Blog #7 Latin Foods.

Well as you know tamales are very delicious but, what is the history behind them? Tamales originated in Mesoamerica which can be traced back as far as 8000 BCE. The Aztec and Mayan civilizations often brought their armies tamales before battles. Tamales are made from a nixtamalized corn starch which in Latin America is referred to as “masa.”Tamales can be filled in with about everything. They can be filled in with beans, chicken, pork, cheese, sauce, deer, and a combo of all of them. Tacos also a mobile food used by the Spanish for their conquest of countries and civilizations. Tacos is a standard dish to make you start with a tortilla however you want it either grilled or fried then, you go one to put some type of meat, fish, beans, rice, or even insects in some cultures on top of said tortilla. Tacos mainly originated from the central to South American cultures who are mainly Spanish speaker. One of the common things about these dishes is how “white washed” the USA has made them. The term means watered down or bootlegged from the original foreign taste.
The next dish that I enjoy rather well is called Pozole is from Mexico when the Spanish had began to conquer it. The dish starts off with a stew of dry corn you can say for them it was only for special occasions for like rituals, marriages, and even funerals. The meal is topped off with a meat and it can be any meat and a type of sauce to give it more flavors. I love this dish for the simple fact that taste so amazing for those cold nights and even for the warm ones it is just awesome! Camarones a la diabla are shrimp just completely drizzled in hot sauce or any other sauce to give it that needed kick to catapult it to the next level. This is beyond and far away my favorite dish just because, once the flavor kicks in you feel like your taste buds is going into high gear! The dish originated in Central or South America and was used as a potent way to kick a hangover. I cannot end this without putting a drink on my list. This drink is called champorado. It is a chocolate pudding type of drink for me and how my mom makes it hot which you can enjoy with hot bread. The basics how to make is that you need to include masa so it can get a solid yet, liquidly form. Champorado is from Mexico and is usually served in a foam cup during, festive holidays it is a lot like Pozole and is best served with tamales.

Blog #6 Black orpheus

Black Orpheus to my surprise is actually a re-imagining of the Greek myth of Orpheus son of Apollo and Calliope. The original is a heartbreaking fatalistic tale of two lovers, who shortly after their marriage were doomed to never be together…at least in this world. Black Orpheus is scarcely any different. Now as farfetched as redoing a Greek myth with the backdrop of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil may sound it is actually quite plausible. When you think of the powerful presence of the Orisha tradition intertwined in Brazilian culture. Few places would be as suitable as this retelling and fewer still would be able to conjure a backdrop as beautiful so that gods indeed may run about. Colors seemed to leap from the screen and the music was at least as effective.
Costumes and color helped set the tone of many scenes, especially when Eurydice is first introduced. She disembarked from the ferry wearing all white, a telltale sign of her “innocence” so to speak. This is further emphasized by her being seemingly overwhelmed at the atmosphere that she has just into. This is indicated by the appearance of her giving the vibe of being threatened by all of the revelers, musicians and crowds until she is encircled by death.
Another aspect of Afro-Brazilian culture that we’re given a glimpse at is when Orfeu finally confronts Death. Being a martial arts fan, I was elated, even though the sequence is much too short. Orfeu pounced at Death, and almost seamlessly Death went into a defensive. Capoeira an Au which is a somersault used to defend for quick retreats and then counterattacking with one, or multiple low kicks.

The Babylonia School) and his boss, Hermes. Orfeu’s attraction for Eurydice is apparent, and expected after literally every man in Rio looked at least twice, but is surprising given that him and his fiancée, Mira (The Queen of the Day), is in the process of obtaining their marriage license and engagement ring. This is where single-handedly I am shown the importance of Carnival to the people. Mira will buy her own engagement ring because Orfeu is more concerned with the preparations of his Samba dance. Orfeu is also depicted as a seducer of women, and is reinforced by him bumping into one of his ex-girlfriends that very day. Orfeu and Hermes do, however, manage to help Eurydice with her destination; she is seeking refuge with her cousin Serafina (Queen of the Night) for protection from a mysterious threat. As fate would have it, Orfeu lived near Serafina and this provided the opportunity for an impromptu tryst to occur. Things proceed as expected with any star-crossed lovers, arrangements are made for the lovers to die eventually.
This movie thought me about the core values of what love is and supposed to mean. The movie was not only great visual and spiritually but, gave a great message about one’s self. The simply love between them lasted forever up until Orfeu’s death. The stories may be different and this is the lighter side of the moon version but,still not failed to impress.

My Trip to Arizona

Well my trip started with a bang! Well not really, it was just a bunch of traffic to start off. The traffic lasted about 3 hours to get to 1 hour and a half destination. The whole trip took 8 hours you may be asking why it took so long? Well for starters the traffic and then we were mighty hungry from that time in traffic. We decided to stop by a local Carl's Jr in Blythe, CA. Blythe is the last major city in California before, Arizona's border comes into contact. For some reason, the city entirely smelled like a whole farm I look around and I see it's a very agricultural city with farm spaces and crop fields. Anyways we are on the road again and for some reason when we are on the road I noticed that there is this animal or thing and we had to swerve a bit to get out of it's direction. At the moment, many of us were sleeping and I saw that it was some jackrabbit. What we noticed about this particular day was the odd number of accidents that we kept on encountering.
The second day started off with me waking up around 10 ish you could say so we can start eating and what not. Yesterday we arrived at 1 o clock so I had some great sleep and what not. The reason we came to Arizona was for my cousin's graduation party and from there it was beyond hot the weather was just humid. Well we ended up eating at this place called Lo Lo's Chicken and waffles man was it great. The menu was a parody of the classic "Don't be a menace while sipping on gin and juice in south central." On the menu they had Kool Aid, Chicken, Waffles, and Mac N Cheese. The mac and cheese was freaking amazing it was like the taste buds gods wanted me to try this meal. I would highly recommend it if you are in the Phoenix area. My cousin's graduation party was pretty much like this he set up this big balloon display. The balloons were set as black, yellow, and gray. This party was very amusing I saw a lot of my family members that I have not seen in a while. Beyond that I had a great time music, drinking, a bunch of people arguing it was the typical Mexican party atmosphere. Sunday we came back pretty much nothing exciting just the traffic and eating of some In N Out.