Speaker 1: These ears are hilarious. There, it's so funny. That whole
Speaker 1: thing is so funny. Why are you wearing that Easter outfit?
Speaker 1: It's a Christmas movie.
Speaker 2: Just watch the movie. Just watch the goddamn movie. Oh,
Speaker 2: I can't believe you've only seen it once.
Speaker 3: More and more, better, more and better, a little more better,
Speaker 3: more and more.
Speaker 2: Hey, everybody, that's Stephanie Beatrice. That's mostly for marro.
Speaker 1: Happy holidays, happy holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Kwanza if
Speaker 1: you celebrate that. If you are avoiding all holidays, you
Speaker 1: should probably turn this off now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it might not know for you, And that's okay.
Speaker 2: We're not gonna be for everyone every single time. No,
Speaker 2: and that's okay. Yeah, what have you done lately?
Speaker 1: That's more better other than you guys can't see us
Speaker 1: if you're not watching this on the internet. But we're
Speaker 1: dressed in holiday garb. We look really fancy.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we look really fancy, really fancy and cozy. I'm good,
Speaker 2: My more better lately, My more better today is that
Speaker 2: I have been consistent lately. Oh, so I'm not doing
Speaker 2: I'm not like striving to do more better and I'm
Speaker 2: not like doing less. I've just been in this groove
Speaker 2: of like consistency and yeah, it feels really good. Of course,
Speaker 2: today I woke up under the weather, so the first
Speaker 2: thing I thought of was like, oh man, my streak
Speaker 2: of consistency is over. And what did I say to you?
Speaker 2: And you said, that's okay, it's not your ball and
Speaker 2: it's all good.
Speaker 1: You said something like that, right, don't be me to
Speaker 1: yourself about it like oh I failed.
Speaker 2: Because no, yeah, thank you. I didn't do that this time.
Speaker 2: I'm more just like bummed because I was like, you know,
Speaker 2: it feels really good when you get on a streak
Speaker 2: of consistency. And again, it wasn't like I didn't feel
Speaker 2: like I was doing too much. I didn't feel like
Speaker 2: I was doing too little. I was like right in
Speaker 2: that sweet spot, that middle.
Speaker 1: You know, I can't take you seriously with your hands
Speaker 1: and hands?
Speaker 2: How about you? What have you did lately? That's more better?
Speaker 2: Let's see.
Speaker 1: Well I got over being sick. I mean I still
Speaker 1: am like a little bit. My voice really gave out.
Speaker 2: Yeah you were real.
Speaker 1: Yeah I lost it. I got it back. I lost
Speaker 1: it again, it came back. It was okay, And now
Speaker 1: it's like hanging on by a thread, but the thread
Speaker 1: is strong.
Speaker 2: So are you doing all the things? Were you steaming?
Speaker 2: Were you?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was steaming.
Speaker 1: I did like gargleing. I didn't gargle because it makes
Speaker 1: me gag u. I did steam? I did, Yeah, I did.
Speaker 1: Side note, did you know if you drink too much
Speaker 1: throat coat it can act as a laxative.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that. I'll leave it to you.
Speaker 1: Oh, I didn't figure out how I found that out.
Speaker 1: So careful with the throat coat, guys. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: feel I feel more better. I went to therapy today.
Speaker 1: That was good. You know, holiday season can be really
Speaker 1: hard for people, especially if they're still struggling with grief.
Speaker 1: And I realized that I am definitely trying to fill
Speaker 1: up my calendar so I don't have to think about,
Speaker 1: you know, like not only how sad I am about
Speaker 1: my dad not being here anymore, but also how mad
Speaker 1: I am at him still. And that's a hard thing
Speaker 1: I think to like deal with, because yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: it's hard to be met. I don't know. Also, what's
Speaker 1: weird is that we, you know, after people die, we're like, oh,
Speaker 1: they were so amazing, they were such a good people.
Speaker 1: It's like, well they were human, right, and so there
Speaker 1: are things that I could have done differently, Like in
Speaker 1: his life, I wish he would have been more like
Speaker 1: loving and stuff, you know, like it really took himTo
Speaker 1: the last month of his life to be like gregarious
Speaker 1: with his love or like not stingy with it. Like yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's hard. It's like because I'm I'm I feel
Speaker 1: really like, what the.
Speaker 2: Fuck you were a lepers so long? Like I was
Speaker 2: a life for so long.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've been like you want to hold hands like
Speaker 1: you hands, you know. It's like, no, that's hard. That's
Speaker 1: a really hard thing. So like I'm trying to sort
Speaker 1: of just like feel my feelings about it, which is
Speaker 1: you know, it's hard when you'll just try to keep
Speaker 1: yourself really busy soly you don't feel your feelings.
Speaker 2: I know, but then those feelings just end up finding
Speaker 2: a way to like creep in and take over anyway.
Speaker 2: So I just showing you shove them back, shove them
Speaker 2: back down, make another plan. Too busy to have these feelings. Yeah,
Speaker 2: more better.
Speaker 1: What are we talking about today? We are talking about
Speaker 1: family recipes. Yes, in relationship to the holidays, because holiday time.
Speaker 2: I just realized my costume.
Speaker 1: Even though it's a uh, it's a bunny, it also
Speaker 1: could be a pig, and I will be talking about
Speaker 1: pork a lot. Oh. No, we all know it's a bunny.
Speaker 1: If you've watched a Christmas story, you know it's a bunny.
Speaker 1: And if you haven't watched a Christmas it's a bunny?
Speaker 1: Is wrong with you?
Speaker 2: You know? I think I've only watched a Christmas story
Speaker 2: like once when I was a kid. I know you're
Speaker 2: gonna be mad at me, bitch, What are you fucking
Speaker 2: get that reaction?
Speaker 1: Bro?
Speaker 2: I watched Memory multiple times?
