Thanksgiving Menu

Thanksgiving menu

In our home, Thanksgiving is a bit different. My husband is an active and most prominent participant in the kitchen; the men in his family are the cooks. Although, I love to cook, I am glad to step back and let him take over. He will get the children onto the counter and have them smell spices and taste his concoctions and measure out ingredients. The last holidays when we were all together, Matt and Tony threw us out of the kitchen and took over creating a most magnificent meal!!! I gladly gave up my wooden spoon and sat back and relaxed... I love family traditions... but back to our menu!!

• 1 turkey (I remember the poor turkey that arrived from Pacanga. For the longest time he thought he had died and gone to turkey heaven. They would feed him all kinds of yummy foods all day long and let him walk around like if he was the king of the patio. Then one day, things got better, or so he thought, they poured pisco down its gullet and let it get drunker and drunker. We used to love watching it stumble around and trip and fall, and then... well, the pisco did make it delicious!!!)

• Stuffing: Bread stuffing American style?? Ground beef stuffing Peruvian style??? And why stuffing anyways??? Who ever looked at the bird’s cavity and thought, “Well that’s going to have to be filled!!!” Here at my house, we go for a good balance and combination, cornbread and sausage creole stuffing… yes, cayenne pepper inside that turkey, good thing he had the rum!!

• Green Beans: I remember sitting at Tere’s house and having to peel the peas and sift through the rice and snap the ends of the green beans. I remember I used to volunteer for these jobs in an effort to hear all the gossip. My mom and Tere used to talk while cooking, well Tere would cook and my mom would keep her company, and I would hear all of their conversations and their advise to one another.

• Macaroni Salad or Ensalada de coditos: Taste is so subjective, but there are certain flavors and combinations that are embedded in your memory and Emeril Lagasse could cook for you and he would not hit it on the spot. And so it is with la Flaca’s ensalada de coditos. My goodness, I have tried!!! Every combination and every other ingredient that I could throw in there has been added but none compare. I don’t know that she left anyone the recipe and it wouldn’t really matter, she added her own essence, her own flavor for life and it resulted in the most amazing macaroni salad I have ever tasted.
• Rice: Well, this is a Hispanic table; you were not thinking it would be without rice, were you???? Affairs at my cousin’s Olga’s house were always beautiful. From the dishes and the arrangements and the food and the presentation of the food, Olga has a special touch that brings out the beauty in everything, yes my friends, even rice. I have eaten at her table more than once, (lucky me) and the rice she makes for special occasions and well, there is no point in comparison. Something about the sausage and the coloring and the seasonings, well, her rice was fancy and fabulous, much like her…. Didn’t know you could do all that with rice did you??

• Tamales: Ok, so tamales are more for Christmas, but I could not help mentioning them. My tia Alcira would make them and she would give them out, not many mind you, like one or two per house, but man oh man!! My sister, my mom and I would stand around the stove and watch the water boil and take it out and measured out the pieces so we divided it all equally. It was delicious, it was more than delicious it was perfect. Back in Peru, the lady would come around and sell her tamales and my tia had captured that taste in her little foil packets…. Ohh, perfection.

Rolls and Butter: Making bread is a religious experience. I am not being disrespectful, I just think that the moment when you are kneading the bread and bringing its goodness out, is a moment of communion. So much of you is put into this process that you are totally invested in this creation. The butter is something different altogether. I love pure butter. If you can’t believe it’s not butter, it’s probably not butter and I don’t want it. We make our own butter for special occasions and that butter reminds me of my grandma's house. The taste of the Laive butter that she used to keep in her cabinets and how soft it was, my mamita Angelica would butter my bread and set it next to my plate and I can still taste the buttery goodness of her table.

• Finally, a good bottle of rum or pisco. Not for the turkey, for us…

Although pisco was not always around, sometimes it was wine, if we were really hurting that week, well beer would do. But there was always something to celebrate with. My tio Juan would bring the bottles of wine out of his room, and he would give the really dry stuff for the adults and he always had a bottle of something sweet for us. (Don’t be horrified, in other countries there is no alcohol prohibition and no problem with underage drinking…. Huh, wonder if they are related??? Never mind, that’s another post) The wine was delicious, it was sweet and tangy and I felt so grown up, Jessica, Juliana and I would pretend that we were in a fancy party.

My dad would drink anything and felt all of the food he was cooking should be splashed liberally with whatever he was drinking at the time, some things don’t mix, never put red wine in mashed potatoes. But sometimes it would be a hit, that pisco on that Peking duck was the bomb!!! My dad would serenade the world with Nino Bravo and whisky after any holiday bringing the holiday to an end.

My mom and I would slip pisco into our tea when the nights got cold in Lima before our daily walk and Yaly and I would take rum and cokes through the house while we were cleaning, and yes, the music was blasting too and we would sing to the top of our lungs as we got the house clean and ready for the holidays!!! In our own little holidays when Papi would come over, he would bring a bottle of rum and a box of wino… tastes were less discriminating after the first bottle of rum.

