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Our Son Has a Pen Pal!

I belong to a Mommy Group at CafeMom. A Mommy in the group asked if anyone was interested in having their child be her child's pen pal. Of course, I jumped on it; and little one now has a pen pal! Though he can't write yet, neither can his pen pal (he's a year older), we (Mommies) do the writing for them. They exchange stickers, drawings they make, and letters written by us but with our child's own thoughts and their own words. They also have pictures of each other, so they can put a face to the name.
I'm very excited about this, because as a child I had pen pals, and loved writing and receiving letters. In this digital age, everything is text message, social media or email; and the art of writing has been lost. Knowing that my son gets very excited when he checks the mailbox and sees his name on an envelope or package gives me a glimpse of hope, that maybe just maybe as he gets older he will continue to write his own letters! He has a new friend, a pen pal AJ so that's a start!
This is AJ's letter:
His letter to AJ:
There's one sentence that filled my heart with joy, when my son was telling me what to write, he said: "AJ, I promise you're going to be my pen pal, and we're going to friends."

Puerto Rican Cuisine at it's best: Guineos en Escabeche

As Puerto Rican living in the South, I usually crave Puerto Rican dishes. It's really hard to teach my son how to eat the dishes that I grew on, when it's nearly impossible to find the main ingredients here. So my dear and sweet mother, sent me from Puerto Rico, the main ingredients for the "Guineos en Escabeche" that I wanted so badly! She packed some green bananas in a box and mailed it to me, in hopes that the green bananas wouldn't ripen before I received it. Lo and behold, they were green! If they did ripen, I'd just eat regular sweet banana.
Como una Boricua viviendo en el Sur, muchas veces se me antoja platos típicos Puertorriqueños. Es bien díficil enseñarle a mi hijo comer platos distintivos en el que yo me críe, por que es prácticamente imposible conseguir los ingredientes principales para mi recetas. ¡Asi que mi santa madre me empaqueto guineos verdes en una caja y me envio el paquete a vuelta de correo. ¡Me envió el ingrediente principal para los Guineos en Escabeches que se me antojaba! Me mando los guineos verdes, con la esperanza de que no llegaran maduros. ¡Para nuestra gran sorpresa llegaron verdes! De haberse madurado me los comia de todas manera.
First thing I did was cook the green bananas, so they won't ripen. Once the green bananas were cooked I sliced them up and placed in a marinade of vinegar, olive oil, onions, spanish olives, basil leaves with salt & pepper to taste, and the finishing touch cooked gizzards!! This is Puertorican cuisine at it's best! Yummmmy!!! I have to admit that I was in heaven, though sadly enough my son didn't want to taste it. I'm hoping maybe next time I offer it to him, he will taste it and enjoy it as much as I do. Until next time!
Lo primero que hice fue cocinar los guineos verdes para que no se maduraran. Una vez cocidos, los corte en rodajas y los coloque en una mezcla de vinagre, aceite de oliva, cebollas cocidas, aceitunas, hojas de laurel con sal y pimienta a gusto; y el toque final mollejitas cocidas. ¡Esto si que es comida Puertoriqueña! ¡Delicioso! Tengo que confesar que yo estaba en la nubes, aunque tristemente mi hijo no queria ni probarlo. Espero que para la próxima vez que le ofrezca, al menos lo pruebe y lo disfrute tanto como yo. ¡Hasta la próxima!