Speaker 1: What I know, Melissa, I've been to the museum twice.
Speaker 2: Some museum. I don't know what to say.
Speaker 1: Uh, you're well, congratulate me, first of all, I'm going
Speaker 1: haven't been twice.
Speaker 2: Congratulations. I heard the second time was even more illuminating
Speaker 2: than the first.
Speaker 1: It was.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's sincerely. It was honest. I mean that's
Speaker 2: sincerely too.
Speaker 1: Uh.
Speaker 2: Where have you watched it with your children yet?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna attempt to this this year. Yes,
Speaker 2: it is the perfect It's like just the right age.
Speaker 2: The kids are literally like almost their ages. They're all Also,
Speaker 2: I have to like think about my approach because my
Speaker 2: children are at those ages where if I suggest something,
Speaker 2: there's like immediate resistance, Like I like, I will probably
Speaker 2: have better luck if I pay one of their friends
Speaker 2: to be like, hey man, I saw this movie and
Speaker 2: it's really great, and then they'll be like, Okay, we
Speaker 2: should watch this movie. No. No, they're just at that
Speaker 2: age where like you apply.
Speaker 1: Them with food, you like, you go, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: a movie night tonight and then making hot cocoa and
Speaker 1: we're ordering pizza, and then we're gonna have popcorn, but.
Speaker 2: We're watching this movie. We're watching this movie.
Speaker 1: So if you guys want to do movie night, we're
Speaker 1: gonna watch this movie and we're gonna have all these
Speaker 1: like cheaty foods that we don't usually have.
Speaker 2: And then they like connect like ooh, treat I like
Speaker 2: that movie. Yeah. I like just what you do, get
Speaker 2: what you do? Yeah, yeah, I like that.
Speaker 1: Because you can't sit them down and be like and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna have trail mix and watch this movie.
Speaker 1: You have to like bribe them with like right some
Speaker 1: kind of yeah. Yeah, I have to make it all.
Speaker 1: I have to make it a whole event.
Speaker 2: Yes, it's an event. It's an event. You have to
Speaker 2: wear that. Yes, I have to wear this. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: not tell them why. It'll make sense after you see
Speaker 2: the movie.
Speaker 1: Just until that part of the movie and then they
Speaker 1: start laughing at you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's perfect, it's great. I love it. I'm going
Speaker 2: to do it. I'm going to do it, and me
Speaker 2: scheming at your kids.
Speaker 1: Sorry. I love to scam kids, man, I mean that
Speaker 1: is like of parenting. Here's my big scam this holiday
Speaker 1: season is all of my child's presents are coming from
Speaker 1: the thrift store and she doesn't know it, and she
Speaker 1: won't know it.
Speaker 2: Because I'm gonna wrap this stuff. It's gonna be amazing.
Speaker 1: I have next to me literally a stack of books,
Speaker 1: a stack of books brand new, almost all of them
Speaker 1: are completely brand new, multiple coloring books that no one
Speaker 1: has colored in, dolls, dolls of plenty thing. I was
Speaker 1: too slow on an American Girls all and another lady
Speaker 1: got it, and I was actually quite happy for her
Speaker 1: because she has a little two year old and the
Speaker 1: two year old was like freaking out about the doll.
Speaker 1: There was an American Girl doll for twenty two dollars
Speaker 1: at the thrift store. And I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I did another lap and another lady I already had it,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you.
Speaker 2: Got all of this at one thrift store. All at
Speaker 2: one thrist store.
Speaker 1: And now or to be fair, I go multiple times
Speaker 1: a week to see what the new stock is.
Speaker 2: Got it? This is my hobby. It's my hobby.
Speaker 3: Got it?
Speaker 2: I love it? Anyway, should we talk about food? Let's
Speaker 2: talk about food. What's your experience with holiday food?
Speaker 1: We have specific food that we always eat. I grew
Speaker 1: up in Texas, so every either Thanksgiving or Christmas, we
Speaker 1: have demalis, which we used to buy off the side
Speaker 1: of the road out of a truck. I think this
Speaker 1: year I've got a couple different names of people that
Speaker 1: I am sorry, I am going to gate keep. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try a couple different things before Christmas, because what you
Speaker 1: don't want is soggy to Molly on Christmas.
Speaker 2: That's bad.
Speaker 1: And also my sister and I are going to make them,
Speaker 1: which you mentioned that you were in over that day.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah them, Yes, I want to come. Yes. So
Speaker 2: Tamali's are hard to make.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of steps we do, like a
Speaker 1: it's a lot we do a production. But I had
Speaker 1: to have my cookbooks over here. I highly recommend the
Speaker 1: Homesick Texan, The Homesick Textan cookbook. There's used copies you
Speaker 1: can buy online, but we make you can see here
Speaker 1: are notes in it. We make tamales with Raja, and
Speaker 1: we also are going to do this year, We're going
Speaker 1: to do briskit tamales and like there it's a lot
Speaker 1: of steps, but you know it's step by somebody. This
Speaker 1: recipe book or this cookbook is really good at like
Speaker 1: breaking down the steps. But also people have their own
Speaker 1: ways of doing things, you know, obviously, like I don't
Speaker 1: want to step on anybody's toes and be like my
Speaker 1: tamalis are the best because they're not.
Speaker 2: Uh.
Speaker 1: Last year, last year, Brad I was like, you have
Speaker 1: to buy this specific masa. You can find it at
Speaker 1: this grocery store and this grocery store. And he was
Speaker 1: like sure, he couldn't find it. I was like, no,
Speaker 1: you didn't check the right grocery store. You have to
Speaker 1: go to, like get to go to like the Mexican
Speaker 1: grocery stores, Like you can't just go to like yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't go anywhere, right, No? Yeah, So then he
Speaker 1: goes to or Superior yeah, oh no, he goes to
Speaker 1: Whole Foods.
