Farewell....For Now

Reflecting back on this semester of borderbeat, I have learned more than I ever anticipated. My weekly journey posting blogs on various topics regarding the Hispanic culture has provided me with different insights and thoughts on a culture I was unfamiliar with.

This semester flew by and I cannot believe it is already over. Never posting a blog before, I had to learn quickly how to upload videos, upload pictures, and write my reporting in a conversational way. I can honestly say this was the hardest part for me; differentiating between hard-news reporting and conversational reporting that still entices the reader. After a while posting my blogs became a weekly ritual for me, almost like checking my e-mail or checking for updates on my facebook!

Even though I had previous experience in Final Cut, I learned this semester that as much as I think I know about this program, there is ALWAYS something new to learn. My first special project about the salsa band Senor Q took me quite a while in the photo lab to complete. Between making a video, soundslides and writing a story, I was so overwhelmed...but I grudged through and produced a pretty good story (if I do say so myself). I want to thank the members of Senor Q for being so kind and allowing me to work with them behind the scenes.

My second special project took me on a completely different journey. My class took a trip down to St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic in Nogales, Arizona for a day to report. This experience was amazing; something I have never experienced before and would love to do again. My partner Paloma and I ran around frantically trying to gather as much information as we could and before we knew it, it was noon and we were eating lunch and heading back to Tucson.

The following week, I was in the photo lab for three days straight editing and cutting and putting together as much information as I could into videos and soundslides. I would like to thank John deDios for helping me understand Final Cut and the ins and outs of the internet…and also for putting up with me!

Overall, working as a journalist for borderbeat this semester was a wonderful experience. I thank my teacher, Jay Rochlin, for allowing me to take the reins and go in the direction I wanted to go. I was able to report on all different topics regarding the border that were interesting to me, and I hope, interesting to you!

Hot Tamale!

With the holidays quickly approaching, I thought what could be better than talking about tamales; a traditional Hispanic food made with corn dough, filled with an assortment of meats, cheeses, and chilies and then wrapped in a corn husk.

According to My Hot Tamale!, tamales can be traced back as early as 5000 BC. They served as a nutritious and portable food for Aztec, Mayan, and Incan warriors.

Tamales are a very popular food item during Christmas as a part of Mexican tradition. According to MexGrocer.com on “Noche Buena” or Christmas Eve, families gather together and eat a feast of dishes including tamales, rice, chiles rellenos, menudo or roast pig or turkey. Their feasts also including hot fruit of cider punches.


Every year at my parent’s house in Scottsdale, my family is lucky enough to receive a huge batch of tamales from our family friend. My mom’s friend is Mexican-American and always cooks several tamales to last through the holiday season and they are so delicious!

Tamales have become extremely popular as a food item for Christmas; you can even pre-order them online and have them shipped to you. San Antonio’s Delicious Tamales offers nationwide shipping. Established in 1980, they are the largest tamale manufacturer in San Antonio and just kicked off their tamale-season yesterday. If you would like to purchase tamales before the holidays, call 1-800-TAMALE-1 or visit their website.

If you would rather make your own fresh tamales, there are several simple recipes to follow…but first you need to collect all of the proper equipment and ingredients.

Before making your tamales, you need specific equipment. Here is a list of equipment you need to make the perfect, tasty tamale.

You will need:
1 large capacity steamer
Measuring cups
Tongs
Measuring spoons
Draining spoon
Spreader

…It's pretty easy. Most of you will have these items in your household already.

The ingredients for tamales are also straight forward.

All basic tamales include:
Corn Oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Ground Cumin
Cumin Seeds
Chili Powder/Chilies
Baking Powder
Broth
Paprika
Corn Masa
(such as MaSeCa)
Real Corn Husks


Locally, Fry’s Food Store located at 555 E. Grant Rd, has all the ingredients you need to make a delicious tamale including corn masa and corn husks. They even have an instructional video playing to show you how to make tamales.

The tamales must also include whatever filling you prefer, such as pork, chicken, ground beef, chorizo, cheese, or green chillies. Below, I have listed links for recipes to make these different types of tamales.

