These ears are hilarious.

There, it's so funny.

That whole thing is so funny.

Why are you wearing that Easter outfit?

It's a Christmas movie.

Just watch the movie.

Just watch the goddamn movie.

Oh, I can't believe you've only seen it once.

More and more, better, more and better, a little more better, more and more.

Hey, everybody, that's Stephanie Beatrice.

That's mostly for marro.

Happy holidays, happy holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Kwanza if you celebrate that.

If you are avoiding all holidays, you should probably turn this off now.

Yeah, it might not know for you, And that's okay.

We're not gonna be for everyone every single time.

No, and that's okay.

Yeah, what have you done lately?

That's more better other than you guys can't see us if you're not watching this on the internet.

But we're dressed in holiday garb.

We look really fancy.

Yeah, we look really fancy, really fancy and cozy.

I'm good, My more better lately, My more better today is that I have been consistent lately.

Oh, so I'm not doing I'm not like striving to do more better and I'm not like doing less.

I've just been in this groove of like consistency and yeah, it feels really good.

Of course, today I woke up under the weather, so the first thing I thought of was like, oh man, my streak of consistency is over.

And what did I say to you?

And you said, that's okay, it's not your ball and it's all good.

You said something like that, right, don't be me to yourself about it like oh I failed.

Because no, yeah, thank you.

I didn't do that this time.

I'm more just like bummed because I was like, you know, it feels really good when you get on a streak of consistency.

And again, it wasn't like I didn't feel like I was doing too much.

I didn't feel like I was doing too little.

I was like right in that sweet spot, that middle.

You know, I can't take you seriously with your hands and hands?

How about you?

What have you did lately?

That's more better?

Let's see.

Well I got over being sick.

I mean I still am like a little bit.

My voice really gave out.

Yeah you were real.

Yeah I lost it.

I got it back.

I lost it again, it came back.

It was okay, And now it's like hanging on by a thread, but the thread is strong.

So are you doing all the things?

Were you steaming?

Were you?

Yeah?

Yeah, I was steaming.

I did like gargleing.

I didn't gargle because it makes me gag u.

I did steam?

I did, Yeah, I did.

Side note, did you know if you drink too much throat coat it can act as a laxative.

I didn't know that.

I'll leave it to you.

Oh, I didn't figure out how I found that out.

So careful with the throat coat, guys.

But yeah, I feel I feel more better.

I went to therapy today.

That was good.

You know, holiday season can be really hard for people, especially if they're still struggling with grief.

And I realized that I am definitely trying to fill up my calendar so I don't have to think about, you know, like not only how sad I am about my dad not being here anymore, but also how mad I am at him still.

And that's a hard thing I think to like deal with, because yeah, you know, it's hard to be met.

I don't know.

Also, what's weird is that we, you know, after people die, we're like, oh, they were so amazing, they were such a good people.

It's like, well they were human, right, and so there are things that I could have done differently, Like in his life, I wish he would have been more like loving and stuff, you know, like it really took himTo the last month of his life to be like gregarious with his love or like not stingy with it.

Like yeah, and that's hard.

It's like because I'm I'm I feel really like, what the.

Fuck you were a lepers so long?

Like I was a life for so long.

Yeah.

Yeah, I've been like you want to hold hands like you hands, you know.

It's like, no, that's hard.

That's a really hard thing.

So like I'm trying to sort of just like feel my feelings about it, which is you know, it's hard when you'll just try to keep yourself really busy soly you don't feel your feelings.

I know, but then those feelings just end up finding a way to like creep in and take over anyway.

So I just showing you shove them back, shove them back down, make another plan.

Too busy to have these feelings.

Yeah, more better.

What are we talking about today?

We are talking about family recipes.

Yes, in relationship to the holidays, because holiday time.

I just realized my costume.

Even though it's a uh, it's a bunny, it also could be a pig, and I will be talking about pork a lot.

Oh.

No, we all know it's a bunny.

If you've watched a Christmas story, you know it's a bunny.

And if you haven't watched a Christmas it's a bunny?

Is wrong with you?

You know?

I think I've only watched a Christmas story like once when I was a kid.

