glad that we pulled it off this year. I plan on continuing to celebrate each year so that baby girl can create her own memories and embrace this Latino tradition of celebrating Three Kings Day.

Speaking of memories…I caught a little video of her preparing to collect the grass last night. Listen closely around the 14-second marker as I try hard not to laugh.

Have you ever celebrated El Dia de Los Reyes? Do you think you might next year?

It’s Noche Buena…Feliz Navidad!

It may sound strange, but as I’ve mentioned before, Christmas Eve is actually the day that we get together and celebrate. Normally, our whole family gathers at someone’s house and we have our typical Noche Buena dinner. A traditional Puerto Rican Christmas Eve dinner has the following dishes:

• Arroz con Gandules – Yellow rice with pigeon peas
• Pernil – Roasted pork shoulder
• Pasteles – Green banana with a pork filling

We might also make some other side dishes, but those are just extras. The required dishes are the arroz, pernil, and pasteles. Without them, basically, it’s not Christmas Eve.

Typically, in most houses, you’ll also find coquito. Coquito is an alcoholic drink based on rum and coconut. It’s our holiday drink, so many refer to it as the Puerto Rican Eggnog. But, though some do make it with egg, most don’t. So, it’s really a very different drink.

A couple of years back, I posted this recipe for coquito. But, it’s not even the recipe I use anymore. Many have asked me recently how to make coquito, so I figured I’d share the recipe I currently use. I made some last night and went ahead and made a video as well.

How to Make Puerto Rican Coquito

Recipe for Coquito (Puerto Rican Eggnog)

• 1 14 oz can of condensed milk
• 1 12 oz can of evaporated milk
• 1 15 oz can of cream of coconut
• 1/2 cup white rum
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

You will need a blender, an empty bottle, and a funnel. Mix all of the ingredients in the blender and blend at high speed. Then, pour into the empty bottle using the funnel.

That’s it! It’s a really simple recipe and takes all of 2 minutes to make. I think the longest part is opening the cans. If you end up trying the recipe, I’d love to hear how you like it.

I hope that all of you have a great Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) and a Merry Christmas! I intend to enjoy some great food, loving family, and some delicious coquito!

This month’s Potato Tastemaker 2K10 challenge was Nutrition on a Budget. I had to create a nutritious dish for 4 with only $10 – using potatoes of course!

First, a few facts about potatoes:

• one medium-size potato has just 110 calories and is absolutely fat free
• one potato provides 45% of your daily value of vitamin C
• when eaten with the skin, a potato has more potassium than a banana
• potatoes are often one of the best values in the produce department, costing (on average), just $.25 per pound

For more potato goodness, tips, and recipes, check out Mom’s Dinner Helper from the US Potato Board.

Now, watch and see what I created:

Make sure you click over to the ModernMami.com YouTube channel and rank the video. You’ll have to sign in, but it’s super easy and free to create a YouTube account if you don’t already have one.

Here’s how to rank the video:

• View the ModernMami #tastemaker challenge 2 video at YouTube. Just click that link to go there.
• Sign in with your YouTube account or Google account; either works.
• Click the stars under the video to rank it.

That’s it!

Make sure to spread the word to your friends!

Rank the video. Pretty please?

Thanks!!!

Don’t remember what I made for part 1 of the challenge? I showed you how to make rellenos de papa…with a salmon twist.

Disclosure: As a Potato Tastemaker challenger, for round 2 of the challenge, I was provided with $10 for creating my dish. Additionally, I received a few kitchen gadgets and a recipe book. No other compensation received.

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.

****This post was originally posted in March 2009 at Family Eden. Since that blog is no longer active, I wanted to share with you.****

I’ve been asked a difficult question.

I was asked to write about what it means to me to be a Latina.

To be honest, I’ve never really given it much thought.

I mean, do people normally go around thinking, “What does it mean to me to be a woman?” Or a man? Or do Americans think to themselves, “What does it mean to me to be American?”

It’s just who you are. It’s you.

To me, it’s much the same.

Being Latina is a large part of my identity. To be specific, being Puerto Rican is really a major influence in who I am.

I was born in Puerto Rico, but we moved to Florida when I was 8 years old. Although I’ve spent many more years in Florida than I did in Puerto Rico, my parents made sure to maintain our culture in our house. I was raised pretty much the same way I would have had we stayed in Puerto Rico. (Ok, like 90% since obviously there are outside influences from school, friends, etc.) But, my parents spoke Spanish in the house (and still do), we listened to Spanish music, we ate Puerto Rican food, and I was taught values and traditions that are important to our culture.

All of those things helped to make me who I am.

However, being Latina is not just a matter of “I listen to Spanish music,” or “I eat rice and beans.” That is not what makes me Latina.

To me, it’s more about the overall culture, values, traditions, and beliefs. It’s about understanding why family is so important to us. Or understanding why my parents believed that as the youngest sibling and the only girl, I couldn’t do some of the same things my brothers did. And, how about the fact that now that I’m older and my parents are aging, I must understand why my father prefers to speak with my brother (who lives in Milwaukee) about his health issues than with me who lives 10 minutes away?

These may seem like trivial points, but if you understand the way our culture operates and the overall mentality, it’s easier to understand why these things happen the way they do.

So, what does it mean to me to be Latina?

It means a rich culture, deep values, traditions, pride, and an overall appreciation for yourself and your family.

Oh! And the great music and sabrosa comida don’t hurt!

What does it mean to you?

September 15 – October 15 is Hispanic Heritage Month. How will you celebrate?