Speaker 2: They don't have it.
Speaker 1: So he comes back with this like organic. Whatever the fuck? Bro,
Speaker 1: The tamalies were trout.
Speaker 2: They were bad.
Speaker 1: They were really bad.
Speaker 2: What about you? What is your holiday food?
Speaker 1: I'm hitting on Brad.
Speaker 2: We love you, Brad. It's all out of you.
Speaker 3: Brev.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know I don't holiday food think. Well, you know,
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving is a holiday that my parents, as your parents
Speaker 2: adopted when they came to this country. Correct, but my
Speaker 2: mom did uh find a recipe for a Bama stuffing
Speaker 2: that I make every year. In fact, I'm flying to
Speaker 2: family this year and like they don't really cook, so
Speaker 2: I was like, I'll cook because I need to have
Speaker 2: my mom stuffing on Thanksgiving. That's so nice? What's in it?
Speaker 2: What makes it so?
Speaker 3: But?
Speaker 2: Uh, it's with apples and sausages. Yeah, and it's just
Speaker 2: so fall. It's so good, and it's even like it's
Speaker 2: so fall and it's like a bunch of herbs and
Speaker 2: stuff and it's very it's it's even better the next day,
Speaker 2: like with like a frieda egg on top, Like, oh,
Speaker 2: it's so good. I look forward to it every year.
Speaker 2: That's only like Thanksgiving food that I like have to
Speaker 2: have every year, and then Christmas is like much more traditional.
Speaker 2: It's the Cuban menu for noo weena of le chon yuka, plantains,
Speaker 2: sweet and doss, white rice and black beans. Yup, that's
Speaker 2: the traditional.
Speaker 1: That's what I've.
Speaker 2: Had every year. That's traditional in Cuba. My mom said
Speaker 2: part of Nohauena was all the kids like gleefully following
Speaker 2: her auela out to whatever pasture behind their house where
Speaker 2: she would go kill the pig with a hammer. Dark
Speaker 2: as fuck, so dark. And the first time my mom
Speaker 2: told me that story, I was like what she was like,
Speaker 2: I know, it sounds like so weird, but we just
Speaker 2: loved it so much. Just like, imagine this old woman
Speaker 2: going to the back with a hammer in her hand
Speaker 2: and all these little kids behind her, like squealing with joy.
Speaker 2: Oh my god.
Speaker 1: Side notes, Latinos are the biggest audience for horror movies
Speaker 1: in the United States. It feels fitting that she'd give
Speaker 1: she was an expert, so she'd give that pig one
Speaker 1: expert whack on the head and it'd be dead.
Speaker 2: She was like, my mom, like it was like it
Speaker 2: was very humane. It was very humane. She was like,
Speaker 2: it was so fast. She never missed, you know, she
Speaker 2: never missed. It was just one knock on the head.
Speaker 2: So growing up, they would, yeah, they would, butcher maybe
Speaker 2: it was like the day before Christmas Eve kind happened
Speaker 2: or mourning of or something, and then they do it
Speaker 2: in was called like the Gaha Gina, which I'm assuming
Speaker 2: is from like all the Chinese immigrants that went to Cuba.
Speaker 2: But it's like slow roasted over like a fire pit
Speaker 2: kind of thing, which in Florida, my husband's family like,
Speaker 2: they do it that way because it's I get it's
Speaker 2: warm enough, so they Uh. Every Christmas Eve I had
Speaker 2: done in Florida was like the Gaha Gina was outside
Speaker 2: and they did they had the pig roasting outside all
Speaker 2: day Christmas Eve. But in Jersey, where it was fucking cold,
Speaker 2: my mom would get the pig. She'd get a whole pig.
Speaker 2: There would be a pig on a slab in my
Speaker 2: dining room table days before Christmas Eve. Incredible that all
Speaker 2: of my little like white friends and Italian friends were like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, like every time they came to the
Speaker 2: house that my mom would marinate and she would take
Speaker 2: it to a Cuban bakery that morning, and then my
Speaker 2: dad and brother would go pick it up for dinner.
Speaker 2: And then my tea brought the beans, somebody else brought
Speaker 2: the rice, somebody else brought the youth, like it was
Speaker 2: like all the dias. I always loved that part of
Speaker 2: Christmas Eve where all the dias and my mom were
Speaker 2: in the kitchen like finishing warming everything up and like
Speaker 2: and then putting things on the table because everyone was
Speaker 2: like we always had everybody down in the basement partying,
Speaker 2: but I liked go up to the kitchen when all
Speaker 2: the women were like, you know, putting the last touches
Speaker 2: and putting everything on the table. So and then I
Speaker 2: made my first litch on like a couple of years ago,
Speaker 2: with a pork shoulder, not a whole pig, because that's
Speaker 2: real hard to find, and also that's like for like
Speaker 2: thirty people. So I did a pork shoulder and it
Speaker 2: was a way easier than I thought it was going
Speaker 2: to be. Yeah, it wasn't like I came out really good. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it came out really good, and I was able to
Speaker 2: Caribbean ingredients can also be a little tricky to find
Speaker 2: in La sometimes, but luckily Mexicans also eat a lot
Speaker 2: of pork, so the pork shoulder was easy to find.
Speaker 2: And then some of the supermarkets do carry more like
Speaker 2: Caribbean ingredients around Christmas, so I was able to find
Speaker 2: like the sour orange and like all that stuff. So
Speaker 2: that's that's the menu every year. That's awesome, I think my.
Speaker 1: Family because we didn't have a lot of like we
Speaker 1: didn't have cousins and stuff that we.
Speaker 2: Like we had. It was really just the four of us.
Speaker 1: And so like we kind of just did our own thing.