I know you're gonna be mad at me, bitch, What are you fucking get that reaction?

Bro?

I watched Memory multiple times?

What I know, Melissa, I've been to the museum twice.

Some museum.

I don't know what to say.

Uh, you're well, congratulate me, first of all, I'm going haven't been twice.

Congratulations.

I heard the second time was even more illuminating than the first.

It was.

I mean, that's sincerely.

It was honest.

I mean that's sincerely too.

Uh.

Where have you watched it with your children yet?

No?

I think I'm gonna attempt to this this year.

Yes, it is the perfect It's like just the right age.

The kids are literally like almost their ages.

They're all Also, I have to like think about my approach because my children are at those ages where if I suggest something, there's like immediate resistance, Like I like, I will probably have better luck if I pay one of their friends to be like, hey man, I saw this movie and it's really great, and then they'll be like, Okay, we should watch this movie.

No.

No, they're just at that age where like you apply.

Them with food, you like, you go, we're gonna have a movie night tonight and then making hot cocoa and we're ordering pizza, and then we're gonna have popcorn, but.

We're watching this movie.

We're watching this movie.

So if you guys want to do movie night, we're gonna watch this movie and we're gonna have all these like cheaty foods that we don't usually have.

And then they like connect like ooh, treat I like that movie.

Yeah.

I like just what you do, get what you do?

Yeah, yeah, I like that.

Because you can't sit them down and be like and then we're gonna have trail mix and watch this movie.

You have to like bribe them with like right some kind of yeah.

Yeah, I have to make it all.

I have to make it a whole event.

Yes, it's an event.

It's an event.

You have to wear that.

Yes, I have to wear this.

Yeah, and not tell them why.

It'll make sense after you see the movie.

Just until that part of the movie and then they start laughing at you.

Yeah, it's perfect, it's great.

I love it.

I'm going to do it.

I'm going to do it, and me scheming at your kids.

Sorry.

I love to scam kids, man, I mean that is like of parenting.

Here's my big scam this holiday season is all of my child's presents are coming from the thrift store and she doesn't know it, and she won't know it.

Because I'm gonna wrap this stuff.

It's gonna be amazing.

I have next to me literally a stack of books, a stack of books brand new, almost all of them are completely brand new, multiple coloring books that no one has colored in, dolls, dolls of plenty thing.

I was too slow on an American Girls all and another lady got it, and I was actually quite happy for her because she has a little two year old and the two year old was like freaking out about the doll.

There was an American Girl doll for twenty two dollars at the thrift store.

And I was like, oh my god, I did another lap and another lady I already had it, but yeah, you.

Got all of this at one thrift store.

All at one thrist store.

And now or to be fair, I go multiple times a week to see what the new stock is.

Got it?

This is my hobby.

It's my hobby.

Got it?

I love it?

Anyway, should we talk about food?

Let's talk about food.

What's your experience with holiday food?

We have specific food that we always eat.

I grew up in Texas, so every either Thanksgiving or Christmas, we have demalis, which we used to buy off the side of the road out of a truck.

I think this year I've got a couple different names of people that I am sorry, I am going to gate keep.

I'm gonna try a couple different things before Christmas, because what you don't want is soggy to Molly on Christmas.

That's bad.

And also my sister and I are going to make them, which you mentioned that you were in over that day.

Oh yeah them, Yes, I want to come.

Yes.

So Tamali's are hard to make.

There are a lot of steps we do, like a it's a lot we do a production.

But I had to have my cookbooks over here.

I highly recommend the Homesick Texan, The Homesick Textan cookbook.

There's used copies you can buy online, but we make you can see here are notes in it.

We make tamales with Raja, and we also are going to do this year, We're going to do briskit tamales and like there it's a lot of steps, but you know it's step by somebody.

This recipe book or this cookbook is really good at like breaking down the steps.

But also people have their own ways of doing things, you know, obviously, like I don't want to step on anybody's toes and be like my tamalis are the best because they're not.

Uh.

Last year, last year, Brad I was like, you have to buy this specific masa.

You can find it at this grocery store and this grocery store.

And he was like sure, he couldn't find it.

I was like, no, you didn't check the right grocery store.

