Pasteles - a Taste of Puerto Rico in Austin!

After (another) unplanned hiatus - this time three weeks! - I decided to come back big. I tackled pasteles, a kind of Puerto Rican tamale, which my friend Rachel requested I make a couple of months ago. I was slow getting to it, but I blame my sister-in-law for inducing me to read the Fire and Ice Chronicles (Game of Thrones series) which occupied my time completely for the first 6 weeks I was in Austin. There were days I didn't even leave the house because I couldn't stand to put the books down for more than 20 minutes. People asked me what I thought of Austin so far and I could tell them what I thought of the Starks and Westeros. Then there's that pesky "job search" thing. I don't know how many hours I've spent searching and applying for jobs, but the result of the effort is still lacking. Austin is a great city for live music, the software industry and the University of Texas - outside of that it's a bit of a struggle! So what I'm trying to say is, I haven't cared much about cooking for the past few weeks - but now I'm back.

Kabsat al Dajaj (Chicken with Rice and Tomatoes)

Do you love Christmas?

I f-ing love Christmas. Not as much as I used to - not because of age, but rather the absence of my parents - but I still get giddy about it. Only September, you say? Yes, but Saturday was September 25th and I can hear my mom smiling and yelling out, "Only three months 'til Christmas!" She would start this countdown in July, the broaching of the year's halfway point making it appropriate to look forward to a holiday five months away. It wasn't about commercialism, though both my parents did love giving gifts (because they enjoyed making people happy). Mom loved the spirit, the general joy in the air; the anticipations; preparations; and the music. Definitely the music. When we were young she would play Christmas tapes in the car all year long, but as we (and she) got older she mainly kept it to the six week holiday period. I don't do the countdown anymore, but when I cook something that smells and tastes like Christmas, it's like I inadvertently have.