Beef Tamale
Chorizo Tamale
Pork Tamale
Green Chilies and Cheese Tamale
Chicken Tamale
Green Corn Tamale

A step-by-step process on how to make Corn Masa.




Remember, It’s not a Christmas without tamales!!

Performing Miracles

About a week and a half ago my class visited St. Andrews Clinic in Nogales, Arizona. This was truly an eye-opening experience for me and my class as well.

Our purpose for visiting this clinic was to go around and talk to families, children, volunteers, nurses and doctors about their experiences and contributions to St. Andrews and why the clinic was so beneficial not just to the patients, but to them personally.

According to their website, most clinic days there are two orthopedic surgeons and several orthopedic residents and students, five pediatricians, two neurologists, one pediatric cardiologist, about six to eight medical students, one ophthalmology therapist, one equipment technician to fit wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and other aids and finally about one-hundred volunteers to keep everything running neatly.

Every clinic, St. Andrews performs miracles on and for children. According to the website, each year about thirty-six children receive free orthopedic surgeries, fifteen participate in cleft palate surgeries and three take part in other surgeries at Shriners, U of A Medical Center, Tucson Medical Center, St. Joseph’s Hospital of Carondelet Health Network, and certain hospitals located in Mexico.


I met some incredible people and learned some incredible stories while at St. Andrews. One person that especially made an impact on me was a little boy by the name of Luis. He came to St. Andrews with his mom and I met him in the “waiting room” where the children were sculpting play-dough, coloring in books and drawing art on paper.

Volunteer Linda Pantoja, 68, told me and my partner that Luis had cleft palate surgery about two years and he was at the clinic for a check-up. After watching him and the other children around him who had cleft palate surgery, I realized how beneficial St. Andrews can be for the children and families.

Click below to watch Luis interacting with a volunteer.


It was amazing to see how great these children looked and I realized that the doctors and volunteers at St. Andrews have completely changed the lives of those around them. St. Andrews truly conducts miracles for these families.

It was definitely hard to remain unbiased while at the clinic, especially watching little Luis. One of the volunteers was helping him play with the play-dough and I could see his face immediately illuminate.

St. Andrews clinic is only held once a month, but the volunteers conduct a large amount of work in just a few short hours. Every person at the clinic helps out…you will never see one person standing around. If they are not working with the children, they are cooking food or translating, making appointments, or handing out clothing.

It is truly a sight to see…and take part in if you get the chance

White Dove in the Desert

Located virtually in the middle of the desert on the Tohono O’odham Indian Reservation, lies a great white building. As your driving on 1-19 towards Nogales you can see the “White Dove of the Desert” sticking out like a sore thumb.

This spectacular sight is Mission San Xavier del Bac, Arizona’s oldest European structure that continues to remain untouched.


The Mission is located on 1950 W. San Xavier Road and is almost a small city itself. You can find the church and next to it a self-guided museum as well as a gift shop. Next door is the San Xavier Mission School and the San Xavier Plaza which includes gift shops and a café.

I took a trip to the Mission about a week ago and did not know what to expect. Not being a religious person, I was a bit skeptical; but I will tell you, I definitely surprised myself.

As I entered, I felt the aura of the church almost immediately. The first thing that caught my eye was the intricate detail of the murals and paintings all over the walls. I could not believe this landscaping was from the 1700’s. There are also several statues of St. Francis and illuminated candles throughout the inside.


While I was there, about 20 people were inside the church. I could tell about half of them were tourists and the other half were regulars who came to pray daily. About 200,000 people visit the Mission yearly.

There is a lot of history behind Mission San Xavier del Bac dating back to the late 1600’s. In 1700, Father Eusebio Francisco Kino designated the site of the Mission, which is located about two miles north of where it is today. He named the mission in honor of the patron St. Francis Xavier.

When you are in the church you will see statues of St. Francis Xavier everywhere. The most notable statue is a replica body of the patron covered by a blanket. On top of the blanket are pictures and letters, even hospital identification wrist bands, in memory of loved ones. People place these items on St. Francis in hope their prayers and wishes will come true.