You have to go to, like get to go to like the Mexican grocery stores, Like you can't just go to like yeah, you can't go anywhere, right, No?

Yeah, So then he goes to or Superior yeah, oh no, he goes to Whole Foods.

They don't have it.

So he comes back with this like organic.

Whatever the fuck?

Bro, The tamalies were trout.

They were bad.

They were really bad.

What about you?

What is your holiday food?

I'm hitting on Brad.

We love you, Brad.

It's all out of you.

Brev.

Yeah, you know I don't holiday food think.

Well, you know, Thanksgiving is a holiday that my parents, as your parents adopted when they came to this country.

Correct, but my mom did uh find a recipe for a Bama stuffing that I make every year.

In fact, I'm flying to family this year and like they don't really cook, so I was like, I'll cook because I need to have my mom stuffing on Thanksgiving.

That's so nice?

What's in it?

What makes it so?

But?

Uh, it's with apples and sausages.

Yeah, and it's just so fall.

It's so good, and it's even like it's so fall and it's like a bunch of herbs and stuff and it's very it's it's even better the next day, like with like a frieda egg on top, Like, oh, it's so good.

I look forward to it every year.

That's only like Thanksgiving food that I like have to have every year, and then Christmas is like much more traditional.

It's the Cuban menu for noo weena of le chon yuka, plantains, sweet and doss, white rice and black beans.

Yup, that's the traditional.

That's what I've.

Had every year.

That's traditional in Cuba.

My mom said part of Nohauena was all the kids like gleefully following her auela out to whatever pasture behind their house where she would go kill the pig with a hammer.

Dark as fuck, so dark.

And the first time my mom told me that story, I was like what she was like, I know, it sounds like so weird, but we just loved it so much.

Just like, imagine this old woman going to the back with a hammer in her hand and all these little kids behind her, like squealing with joy.

Oh my god.

Side notes, Latinos are the biggest audience for horror movies in the United States.

It feels fitting that she'd give she was an expert, so she'd give that pig one expert whack on the head and it'd be dead.

She was like, my mom, like it was like it was very humane.

It was very humane.

She was like, it was so fast.

She never missed, you know, she never missed.

It was just one knock on the head.

So growing up, they would, yeah, they would, butcher maybe it was like the day before Christmas Eve kind happened or mourning of or something, and then they do it in was called like the Gaha Gina, which I'm assuming is from like all the Chinese immigrants that went to Cuba.

But it's like slow roasted over like a fire pit kind of thing, which in Florida, my husband's family like, they do it that way because it's I get it's warm enough, so they Uh.

Every Christmas Eve I had done in Florida was like the Gaha Gina was outside and they did they had the pig roasting outside all day Christmas Eve.

But in Jersey, where it was fucking cold, my mom would get the pig.

She'd get a whole pig.

There would be a pig on a slab in my dining room table days before Christmas Eve.

Incredible that all of my little like white friends and Italian friends were like, oh my god, like every time they came to the house that my mom would marinate and she would take it to a Cuban bakery that morning, and then my dad and brother would go pick it up for dinner.

And then my tea brought the beans, somebody else brought the rice, somebody else brought the youth, like it was like all the dias.

I always loved that part of Christmas Eve where all the dias and my mom were in the kitchen like finishing warming everything up and like and then putting things on the table because everyone was like we always had everybody down in the basement partying, but I liked go up to the kitchen when all the women were like, you know, putting the last touches and putting everything on the table.

So and then I made my first litch on like a couple of years ago, with a pork shoulder, not a whole pig, because that's real hard to find, and also that's like for like thirty people.

So I did a pork shoulder and it was a way easier than I thought it was going to be.

Yeah, it wasn't like I came out really good.

Yeah, it came out really good, and I was able to Caribbean ingredients can also be a little tricky to find in La sometimes, but luckily Mexicans also eat a lot of pork, so the pork shoulder was easy to find.

And then some of the supermarkets do carry more like Caribbean ingredients around Christmas, so I was able to find like the sour orange and like all that stuff.

So that's that's the menu every year.

That's awesome, I think my.

Family because we didn't have a lot of like we didn't have cousins and stuff that we.

