A Cuban Yule

When I was growing up in Miami FL Yule was a party that my mom and dad would have in our home. Everybody in the neighborhood would go my parents party.  It was the yearly event that everybody waited for with anticipation.  I remember having to get dressed in a very uncomfortable outfit that my mom picks out for the party every year, playing hide and seek with the next door neighbor’s kids and all the food!

You see my parents came from Cuba which is an island nation in the Caribbean and in Cuba roast pigs “A WHOLE PIG” is the traditional way to celebrate Noche Buena, or Christmas Eve. I remember my mom cooking it even though it’s traditionally a man's job to cook the pig. Dad wounld buy the pig at the local butcher shop. An 80-pound pig easily feeds 50 to 60 people. However, we love to have plenty of leftovers, so we always make way too much. Dad would get one with the head, feet, tail and ears would still be on the pig, my mom would say those were the best parts. Mom would prepared the pig the night before.  The next morning my dad would digging a hole in the back yard about one feet deep and putting cinderblocks around the hole, inside the hole he would put cole to get the fire going, the pig was then put on a makeshift barbecue grill which would be wider on the side so that when you would put the grill with the pig on the cinderblocks the grill would not fall through the hole. It would cook for about 5 to 6 hours

At that point my mom would start cook  the rest of the food, the pig would be left to cook for about five to six hours. Mom would cook Cristianos (a Black or Red Bean and Rice Dish), Tostones (fried plantain) and Yuca con Ajo (Yuca with Garlic Sauce). For desserts we wounld have Turrones (Nougat Candy), Buñuelos (Cuban Christmas Pastry) and Arroz con Leche (Rice Pudding). That’s what I remember the most about Christmas the traditional lasted for many years until my dad died of cancer….. Men I miss him he was I cool dad. Here is the recipes for Buñuelos I hope you guy will try out this Christmas!

Buñuelos

Buñuelos are a light, fried pastry. These light, fried pastries are a Cuban tradition served warm with a special syrup. We Cubans like to eat them for Christmas. They are also good dusted with cinnamon sugar, or powdered sugar.

Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Yield: 2 dozen

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups ground yuca
2 cups ground malanga
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 egg yolks
1 cup flour sifted
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons anise flavoring
Vegetable oil for frying

Bring about five quarts of water to a rolling boil. Peel the yuca and malanga and place in boiling water; add salt and lemon juice. Reduce heat to medium and cook until soft, but not too mushy – about 15 to 20 minutes.

Drain and dry with paper towels. Let cool. Remove any woody parts from the center of the yuca.

Use a food processor or food mill and grind the cooked yuca and malanga very fine. Again, watch out for any woody parts!

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Beat the egg yolks until frothy and blend in the salt/flour/baking soda mixture. Add the ground yuca, malanga, and the anise flavor and blend. The dough should be thick enough to shape into figure eight shapes (add a more flour if needed to reach the proper consistency.)

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Use your lightly greased fingers to roll out about a tablespoon of dough into a long strand, making a rope about eight inches long. With a twist of the wrist, turn the dough rope into a figure eight.

Deep fry the dough pieces in hot oil (375°F) until golden brown, light and fluffy. Serve with syrup (following), or sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

SYRUP

2 cups sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1 cup water

1/4 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring all ingredients, except vanilla, to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer until the syrup thickens to the consistency of a good maple syrup – about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove from heat, remove cinnamon stick and stir in vanilla.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sale

Hi guy I’m having a Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale that will last 11/26 through 11/29 till midnight. Everything in the store is 30% off! 

Freya Glamour Boutique

I will be having some new and exciting merchandise so look out for it. Also if you would like something in particular please don't hesitate to contact me and I will see what I can do. I hope you guy enjoy! Happy Yule!!!!

The coupon code for the sale is: BLACKFRIDAY2011 I hope you guy enjoy!