Speaker 1: I think that's why I don't have a lot of
Speaker 1: like memories of you know, there wasn't like a bunch
Speaker 1: of people around like cooking in the kitchen. There was
Speaker 1: like a couple things that got made, like certain dishes
Speaker 1: and then Tomorrow's obviously like we would pick up. We
Speaker 1: never made them ourselves. My mom would make when I
Speaker 1: was younger, she would make and panaditas the guesso like
Speaker 1: little and banadas with cheese inside. But there are a
Speaker 1: lot of steps, and so as we got older, she
Speaker 1: stopped making them all together. My dad would make us
Speaker 1: on Christmas morning, but then as he got older, he
Speaker 1: wasn't supposed to eat anything fried, so he stopped making
Speaker 1: those two subsequently we make them when we can. I
Speaker 1: think my sister and I are going to try to
Speaker 1: make a rep us this year. Jenny is really good cook.
Speaker 1: She's incredibly good at it. I am like, your sister
Speaker 1: is amazing. I'm like, what do you want me to try?
Speaker 1: I think you don't give yourself enough.
Speaker 2: I think you don't give yourself enough credit because your
Speaker 2: sister is such a good cook.
Speaker 1: Maybe, but also I'm lazy, you know, and I don't
Speaker 1: I like to be in the kitchen, like with a
Speaker 1: glass of wine or something like hanging out, but I
Speaker 1: want to be responsible for timing dishes to come out
Speaker 1: at certain times, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be That is stressful. It's stressful.
Speaker 2: The eating is the timing amazing.
Speaker 1: The timing is like I never want to be in
Speaker 1: charge of a holiday meal. Like I'm down to Like
Speaker 1: we're having a holiday party this year, and like we're
Speaker 1: we're having a caterer come and I meant caterer, it's pizza,
Speaker 1: Like we're having a pizza truck. Like because we are
Speaker 1: invited a lot of people and.
Speaker 2: I'm not trying to cook for all those people.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to give them pizza cooked by somebody who's
Speaker 1: really good at pizza.
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the move. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I know. I used to. We used to throw holiday
Speaker 2: parties in New York or just parties too. We threw
Speaker 2: a New Year's party a bunch of times. And I
Speaker 2: would cook, and I feel like I don't know how
Speaker 2: to do that anymore. I would like maybe no, I would.
Speaker 2: I would freaking cook. I would make like a whole
Speaker 2: thing of pasta, and I would make sometimes like a
Speaker 2: big ham, and I I don't know, girl this. My
Speaker 2: mom has this like really great smoke like ham recipe
Speaker 2: that's not that hard, that's always like a banger at
Speaker 2: a party. My mom was like a berry like cook. Okay,
Speaker 2: like maybe yeah. My mom was an amazing cook. And
Speaker 2: she also was an amazing hostess, Like we hosted Christmas
Speaker 2: Eve at our house every year with like thirty cousins
Speaker 2: and aunts and uncles and you know. And she we
Speaker 2: also like had people over for dinner a lot, or
Speaker 2: like if someone invited us to a party, she would
Speaker 2: always bring a dish that she made, Like she was
Speaker 2: that kind of woman. So I think I picked up
Speaker 2: some of that from her. But a man I used to, yeah,
Speaker 2: like cook for having like twenty or something people at
Speaker 2: our at our apartment in New York. And that's I
Speaker 2: don't know what happened to that woman. But I can't
Speaker 2: even fucking imagine doing that now. I mean, I'm cooking
Speaker 2: Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving, but we're talking about like eight
Speaker 2: or ten people like not you know, and it's it's
Speaker 2: all the Christmas Eve stuff is easy because you can
Speaker 2: it's all big batches. Anyway, how do you time out?
Speaker 1: Like like do you know from experience? Like how how
Speaker 1: do you time out? Like what needs to go when?
Speaker 1: And like how you know what I mean? Like, I
Speaker 1: just can't The idea of that is so over. It
Speaker 1: feels like directing to me, like there's so many parts
Speaker 1: yeah that all have to kind of like come and
Speaker 1: to sync together. I cannot wrap my head around it.
Speaker 1: I think I'm somebody to give me a guideline.
Speaker 3: More.
Speaker 1: I do write a schedule like like like as if
Speaker 1: it's a production schedule.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the call time for the turkey.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is what time the turkey has to go
Speaker 1: into the oven, and then this is what time each
Speaker 1: thing needs to go in. I also especially if there's
Speaker 1: people over and I'm like I have a glass of
Speaker 1: wine in my hand and I'm socializing, Yeah I will.
Speaker 2: I will burn some shit real easy because I'm not
Speaker 2: paying attention. So I also have multiple timers, like yeah,
Speaker 2: like a timer on my phone, a time around my watch,
Speaker 2: a timer on the microwave, a timer on the oven.
Speaker 2: I write down what each timer is for, Like I
Speaker 2: have a notepad with the schedule of when things need
Speaker 2: to go in the oven and when I expect them
Speaker 2: to come out, with like buffer times too, because you
Speaker 2: never fucking know, and and so I have I learned
Speaker 2: that I have to write it all out, have multiple timers.
Speaker 2: Usually tell David also what the timers are because I
Speaker 2: need I need like an accountability partner. Yeah, because I'll
Speaker 2: get caught up at a conversation real easy and then
Speaker 2: be like, what's that smell? It's burning as I'm like
Speaker 2: with my glass of wine, were getting making a whole
Speaker 2: fucking meal, right. I've also gotten better at uh if
Speaker 2: I invite anyone that I know is a good cook,
Speaker 2: putting them to work and not feeling bad about it.
Speaker 2: Smart Like there was like I think it was last Christmas.