Like we had.

It was really just the four of us.

And so like we kind of just did our own thing.

I think that's why I don't have a lot of like memories of you know, there wasn't like a bunch of people around like cooking in the kitchen.

There was like a couple things that got made, like certain dishes and then Tomorrow's obviously like we would pick up.

We never made them ourselves.

My mom would make when I was younger, she would make and panaditas the guesso like little and banadas with cheese inside.

But there are a lot of steps, and so as we got older, she stopped making them all together.

My dad would make us on Christmas morning, but then as he got older, he wasn't supposed to eat anything fried, so he stopped making those two subsequently we make them when we can.

I think my sister and I are going to try to make a rep us this year.

Jenny is really good cook.

She's incredibly good at it.

I am like, your sister is amazing.

I'm like, what do you want me to try?

I think you don't give yourself enough.

I think you don't give yourself enough credit because your sister is such a good cook.

Maybe, but also I'm lazy, you know, and I don't I like to be in the kitchen, like with a glass of wine or something like hanging out, but I want to be responsible for timing dishes to come out at certain times, you know what I mean.

I don't want to be That is stressful.

It's stressful.

The eating is the timing amazing.

The timing is like I never want to be in charge of a holiday meal.

Like I'm down to Like we're having a holiday party this year, and like we're we're having a caterer come and I meant caterer, it's pizza, Like we're having a pizza truck.

Like because we are invited a lot of people and.

I'm not trying to cook for all those people.

I'm trying to give them pizza cooked by somebody who's really good at pizza.

You know, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the move.

Yeah, I know.

I used to.

We used to throw holiday parties in New York or just parties too.

We threw a New Year's party a bunch of times.

And I would cook, and I feel like I don't know how to do that anymore.

I would like maybe no, I would.

I would freaking cook.

I would make like a whole thing of pasta, and I would make sometimes like a big ham, and I I don't know, girl this.

My mom has this like really great smoke like ham recipe that's not that hard, that's always like a banger at a party.

My mom was like a berry like cook.

Okay, like maybe yeah.

My mom was an amazing cook.

And she also was an amazing hostess, Like we hosted Christmas Eve at our house every year with like thirty cousins and aunts and uncles and you know.

And she we also like had people over for dinner a lot, or like if someone invited us to a party, she would always bring a dish that she made, Like she was that kind of woman.

So I think I picked up some of that from her.

But a man I used to, yeah, like cook for having like twenty or something people at our at our apartment in New York.

And that's I don't know what happened to that woman.

But I can't even fucking imagine doing that now.

I mean, I'm cooking Christmas Eve and Thanksgiving, but we're talking about like eight or ten people like not you know, and it's it's all the Christmas Eve stuff is easy because you can it's all big batches.

Anyway, how do you time out?

Like like do you know from experience?

Like how how do you time out?

Like what needs to go when?

And like how you know what I mean?

Like, I just can't The idea of that is so over.

It feels like directing to me, like there's so many parts yeah that all have to kind of like come and to sync together.

I cannot wrap my head around it.

I think I'm somebody to give me a guideline.

More.

I do write a schedule like like like as if it's a production schedule.

Yeah, this is the call time for the turkey.

Yeah, this is what time the turkey has to go into the oven, and then this is what time each thing needs to go in.

I also especially if there's people over and I'm like I have a glass of wine in my hand and I'm socializing, Yeah I will.

I will burn some shit real easy because I'm not paying attention.

So I also have multiple timers, like yeah, like a timer on my phone, a time around my watch, a timer on the microwave, a timer on the oven.

I write down what each timer is for, Like I have a notepad with the schedule of when things need to go in the oven and when I expect them to come out, with like buffer times too, because you never fucking know, and and so I have I learned that I have to write it all out, have multiple timers.

Usually tell David also what the timers are because I need I need like an accountability partner.

Yeah, because I'll get caught up at a conversation real easy and then be like, what's that smell?

It's burning as I'm like with my glass of wine, were getting making a whole fucking meal, right.

I've also gotten better at uh if I invite anyone that I know is a good cook, putting them to work and not feeling bad about it.

