Weekly Wrap Up - Week of February 11th

     I mentioned in my last post that I would be a bit late posting this because I was heading to a family reunion on Feb 16th and not returning until Feb 19th. I was right as today is Wednesday already. But I'm not late posting because of the reunion, but because on the way back from the reunion I got sick!

Sunset in Arizona - nothing more beautiful!

    I am pretty sure it is just allergies. I tested negative for Covid and I haven't had a fever or anything. We had planned to drive back on Feb 19th, President's Day but the weather forecast was for a big storm heading in over the Tehachapi's late Sunday into Monday...just when we would be on the road. 

    If you remember, back in August 2023, Lisa and I had taken a trip to Arizona and on the way back home we became trapped in Mojave because of Hurricane Hillary that struck California and brought down the Tehachapi mountain closing the road while we were just a mere 2 hours away from home! You can read and see pictures about that HERE. 

Some elders catching up. I be these ladies have known each other for more than 70 years! My own mom is the one in the bright red shirt on the right. 

    So we decided the best thing would be to leave on Sunday to beat the storm and have all day Monday off to rest and recuperate! 

Mom and her Clan, Mom and Roselyn first row, me Baby J and Lisa second row, Lisa's son Sean holding his son Sean, Sean's wife Rocio in the last row.

    Sunday morning we checked out of the beautiful Blue Water Resort & Casino in Parker Arizona and we headed to the goodbye breakfast in the park, then we headed to pickup mom as she was staying with her niece Mary Lou.

    We headed out and I was feeling just fine, but before we even got to Needles, California I could feel my throat hurting and scratchiness in my ears, which I was sure was an allergy. Lisa happened to have Allegra with her since she always has allergies, so I took one and it did help.

More of our elders. My mom on the far right is the last living member of the her family. She is now the matriarch of our family, in the middle is her Niece Mary Lou, daughter of mom's sister Eliza and then our beautiful, sweet Tia Ninfa, she was the wife of our now deceased Uncle Jesus who was mom's oldest brother.

    I didn't think I was going to make it, but I'm a soldier! I've always said that about myself and I pride myself on my strength and determination! I got us home safe and sound and then I collapsed! I was exhausted when I got home, barely made it to my bed. 

Just say CHEESE! Lisa and I in our shirts that Lisa created. We had a t-shirt contest, we didn't win but I thought ours were the prettiest any way. See the group photo of the whole family below and you will see that we really stood out!

    Luckily as I said earlier, I had Monday off for President's Day...thank you Mr. Presidents! I was able to sleep the whole day and that was good because I woke up feeling worse, my whole right ear filled with fluid and I couldn't hear out of it. 

    Today is Wednesday and my ear is feeling better, still a bit of fluid. I put in a whole day of work yesterday and though I was a bit groggy and not at 100%, I am a soldier and I was at work! Today I have quite a bit of cough as well, but I can feel that I am on the mend. Last night Lisa called me and she's got the "allergies" now. She sounded awful!

Mom standing out as always! We were just starting the games out with a Tug of War game between the kids and everyone wanted mom to play. She's always ready to comply and everyone love watching her, everyone was out there with their cell phones filming her. Sister Lisa with her back to us is a lot like mom, always the center of attention. I'm more like my dad, just stand in the background and laugh at them! 

Drone shot - Group photo. See that little cluster in red? That's mom and her kids, a few grandkids and her three great grandkids. Our brother Fred was missing as well as my kids and one of Lisa's sons and one of Jaime's daughters. We are small but mighty!

    Well, that's all I have for now as it's 7:28 am and I need to log-in for work at 7:30am. We had a great time and I am so proud to be a member of this family. A family filled with love and compassion, unity and pride!

    I'll leave you with these last photos that say it all!

Hurricane Hilary, Road Trip and 60th Birthday Party Celebration - Part Two

     This is Part 2 of our crazy trip to Arizona, for part 1 click HERE.

    We had a great nights sleep since both Lisa and I were exhausted! We had planned to spend the day shopping and getting ready for the big party that evening, however our cousin Lydia aka Copa has recently been diagnosed with Stage 4 Cancer and just that week on Wednesday she had her first round of Chemo and she wasn't feeling the greatest. Have you ever seen a more beautiful and positive person getting her first chemo treatment? She's a true warrior!

