Arroz En Leche

1 1/4 taza de arroz blanco (no use precocido)

4 tazas de agua

1 raja de canela

2 tazas de leche o la necesaria

1 taza de azucar o al gusto

Lave bien el arroz, agregue el agua, canela y pizca de sal. Tape y baje el fuego a suave. Cocine hasta que se consuma el agua.

Ahora agregue la leche y el azucar, siga cocinando hasta que este esponjado y aun con liquido. Si lo prefiere mas dulce, agregue un poco de azucar. Puede agregar pasas y servir rociado con canela en polvo.

Broken

Broken Doll
Playing Hide-and-Seek
Dreaming of Tall Trees
Wishing for Rain

Just a Broken Doll
Wishing You Were Here
No Place to Go
To Forget the Fears
Of a Broken Doll

~Patricia Castro

Spring Time

Highland Park is blooming...

Let me tell you about chipilín…

Chipilín was a food staple as common as frijoles, tortillas or mora when I was growing up.I remember my grandmother’s sopa de arroz con chipilín, the occasional weekend treat of tamal de chipilín and my mom’s unforgettable comfort-food-creation, arroz con chipilín. Ah... the memories, the flavors, the way the word chipilín almost sounds like chapulín and lastly, what has become a joke between my companion and I -about his misunderstanding of a new-learned word- thinking that chipilín referred to a tamal and not a type of tamal... so now we jokingly call the tamales, chipilines.

According to Wikipedia, chipilín(crotalia longirostra)is a perennial legume native to Central America and Mexico, which leaves are high in iron, calcium and beta carotene and commonly used in the local cuisines of southern Mexico, but used especially in El Salvador and Guatemala.

I cannot speak about Guatemalan cuisine, but in our home land, chipilín is found in abundance in the mercados, the home garden and even in the refrigerated produce section of the supermarket... so I was surprised to learn -when I moved to the U.S.- that chipilín couldn’t be found here. Mamá tried to make her arroz dish -to no avail- by substituting the chipilín leaves with others greens that, though, might have elevated white rice a step above plain, still lacked the subtle aroma and flavor of chipilín.

Even after almost 2 decades, my mouth still waters at the thought of this dish and perhaps now that finally somebody thought of importing the frozen leaves- even though it won’t have the fresh just-picked flavor full of morning dew- I can try to replicate mami’s arroz con chipilín... and I guess the frozen leaves will have to do until I visit ‘home’, as I recently learned that chipilín is considered an invasive weed in the U.S., which means that mami and I must forget our dreams of planting chipilín during the summers...

Arroz con chipilín y crema de mamá
(adapted from memory)

1 table spoon olive oil
1 cup of long grain white rice
2 cups of water or vegetable stock
2 cup of chipilín leaves, stems removed
½ cup of Latin American crema( this can be found at your local bodega) or heavy cream

Heat the olive oil on a pot over medium heat, add the rice stirring often until it starts to brown, add 2 cups of water or stock, salt and pepper to taste and bring to a boil.

Add chipilín leaves and crema; cover pot and simmer over low heat for about twenty minutes remembering to check periodically to make sure the water doesn’t absorb too fast, otherwise add more water if needed. Turn flame off once the rice has formed what appears like tunnels. Remove lid and cover the rice with a manta or towel and cover again with the lid to form a seal. This will make sure the rice gets fluffy before serving.

Note: this rice is delicious as an occasional treat but due to the fat content in crema, it is not the healthiest. You can skip the crema for a healthier and more traditional version.

¡Buen provecho!

Te Recuerdo

Me ha tomado 20 años para decir esto, no porque no te recordé antes, sino quizás porque me falto el valor o porque no encontré la forma de reconciliar recuerdos…y hoy después de tanto tiempo cuando la madurez ha llegado a mi vida, encuentro tu imagen congelada en el tiempo; los recuerdos llegan amontonados -uno tras otro- sin ser invitados, como viejas viñetas monocromáticas...

Reformar el rompecabezas de una vida removida no es fácil… reencontrarte en ese espacio del tiempo y la memoria provoca nudos en la garganta. Hoy arde porque las memorias que quisieron quedarse guardadas en el lugar seguro de mí subconsciente han sido forzadas a despertar al saber que el mundo sigue su rumbo y tú no estás…que eres una historia, una consecuencia de la circunstancias, que falta la justicia y que el mundo no te conoce, solo conoce tu nombre y lo que se convirtió…

¿Cómo recordar que nos conocimos antes, en otro espacio donde compartimos por muchos años: suelo, tiempo, risas, secretos y anhelos…? Donde las puertas de mi casa y la tuya giraban como una. Cuantas veces charlamos caminando cuesta-arriba enlazadas de las manos hacia tu casa… cuantas tardes miramos al firmamento queriendo apresurar el tiempo hasta que un día nuestras vidas tornaron hallándonos algo incomodas; no diciendo todo lo que queríamos decir... diferentes bajo la sombra de la juventud… mi vida estaba por cambiar y la tuya sin imaginar que aquel sería el último “nos vemos”.

Hoy leí que tenias novio y que planeabas casarte pronto… me duele más recordarte mientras tus ilusiones se quedaron perdidas y yo, sueño…por eso hoy bajo la sombra del tiempo, te recuerdo, con el cariño compartido de aquel tiempo donde ni tú, ni yo imaginaríamos que la vida puede girar en un momento…que uno crece y cambia, que el amor es difícil de olvidar aunque las memorias sean suprimidas… en el espacio secreto que guarda la mente y dentro de mi corazón: Te recuerdo, mi dulce amiga.

[En memoria a mi amiga de la infancia quien fallecio tragicamente hace 20 años; tu luz perdura! Y recordando a la Abuelita Ester, quien hoy cumple 3.]

Mamá Tey

When she was 6 her mother passed away so her abuela Margarita took care of her. When she became a teenager she went to work for her godmother in San Salvador. She returned to Los Troncones, Panchimalco at the age of 16 to live with abuela Margarita. There she met Juan and they decided to run away together. After a week Juan's mother, Sñra. Sabina and her husband Sr. Ramon asked Juan to return home and told him to leave the cipota alone but if she was pregnant he had to do the right thing and marry her. Three months later it turned out she was pregnant. When she had their first child, Isaura Sñra. Sabina came to meet the baby and to make sure she was the daughter of her son Juan. She carefully looked at the baby and finally gave them her blessing. They married the day they baptized the baby. They started their lives together and went on to have 16 children.