Smart Like there was like I think it was last Christmas.

My friend Monica is a very good cook.

And as soon as she showed up, I was like a little bit behind in my schedule and I was just like, Monica, can you saute these things?

And she was like yeah, I got you, and she like went right to work and it was great and we got everything out on time and it was like easy, breezy.

But yeah, so I've gotten better at just like ahead of time, knowing Okay, if I'm behind or something like I can ask this person to do this in this when they get here, or I can ask them to come a little early and just do these two things for me and it'll make it easy.

But I do it's like a whole math equation, like it's a whole it's a production schedule.

Like literally, yeah, it's like five minute call for the for the turkey, thank you.

I want you to write down like an exempt example, like sketchy version of that, not sketchy like bad, but sketch out version of that so we can okay on our Instagram because like I feel like it would help people.

I mean it would help me, Like I don't know, I don't know any of.

That stuff, you know, also not for nothing, like I don't know when your family eats Christmas dinner, but we're sitting down to eat at like nine pm.

Oh no, we're doing.

I don't know, well is Growing up it was like eight am, it's fucking late.

Growing up it was a it's fucking late.

Growing up, it was like seven or eight pm, I think our New Year's Eve dinner.

But my children have americanized me, like I don't think they can survive until till eight o'clock to eat, So nine to eat, like she's.

Like oh god, oh like yeah, and then then then they're little assholes because they're hungry or like the nack, and then they don't eat any dinner.

And so I feel like we do earlier, Like the times that I've hosted Christmas Eve, we've done like six o'clock.

Wow, that's amazing.

No, that's incredible.

Yeah, I want that schedule because I want to see I want to see what it's what it could be, you know what I mean, like what it could be.

Also, I realized that like the whole working backwards thing is really smart for you know, like if we do have something that we're making, how do we work backwards or like do we do it the day before?

Do we just warm it up in the oven, Like how do we set it up?

I just have no idea because like this isn't something that I this is not my forte, you know what I mean.

Like, yeah, well, I'll struggle with like I open the fridge and I just like stare at it and then like grab a thing of yogurt.

Like I struggle.

I really struggle with like feeding myself food, you know, like if it takes more than one day, if I had to more than open it, uh uh yeah.

I feel like the idea of cooking a holiday meal is really difficult.

But I think that's why something like Tomali's isn't overwhelming to me, because I know, a my sister's gonna be there right and be like we're taking it ahead of time.

It's not like we're we made ahead of time a couple of Tamali's that day, but like the whole day is like we're just making this.

People aren't coming over to eat these tonight, like we're going to have them for you know.

The ahead of time thing is the is the biggest, key, most important piece I think of any like making any big meal, like I will for Thanksgiving and Christmas, EVE make as much as I possibly can before, like, we're going, we're going to We're going away this year and we come back like the day before Christmas Eve, which is so annoying to me, but like whatever, my family's really excited to go.

Hilarious.

So I will probably make all of my beans.

Yeah, I'll probably make a huge batch of beans and freeze it before we leave.

That's smart.

So are done.

Yeah, it's already done.

And then the only thing is the pork shoulder.

Instead of being marinated for two days, it's going to only be marinated for one day.

And I'm going to be the most annoying person on the morning of the twenty third, being like, we need to get the fuck out of here.

We need to get my pork shoulder, shoulder, let's go.

As soon as everyone wakes up on the twenty third, I'm gonna be like, let's go pack up, get in the car.

We need to go back.

Yeah, that's what you know what, that's called a compromise.

I'm going until the day before Christmas Eve, and they're gonna have to deal with my ass being like we need to get back and we need to get a pork shoulder.

I'm even trying to consider, like, who do I know with a key that can buy a pork shoulder and like put it in my fridge like two days before that.

I might actually do that.

Yeah, that's actually not a bad idea.

I'm I'm because like, yeah, I haven't forbid.

So I'm not stressed about it, right, it's sound a little stressed.

It's been a little stressed about it.

Yeah, yeah, I'm a little bit stressed about it.

It's fine, It's gonna be fine.

We have we have I can't find it.

There's like a soup that we eat Begunna begun yah on Christmas Eve, and it is labor and and it's not good to look at, but it is good to eat.