According to the church, several people have had their prayers granted. If you click here, you can make a prayer to Saint Francis. Once you submit it, the prayer will be placed on the Saint.

It does not matter if you are a religious person or not; you must visit this National Historic Landmark whether you want to observe the Spanish Colonial architecture, light a candle or leave a prayer for St. Francis.

Click here to see my soundslide of the Mission.

In the Spirit of Halloween...

Every year it is tradition for me to go to a pumpkin patch and pick out a pumpkin to carve for Halloween. On Sunday I went to a local pumpkin patch, Brian and Kelly's Happy Holidays, located on Broadway Avenue between Rosemont and Swan to pick out the perfect pumpkin…but I also found some other goodies!

In a previous blog, I posted about chile ristras: beautiful hanging reefs made of dried chiles that are a popular decorative item in Mexican tradition.

The chiles here come from Hatch, New Mexico – the “Chile Capital of the World”.

Hatch is a little over an hour away from Mexico. People in Hatch take their chiles quit seriously. When growing the popular chiles, the land is prepared and planted around spring time. In this picture time line, you can see the growth cycle of a chile.


Hatch always has chile festivals and contests and on Sept. 5 and 6, 2009, they will have their big Hatch Valley Chile Festival.

I find chile ristras to be a very interesting aspect of Mexican culture, as well as the process and cycle chiles go through in order to be used.

Chile ristras come in all shapes and sizes, from small reefs to long strands.


Prices for the chile ristras at the pumpkin patch range from $10.00 to $40.00 for the small peppers and large peppers.

Although pumpkin patches are a staple of American culture, it was easy to see the Hispanic influence all around this pumpkin patch. Red chile ristras were hanging everywhere; the colors are so vibrant and loud, it is worth going even if you’ve already carved your pumpkins!


Chile Pepper Facts:
1.A fresh medium-sized green child pod contains the amount of Vitamin C from 6
oranges
2.Trying to lose weight? Hot chile peppers burn calories by activation a
thermodynamic burn in the body. This speeds up the metabolism.
3.Feeling sick? Chile peppers are in teas and lozenges for treatment of a sore
throat.
4.Oleorsin, the color that comes from the red chile pepper pods, is in items like
lipstick to processed meat.
5.There are 26 known species of chile pepper.



Check out this article, with pictures and video, on Hatch, New Mexico.

The world’s BIGGEST chile ristra?



Want to cook with chiles? Learn how to make Chile Rellenos...

El Tiradito: More legends, Part Dos

Last week I went on an adventure to find a true part of historic Tucson. Located in the Barrio Viejo, is a very sacred place in which some will tell you has special powers. Some will even tell you it produces miracles.


This place is called El Tiradito, or, The Castaway, or The Fallen One.

In my blog last week, I described one of the most popular legends behind this Tucson landmark. This week, my investigating took me a bit farther.

What I find to be most interesting about this Wishing Shrine is that not many people know about it. It is typically local Tucsonans who have lived here most of their lives who come to pray at this shrine daily. There are even some locals who fought back in 1971 to keep El Tiradito alive.

Carol Cribbet-Bell, president of La Pilita Association, gave me some wonderful information on El Tiradito.

She told me that in 1971, the City of Tucson was planning to build a new expressway called The Butterfield Express. If it were to be built, it would cut through major historic neighborhoods in Tucson including Armory Park, El Hoyo and Barrio Viejo.


It was assumed that nothing could be done to save El Tiradito, but somehow local residents, La Placita Committee and Los Tucsonenses worked hard to stop the federal funding and save the shrine. Cribbet-Bell said El Tiradito is truly a place of miracles, and this being the most wonderful miracle of all: saving El Tiradito.

As I have mentioned before, there are several legends regarding the creation of El Tiradito. Last week, I talked about Juan Oliveras. He fell in love with his mother-in-law and soon after was killed by his father-in-law after discovering the affair. This legend is by far the most accepted story according to Cribbet-Bell.

