Eat your fruits & veggies!

Casado, con una hija y una nieta, el secreto de su casi eterna juventud está en las cinco raciones “o más” de fruta que come al día. “Todo empezó por el hambre que pasamos en la Guerra Civil y la posguerra”, recuerda: “De chavales, recorríamos la huerta y cogíamos lo que podíamos. La fruta nos salvó, y mira a mí qué bien me sienta”.
--José Blasco Llopis

A few weeks ago I read this story about an 80-year-old Spanish man who skis every single day. Part of his secret to longevity? Fruit! The quote above says:

Married, with a daughter and one granddaughter, the secret to his almost eternal youth is in the five servings "or more" of fruit which he eats daily.
"Everything started with the hunger that passed us in the Civil War and in the post-war." he remembers: "Since childhood, we would go through the orchards and take what we could. The fruit saved us, and look how good I feel."

Joke of the day!

I found this online somewhere, I take no credit! Enjoy! ...I'm going to try to stop watching Sex & the City and study for my linguistics final...

El argentino está visitando a su amigo mexicano en Los Angeles. El argentino no sabe inglés y le pide a su amigo mexicano que le enseñe como pedir comida.
--Fácil --le dice el mexicano--. ¿Te gusta el bistec con huevos?
--Claro --le dice el argentino.
--Eso lo puedes decir así: "y usté quien es", diciéndolo bien rápido. Suena como "steik an egs", que quiere decir "bistec con huevos".
--Ah, eso es fácil…
Al otro día el argentino va solo al restaurant y el mesero le pregunta:
--May I help you?
El argentino le pregunta:
--¿Y vos quién sós?

<3

Spanish word of the day

simón:
yes

The way my Mexican coworkers say "sí." For the first few weeks, I kept trying to figure out who was named Simon. Ha.

(David-does anyone say this in Barcelona?)

Encuentro by José Agustín Goytisolo

José Agustín Goytisolo was born in Barcelona and was a child during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). His poetry captivates me because it is incredibly conversational. An English-language equivalent might be a poet like Billy Collins.
Anyway, I've been reading through his book "Palabras para Julia" (1979). Here is a poem I'm currently falling in love with:

Alegría yo te
he buscado y buscado
por todos los lugares
por todos los caminos
que andaba y desandaba,
alguna vez oí tus pasos en el bosque
otra vez escuché
tu risa pero nunca
te tuve entre los brazos
para poder hablarte
para decirte que
mi vida iba cayendo
como una gota de agua
que hacía frío y
que te he esperado siempre
roto y amante como
me ves como me tienes
contra tu pecho amiga.

The beauty of this poem is in its pacing. I read it fast, like a desperate prayer. I love the absence of punctuation and how he chose to put pauses in the poem with each new line.

Here is a rough translation:

Happiness, I have
looked and looked for you
in all of the places
in all of the streets
that I walked and unwalked
once I heard your steps in the forest
another time I listened
to your laugh but never
have I had you in my arms
to be able to speak to you
to tell you that
my life has gone falling
like a drop of water
that was cold and
that I have waited for you forever
broken and lover like
you see me as you have me
against your chest friend.

I read this as if it were one long run-on sentence. I think the ending is purposefully more ambiguous because the emotion is stronger and the reader/writer is getting closer and closer to a sob.

Hace tiempo!

Hello again.

Yesterday Joel told me this joke (probably need to read it aloud):

¿Que dice un jaguar a otro jaguar?
Jaguar you?
(How are you?)

Ice cream plans fail, Cassidy learns to chill

Jesús and I were supposed to get ice cream on Monday, but things didn't work out. This didn't phase my easy-going (therefore, clearly non-estadounidense) friend.

"Sabes que dice el camello?" (Do you know what the camel says?)

"Aún nos queda mucho desierto para recorrer." (We still have plenty of desert left to walk over.)

Jesús' astute recognition that Sparky's isn't going anywhere.

Spanish word of the day

...another tongue twister! Thanks to Rosario & Jessi @ El Rancho:

Pepe pecas
Pica papas
con un pico
Pepe Peca
pica papas.

(I'm not quite sure what this means--any ideas David?)

Spanish word of the day

...except today it is a joke:

Si un gato muere. Say it five times fast, but not in the presence of any modest Spanish-speakers. Should sound like you are insulting someone's mom.

Tongue twister!

Tres triste tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal! Say that 5 times fast.

Spanish word of the day

madreleño:
the high-pitched soft voice, slower speech pattern and exaggerated expressions that a mother (or anyone) uses to talk to her baby.

Not to be confused with madrileño: a person from Madrid.

Spanish word(s) of the day

máscara:
mask

careta:
mask

encarar:
to face

All from "cara" which is face.

Gran Torino

This is the best movie I've seen in a long time. It is about a racist war vet who learns to make nice with his Hmong neighbors. It is beautifully written, has the most amazing cinematography and a wonderful message. I think it shows that globalization is changing our world, but that one can find family in anyone. The people you love don't have to look like you.