What do you mean?

Is there like a weirdly chunky that doesn't look good?

Does it?

Yeah?

Yeah, or we'll eat it doesn't It doesn't look bad.

It's just this one also comes up sometimes.

But it's like this is my this is my aunt's cookbook Bolivian Food and Flavor.

So there's like a ton of recipes in here.

The one that's the hardest so is the thing that.

We never cook.

We never cook it.

We always get it from somewhere else do you know those are?

No, what are they?

Okay, well, let me find the recipe.

But satanas are essentially they're a Bolivian version of empanadas, but you know how like a soup dumping.

Like, yeah, soup dumplings are made with gelatin, so that when you bite into it, that's the soup, right, because it's cooked with a little cube of gelatine in it.

It's the same thing for a satanas.

Like they have like meat and different vegetables and stuff, but there's gelatine inside and then when they're cooked, when they're baked, the gelatine melts and so like it creates this like soupy.

They're incredible.

They're fucking pain in the ass.

Make the dough itself is like that sounds hard to make.

They're fucking hard.

So my family, again, wow, we really outsource.

I'm realizing we really outsourced a lot of our cooking my family.

Can you find that in La Yeah, you can find it.

There's a big Bolivian population in La actually, and so there's a couple of places.

Oh, I think one is in Long Beach and like, yeah it Actually I didn't really have them ever until we moved to La and my La cousins, my Bolivian cousins are the ones that are like, oh, we're having something this year for Christmas, right, And I was like, what do you mean?

What's that?

So I just didn't grow up with them, but now they're like a big part of it.

Well, you said outsourcing.

I I don't outsource as much, but I've definitely like shortcutted a lot of you know, like I'm I'm proud that I've perfected my black beans, my version of my black beans, because this was a thing for a while.

So I had my mom's recipe of black beans, and then I also had my mother in law's recipe of black beans and very similar but different, and uh, you know, there was maybe a little a little bit a little bit.

I don't think either of them listened to this podcast, so I think it's okay for me to say there's a little bit of a competition between the recipes obviously, and then hmmm, that I avoided for a very long time, basically until I had children, and then the conversation of like, why aren't you feeding your children beans?

Uh started to come up and I was like, dang, like, you're kind of right, because Also it's just like a delicious, nutritious, like great thing to feed kids.

My kids have shreds and rice like once or twice, like at least once a week.

Wow.

But I was like, what recipe do I, oh, my god, go with until my awesome cousin Eric came to visit.

And Eric, he's I think transitioned out of the career now, but he was a chef.

And the one thing about Cuban black beans is they're usually made with like a hamhowk Like like it's like a big ham bone thing.

It's fucking hard to find.

And he didn't use that.

He used bacon.

He was like, I just did bacon.

Oh, that's so smart.

And I saw also was the most beautiful black beans I've ever had because his like sofrito like his onions and peppers were like perfectly diced up into tiny little squares.

Wow.

And it was so pretty.

And then my mom told me that that's how his grandfather made black beans.

And his grandfather, my cousin Carlos, was the one who always brought the black beans to Nochawina before he passed away.

That was his job.

And so then that made me I was like done solved.

I am also making Cuban black beans with bacon like Carlos died, right, And then I was like, so that's my version that I make, and it's so good and I can always find everything.

I also use canned black beans because I don't have time to spe socus soap beans.

You know, it's gonna sound like a hot to some people.

No, huh, it's not a hot take.

I mean, I'm like, I'm not doing canned beans because like it's pennies on the.

Dollar or whatever.

She says.

She's like, it's so much cheaper to buy like dry beans, and I'm like, oh my god.

I mean, if you want to sell those beans, honey, that's fine, but like I don't have time.

That's fine, you do you I don't have time.

Yeah, yeah, I don't have time.

You know how many times I've planned to make beans and then my day gets like sidetracked and it doesn't happen, and I do it like the next day.

I don't want the pressure of some soaked beans in my stink pressuring me to make that those beans that day when some other shit fucking happens.

I just found the recipe for the sultanias.

Mind you, I want you to read aloud.

There.

Do you see the number of how many you make with that recipe?

