Acerola - West Indian or Bardados cherry. This fruit is best known for its high vitamin C content. Traditionally it was used to make refresco de acerola, or acerola juice.

Achiote or Achote - annatto seeds.
Achiotera - a container used to store annatto oil with its seeds. The oil is heated every time it is needed so the seeds can release their yellow color.
Adobo - The basic seasoning combination of Puerto Rican cooking.
Aguacate  -  avocado
Agua de Azahar  -  orange blossom water. A distilled water made of orange blossoms, used to flavor traditional desserts like rice - flour stovetop custard.
Aji Caballero or Aji Picante - hot chili pepper. A hot pepper about 1 inch long. It is the only hot pepper used in traditional cooking. It is also used to make pigue, a fermented vinegar used as a condiment.
Aji Dulce - sweet chili pepper.
Ajilimojili - a traditional sauce made with garlic, peppercorns, oil, vinegar, and lemon juice. It is served with boiled root vegetables or over grilled meats.
Ajo - garlic
Ajonjoli - sesame seeds
Alboronia de Chayote - chayote salad
Alcaparra - caper. Most frequently used in alcaparrado.
Alcaparrado - a mixture of green olives, capers, and pimientos.
Alcapurria - a traditional fritter made of grated yautia (taro root) and green bananas, stuffed with picadillo. It can also be stuffed with crabmeat or chicken
Almojabana - rice - flour fritter

Arroz y Habichuelas - rice and beans
SEE MORE TERMS
 

Caricatura del Dr. Edgar León

Let Jesus Christ into Your Life
by Don Jíbaro
Is Jesus Christ really part of your lives
or is He just an Icon at Easter and Christmas?

We "talk the talk" and more often than not, we "walk the walk."  It's consequently and imperative that we get to know that part of our culture that our ancestors staked the essence of their existence on... their faith in The Lord Jesus! Yes, Jesus Christ is Lord to at least 2.35 BILLION humans throughout the world, even respected by those who don't even know Him. There's no doubt, we distinguish The Lord Jesus from other "deities". Your grandma knew that! READ MORE

The Amazing Power of Gratitude
There's Always Someone Worse Off Than You! ----by Don Jíbaro
The Gospel of Luke, chapter 17, tell us that Jesus passed through a village where ten lepers, men with a very serious skin disease, met Him. They stayed at a distance because they were not allowed to approach anyone who was healthy. From a distance they called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, master, have mercy on us!” As He told them to go and show themselves to the Priest, all ten men were healed, but only one returned to give thanks. “One of them, when he saw that he had been healed, came... READ MORE

"The proof of the pudding is not merely in the eating,
but in how you feel after you've eaten it." —Don Jibaro

The Flag Of Puerto Rico
The origins of the current flag of Puerto Rico, adopted by the commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 1952, can be traced to 1868, when the first Puerto Rican flag, "The Revolutionary Flag of Lares", was conceived by Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances and embroidered by the great Mariana "Brazos de Oro" Bracetti. This flag was used in the short-lived Puerto Rican revolt against Spanish rule in the island, known as "El Grito de Lares".  READ MORE

SPAM & EGGS
SPAM - Unwanted Email...
Clogged Bandwidth and the problem with “Cutesies” Special Commentary By Don Jibaro
y friend from Bayamón, Chebo and I no longer share the philosophy of life through email anymore. Now he just sends me "forwards" that he collects from the Internet or that people send to him. What once was a profound exchange of "nuggets of truth" between friends has become a bombardment of "cutesies". Cutesies (cute things) are those snippets that you get forwarded from someone who got it forwarded to him by someone who... well, you get the idea, don't you? READ MORE

My Incredible Tío Genaro
“Yo conozco el Buey Que Faja y La Víbora Que Pica.”  ("I know the bull that charges and the snake that bites.") —by Don Jibaro
The memories of my Uncle Genaro... go back to 1956, when I was eight years old living in El Barrio La Cambija in the town of Bayamón. His name was Genaro Reyes Vázquez and he was blind, but he wasn’t always blind. Before suffering glaucoma, the eye disease that blinded him, my uncle was a picturesque man that knew everyone in town and everyone knew him. He never got married. Instead he traveled about the island of Puerto Rico by bus or “pisicorre pública” (sort of station wagon taxi that many people share in one trip). He loved to go to the town’s “plaza” and watch the old timers play dominó… while holding his chin with one hand, elbow with the other hand and muttering “Mmmm” occasionally. He seldom played, but he knew a lot of “tranques” (blocks). READ MORE