Tarot 101- Good Habits

Hi guy sorry it has taking me so long to write its blog. Ok here we go!

http://youtu.be/Ltb6irh_8kU

With everything in life the individual has habits and/or routine which the individual will do to start their day. Some are good habits and some or not so good.  When it comes to tarot there are routine and/or habits that are helpful in…….for a lack of a better term “getting you in the mood”. I have a couple of habits and/or routine that I do every time I use my tarot, rune and/or Oracle cards. I will share with you. I hope you will find them informative, helpful and inspirational……

1.   When you buy your tarot deck always cleanse and consecrate your deck first before you do anything with them. You can sprinkle some water with sea salt “which makes holy water” and say something like

“May this water and salt cleansed and consecrate these cards of all impurities and negativity, may they be filled with love and light and may I always speak and see the truth with them and by my side”

2.   Something to hold your tarot…..The last thing you want is to get your cards dirty and/or damage. Plus the way in which you store your tarot can help you in the process of reaching a higher level of consciousness. How? You say, simple you can use a draw deal string bag, a beautiful wood carved box, or the box they came in. One thing you should only have with you if you don't know where you are doing a reading is a piece of cloth that is just for reading. You my if you feel the need to do so, add thing to what your using to hold your tarot such as sea salt for purification, herbs and/or oils that enhance psychic abilities and crystals that also do the same.

3.   Just as if you were on a romantic date, you need to have the right mood for it to work…. you know “A happy end ;)”. When you start reading the tarot you need just that….. No not romance but that you feel like if you are in a different world. A world of magic… now that I think about it you could call it romantic just not between two people but you and the energy of the universe. But I'm getting ahead of myself. To help you get there you can use some incense, candles, crystals and/or oils to set the mood. It up to you to decide what work for you best.

4.   Clean up on aisle, after your done doing a ready you should always cleanse the cards. You can do this by imaging the energy of the person you have just read for is dispersing from the cards or you can take the cards in your hands and with them striking the bottom of the palm of your opposed hand palm softy three time while imaging the energy of the person you have just read is dispersing from the cards.

5.   Last but not least depending on how many reading you do or if you feel the need you should do a heavy duty cleanse for you cards. At least ones every three months, ones a month if you use the cards very often. I don’t mean twice a week I mean 5 or more time a day.

All that I have written are suggestions for you to take and use as you see fit.  Please experiment with all or some of what I suggested and try to see what works best for you.  Mind you, you can add other thing that I have not suggested I encourage you to be created. Please let me know what you come up with so do hesitate to comment.

 love and light

What Else to Write

Ok guys I was thinking about what else to write about on the blog but not much come to mind at first. I started looking around my room and saw my bookshelf………. All of a sudden a light bulb lit up “book reviews” I have many books most are romance novels, metaphysical, paranormal, spiritual and magick related subjects. What I am thinking is that I will review one book ever two weeks that is related to magick/paranormal. I am also thinking of making video blog to go with it.

Books have a special place in my heart. When I was just a child growing up in an only Spanish speaking household, my English reading was not the best. To be honest I was the lowest reader in all of my classroom in grade school, middle school and high school. The reason for this was that since my parents don’t speak English and I was an only child I had no one to help me at home.

Throughout the years I manage to scrape by with what I knew. And then one day a friend of mine who is an avid reader started asking what books I like I really didn't know how to answer her and I said “only read two books 1 when I was in high school and it is finished the other one last week” her eyes bulged out of their socket “real I read over a hundred book in a year. You’re missing out”.  Without hesitating or asking me she took me to a local bookstore to make a long story short that night she introduced me to some very amazing books and authors.

Well that’s what I’ve come up with so far. What I want to know is if you guy have any idea that you could give me to write about.

Hey Guys

Hey Guys,
I don’t know what’s going on but I have not being able to upload a video on YouTube no matter what I do! I have being trying for the last three day Grrrrr! That’s why I have not uploaded the next video on my tarot 101. And the job that I apply for has not celled me for an interview. Times are tough in my neck of the woods so a new good paying job is necessary.  

O well life goes on. On a happier note I have being given the opportunity to work at a hotel manning the phones. The pay along would change my financially life for the better but I would have to work the overnight shift/ moon light shift 11pm to 7am. There is no exact schedule for employees to follow so there is no telling what hour of the day or what day of the week that I will get off. I guess just like everything in life this job has theses pros and cons.