Wait, it's a little siery.

I don't know if I can read it.

It's five zero, Melissa.

Fifty, I say, making fifty of these motherfucking things?

Fifty the hell?

Now?

Yes, that's why we outsource it.

That's why we outsource it.

I would outsource it fifty medium sized Greek olives pitted.

This should take so long?

Okay, God, you know what?

Another cookbook that I really like for the holidays is this one, which is really helpful if your family struggles with gluten because like, the holiday season is so inundated with glutenous things.

But this is the Sieta Table, Yeah, which if you eat gluten free, you probably have seen Sieta foods in your grocery store.

But there's a bunch of really great recipes in here that we use a lot because we're not totally gluten free, but I will say during the holidays, we eat a lot of it.

So it's nice to have like a balance during but that still feels festive and.

Influenced by Latinidad.

That like, yeah, because what what happened was their seven brothers and sisters, and one of them was gluten intolerant.

Is gluten intolerance, so like she started developing all these recipes for her family to.

Be able to I didn't know that was the story.

Yeah, isn't that cool.

They're just like really awesome people and there's tons of stuff in here.

There's like barbaracoa, dostalas uros and and chi la las, like all sorts of stuff that like, we go this is one of our go tos during the holiday season because it feels festive and special, but it's also not We're not eating as much gluten on those nights.

We're not eating any gluten on those nights.

The other thing that I thought of.

When you were talking about your cousin Carlos, who brought the beans with the bacon, is that I think sometimes I don't cook stuff because I think about how many steps it's gonna take, and I go, oh, that's too much.

But what I'm not doing is I'm not thinking it all the way through to like eating it.

So like a rebus, for example, a rebus are a little bit of work.

My dad was the best at making them because he could make them with an egg inside, and the egg yolk would still be runny.

He was the master.

And I think I would like to start making them on Christmas morning, even though it is quite a few steps, even though I might mess up, because like he's not here anymore, and so like that is a way to kind of bring his like him into the morning, you know, and also share him with my daughter, so like when she inevitably eats the up and likes it because they're fucking good, you know, then I can be like you used to make these for us on Christmas morning.

Yeah, And I think to see a big connector.

It is it is, it's it's certainly like for me, like legacy, remembering people memories.

I think it can really be tied up in food, especially cultural food that's specific to your family.

And I think that would be beautiful.

And I would just also like encourage you to be also gentle, Like, you know, if you try and you fuck up the first time, like it doesn't mean you don't try again, you know.

Like it took me a few tries of those beans to kind of get them just right, and then I wrote down what I did, and then I use that for a while and now I don't look at anything, and now I just you know, taste and just because I've done it so many times, I just sort of like taste and adjust and like add shit and they feel very mine, you know.

But this is after like how long have I been making the beans, probably like three or four years.

So it's but it's part of it is like I've also like not made them well a couple of times, like fucked up, you know, like and then you just kind of do like, well, shit, you know, and like what maybe I do wrong?

And and then you know, and just kind of let.

It roll off your back, like don't make it too deep, like yeah, yeah, food like it.

I mean, that's what we did with the thing to say, but like no, but it's it's true.

It's like that's what we did with the Tamali's that year that.

Like they that we had the organic masa or whatever the fuck that was.

It was like, oh, well we we we're gonna eat them, you know, and they were fine, Yeah, We're gonna.

Try again, and yeah yeah yeah yeah.

So I think, yeah, just make the areas and you know, watch them get better and better every time you made to.

The only thing that I can make without a recipe is sauted kale.

That's it.

That's it.

That's it.

I can always salty and delicious, but I can't make any There's not.

Much I can make without a recipe either.

Like the only things I make without a recipe are things that I like, repeatedly make for my family, and it's like maybe three things.

Everything else I'm using.

I can do eggs or anything like.

I mean, yeah, I probably need.

To practice more.

Yes you can.

Oh you know what we want to add?

Can you talk about the food pantry stuff?

Oh?

Yes, so there are yes, I do so right now.

For the holiday season, food pantries are doing this really amazing thing where they are including providing culturally relevant food for the food insecure during the holidays, such as Caribbean ingredients like oxtail and rice and peas.