Wanda Benvenutti. . .  Why Do You Want to Know About Her
Don Jíbaro's Note:
Wanda Benvenutti came to California a while back looking to see where the Boricuas were hiding... She found me and explained to me the remarkable quest she'd engaged upon. Looking for Puerto Rican communities throughout the USA and find what was different about them... That is, if the was anything to be different about them. It's been a few years now... This is an update of her remarkable quest
READ WANDA  wanda.htm

The Art of  Pleasing Others
Oh, I've gotten Hell on Earth for voicing my opinion here and there... Sometimes I feel like I need to buy me a shotgun and shoot the computer.... ...and just go back a notepad and a pencil. But you know, I can't live by myself, I'm too gregarious to not even have a dog that I could boss around... "Mira, apéate del sofá, sato asqueroso..."

Consequently, I compromise... I go to my psychiatrist who teaches me the two arts: the art of conquering misanthropy (no offense) and the art of fitting into an environment I don't like it!!!... My neighbors, they all wanna lock me up. So what do I do? Compromise! That's what I do, yes sir! Compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a mutual acceptance of terms… yada yada —often involving variations from an original goal or desire… blah blah... and BLAH! READ DONKEY

El Valle de Collores
 Poema de Luis Lloréns Torres
14 de mayo de 1876 — 16 de junio de 1944, Juana Díaz, PR

Cuando salí de Collores, fue en una jaquita baya
por un sendero entre mayas arropás de cundiamores.
Adiós, malezas y flores de la barranca del río,
y mis noches del bohío, y aquella apacible calma,
y los viejos de mi alma, y los hermanitos míos.
READ MORE

The First Puerto Rican Astronaut
Ralph Acaba will never forget the day his son Joe called to let him know his life had astronomically changed. "He called me at work, so I answered as I used to do, 'Hi, this is Ralph,' and my job title," said the father, who was a private-school administrator. "He said, 'Hi, this is Joe, astronaut.' There are very few things in life that one remembers forever."

Nearly five years after that phone call, the Acaba family is counting the days until Joe's first trip aboard space shuttle Discovery, which is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 12. He'll be America's first astronaut of Puerto Rican descent.
READ STORY

¿Why Do We Worry?
by Don Jibaro
t has been said that there are two days that people worry most about but should actually worry least about: Yesterday and Tomorrow. We worry about yesterday - the mistakes we've made and what we would like to do over or differently. Yet, there is nothing we can do to change yesterday.

Our worries are wasted. Meaning? Give way to anxiety or unease; allow one's mind to dwell on difficulty or troubles. a state of anxiety and uncertainty over actual or potential problems. READ MORE

ASK DON JIBARO
Dear Jibaro
What does it mean "turn the other cheek"?
Curious

Dear Curious:
FIRST, It's Don Jibaro, oite?... Good question! It certainly doesn't mean that you go around gathering gasnatá handmarks on your face or be a dummy for all to abuse. The spirit of the remark, as stated in Luke 6:29, means that you don't have to pay evil for evil or seek revenge when someone wrongs you. That you can let one slide, or two or maybe three times if necessary. I know that's unusual but is not that difficult to do. I've done it and I still have my whole face.
Don Jibaro

The Amazing Gospel of Garlic!
To use the word “gospel” is no heresy… after all, the word "gospel" just means “Good News”
by Don Jíbaro
When I was a... ten year old child in Puerto Rico sometimes I’d eat dinner at my friend’s house next door, if I happened to be there at dinner time. My friend’s mother cooked the most delicious “arroz y habichuelas colorás” that I had ever tasted. Yummee! That lady could cook! Her rice and beans needed no meat! When I asked her how did she cooked such tasty beans and if I could learn to cook like that, she said her secret was “culantro y ajo” (coriander and garlic) but the main ingredient was garlic.
 