    So we sat with her and just got caught up on everything she had been going through and how our jobs were going and how family was doing and we had a very nice time just being with her.

    Then our cousins in Eloy, Arizona called and said they were all gathered together at our cousin Norrie's house and where were we?? So we put ourselves together and headed to Eloy. Eloy is the city of our ancestors. That is where most of our parents met. Copa told us that we would come back to her house before the party so we didn't take our party clothes or gifts with us...we should have!

    We had so much fun at Norrie's house! They were cooking the food for the party. They had asked Copa what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she had such a crazy idea for a menu, very different from the usual Chile Colorado or Deep Pit BBQ that we usually have at family events. Copa wanted Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, Green Salad, Macaroni and Cheese, Rolls and Cake! Norrie rounded up all the cousins that live locally and some were making meatloaf, some potatoes, etc., and they had it covered!

    We finally realized that we had been having so much fun we had missed our opportunity to head back to Phoenix to get dolled up for the party, so we decided to go to a local store that I love called Bealls Outlet. I always go to the one in Parker, Arizona when we head that way, but luckily there was one close by in Casa Grande. Lisa, Copa and I all went praying that we would find something suitable for the party and we did!

    Then we returned to Norrie's house where our niece Sarena did Copa's make up! Sarena is such an angel, she's an RN and just the sweetest, most loving, giving person in the world! Here she is working her magic! Oh yeah, check out Copa's tiara, she's a true queen!

    Love these next shots, you can tell she's very happy with the end results. It took some convincing too as she's not a makeup person, never wears it. I think she's going to be shopping for some makeup in the future! I love the last photo, beautiful ladies. I am so blessed to have such amazing women in my life!

    The rest of this post will be photos that I took at the party with some commentary on who and what.

From left to right - My sister Lisa, our Cousin Copa and me.

    

Copa and the loves of her life, her beautiful daughter Daniella aka Copita and her wonderful son Mark aka Markie. 

L-R: Me, our Aunt Ninfa, Copa and Lisa 

L-R: My brother Federico, my sister Lisa, me and my brother Jaime.

L-R: Brother Federico, Sister Lisa, Cousin Copa, Me and Brother Jaime

 Cousin Copa also wanted all the July and August family and friends to be included in the celebration, so she requested this cake.

Everyone had a wonderful time, there was a raffle with great prizes, we played games, had great food. There was a beautiful desert table filled with candy and popcorn and rice krispie treats and cake pops and almost anything you can imagine!

The party ended around 9:30 and then we drove back to Copa's house in Phoenix as we were all exhausted. We also had heard that there was a Hurricane getting ready to hit California and that where we live was right in the path of it so we wanted to get a good nights sleep so we could get up super early and head home.

Get ready for part three...

Celebration of my Mom's 79th Birthday

Yesterday evening we celebrated my mom's 79th birthday. I can't even imagine that...79! But I am so happy that we still have her with us and even though she and I clash at times that unconditional love of a mother is something that I can always count on from her. I wish I was a wonderful a mother as she is!

For the past several years we have made Biscochos on her birthday. Biscocho is a special cookie that was made famous by her sister Nicolasa. The fondest memory of my child is these cookies. Whenever we went to visit my maternal grandmother in Arizona we always came home with a coffee can full of them.

But this year mom said that she wanted to make her famous chili beans and everyone was in agreement that they would rather eat right away than have to spend all day baking! Mama didn't raise no fools, we would all much rather eat!

Well if you are expecting pictures of the Chili Beans, forget about it! I forgot to snap even one picture. But I got plenty of the family and actually that's probably more important. So get ready for a slew of family pictures and no food! Well there was cake. Two delicious cakes that my sister Lisa made with her precious grand-baby, Baby J, and a yummy lemon pudding cake.

Where it all started, my mom and her children. Mom is in the middle of course. On her right is my brother Fred, on her left my brother Jaime, that's me on the right standing up and my sister Lisa on the left. And look! Cake!

From those four children came all of these, my mom and her grandchildren. There were a few missing due to work obligations. She has eleven all total!