And so as you set your table for today, as you prepare to give thanks for all the good things that you have been blessed with, give thanks also for the people that blessed your life and that are gone from us or far from us. Their spirit remains, in our hearts, in our memories, even in our menus.

Remember the people that have helped create your life story and share that story with those who gather around you today. Tell the world that a little bit of everyone’s love shines brightly inside of you and reminds you of the promise that distance and time don’t matter, as long as we have love.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!!!

3/11

3 days done and off he goes again…
For 11 days I will smile instead of cry, wishing he was nearby
For 11 days I will push, continue our mission he is home
For 11 days I will pray, desperately, for clear skies, safe roads, bright horizons and a safe return home
For 11 days I will hope that love strengthens my heart so that I may sound strong for him when he calls.
For 11 days I will think of the prosperity this grants us and devise a million ways to create more from home so he doesn’t have to leave anymore.
For 11 days we will cheer for health and for the eagerness to be together again…
For 11 days I will hold my breath as to not hurt, as to not feel the pain…
For 11 days I will look with scorn at those that complain about their spouses, even though they are always at home…
For 11 days I will look into the eyes of another trucker’s wife and say I do understand the loneliness that swallows us, the loyalty to our men…
For these 11 days will be over and he will be home again, and when he is, when he does come home, all will be alright, I will be complete, again.

I believe

I believe with all of my heart in the kindness in our hearts that feels so alive during Christmas.
I believe in the spirit of the times that fills our days with joy and bring us closer to love during Christmas. I believe in reindeer flights as they cross the star filled sky during the most glorious night of all, I believe in peace and goodwill to us all during Christmas.

I believe in loving souls spreading their jolly cheer during Christmas.
I believe in children's smiles and the glimmer in their eyes that look out in compassion into the hearts of their fellow men during Christmas.
I believe in Christmas warmth that charms us through the season uniting us in song during Christmas.
I believe in magic that creates a happy world, united hand in hand, in the cheeriest time of all, when joy fills our hearts and lifts us in love during Christmas.

Letter to my beloved...

Don’t close the door. Wait!

I haven’t come to judge you; I have nothing to say, I was wondering if maybe you would let me hold your hand. Let me be here with you, near you... I cannot go into the darkness with you but I still want to be close.

Wait, what are you doing? Why are you hurting yourself? Don’t you see? Don’t you see what you are doing to your soul??? This stuff takes you to a false light, you are still floating in the dark, and you are still lost in the clouds. This won’t help this wont help….

I am sorry, forgive me please, I am sorry.

I said I wouldn’t say anything, but I can’t help it, I can’t stand to see you hurt yourself, I can’t stand to see you waste yourself away. If you could only see yourself the way I can see you, if you only found in you what I find in you. You are like a star papi, you are like a shining beacon in the night. You are so perfect, so beautiful, why can’t you see it?

Hell and damnation that I can’t talk to you, Hell and damnation that I am in this cursed place and that I cannot reach you. Reach inside you mi hijo, reach to me, I am still here, alive in you… I never left you, I wouldn’t leave you.

I know you are angry, I know you are upset, but doing this to yourself doesn’t make it better papi. Hurting yourself doesn’t make them sorry; it doesn’t let them see what they have done to you. Hurting yourself only hurts you and I never want you to hurt, never. The people that have hurt you in life are only human, they make mistakes all the time, like I did, and I made so many mistakes, so many.

Child of mine, child of my soul, I curse the moment that took my life and took me from you.
While you were little I could protect you, I would make sure that nothing touched you, nothing soiled you. Now I see the folly of my actions, now I see the harm I have caused you. I left you and you were not ready, you were not ready for life as it is.

People can be selfish papi, they can be greedy, but it has nothing to do with you it has to do with them, with how they see themselves. They will try to tell you all kinds of nonsense about being fair and knowing what is right and wrong, but those concepts don’t exist, they are ideas and ideas are not enough to base decisions on. People who impose their will on others and who fail to use their heart in their decisions are those that have turned away from themselves and follow an outer voice in their path. They do what they are supposed to do because that is what they are supposed to do, not because they act with integrity and compassion.

My son, walk away; walk away from this life that holds you back, walk away from this moment that is torture to you. The moment has passed and the actions that define this suffering for you are gone. Wake up son, this is a sin. No, its not religion, look for yourself. To sin is to err, to miss your mark and you are missing yours, you are being less than you can be and while you are not offending God, you are selling yourself short for no reason.

Put away the bottles, the papers and the smokes. Put away these moments of darkness and reach somewhere and to someone. You are not in this alone, I may have left this earth but I did not leave you alone.

Beloved, I watch and I listen and I see your pain. The same pain that sears your soul is in the others who seek to harm you. How can you judge them then, if you cause yourself the same pain??? Flesh of my flesh, put down the pain that you have wrapped yourself in and walk towards the person you know you are inside.

For all of the answers are inside, all of the love and the light that you seek come from inside. And inside, where all is as it should be, I live in love and in peace and in happiness of knowing that you are perfect as I always knew you were and that in you, my hope was never betrayed.
Reach inside child; reach inside, all the answers lie within. And within is also where I am at. Never left you, never will, my beloved.