The idea that this job could give me the chance to move out of my mom home and in to my own place is tempting. Not just move out but to be able to move to a good apt with two bed rooms and a nice kitchen, not an efficiency. I could make more things for my etsy show and work on improving on my skills in the art and craft. I even told my mom which I never tell my mom anything because she is a negative person but even she saw the possibility in the job which is a rare thing for her.

I guess what I'm afraid of is the possibility that I might not do a good job, you see I get really nervous when I start new jobs and I always end up messing up. The last thing I need is to mess up and lost the job then what will I do. I have too many bills that I pay a month so I am taking baby steps on applying and asking my friend everything about the job. OMG I wish life was easier! Wish me Luck!

Tarot 101- Superstation

Hi guy if you follow me on youtube http://youtu.be/hzjRaxFiviI

Most all magical tools have some sort of superstation that has completely molded how we see the tool. The tarot is no exception in fact tarot has the most superstation attached to it because of its mystery in its origins and the fear that comes with it. Whether or not you wish to believe in this superstation is all up to you.  Here are so of the olds superstation at the tarot has:

One of the olds superstation that the tarot has is that you should not buy your deck. Only that someone most gift you a tarot deck. The superstation behind this belief is the idea of letting the right deck come to you. But what if you don’t know anyone that would give you a tarot deck as a gift, you would be out of wish. One other reason for this superstation belief is to humble the person so you believe that it is a gift not just from a friend but from the gods, a sign if you will that you are to be a tarot reader.

The second superstation is that you should not use a tarot deck that have been owned and or use by someone else. This superstation comes from the belief that one’s an owner bongs with the deck it is for life and cannot be undone. I personally don’t not believe in this because anything and everything can be cleansed of its energy.  I used to have the Mystic Faerie Tarot it as my first deck  and it was beautiful but I never use it I guess it just wasn’t the right deck for me. For about the last three years it was in my witch chest but now it is in the possession of my friend Annelys she is the new owner and as far as I know the deck is working perfectly fine. 

The third most coming superstation is the belief that you should not read for yourself. I personally agree with this superstation because if you read for yourself you we just see what you want to see in the card and not what is really there. To be about to read the tarot for yourself you would have to separate yourself from your wants and desire to be able to see them objectively.

Last but definitely not least! The belief that your cards a mind of their own. That they are pre-Madonna and that you have to cater to their every whim. I have heard of store of tarot reader who couldn’t do a reading because there cards don’t want to work that day because the tarot reader just wasn't giving the cards the attention that it want.  All I can say about this is …. Just remember that energy is shaped by thought and emotion so if you believe that your cards are pre-Madonna than they will be that way. A health thought  is to see you cards as a business partner and or good friends this way your cards will always work for you and they will be friendly and to anyone that you read.

If you know of any other superstations or if I misrepresented one of the superstation and it you would like to elaborate on one please don’t hesitate to comment.

4 Day Long Weekend

I was having a good night at work everything was going ok. There weren’t so many people so it was not that stressful. The whole time I was thinking of what I was planning to do for the next 4 day which I have off. When I get out my friend Sebastian asks for a ride home. Sebastian is a good kid, how always make me laugh. He also lives next to the expressway that I needed to take to go home. So I did not see anything wrong with it, I take him home said good bye and was on my……….

Just as I was get to the light that turn on to the expressway I notice a police car with its light and siren on. All I could think was please let it not been for me but no such luck, I park my car on the side of the road and waiting. When the cop walk up to mey side he ask for drivers license and registration and without skipping a beat I grabbed my priest and handed him the information you need.  After that I play the waiting game. I swear the cop take longer to give me my ticket than it takes a girl to get ready for a date. When he came back he asked me if I knew why he had stop me I said that I didn't know but in the back of my mind I knew why I had taken a stop sign along the way…… well I didn't really take it I just didn't stop long enough for his like……. So that's how I start my 4 day long weekend

I still plan on working on my craft, blogging and maybe some YouTube video I hope lol.