Here's yours truly and her mommy! I am the first born and therefore her favorite!!! Behind me you can see the Nativity that she made for me in a ceramics class that she took back in 1983! Something that I will treasure forever. Mom has always been a very crafty person. She would sew matching dresses for myself and my sister when we were little, not that I was grateful! See this post to read about why I make that comment.

Next up my sister Lisa and her husband Guero. They have two boys, Sean and Issac who were both unable to attend as they were working. My sister has the most photogenic family, aren't they just gorgeous?

I'll post this picture next because this is my sister and I with our mom with the added bonus of Baby J. Can you believe how big she is now? She had just woken up from a nap and was not her usual bubbly self. Baby J is my moms only great grandchild, so she is my moms favorite just like I am!

My brother Federico aka Fred came with his whole family, minus one, his daughter Beatriz. But her big sister Alicia was smart enough to figure out a way to include her by pulling up a picture of Beatriz on her cell phone so she could still be in the picture. Way to go Alicia! No wonder you are my namesake, you're just as brilliant and creative as I am :)

The baby in our family is my brother Jaime. His whole family was able to make it! Good job family, you're all gorgeous. Sarena, the oldest one on the left in the ponytail with the beautiful smile just graduated from Nursing School! So proud of her!

Next a few random pictures, just so I can have them on the blog where family members can access them. Mom with both her boys!

Mom with her boys and her favorite son-in-law.

Mom had such a great time and we all loved her chili beans. Happy Birthday mom, you are the greatest blessing in all our lives.

            

Visiting Arizona - It's all about the family

In my last post I spoke about "mi tierra", the land where I grew up, where my heart is and also where the majority of my maternal side of the family lives. Family is the main reason we visited Arizona in May.

My mom still has a brother and a sister that live in Arizona. My moms father, mother, brother and five of her sisters are buried in Arizona cemeteries so mom of course has been wanting to go to Arizona and visit her sister Maria who lives in a nursing home and to visit her brother Tino who lives with his daughter and of course to visit relatives at the cemetery.

We went during Mothers Day weekend. The first thing we did was visit our Tia Ninfa who we stayed with. Tia Ninfa is the widow of my moms oldest brother Jesus or as we all called him Uncle Jesse. Tia Ninfa is like a real sister to my mom and she loves her dearly. We all love Tia Ninfa, she never had children of her owned so spoiled all of us her nieces and nephews endlessly. She's a wonderful, kind hearted, spirited fun lady who always has a smile on her face and only kind words about everyone she knows and a kind word for everyone she meets.

Mom with her sister in law Ninfa (Ninfa in red)

Tia Ninfa just had her home remodeled and when I say remodeled I mean they moved her and everything she owns out of the house she and my Uncle Jesse had lived in their whole married life, leveled it down to the ground and then rebuilt it. 

Here's a picture of what the house originally looked like. I have many wonderful memories in this house. I visited it often and spent the night many times with my Tio and Tia. They treated me like a princess!

Tio Jesse was sick for many years before he passed away and the house was beginning to have many problems with the plumbing and a leaking roof. One day Tia Ninfa received notification of a program in Arizona to rebuild homes for those that qualify. She called my cousin Norrie who is a realtor in Arizona as it sounded too good to be true. Norrie checked it all out and it was legit and Tia signed up and then forgot all about it.

Tia Ninfa tells us that one night after an especially heavy rainstorm the roof was leaking badly and she spent most of the night awake running around dumping out buckets of water that kept refilling from the leaks.

She said that in the morning, exhausted she sat down on her couch and started to cry and she talked to Tio Jesse. She told him, "Well Jesse, when you married me you said that you would always provide a roof over my head and you did for many years and now you're gone and the roof is falling in on my head and I don't know what to do, I need your help Jesse."

A few days later she received a phone call in response to her application to have her home rebuilt. She had qualified and they were ready to begin the process. It took a while as Tia Ninfa had stored years and years of treasures on the property but finally they began and here is her new home now. A home that she truly deserves for being the wonderful wife she was to our Uncle, for loving all of us and for just being the kindest person I know.