I was turned on to the marvelous world of Garlic by a passage in the Bible where the Hebrews don’t want to follow Moses anymore after he has given them the Ten Commandments. Instead, they want to go back to Egypt where, as slaves, they were kept strong for making bricks for the Pharaoh's pyramids with a diet of “garlic”. READ MORE

HISTORY 101 --- USA colonists had developed large sugar plantations and "centrales" and had the capital to invest in the Atlantic slave trade, but when the land got dry the plants were closed and the industry move to the Philippines... BESIDES, In comparison to the different states of the United States, Puerto Rico is poorer than Mississippi (the poorest state of the U.S.) with 41% of its population below the poverty line.

FURTHERMORE... Manufacturing sugar in Puerto Rico was no longer profitable by the late 40s. We can argue that local economic policy was responsible for the industry’s demise. In the 1930s and 1940s, the local Puerto Rican government enacted policies to stifle the growth of large cane-farms. As a result, starting in the late 1930s, farm size fell, mechanization of farms essentially ceased, and the Puerto Rican sugar industry’s productivity rapidly declined until the industry collapsed. by the late 50s... SO... DOES THAT LOOK LIKE the profits stayed in the ISLAND?

When I was a kid, Sugar, Tobacco and Coffee were KING and held the industry HIGH up, but by the late 1960s not even the large pharmaceuticals like Eli Lilly could save the local economy. It's colonial pattern... The Puerto Rican debt crisis is an ongoing financial crisis related to the amount of debt owed by the government of Puerto Rico. The island has more than $70 billion USD of outstanding debt, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of about 68%.... IT'S SCARY !!!

The Dangers of Anger
By DonJibaro
My son and I were at the local market when and we heard a toddler crying loudly in the next aisle. I left my son with the cart and went to see... Well, there was a lady comparing the price of two items AND a 3 or 4 year old boy kicking the shopping cart and screaming "I want that toy, I want that toy NOW !!!"  

I rushed back to my son and said something like: "Somebody is taking over." Of course... I meant the kid over his mom. "That kid will definitely have major issues with self -control when he grows up," --I added. You see, I am not a psychologist by trade but in 61½ years I've had a great deal of anger related experiences; both with family and friends... to the point that I have created a need to understand anger, oppression and even death....
READ MORE

Breeding Ethnicity
By Mrs. Don Jíbaro
n our house, everyone knows that there is a Puerto Rican father living here. The neighbors know it. The congregation of our church knows that there is a Puerto Rican among them. My relatives know that I am married to a Puerto Rican. Even the people at my job know it! What does that tell you? He is who he is and he’s proud of it. In our house we eat Puerto Rican meals.

There are Puerto Rican flags in the living room along with wood photo plaques of typical country scenes adorning the walls: ceramic coquis, wooden pilones, lace fans and a three by one foot wooden clock in the shape of the island. READ MORE

Finally, Love Explained
by Don Jibaro
Parenthetically speaking, the love we share with others goes with an invisible clause that makes us believe that such love will be returned or reciprocated. That fallacy makes us vulnerable to be hurt WHEN IT'S NOT. Is it possible then to love and expect next to nothing or not much or very little?

We make mistakes and then we HURT inside; pain that we cause ourselves by not knowing how to LOVE one another. YES, not knowing. You might say, "Nonsense".... but what I might not know in practice, I do know in theory. Love is the gracious (unmerited to others) self-giving of ourselves as unselfish human care. NO debate needed. READ ALL ABOUT IT

HOW NOT 2 GET BEAT UP by POLICE
by Chris Rock:
"If the police stops you, for whatever reason,
SHUT your mouth and follow their instructions."

Pasteles
FILLING
two pounds boneless lean pork meat
six tablespoons sour orange juice.
In a pilón, crush and mix:
4 sweet chili peppers,w/o seeds
2 large cloves garlic, peeled
2 tbsp whole dried oregano
1 tbsp salt
4 fresh culantro leaves
Cut into cubes 1 lb lean cured ham
1 green pepper, seeded]
1 onion, peeled
1 can garbanzos, inc. liquid  = 1 cup water
24 green olives, stuffed with pimientos,
11/2 tbsp capers
6 tbsp Achiote

