TOOLS
Rusted tools in a box.
As a person who has been geographically removed from all of my family’s Latinx customs, I am working as hard as I can (when I’m not writing or working my day job) to find the tools I need to learn Spanish and about Puerto Rican traditions.
Duolingo:
Duolingo owl picture. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/
Duolingo has been the best language app I’ve found so far, but it doesn’t test what I struggle with most. I like learning the new words and hearing the sentences spoken aloud, but I need help composing sentences on the fly and speaking them aloud. I can only speak very basic sentences, and because I think in English, the sentences I want to make tend to be very complicated with idioms I’m sure don’t translate over.
Anyhoo, I have gotten back into practicing Duolingo daily, but I’m interested in checking out other free language apps that focus on speaking aloud and writing sentences in Spanish. I would like to practice writing in Spanish in the coming years, so it would be great to really dive into this when work calms down a bit.
Books:
Picture of a book with maps inside. Some glasses rest on top of the open book.
Books are some of the world’s greatest tools. Through literature, we learn about the world around us. I’m very excited to be a writer, but I also acknowledge that I have a lot more to learn by reading first.
Most recently, author J.D. Estrada (@JDEstradawriter on Twitter and Instagram) recommended a few books for me to read to help me learn a little bit about PR, the stuff mi abuela probably would have taught me had she been alive to do so.
War Against All Puerto Ricans by Nelson A. Denis. It covers the history of Puerto Rico from the U.S. invasion in 1898 to the 1960s. An epilogue touches on a couple topics through the early 2000s as well. Share in my learning by buying the book: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/war-against-all-puerto-ricans-nelson-a-denis/1120177217
Puerto Rico Strong, a comic book anthology that supports relief funds to help with the devastation caused by Hurricane Maria. There are stories of strength, history, and resilience. For visual learners, or people who like comics but are okay with learning new things, this is a great read! Share in my learning by buying the book: https://www.lionforge.com/puerto-rico-strong/
Now, for the coolest tool!
Pilon:
Mi abuela’s pilón.
In my part of the country, this is advertised as a mortar and pestle in stores. They are only sold in plastic or stone in the stores nearby, and only one place actually carries some quality ones.
The wooden version of this is called a pilón, and it is what my grandma used to make all of the pastes she used in cooking, especially sofrito. The picture above is my aunt’s pilón, which belonged to Abuela.
This is me receiving a pilón, mailed all the way from Florida just for me!
Me receiving my first pilón by mail. Thank you, Tití!
Tití shared Abuela’s easy sofrito recipe with me so I can start making my own. She said one of the coolest parts of using the pilón as opposed to the other styles of mortars/pestles is that the wood keeps the scent of the garlic, onion, and bell peppers in it. Each time I pull out the pilón, I will remember the freshness of the ingredients I’m using and how I’m not only buying Goya products.
She also says that when the whole kitchen smells like sofrito, the smell takes her back to her mother’s kitchen. The smell takes my aunt’s daughter back to her mother’s kitchen. It’s crazy how a paste can act as a time machine.
I look forward to the day where the smell of sofrito and the image of the pilón will take my future children back to their childhood kitchen, my kitchen.
I look forward to the day when the traditions that should have been lost with my aunts and uncles will continue on because of the learning I’m doing right now.
What are your favorite resources to learn a new language? What other tools do you use for learning about cultural history and tradition? What kitchen tools take you back to your childhood?
