Arroz con Pollo

Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice) for tonight's supper. This is a dish that I have made for years but it has been a while.

For the most part I stick with tradition but I add linguicia sausage which is Portuguese.  Linguicia lends a distinctive taste to the rice. 

Tonight I also borrowed from Puerto Rican cooks, who know a thing or two about Arroz con Pollo. I used the Gandules peas which is the central ingradient in Arroz con Gandules. It also adds flavor and texture to the rice.

Ultimately though, this my own personal take on Arroz con Pollo. Not 100% traditional but I can live with it.

There is a debate as to the origin of Arroz con Pollo. It is thought to come from Spain, which is a plausible theory considering the great rice dishes Spain is famous for including Paella, Spain's national dish. The other side of the debate is that it all began in Puerto Rico.

I don't know. What I do know is that Arroz con Pollo can be found in almost every Latin America country, including Mexico and the American Southwest. 

I should also add that this was a dish my mother regularly made when I was growing up. Cooking and eating it brings the past alive, if only for a moment. 

Buen Provecho

The Way Things Used to Be

The Helms Bakery Truck

The Good Humor Ice Cream Truck

The Helms Bakery Truck and the Good Humor Ice Cream Truck, two icons from my childhood. Simple times, good times! I'm kind of sorry today's generation of children never got to experience life the way it used to be. Maybe it is that way with every generation. 

We did not have cell phones and computers, but we did have comic books, and we did play outside: hide and seek, tag, dodgeball and we had the Good Humor Ice Cream Trucks and the Helms Bakery Truck. 

Jeri and Meranda 1978

From 1978: Jeri and Meranda in front of our first home (a rental) on Newlin Avenue in Whittier.  We moved into that home on February 15, 1978. Meranda was born in May of that year.

We were young. The future and retirement seemed a long, long time away. We had a good time in that house. Lots of good parties, good neighbors and good friends. We lived in two other homes on that street until we bought our current home on February of 1998, twenty years later. We didn't know it then but we do now, we were Blessed.

#TBT #ThrowbackThursday 

The Red Headed Ancestor

Some time in the mid 1980's I was visiting my uncle Henry, my father's youngest brother, at his upholstery shop in Uptown Whittier. I don't remember how the conversation came about but we began talking about Las Cruces and Dona Ana, New Mexico, family and family history.

At one point he told me of a wild red headed ancestor who came riding into town, guns a blazing. He stayed and settled. Was he a De La O? Or perhaps someone who married into the family? Possibly a great great grandfather. Or just some unfounded family lore? I don't know.

All of my life, before my hair turned grey, I would occasionally find a hard wiry red hair. I never gave it any thought. I just plucked it. Same with my mustache.

My girls had light colored hair, as did my brother but my youngest daughter (Jack & Josiah's mom) Savannah's hair, while not red, had a tinge or a hint of red.

Then along come Jack and Josiah. My red headed grandsons. Now? I'm inclined to believe that story about the red headed ancestor, though the guns a blazing might be slight embellishment.

Happy Anniversary

Seventy-seven years ago today, October 25, 1947, my parents were married in a private civil ceremony in Los Angeles. They remained married until my father's passing on May 7, 1981. My mother passed away April 14, 2018.

They were old school, salt of the Earth, people. Together; through hard work, tenacity and determination, they sought and found the American Dream.

They were two imperfect people just like the rest of us but they stayed together and they built a life together. It was a simple life. A good life.

Happy Anniversary mom & dad. We still miss you and we still love you!

The first photo is from their first date in 1947 at the Avadon Ballroom in Downtown Los Angeles.  The second was in 1978 during a road trip to Lake Tahoe.