Wash and dry pork meat. Cut into very small cupes. Mix meat with sour orange juice. Add the crushed chili peppers, garlic, oregano, culantro leaves and salt.
Add also ham, onion and green pepper. In a sauacepan, bring to a boil everything including garbanzos, and water. Drain the liquid over the meat mixture . Remove skins from chickpeas and add chickpeas to the meat mixture. Add olives and capers. Add ingredients all together, mix well, cover and set in refrigerator until the masa is ready. MORE RECIPES HERE

The Ponce Massacre of 1937
was a police slaughtering over a peaceful civilian march, taking place in 21 March 1937 at 3:15 pm, in Palm Sunday, Ponce, Puerto Rico, that killed 19 people and wounded over 200 others. It is the largest massacre in Puerto Rican history. The march had been organized by the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico by the governing Spanish National Assembly in 1873. The march was also protesting the U.S. government's imprisonment of the party's leader, Pedro Albizu Campos, on alleged sedition charges.  READ MORE

As an amateur historian, I have no intention of re-writing history... so please abstain from shooting in this direction if you happen to disagree with me. I just want to, if you'll allow me, add a little bit more of light unto the data we already have. Remember... "a picture is worth a thousand words." Therefore, memory is worth having, especially for those of us who weren't there.  If you travel to some areas in Puerto Rico, you might be able to see some traces of all those years ago. Everything was simple, significant and impacting. Your Grandma told you about those times. ¿Didn't she?

Caserio en Ponce 1942  --- The first housing projects were not concrete apartments as became in the 1950s and 60s, but individual houses with their own outhouses (letrinas) --- READ MORE

Love yourself... just in case nobody does.

Don't spread rumors, good or bad;
instead SPREAD Love and Kindness

How to Understand The Bible
A Comprehensive yet Simple Approach to Bible Study
by Don Jibaro
These guidelines are designed both for the new Christian and the teacher who will be giving the lessons, in other words the Disciple and the Discipler. The Scripture references must be read out loud to aid in the pronunciation and absorption of the Bible truth disclosed therein. Also as a mnemonic device, these basic lessons will help you to memorize Scripture.

The Discipler or teacher should know the Bible verses by heart and must have sound “hermeneutics” or a correct interpretation for each one of them. This is imperative to avoid a chain reaction of biblical heresy that will be passed on and on. Incidentally, that's how para-religious groups and cults are born: a misinterpreted Bible truth is taught and passed on. Each time, like a snowball, it gets bigger and bigger, collecting a variation as it gets passed on. In this fashion a term like "gospel" may end up meaning Country and Western music. So, to get a correct interpretation, three valuable key concepts must be taken into consideration: READ MORE

LET MY PEOPLE GO TO FLORIDA DEPT..
The Puerto Rico That Was Not
by Don Jibaro Barbablanca

Bingo The Dog Plays The Drums
 

Who in The World Was Juan Tizol?
The Puerto Rican Trombonist that
Made up Duke Ellington's Band

One of my favorites jazz tunes of all times is "Caravan" but I never knew that the composer was a Puerto Rican. Juan Tizol was born in San Juan Puerto Rico on Jan. 22, 1900, started music lessons early, was trained as a valve trombonist and as a teenager played in the San Juan Municipal Band. Tizol moved to the U.S. in 1920 and became valve trombonist in the pit band of the Howard Theatre in Washington DC, was a member of the Marie Lucas Orchestra, Bobby Lee’s Cottonpickers, and the White Brothers Band. His big break came in August of 1929 when he joined the Duke Ellington Orchestra... READ MORE

With tears in my eyes, I stopped! The words were too sad, so sad that I had the image flashing in my head while my heart was pounding in my chest. I was "living" the story... the empty bed... I was so brokenhearted that I had to translate this tango into English and share it in my website. The sadness lies in "the fallacy of friendship" and the fact that the words of the song are so true... so moving that you can't avoid "living" the story.  DJ  READ MORE

Bitterness and Resentment
by Don Jibaro
Bitterness is the response of anger or hatred toward the perception of unfairness of wrong done to or FROM people; a word that has become synonymous with anger and spite; bitterness being on the same continuum as anger and contempt. The differences are that bitterness is anger directed toward a perceived higher-status; anger is directed toward a perceived equal-status; and contempt is anger directed toward a perceived lower-status individual. "Perceived" being the catalyst but not the rule (it also means 'understood'). MORE HERE