Speaker 2: My friend Monica is a very good cook. And as
Speaker 2: soon as she showed up, I was like a little
Speaker 2: bit behind in my schedule and I was just like, Monica,
Speaker 2: can you saute these things? And she was like yeah,
Speaker 2: I got you, and she like went right to work
Speaker 2: and it was great and we got everything out on
Speaker 2: time and it was like easy, breezy. But yeah, so
Speaker 2: I've gotten better at just like ahead of time, knowing Okay,
Speaker 2: if I'm behind or something like I can ask this
Speaker 2: person to do this in this when they get here,
Speaker 2: or I can ask them to come a little early
Speaker 2: and just do these two things for me and it'll
Speaker 2: make it easy. But I do it's like a whole
Speaker 2: math equation, like it's a whole it's a production schedule.
Speaker 1: Like literally, yeah, it's like five minute call for the
Speaker 1: for the turkey, thank you. I want you to write
Speaker 1: down like an exempt example, like sketchy version of that,
Speaker 1: not sketchy like bad, but sketch out version of that
Speaker 1: so we can okay on our Instagram because like I
Speaker 1: feel like it would help people.
Speaker 2: I mean it would help me, Like I don't know,
Speaker 2: I don't know any of.
Speaker 1: That stuff, you know, also not for nothing, like I
Speaker 1: don't know when your family eats Christmas dinner, but we're
Speaker 1: sitting down to eat at like nine pm.
Speaker 2: Oh no, we're doing.
Speaker 1: I don't know, well is Growing up it was like
Speaker 1: eight am, it's fucking late.
Speaker 2: Growing up it was a it's fucking late. Growing up,
Speaker 2: it was like seven or eight pm, I think our
Speaker 2: New Year's Eve dinner. But my children have americanized me,
Speaker 2: like I don't think they can survive until till eight
Speaker 2: o'clock to eat, So nine to eat, like she's.
Speaker 1: Like oh god, oh like yeah, and then then then
Speaker 1: they're little assholes because they're hungry or like the nack,
Speaker 1: and then they don't eat any dinner. And so I
Speaker 1: feel like we do earlier, Like the times that I've
Speaker 1: hosted Christmas Eve, we've done like six o'clock.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's amazing. No, that's incredible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I want that schedule because I want to see
Speaker 1: I want to see what it's what it could be,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like what it could be. Also,
Speaker 1: I realized that like the whole working backwards thing is
Speaker 1: really smart for you know, like if we do have
Speaker 1: something that we're making, how do we work backwards or
Speaker 1: like do we do it the day before? Do we
Speaker 1: just warm it up in the oven, Like how do
Speaker 1: we set it up? I just have no idea because
Speaker 1: like this isn't something that I this is not my forte,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, yeah, well, I'll struggle
Speaker 1: with like I open the fridge and I just like
Speaker 1: stare at it and then like grab a thing of yogurt.
Speaker 1: Like I struggle. I really struggle with like feeding myself food,
Speaker 1: you know, like if it takes more than one day,
Speaker 1: if I had to more than open it, uh uh yeah.
Speaker 1: I feel like the idea of cooking a holiday meal
Speaker 1: is really difficult. But I think that's why something like
Speaker 1: Tomali's isn't overwhelming to me, because I know, a my
Speaker 1: sister's gonna be there right and be like we're taking
Speaker 1: it ahead of time. It's not like we're we made
Speaker 1: ahead of time a couple of Tamali's that day, but
Speaker 1: like the whole day is like we're just making this.
Speaker 1: People aren't coming over to eat these tonight, like we're
Speaker 1: going to have them for you know.
Speaker 2: The ahead of time thing is the is the biggest, key,
Speaker 2: most important piece I think of any like making any
Speaker 2: big meal, like I will for Thanksgiving and Christmas, EVE
Speaker 2: make as much as I possibly can before, like, we're going,
Speaker 2: we're going to We're going away this year and we
Speaker 2: come back like the day before Christmas Eve, which is
Speaker 2: so annoying to me, but like whatever, my family's really
Speaker 2: excited to go.
Speaker 1: Hilarious.
Speaker 2: So I will probably make all of my beans. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'll probably make a huge batch of beans and freeze
Speaker 2: it before we leave. That's smart. So are done. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's already done. And then the only thing is the
Speaker 2: pork shoulder. Instead of being marinated for two days, it's
Speaker 2: going to only be marinated for one day. And I'm
Speaker 2: going to be the most annoying person on the morning
Speaker 2: of the twenty third, being like, we need to get
Speaker 2: the fuck out of here. We need to get my
Speaker 2: pork shoulder, shoulder, let's go. As soon as everyone wakes
Speaker 2: up on the twenty third, I'm gonna be like, let's
Speaker 2: go pack up, get in the car. We need to
Speaker 2: go back. Yeah, that's what you know what, that's called
Speaker 2: a compromise. I'm going until the day before Christmas Eve,
Speaker 2: and they're gonna have to deal with my ass being
Speaker 2: like we need to get back and we need to
Speaker 2: get a pork shoulder. I'm even trying to consider, like,
Speaker 2: who do I know with a key that can buy
Speaker 2: a pork shoulder and like put it in my fridge
Speaker 2: like two days before that. I might actually do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's actually not a bad idea.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm because like, yeah, I haven't forbid.
Speaker 1: So I'm not stressed about it, right, it's sound a
Speaker 1: little stressed.
Speaker 2: It's been a little stressed about it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I'm a little bit stressed about it. It's fine,
Speaker 1: It's gonna be fine.
Speaker 2: We have we have I can't find it.
Speaker 1: There's like a soup that we eat Begunna begun yah
Speaker 1: on Christmas Eve, and it is labor and and it's
Speaker 1: not good to look at, but it is good to eat.
Speaker 2: What do you mean?
Speaker 1: Is there like a weirdly chunky that doesn't look good?
Speaker 2: Does it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Yeah, or we'll eat it doesn't It doesn't look bad.
Speaker 1: It's just this one also comes up sometimes. But it's
Speaker 1: like this is my this is my aunt's cookbook Bolivian
Speaker 1: Food and Flavor. So there's like a ton of recipes
Speaker 1: in here. The one that's the hardest so is the
Speaker 1: thing that.
