Happy New Year!

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Feliz Año Nuevo a todos
mis amigos and faithful readers!

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Tejano ranch culture shaped South Texas culture, especially when it comes to cooking

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TOPICS: Cooking Tejanos POSTED BY:  CARDENAS.AE@GMAIL.COM   APRIL 29, 2017 I have had a lifelong affair with Tejano cuisine. Actually cuisine sounds too fancy, it is a French word after all. Let’s just say I love my comida Tejana. Recently, while reading “The Reminiscences of a Texas Missionary,” I ran across an observation by Father P. F. Parisot, OMI, which I found interesting. While on his way to Brownsville late in 1857, the good father stopped in San Patricio to buy a horse and while there was introduced to Tejano cooking. A far cry from the cuisine he was familiar with growing up in France. Father Parisot writes, …we became acquainted with the tortilla. Bread in the Mexican ranches is not a wheaten loaf, but thin tortillas made from corn meal without any yeast. The women soften the corn in lime water and place it on a flat stone called a metate, and then with another stone shaped like a rolling-pin they grind the corn into a paste. This paste is then patted with the hand...
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Sports is not the be-all, end-all of life

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  Manuel Esparza scored the lone touchdown against Cotulla in the 1963 opener. By the end of the season, Esparza ranked as the number 10 rusher statewide from all divisions and earned all-state honors. (Photos from Alice Echo News .) Manuel Esparza, Jr, a starter for the 1964 state basketball team, was born May 5, 1946, to Margarita and Manuel Esparza, Sr., whom he shared with his sister, the late Ramona Esparza.   Like most teammates, Esparza attended St. Francis de Paula Catholic School, a vital part and foundation in his life.   “My father passed in the fifth-grade year, and this really hurt,” Esparza recalled.   “I really missed my father and the encouragement he gave me in everything I was involved in.”   Fortunately, his mother, sister, grandparents, aunts, uncles, priests, teachers, coaches, and other adults guided, supported, and greatly influenced his life.   “They helped me stay focused and close to the church,” Esparza said. He move...
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Part V

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