I had not noticed until right now that they kept the same color of her old house, a pinkish color. isn't it beautiful? The inside of the home is gorgeous. They would only rebuild it to the specifications it originally was so it's a two bedroom, one bath, but the kitchen is beautiful and modern and she's so happy with it! Thank you cousin Norrie for all you do for our beautiful Tia Ninfa!

I want all my friends and family members in California that whine about not being able to water their lawns because of the drought we are in, to notice that here is no grass on this lawn, that is all rock. Arizona learned how to live without being wasteful with water and California...we can learn too! Let's be water wise Californians!

Tia Ninfa was a great hostess and we had a wonderful time with her. She has not changed a bit, her heart is still as big as the state of Arizona.

Here's my sister Lisa with our mom and Tia Ninfa at the Picacho Peak State Park with Picacho Peak in the background.

And here's yours truly with Tia Ninfa and my mom and Picacho Peak in the background. We had just visited the gift shop where we bought souvenirs for all our loved ones back in California. Every time I go I buy a hot pink shirt with an Arizona decal. I don't know why but they always have a hot pink shirt waiting for me! It's like they know I'm coming back to "mi tierra". Love you Arizona!

 

Baby J Sunday and a Princess!

Today is Sunday. Normally about this time I am getting things ready to make breakfast for our little Baby J and her daddy. But today they are not coming!

But never fear! I'm not sad because we were lucky enough to spend the whole day with her yesterday and she got to meet a Princess. This Princess is her cousin Clarissa, my brothers daughter who celebrated her 15th birthday with a traditional Mexican party known as a Quinceanera. This is the equivalent to a Sweet Sixteen or a Debutante Ball and marks the transition from childhood to young womanhood.

Because our family is Catholic, the celebration begins with a thanksgiving Mass. The Quineanera arrives with her parents, grandparents, god parents, and family. She also has her court of honor which is her best girlfriends each accompanied by a young man.

Here's a picture of my mom and Clarissa (in pink). At the bottom you see Baby J, she fell in love with Clarissa and thought she was a Princess and didn't want to move far from her. This was a very special day for my mom, to see her granddaughter celebrate her 15th birthday is a huge deal!

During the Mass the Quinceanera is presented with several items of religious significance and that will have special meaning for her as she gets older. She receives a ring, a tiara, a rosary and a cross. Here's a picture of my mom presenting the cross that the Priest has just blessed.

My mom also presented her with a very special gift. A ring chosen just for her symbolizing her Catholic Faith. Clarissa has always been very special to my mom. Ever since she was just a baby she would come and sleep overnight with my mom. This tradition carried on throughout the years and in fact Clarissa was here just a few months ago and spent the night with my mom and she always wants to sleep with her Nana.

This is a special time for family and we were all so proud of Clarissa and of her parents for honoring her in this way. Here's a picture of my mom and her four children, her two sons Federico and Jaime and my sister Lisa and I.

After the church ceremony the party continued at a reception hall a few miles away. The place was decorated beautifully, even David Tutera couldn't have done a better job! I wish I had taken more pictures. They had set up a photo booth for the kids to take pictures in various costumes and using props. They had a Candy Table with Crystal Jars and Bowls filled with various types of candy and a three tiers of candy apples in the Quinceanera's favorite colors of Pink and Purple.

As soon as you walked in the door of the hall there was a guest book to sign of course, but then there was a special tribute to Clarissa's precious paternal grandfather, my dad and her Tata. I was so touched that they remembered to honor my dad. He would have been so proud of her on this day, as he was every day from the second he met her!

There were so many special things to see that I can't get to it all, so I'm just going to post pictures with a brief explanation so I can have this memory forever.

Here's a picture of the Court of Honor.

Here's a picture of the father/daughter dance. My brother was so nervous and yet so proud!

So it was a big day for us all. We were all blessed to be able to share this day with Clarissa and to still have our mom with us. It was a beautiful day for our family and Baby J got to spend the day with her "Nene", she fell in love with the stained glass windows in the church, she played with her many cousins, especially her cousin Melissa who is next in line for a Quinceanera and her Uncle Jaime still had a baby to hold in his arms while his own baby was enjoying being a grown up girl at her wonderful party!