However, I found another legend that people tell when describing El Tiradito. According to La Pilita Association and their brochure on El Tiradito (and it is a bit bloody):


“The wedding of a young Mexican couple was about to begin in the home of the bride’s mother near the banks of the Rio Santa Cruz. Suddenly, a rejected suitor of the bride appeared, uninvited, drunk, crazed with jealousy and brandishing a knife. With an evil laugh he announced that there would be no wedding. Then he grabbed the bride.

The groom leapt to her defense and a violent and angry struggle was finally broken up by the guests, just as a neighbor arrived to carry the blood-stained body of the town’s only priest who was to have performed the ceremony.

On the dusty street nearby, where the priest had died of his stab wounds, the old people began burning candles, a practice that has been carried on these many years.”

Not your typical shrine…

In Tucson’s Barrio Viejo, you will find El Tiradito, located at 420 S. Main Ave. between Cushing and Simpson.

I have heard so much about this unusual shrine that I wanted to see it myself. After some driving around downtown Tucson, I finally found what I was looking for. The shrine is tucked away from the street, adding to its sacredness.

There is an old black brick wall where the shrine is, evidence of the remains of a house. There are tall votive candles, pictures, small objects and flowers at the shrine. Some of the votive candles are still burning. Supposedly it is the only shrine in American dedicated to a sinner.

What is the story of El Tiradito? There are several versions of the story, but the one I most frequently hear goes like this:

Juan Oliveras was a Mexcian shepherd in the 1800’s who fell in love with his mother-in-law. His father-in-law discovered the two were having an affair and after some struggle, killed Oliveras. In the eyes of the church, Oliveras was a sinner and could not be buried on consecrated ground at the local Roman Catholic Church’s cemetery.

As legend goes, he is supposedly buried under the front porch of his house, hence the old brick wall. He is believed to still be buried there under the candles and wax. After time, many women came and prayed for his soul. To this day, people still come and pray. They bring candles and flowers; anything they can find to contribute to the shrine.

It is said if you bring a tall votive candle and pray, your prayer will come true if the candle burns through the next morning.

Even if you are not religious, it is worth your time to check out El Tiradito…and maybe even light the candles that have been blown out.





If you want to make your own votive candle to take to the shrine, check out this video:

Salsa Music, Part Dos

Señor Q y Su Nuevo Son started out as a quartet two years ago, playing at Cushing Street Bar and Restaurant.

Most people would say they play salsa music, but they would disagree with you…slightly.

Señor Q’s style of music is a version of salsa called “son”.

According to guitarist and music director, Manny Brito, “’Son’ is the root of salsa; it comes from the old generations of the thirties and forties”.

Señor Q started their group on the basis of friendship. The 8-man-band knew each other well before they started playing together and eventually decided they were good enough to make music. I have been following them for a few days now, learning about the roots of their music, all while listening to their own style of salsa.

I attended the Tucson Sunday Salsa Social again this past Sunday and instead of focusing on the dancing, I took in the music. In an earlier interview, Manny gave me some insight into salsa dancing. As a person who plays music for the salsa dancers, he explained to me why it is so hard to get people involved in salsa dancing and salsa music as a whole.

“The general public doesn’t know the difference between son and salsa,” he said. “It is hard to get people to come to events because of that intimidation factor with dance.”

Oh that intimidation factor…I know all about that! A couple blogs ago I mentioned how I was pulled out onto the dance floor to learn the basics of salsa. I was completely mortified until I actually began feeling the music and moving my body with the beat.


On Sunday I was watching Señor Q set up their instruments and next to them, salsa dance instructor, Gerardo Armendariz, was giving people salsa lessons. At first, I noticed how stiff the dancers were. I could tell some people felt extremely uncomfortable with the movement of their body. However, after about 20 minutes and a few plays of salsa music, everyone (and I mean everyone) began to feel the beat. By the end of the lesson, everyone people were twisting and twirling, and even dipping.

Like Manny said about newcomers, “Once you introduce them and once they do it, they become repeat offenders.”

I can personally tell you the beat of salsa music is very hard to ignore.

Check out a bit of Senor Q's performace...

Tortas!