Speaker 2: We never cook. We never cook it. We always get
Speaker 2: it from somewhere else do you know those are? No,
Speaker 2: what are they?
Speaker 1: Okay, well, let me find the recipe. But satanas are
Speaker 1: essentially they're a Bolivian version of empanadas, but you know
Speaker 1: how like a soup dumping. Like, yeah, soup dumplings are
Speaker 1: made with gelatin, so that when you bite into it,
Speaker 1: that's the soup, right, because it's cooked with a little
Speaker 1: cube of gelatine in it. It's the same thing for
Speaker 1: a satanas. Like they have like meat and different vegetables
Speaker 1: and stuff, but there's gelatine inside and then when they're cooked,
Speaker 1: when they're baked, the gelatine melts and so like it
Speaker 1: creates this like soupy.
Speaker 2: They're incredible. They're fucking pain in the ass. Make the
Speaker 2: dough itself is like that sounds hard to make.
Speaker 1: They're fucking hard. So my family, again, wow, we really outsource.
Speaker 1: I'm realizing we really outsourced a lot of our cooking
Speaker 1: my family. Can you find that in La Yeah, you
Speaker 1: can find it. There's a big Bolivian population in La actually,
Speaker 1: and so there's a couple of places. Oh, I think
Speaker 1: one is in Long Beach and like, yeah it Actually
Speaker 1: I didn't really have them ever until we moved to
Speaker 1: La and my La cousins, my Bolivian cousins are the
Speaker 1: ones that are like, oh, we're having something this year
Speaker 1: for Christmas, right, And I was like, what do you mean?
Speaker 2: What's that?
Speaker 1: So I just didn't grow up with them, but now
Speaker 1: they're like a big part of it.
Speaker 2: Well, you said outsourcing. I I don't outsource as much,
Speaker 2: but I've definitely like shortcutted a lot of you know,
Speaker 2: like I'm I'm proud that I've perfected my black beans,
Speaker 2: my version of my black beans, because this was a
Speaker 2: thing for a while. So I had my mom's recipe
Speaker 2: of black beans, and then I also had my mother
Speaker 2: in law's recipe of black beans and very similar but different,
Speaker 2: and uh, you know, there was maybe a little a
Speaker 2: little bit a little bit. I don't think either of
Speaker 2: them listened to this podcast, so I think it's okay
Speaker 2: for me to say there's a little bit of a
Speaker 2: competition between the recipes obviously, and then hmmm, that I
Speaker 2: avoided for a very long time, basically until I had children,
Speaker 2: and then the conversation of like, why aren't you feeding
Speaker 2: your children beans? Uh started to come up and I
Speaker 2: was like, dang, like, you're kind of right, because Also
Speaker 2: it's just like a delicious, nutritious, like great thing to
Speaker 2: feed kids. My kids have shreds and rice like once
Speaker 2: or twice, like at least once a week. Wow.
Speaker 4: But I was like, what recipe do I, oh, my god,
Speaker 4: go with until my awesome cousin Eric came to visit.
Speaker 2: And Eric, he's I think transitioned out of the career now,
Speaker 2: but he was a chef. And the one thing about
Speaker 2: Cuban black beans is they're usually made with like a
Speaker 2: hamhowk Like like it's like a big ham bone thing.
Speaker 2: It's fucking hard to find. And he didn't use that.
Speaker 2: He used bacon. He was like, I just did bacon. Oh,
Speaker 2: that's so smart. And I saw also was the most
Speaker 2: beautiful black beans I've ever had because his like sofrito
Speaker 2: like his onions and peppers were like perfectly diced up
Speaker 2: into tiny little squares.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: And it was so pretty. And then my mom told
Speaker 2: me that that's how his grandfather made black beans. And
Speaker 2: his grandfather, my cousin Carlos, was the one who always
Speaker 2: brought the black beans to Nochawina before he passed away.
Speaker 2: That was his job. And so then that made me
Speaker 2: I was like done solved. I am also making Cuban
Speaker 2: black beans with bacon like Carlos died, right, And then
Speaker 2: I was like, so that's my version that I make,
Speaker 2: and it's so good and I can always find everything.
Speaker 2: I also use canned black beans because I don't have
Speaker 2: time to spe socus soap beans. You know, it's gonna
Speaker 2: sound like a hot to some people. No, huh, it's
Speaker 2: not a hot take.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm like, I'm not doing canned beans because
Speaker 1: like it's pennies on the.
Speaker 2: Dollar or whatever. She says. She's like, it's so much
Speaker 2: cheaper to buy like dry beans, and I'm like, oh
Speaker 2: my god.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you want to sell those beans, honey,
Speaker 1: that's fine, but like I don't have time.
Speaker 2: That's fine, you do you I don't have time. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I don't have time. You know how many times I've
Speaker 2: planned to make beans and then my day gets like
Speaker 2: sidetracked and it doesn't happen, and I do it like
Speaker 2: the next day. I don't want the pressure of some
Speaker 2: soaked beans in my stink pressuring me to make that
Speaker 2: those beans that day when some other shit fucking happens.
Speaker 1: I just found the recipe for the sultanias. Mind you,
Speaker 1: I want you to read aloud.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 1: Do you see the number of how many you make
Speaker 1: with that recipe?
Speaker 2: Wait, it's a little siery. I don't know if I
Speaker 2: can read it. It's five zero, Melissa.
Speaker 1: Fifty, I say, making fifty of these motherfucking things?
Speaker 2: Fifty the hell? Now?
Speaker 1: Yes, that's why we outsource it. That's why we outsource it.
Speaker 1: I would outsource it fifty medium sized Greek olives pitted.
Speaker 1: This should take so long? Okay, God, you know what?