Oh man, I really want to learn how to make ox to kosher meats for Jewish holidays and halal meat.

Other initiatives include providing specific meal bundles based on community surveys, so like those with Caribbean or Central or South American staples instead of just like the traditional American Thanksgiving meals.

There's a few ice is found one on Long Island.

It's called Long Island Cares.

There's also Slo Food Bank that I think is in California.

But I think this is a really beautiful initiative.

It provides support for the food insecure and gives them a sense of normalcy and dignity and challenging times.

And so we did want to take a minute just to encourage everyone to consider donating to your local food banks, seeing if there's any food banks near you that are doing this sort of thing.

Yeah, I think it's a really lovely gift for the holidays.

Yeah, and I wasn't even aware before this episode that there were food banks that dedicated themselves to, you know, more cultural and or dietary needs for the holidays.

And I think that's really specially because the holidays can be really hard and yeah, anything that people can get to feel that bit of normalcy is.

Huge, and particularly this year with what's happening in the United States with the reduction of support for people that use government funded, subsidized help with nourishing their families, which I know, if you're not from the US this sounds crazy and it is crazy, But if you are from the US, and you're listening to this, we encourage you to, even if it's just a little something, to find a food pantry near you, or reach out to your religious organization and see if there's anything that you can do to help, because like even a little bit, I mean, like you know, we're literally talking about Melissa's signature dish here, which is black beans, And if your family can afford to donate something as simple as a can of beans, you might end up making somebody's holiday like really really bright.

And it is the season of giving, guys, Yeah, giving.

More better.

I feel more better because I feel like I'm gonna try, probably fail, but maybe it'll be hilarious make to make at an IPUs on Christmas morning.

I'm also very excited about maybe being a little more hands on with the Tamali's instead of just like telling Jenny like okay, what do I do now?

Yeah, I feel a little more better about like, oh that's okay.

Some of us do have to be the person that's like telling jokes in the kitchen with a glass of wine while the other person cooks.

That person's really important.

Also, yeah, like that person is keeping the vibe going and the party starting.

The party, while yeah, it was just a bunch of people watching the person in the kitchen cook, and that's horrifying, horrifying.

I don't want anyone watching me cook.

What about you?

Yeah, I feel more, I feel you know, I I think I was feeling like a little actually just yesterday, a little stressed out thinking about like the meal planning and the holiday.

But then just like telling these stories is just like, oh, it's it's also one of those things that's like a little bit bigger than me, you know what I'm saying, Like it's it's tradition and it's family and it's legacy and it's all those things that we talked about.

So I feel like more better about my motivation and kind of inspiration.

I think to like, just do it, just get it done, like it will be so worth it.

I'll be so happy that I did it.

You know, We're all like sitting around everyone's like it's so good.

Like I'm gonna feel all good and I'll be like, girl, you did it.

Yeah it's worth it.

It's worth it is the more better like.

It is worth it.

Yes, it is worth it.

It is work, but it is worth it.

Yeah, yeah, okay, all right, happy holidays, the holidays.

We did it holiday season.

It's the holiday season.

Boop dee boom zippity dp whatever however that song goes welssa, you better watch a Christmas Story with your kids.

I needed a full report.

Next time we do this, you better not be like, oh, we didn't do it.

No, you have to do it.

No, I'm gonna bribe my children with treats and force them to watch Christmas Story.

Yes, so what parenting is all about?

Okay, well, we'll see you next time.

Guys.

All right, see you next time.

Bye.

More Better.

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Ooh, More Better with Stephanie Melissa is a production from Wvsound and iHeartMedia's Mikultura podcast network, hosted by Me, Stephanie Beatriz, and Melissa Fumero.

More Better is produced by Isis Madrid and Sophie Spencer.

Ze bos Our.

Executive producers are Stephanie Beatrice, myself, Melissa Fumero, along with Wilmar Valderrama and Leo Klem at WV Sound and ISIS Madrid.

This episode was edited by ISIS Madrid and engineered by Sean Tracy and feature's original music by Madison Davenport and Helo boy Our cover art is by vincent Remy's and photography by David Abolos.

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