Have you ever noticed those street vendors selling food around Tucson? You’ve always wanted to stop but you’re either too busy on your way somewhere, or by the time you realized, you’re too far away to turn around. “Next time,” you think, but the “next time” turns into 6 months down the road when you’ve finally forgotten about it!

This time I was determined to stop. I was driving down Broadway when I saw Let’s Go! Tortas. I’ve always noticed this stand, but like many of us, have never stopped. It usually looks busy and this day I seemed to have beaten the lunch crowd.


Let’s Go! Tortas is located on East Broadway Blvd. between Cherry and Vine next to Axis Food Mart. It is a large orange cart on wheels with an overhang and benches for people to sit on while they enjoy their food. Their specialty food item is none other than a torta: a Mexican twist on an American sandwich.

A little background: a Torta is served on a 6 to 8 in firm and crusty white sandwich roll, called a bolillo or telera. They can be served hot or cold.

Like manager Abel Jaime said, “A Torta is a Mexican style sandwich”.


Jaime also said that Let’s Go! Tortas was established about a year ago. Their busiest time of day is lunch and their most popular Torta is the “Torta Cubana”, a Cuban-style sandwich.

Beside the Torta Cubana, you can also order the Torta Pierna (pork leg), Jamόn (ham), Pollo (chicken), Milanesa (breaded steak), Carne Asada (marinated steak), Fish, Hawaiian, Cubana, Loca and Mixta.

One of the newest items is the Torta Let’s Go. This is a sandwich filled with puerco (pig), carne de res asada al carbón (steak), carne de puerco adobado (marinated pig), jamόn (ham), tocino (bacon), cebolla fresco y asada (fresh and roasted onion), lechuga (lettuce), rajas de chile poblano (poblano chile), tomate (tomato) y aguacate (avocado).


I ordered the Torta Mixta which includes puerco, carne de res al carbón, cebolla fresco y asada, lechuga, rajas de chile poblano, tomate y aguacate. It also came with a side of french fries…DELICIOSO! I was expecting the sandwich to be greasy like fast food, but instead it was extremely fresh and had an extra kick of spice.


In case you’re not in the mood for tortas, there are tacos and the hot dog estilo sonora - the Mexican style hot dog (more on this to come…)

There is a Spanish menu and English menu so if your Spanish is rusty…don’t fret!


Each torta is sold for a reasonable price at $4.50 and $4.75 and the signature Torta Let’s Go is priced at $5.50.

Want to make your own torta? Try this recipe!

Time to get "Loco"

In my search to find something new and different in Tucson, I came across Old Town Artisans, located in El Presidio Historic District at 201 N. Court Ave. Inside the 150-year-old adobe building is a restaurant and six different shops and galleries: La Cocina Restaurant & Cantina, Old Town Pot Shop, Dawn Stewart, El Presidio Gallery, La Zia, Tolteca Tlacuilo and El Chile Loco.

I feel in love with El Chile Loco.

It is a small little corner shop, about as big as your average closet, but the vibrant colors and hanging Chiles catch your eye immediately. As I walked over to the store, I could smell the aroma of the Chiles. El Chile Loco is known for their hanging Chile reefs, or, Chile Ristras. The Chiles for these ristras are hand-picked by a family who then assembles them into a colorful bundle.

What are Chile Ristras you ask?

The tradition of hanging ristras started many years ago for the simple fact of preserving the Chile as a food item. People dried Chiles in order to save them after the growing season. Chile pods would be placed outside to sun-dry and then they would be stringed together (the Spanish word for “string” is ristra, hence the phrase, chile ristra). Sometimes people spray the bundle with varnish in order to preserve them longer, but untouched ristras can last up to two years and still be edible. Today, the ristras are used as home decorations.
For more information on Chile Ristras, go here!:
http://abqstyle.com/albuquerque_chile_ristras.htm

El Chile Loco also includes something else edible: award-winning salsas.


Salsa Timoteo comes straight from Glendale, Arizona where Timoteo, his wife and kids live. There, they produce salsas that have won over 33 awards and trophies.