Speaker 1: Another cookbook that I really like for the holidays is
Speaker 1: this one, which is really helpful if your family struggles
Speaker 1: with gluten because like, the holiday season is so inundated
Speaker 1: with glutenous things. But this is the Sieta Table, Yeah,
Speaker 1: which if you eat gluten free, you probably have seen
Speaker 1: Sieta foods in your grocery store. But there's a bunch
Speaker 1: of really great recipes in here that we use a
Speaker 1: lot because we're not totally gluten free, but I will
Speaker 1: say during the holidays, we eat a lot of it.
Speaker 1: So it's nice to have like a balance during but
Speaker 1: that still feels festive and.
Speaker 2: Influenced by Latinidad.
Speaker 1: That like, yeah, because what what happened was their seven
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters, and one of them was gluten intolerant.
Speaker 1: Is gluten intolerance, so like she started developing all these
Speaker 1: recipes for her family to.
Speaker 2: Be able to I didn't know that was the story. Yeah,
Speaker 2: isn't that cool.
Speaker 1: They're just like really awesome people and there's tons of
Speaker 1: stuff in here. There's like barbaracoa, dostalas uros and and
Speaker 1: chi la las, like all sorts of stuff that like,
Speaker 1: we go this is one of our go tos during
Speaker 1: the holiday season because it feels festive and special, but
Speaker 1: it's also not We're not eating as much gluten on
Speaker 1: those nights. We're not eating any gluten on those nights.
Speaker 2: The other thing that I thought of.
Speaker 1: When you were talking about your cousin Carlos, who brought
Speaker 1: the beans with the bacon, is that I think sometimes
Speaker 1: I don't cook stuff because I think about how many
Speaker 1: steps it's gonna take, and I go, oh, that's too much.
Speaker 1: But what I'm not doing is I'm not thinking it
Speaker 1: all the way through to like eating it. So like
Speaker 1: a rebus, for example, a rebus are a little bit
Speaker 1: of work. My dad was the best at making them
Speaker 1: because he could make them with an egg inside, and
Speaker 1: the egg yolk would still be runny.
Speaker 2: He was the master.
Speaker 1: And I think I would like to start making them
Speaker 1: on Christmas morning, even though it is quite a few steps,
Speaker 1: even though I might mess up, because like he's not
Speaker 1: here anymore, and so like that is a way to
Speaker 1: kind of bring his like him into the morning, you know,
Speaker 1: and also share him with my daughter, so like when
Speaker 1: she inevitably eats the up and likes it because they're
Speaker 1: fucking good, you know, then I can be like you
Speaker 1: used to make these for us on Christmas morning. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And I think to see a big connector.
Speaker 2: It is it is, it's it's certainly like for me,
Speaker 2: like legacy, remembering people memories. I think it can really
Speaker 2: be tied up in food, especially cultural food that's specific
Speaker 2: to your family. And I think that would be beautiful.
Speaker 2: And I would just also like encourage you to be
Speaker 2: also gentle, Like, you know, if you try and you
Speaker 2: fuck up the first time, like it doesn't mean you
Speaker 2: don't try again, you know. Like it took me a
Speaker 2: few tries of those beans to kind of get them
Speaker 2: just right, and then I wrote down what I did,
Speaker 2: and then I use that for a while and now
Speaker 2: I don't look at anything, and now I just you know,
Speaker 2: taste and just because I've done it so many times,
Speaker 2: I just sort of like taste and adjust and like
Speaker 2: add shit and they feel very mine, you know. But
Speaker 2: this is after like how long have I been making
Speaker 2: the beans, probably like three or four years. So it's
Speaker 2: but it's part of it is like I've also like
Speaker 2: not made them well a couple of times, like fucked up,
Speaker 2: you know, like and then you just kind of do like, well, shit,
Speaker 2: you know, and like what maybe I do wrong? And
Speaker 2: and then you know, and just kind of let.
Speaker 1: It roll off your back, like don't make it too deep,
Speaker 1: like yeah, yeah, food like it. I mean, that's what
Speaker 1: we did with the thing to say, but like no,
Speaker 1: but it's it's true.
Speaker 2: It's like that's what we did with the Tamali's that
Speaker 2: year that.
Speaker 1: Like they that we had the organic masa or whatever
Speaker 1: the fuck that was. It was like, oh, well we
Speaker 1: we we're gonna eat them, you know, and they were fine, Yeah,
Speaker 1: We're gonna.
Speaker 2: Try again, and yeah yeah yeah yeah. So I think, yeah,
Speaker 2: just make the areas and you know, watch them get
Speaker 2: better and better every time you made to.
Speaker 1: The only thing that I can make without a recipe
Speaker 1: is sauted kale.
Speaker 2: That's it. That's it. That's it.
Speaker 1: I can always salty and delicious, but I can't make
Speaker 1: any There's not.
Speaker 2: Much I can make without a recipe either. Like the
Speaker 2: only things I make without a recipe are things that
Speaker 2: I like, repeatedly make for my family, and it's like
Speaker 2: maybe three things.
Speaker 1: Everything else I'm using. I can do eggs or anything like.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I probably need.
Speaker 2: To practice more. Yes you can.
Speaker 1: Oh you know what we want to add? Can you
Speaker 1: talk about the food pantry stuff?
Speaker 2: Oh? Yes, so there are yes, I do so right now.