Trailer in German, Italian, Spanish & English:


.

Spanish word of the day

rompecabezas:
puzzle, riddle, brain-teaser

Romper is the verb for "to break" and cabeza means "head."

Mexican phrase of the day

Alex & Rosario are cooks at El Rancho. I mostly work with them and Jesús. When they aren't asking me if I have a novio or like to dance, they say "Que me cuentas?".

I used to ask people the same question in English when I was bored. "Tell me a story!"

Spanish word of the day

caerse:
to fall

If I drop a plate at work, in Spanish, I didn't drop it. It fell.

Yet another example of how a language can reflect cultural personalities. I love how this verb takes the blame off me and puts it on the plate!

Sitting in Sven's

My temporary roommates don't have internet, which is a nice change of pace. It has also driven me to go to coffee shops more. Now that I am caught up on the celebrity gossip, a blog update:

I went to World Harvest behind the Gerbes on Nifong for the first time a few days ago. I had big expectations. I wanted a refrigerator full of tortilla, fresh pasta and mozzarella cheese. I half expected there to be a whole aisle dedicated to canned meat or olive oil.

I had forgotten how far away I live from Spain.

However, I did find a candy bar I used to eat all the time in Madrid. And manchego cheese. I used to end up eating manchego cheese on everything just to avoid a bocadillo de jamón. Yum!

I also got pulpo and sprinkled in with paprika to make pulpo de gallego. Octopus. My sister refused to sit by me because it smelled so fishy. I didn't care. It wasn't awful...

The other big excitement was a new mokka! It is a Italian/Spanish-style coffee pot. You don't need any filters and it makes the best espresso!

I had a cup this morning and fell happily into the memories that smell and the taste bring back.

Only remaining disappointment: no European-style sausage.

More on the mokka soon.

Spanish word of the day

aullar:
to howl

Love onomatopoeias.

Found on the front counter at El Rancho:

Adios Dishwasher
Querido de
tus pequeños
y grandes hoyos
ya me despido
si un día yo regreso
ya sería
por muy jodido!

ATENTAMENTE
El Chapo

I don't have permission to post this bc this a farewell poem written by Jesus. Hopefully he doesn't mind that I've posted it. I've been working with him for the last two weeks. He washes the dishes, I dry them. Working at El Rancho isn't exactly thrilling.

Today was especially slow and I spent most of my time practicing vocabulary words. Though I don't want to work in fast food for the rest of my life, part of me loves blue-collar jobs. I'm pretty sure I'd be happy as a professional roofer or house painter etc. The added bonus of speaking Spanish all day makes wiping up cheese sauce and being friendly to the racist customers worth it.

The other Jesus, older Jesus, thought this poem was so great that he taped it up above the dishwasher so everyone can read it.

Essentially, the poem says:
Goodbye Dishwasher,
loved for
your small and large pots and pans
I say goodbye
If one day I return
I would already be
totally screwed.

ATTENTIVELY,
El Chapo

Dulce de leche!

¡Feliz Navidad! Though I am now employed, I still had to take the cheap way out and make a few Christmas gifts. So I decided to make Dulce de Leche! My friend Anna told me you could just boil a can of sweetened condensed milk and get a version of Dulce de Leche. It doesn't compare to the real thing, but it satisfies a craving.

I read a few recipes online and went for it.

And failed. Don't poke holes in the top of the can. I read this on a few websites alongside warnings of exploding cans and tried it. The milk leaked out and the cans were making some pretty violent sounds.

So I started over and managed to get it right the second time. Here is what I did!



Take the labels off of a few cans of sweetened condensed milk. Do several, because it takes 2-4 hours. The only other thing you will add is a little vanilla. And love, but that is optional.



Stick the cans in water in a large pot. It needs to be deep enough that the cans can submerged in the water by an inch or so. All the recipes I looked at said this will keep anything from exploding. Sounded good to me.



Boil the cans in the water for 3-4 hours. If water starts to boil off the top, make sure to add more (so the cans don't explode...). I boiled mine for just under 4 hours, but I think I could have boiled them a bit longer.

Cool down the cans before opening them (again, explosion rumors). I just left the cans in the pot and threw in a few ice cubes and cold water. You should get something that looks like this (and tastes like heaven):


To make it even yummier, add a bit of vanilla. I added about twice as much as is shown in this photo.












And the final result!!


This shortcut to happiness is worth it. Try it on pancakes and crepes or use it as a dip for apples, pretzels or nuts. YUM! My friends Matias and Pablo would tell you to skip the crepes & apples and just eat it with a spoon.

Spanish word of the day

hazmerreír:
laughing stock

literally: make me laugh

I had to look this word up and sound it out several times before I realized how obvious the definition is! "Haz" is the command form of "hacer" which means "to make" and "reír" means "to laugh." Brilliant.