They have won 24 trophies in the local Southwest Salsa Challenge, and at the National level, they have won trophies at the Fiery Food Challenge for Chile Pepper Magazine, The Scovie Awards in Albuquerque, New Mexico and Americas Best Food Show in Anaheim, California.


They produce 5 types of salsa including, “Not So Hot”, “Hot”, “Kinda Hot”, “Ultra Hot”, and “Salsa Verde”, as well as a taco sauce; each sell for $8.75 (except the Salsa Verde, for $8.95).


I suggest you grab a jar today because as El Chile Loco says, “we’ve tasted them all and if it’s not good, we don’t sell it!”

Make sure you also check out Chile Fest ’08, sponsored by El Chile Loco. This “Ristra Madness” will be held at the Old Town Artisans Courtyard from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., September 27th and 28th. There will be live music from Mexican harpist Francisco Gonzalez, food vendors including Real Tortilleria and Panaderia, salsa tastings including a brand new fruit salsa from Salsa Timoteo, fresh Hatch green chilies and Chile roasting.

Spicy Salsa Sundays

I am no dance machine but every once in a while I feel the need to get my groove on.

My weekend was particularly slow so I decided to spice it up and expose myself to something new. Then I thought of a dance that is vibrant, electric, sensual and rhythmic all-in-one: Salsa dancing!

After some investigating online I came across tucsonsalsa.com. This is a fabulous website that lists everything you need to know about Salsa dancing, such as places to go and different Salsa events happening around Tucson.

Then I discovered an event called Tucson's Sunday Salsa Social. This is a salsa event held at The Arizona Ballroom Comany, located at 5536 E. Grant Rd., every Sunday from 5 to 9 p.m. The first hour is solely dedicated to Salsa lessons. Anyone who is interested in learning how to conquer this dance can come at 5 p.m. and receive an hour of dance lessons starting with the basics. After 6 p.m., the floor becomes open dance and a Latin band plays music for the dancers to groove to. There is an $8 entrance fee and children 12 and under get in for free.

Unfortunately I was stuck in Phoenix this past weekend so I did not get to the social until 7:30 p.m. When I got there I could not believe how much dancing was going on! There were probably around 25 couples scattered on the spacious dance floor. At the front of the crowd was a band called Señor Q playing live music.

After standing in the corner for all of five minutes by myself, I was greeted by Mike Maliner, a Salsa instructor. He’s only been in Tucson for five years, but is an avid Salsa dancer. He told me he learned his Puerto-Rican techniques at the Copacabana in New York. He also became my personal Salsa instructor… but we’ll get into that later.

Then I ran into Gerardo Armendariz and his wife Lupita, the hosts of Tucson’s Sunday Salsa Social. They welcomed me with smiling faces and bubbly personalities. Not meeting these people before, I could already feel the passion oozing out of them. They are serious lovers of Salsa and want to share their love with everyone around them.

Gerardo, originally from Sonora, Mexico, came to the University of Arizona nine years ago. He and his wife founded Ritmos Latinos, U of A’s salsa dancing club. They also teach choreography and dance lessons.

The couple decided they wanted to expose and promote Salsa dancing in Tucson while creating a friendly and inviting atmosphere.

“We wanted to push more for a family atmosphere here in Tucson. Most of the Salsa clubs around are only for 21-year-old people and older. So we target a group of people that can’t go to these places,” Armendariz told me.

I also ran into a fellow Wildcat who loves Salsa.

His name is John Calvo. Even though he is 21 and can get into local Tucson Salsa clubs, he still enjoys coming to the socials.

“I started out dancing Swing and Hip-Hop and then I got involved in Salsa, and I love it!” he said.

After talking to John, Mr. Maliner found me again and told me that if I wanted to report on Salsa dancing, I needed to first-hand experience it.

At first I laughed it off and told him I’d be better off on the sidelines, but he persisted and pulled me on the dance floor. Fifteen minutes later, I knew the basics of Salsa and now I am craving more!