Speaker 2: For the holiday season, food pantries are doing this really
Speaker 2: amazing thing where they are including providing culturally relevant food
Speaker 2: for the food insecure during the holidays, such as Caribbean
Speaker 2: ingredients like oxtail and rice and peas. Oh man, I
Speaker 2: really want to learn how to make ox to kosher
Speaker 2: meats for Jewish holidays and halal meat. Other initiatives include
Speaker 2: providing specific meal bundles based on community surveys, so like
Speaker 2: those with Caribbean or Central or South American staples instead
Speaker 2: of just like the traditional American Thanksgiving meals. There's a
Speaker 2: few ice is found one on Long Island. It's called
Speaker 2: Long Island Cares. There's also Slo Food Bank that I
Speaker 2: think is in California. But I think this is a
Speaker 2: really beautiful initiative. It provides support for the food insecure
Speaker 2: and gives them a sense of normalcy and dignity and
Speaker 2: challenging times. And so we did want to take a
Speaker 2: minute just to encourage everyone to consider donating to your
Speaker 2: local food banks, seeing if there's any food banks near
Speaker 2: you that are doing this sort of thing. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: think it's a really lovely gift for the holidays. Yeah,
Speaker 2: and I wasn't even aware before this episode that there
Speaker 2: were food banks that dedicated themselves to, you know, more
Speaker 2: cultural and or dietary needs for the holidays. And I
Speaker 2: think that's really specially because the holidays can be really
Speaker 2: hard and yeah, anything that people can get to feel
Speaker 2: that bit of normalcy is.
Speaker 1: Huge, and particularly this year with what's happening in the
Speaker 1: United States with the reduction of support for people that
Speaker 1: use government funded, subsidized help with nourishing their families, which
Speaker 1: I know, if you're not from the US this sounds
Speaker 1: crazy and it is crazy, But if you are from
Speaker 1: the US, and you're listening to this, we encourage you to,
Speaker 1: even if it's just a little something, to find a
Speaker 1: food pantry near you, or reach out to your religious
Speaker 1: organization and see if there's anything that you can do
Speaker 1: to help, because like even a little bit, I mean,
Speaker 1: like you know, we're literally talking about Melissa's signature dish here,
Speaker 1: which is black beans, And if your family can afford
Speaker 1: to donate something as simple as a can of beans,
Speaker 1: you might end up making somebody's holiday like really really bright.
Speaker 1: And it is the season of giving, guys, Yeah, giving.
Speaker 3: More better.
Speaker 1: I feel more better because I feel like I'm gonna try,
Speaker 1: probably fail, but maybe it'll be hilarious make to make
Speaker 1: at an IPUs on Christmas morning. I'm also very excited
Speaker 1: about maybe being a little more hands on with the
Speaker 1: Tamali's instead of just like telling Jenny like okay, what
Speaker 1: do I do now? Yeah, I feel a little more
Speaker 1: better about like, oh that's okay.
Speaker 2: Some of us do have to be the person that's
Speaker 2: like telling jokes in the kitchen with a glass of
Speaker 2: wine while the other person cooks. That person's really important. Also, yeah,
Speaker 2: like that person is keeping the vibe going and the
Speaker 2: party starting. The party, while yeah, it was just a
Speaker 2: bunch of people watching the person in the kitchen cook,
Speaker 2: and that's horrifying, horrifying. I don't want anyone watching me cook.
Speaker 2: What about you? Yeah, I feel more, I feel you know,
Speaker 2: I I think I was feeling like a little actually
Speaker 2: just yesterday, a little stressed out thinking about like the
Speaker 2: meal planning and the holiday. But then just like telling
Speaker 2: these stories is just like, oh, it's it's also one
Speaker 2: of those things that's like a little bit bigger than me,
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying, Like it's it's tradition and
Speaker 2: it's family and it's legacy and it's all those things
Speaker 2: that we talked about. So I feel like more better
Speaker 2: about my motivation and kind of inspiration. I think to like,
Speaker 2: just do it, just get it done, like it will
Speaker 2: be so worth it. I'll be so happy that I
Speaker 2: did it. You know, We're all like sitting around everyone's
Speaker 2: like it's so good. Like I'm gonna feel all good
Speaker 2: and I'll be like, girl, you did it. Yeah it's
Speaker 2: worth it. It's worth it is the more better like.
Speaker 1: It is worth it. Yes, it is worth it. It
Speaker 1: is work, but it is worth it. Yeah, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: all right, happy holidays, the holidays. We did it holiday season.
Speaker 1: It's the holiday season. Boop dee boom zippity dp whatever
Speaker 1: however that song goes welssa, you better watch a Christmas
Speaker 1: Story with your kids. I needed a full report. Next
Speaker 1: time we do this, you better not be like, oh,
Speaker 1: we didn't do it.
Speaker 2: No, you have to do it. No, I'm gonna bribe
Speaker 2: my children with treats and force them to watch Christmas Story.
Speaker 1: Yes, so what parenting is all about? Okay, well, we'll
Speaker 1: see you next time. Guys.
Speaker 2: All right, see you next time.
Speaker 3: Bye. More Better.
Speaker 1: Do you have something you'd like to be more better
Speaker 1: at that you want us to talk about in a
Speaker 1: future episode.
Speaker 2: Can you relate to our struggles or have you tried
Speaker 2: one of our tips and tricks?
Speaker 1: Shoot us your thoughts and ideas at Morebetter pod at
Speaker 1: gmail dot com and include a voice note if you
Speaker 1: want to be featured on the pod. Ooh, More Better
Speaker 1: with Stephanie Melissa is a production from Wvsound and iHeartMedia's
Speaker 1: Mikultura podcast network, hosted by Me, Stephanie Beatriz, and Melissa Fumero.
Speaker 1: More Better is produced by Isis Madrid and Sophie Spencer.
Speaker 2: Ze bos Our. Executive producers are Stephanie Beatrice, myself, Melissa Fumero,
Speaker 2: along with Wilmar Valderrama and Leo Klem at WV Sound
Speaker 2: and ISIS Madrid.
Speaker 1: This episode was edited by ISIS Madrid and engineered by
Speaker 1: Sean Tracy and feature's original music by Madison Davenport and
Speaker 1: Helo boy Our cover art is by vincent Remy's and
Speaker 1: photography by David Abolos. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit
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Speaker 2: You listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: See you next week, Suckers, Bye, Allan Tokitomas Mayhor