 

The Queen of Chile Colorado

I wrote this in August, 2014 but forgot to publish it! So I'm going to leave it as is, but this actually happened in August.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~August Happenings~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend my cousin Stella visited us from San Diego. She brought a very special guest with her, our Tia Ninfa (Aunt Ninfa). Tia Ninfa is the widow of my mom's deceased brother, Uncle Jesse.

Here's a photo of them getting read to leave. My cousin Stella is that pretty lady in the back with the short hair. Thanks Stella for making this weekend happen! Stella's sister Faye is in the sunglasses, she came along for the fun also. That cute almost a teenage girl is Stella's granddaughter Roni, she was a lot of fun and she's almost as tall as her grandma already!

Left to Right - My mom, My cousin Faye, My Tia Ninfa, My cousin Stella in the back, and Stella's granddaughter Roni

Baby J with Tia Ninfa

A special picture of three beautiful ladies. From left to right, My Tia Casimira, she's also my Godmother, my Tia Ninfa and my beautiful mom Tomasa who you can see from this photo is in 7th Heaven to have her loved ones with her!

Because we knew that we were going to have many local family members coming by the house to see our visitors my mom insisted we had to make her signature dish, Chile Colorado! This time I paid attention! I didn't write down the recipe, but I think I got it committed to memory. As bad as my memory is I figure I better get it down into my blog here where I know I can find it at any time.

We started out by cleaning the chile. Mom's recipe calls for two (2) 12 ounce bags of El Guapo Dried California Chile Pods and one (1) 12 ounce bag of El Guapo Dried New Mexico Chile Pods. You can find it in almost any store here in California but if you can't find it in your local stores just google and you can probably find it on amazon.com. Mom said that the California chile is not very hot so she adds the New Mexico to kick up the heat. I love spicy so when I make it I will probably do 2 New Mexico and 1 California!

When I say we clean the chile pods what we do is pull off the stem and with a knife slice down the middle and remove most of the sees. Rinse them off in a big pot with water, then fill the pot with water and let them soak about an hour or longer.

After they've soaked and softened, you use your blender to grind them using the water they soaked in. Mom always likes a really thick sauce (I would have liked to use more water). That is all that we use for the sauce at this point. Then just set it to the side and let's go to work on the meat!

We used about forty (40) pounds of Pork Meat. I think we used Pork Butt and we cut it into bite size chunks and then browned it in a big pot with some water added until it's nicely browned and most of the liquid at the bottom is cooked out. You stir and stir and stir constantly! This smells fabulous! I just love pork meat! I was a bit flabbergasted to find out that mom didn't add any seasoning of any kind at this point. I would have thought you would add at least salt, but she said no, plus she said the salt would make the meat tough.

Once the meat is cooked sufficiently then you scoot the meat to the side of the pot and take about a 1/4 cup of flour and brown it in the corner of the same pot, this is what will help the sauce to stick to the meat and of course it's also a thickener. Stir well to coat the pork with this flour mixture. Then you pour in the red sauce until you have as much as you want.

Then the secret ingredient! You take about 8 cloves of garlic and you peel them and blend them really, really well in your blender with about 2 cups of water. Once you have the meat and the chile sauce together, you pour in this garlicky delicious mixture in and stir, then add salt to taste and some dried oregano about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons. You let this cook until it bubbles stirring to make sure it all gets enough garlic. Taste as you go along, you may need to add more salt or more oregano.  (I noticed it tasted bitter and thought "Uh-Oh, now what?" You just keep adding oregano and it takes the bitterness away).

Then before your guests arrive, you pour a few beans and some of the chile in a bowl. There are rules to Chile Colorado, you don't use refried beans, Frijoles de la Olla only, that means Beans from the Pot and you can only eat it with flour tortillas. Only flour! No proper eater of Chile Colorado would dare to eat this with a corn tortilla, it's just not done! Then you sink your teeth into the deliciousness that is Chile Colorado, Tomasa Style (Tomasa is my mom's name). This is why my mom will always be The Queen of the Chile Colorado!

Does your mom have a signature dish? I think mine would be my Meatloaf Pie. I don't think Queen of the Meatloaf Pie has the same ring to it though!