If any of you feel tempted by the Salsa experience, I highly suggest you spend your next Sunday night at the Salsa social, and do not be surprised if you see me there twirling and twisting to Grupo Señor Q. Even if your feet are like concrete and you have no dancing skills, Gerardo assured me it is a simple and fun dance for anyone to learn. Come as a couple or come by yourself, either way you will be greeted with smiling faces, loud music, delicious food and a dance floor with endless possibilities.

Make sure you check out other Salsa clubs such as El Parador Restaurant and Monsoon Nightclub at Desert Diamond Casino.

***Check out this introductory video to Salsa dancing I found on youtube***

An American Style Restaurant with a Mexican Twist

One of my favorite restaurants in Tucson is Blue Willow. Going there is certainly a treat for me. Located on 2616 N. Campbell Ave. between Glenn St. and Copper St., Blue Willow is an experience in itself. The first moment you enter the restaurant you are completely consumed with little knick-knacks, jewelry and cute kitchen decorations, and cards for almost every occasion imaginable. However, what truly catches your eye are the delectable desserts sitting in a glass case just begging to be eaten.

Not only is Blue Willow a restaurant and gift shop, but also a bakery.

Weekend mornings are the busiest time for Blue Willow with anywhere from a 10 to 45 minute wait. The gift shop provides for an easy distraction and makes the waiting time pass by a whole lot faster. The restaurant contains two dining areas: inside and outside. The inside is small, quaint and cozy. The outside is a bit larger and is covered to avoid the sun. You have a choice to sit where you want, but I suggest the outside…as one onlooker described it, “Look honey, it’s so stunning!” The service is extremely friendly and attentive and they keep up a fast pace without making you feel rushed.

Blue Willow is known more for breakfast and lunch, but they do serve dinner. Now while they serve mostly American food including a Blackened Salmon Caesar Salad, Stuffed Avocado Tuna Salad, and a Grilled Sweet Potato Sandwich, they also have a fabulous breakfast menu with a distinctive Mexican style. Here are just some of the delicious food items that are derived from Mexican culture:

Chorizo Scramble – SUBLIME! This is a jumbled mix of scrambled eggs and all beef chorizo that is topped off with salsa and cheddar…$8.00

The classic Huevos Rancheros – Pinto beans placed on a corn tortilla topped with two eggs over easy. Also topped with salsa and cheddar cheese…$8.00

Breakfast Burrito – This is a delicious treat, especially after a long night of going out. It is a mix of scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese, potatoes and pinto beans…all wrapped up in a flour tortilla and topped with salsa and sour cream….$7.00

***Blue Willow Special*** - This is by far the best dish at Blue Willow. For those of you who have never ventured to Blue Willow one you go, you MUST order this. When it first comes to the table it looks a bit unappetizing because it is a jumbled mess of mashed up food, but once it hits your mouth you will be screaming for more. It contains scrambled eggs with chicken, green chilies, tomatoes, chopped corn tortillas, cheddar, salsa and sour cream…$8.50.

The portions are quite large and most of the dishes come with more than one side, so make sure to bring your appetite when you go!

Let's get this started!!

So I was driving around Tucson one day and realized even though I have lived here for three years, I am still unfamiliar with Tucson and the influences of the Hispanic culture. Then I started thinking about traditional Mexican restaurants and food, arts and entertainment around town and wanted to see how much of these are influenced by the Hispanic culture and how much of them are “Americanized”.

I also thought of this summer when I was back home hanging out with some of my ASU friends…It’s funny because none of them have been to Tucson (or anywhere in Southern Arizona) and consider Tucson to be a part of Mexico (literally). I had one friend ask me if everyone speaks Spanish and if there are taco stands on the side of the street like they remember from spring break trips to Rocky Point. So I guess I also wanted to write this blog to straighten out those stereotypes because if you’ve never been here, you have no idea! Tucson is very unique...

Although Tucson is in the U.S., there’s no doubt it is heavily influence by the Hispanic culture. So stick with me for the next couple of months while I explore the Hispanic culture in Tucson – what is Americanized and what is traditional. I will also be exploring attitudes and stereotypes regarding the culture.

I will update my blog weekly…
See you next week!