Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Feb 1, 2012, 2:01 am
Cake & Coffee I wandered the wide aisles of Smart & Final searching for inspiration on what to bake to go with the fabulous Ambiance coffee I’d chosen. I really love a good French roast and so I’d picked the biggest can of French Roast available on their shelves. I love a strong, dark brew that...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jan 29, 2012, 8:16 pm
Layering stuff on my lasagna Fusion.  Can I call it that? I’m making a bastardization of a Pizza Margherita kind of, sort of only with lasagna.  Does that qualify as fusion?  Fusion sounds hip, cool and so not like what my Aunt Lupita would call “cochinadas” which basically means a mess o...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jan 29, 2012, 1:26 pm
If anyone in my family is going to do a science project in my family and expect my help with it, it had better involve food. If it’s building stuff – they’d better call on Marissa who managed in one night to help Jasmine build a scale replica (no model kit) of the San Fernando Mission with som...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jan 9, 2012, 3:22 pm
What is it about menudo? If you’re a Chicano or Mexican, chances are you think its the cure-all for la cruda (hangover).  I’ve read that this is a folktale with no substantiated proof of its validity as a cure for the common hangover.  Still, millions of Mexicans would beg to differ and Juani...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jan 3, 2012, 5:49 pm
  They might not be traditional, but they are GOOD! I woke up this morning and had my usual cup of coffee and got to work.  I didn’t make toast, I didn’t have yogurt because I am all charged up and energized about work.  The morning flew by and before I knew it, it was noon and I was HUNGRY...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 29, 2011, 10:11 pm
Antojida. I love that word. An antojo is a craving.  Being antojida means you are seriously jonesing for something yummy.  Today, for no apparent reason I got one of those completely random antojos for some chicken flautas with guacamole, sour cream, Spanish rice, and some salsa.  I was working ...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 28, 2011, 5:32 pm
This post has nothing to do with food and everything to do with Doña Lupe’s Kitchen. It’s about The Sound of Music. You know, that movie with Julie Andrews as a singing nun who falls in love, gets married to a guy with a ton of singing kids and then escapes from Nazi Germany?  That movie. W...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 13, 2011, 6:36 pm
Remember The Hurt Locker? My son, Albert works with real life Hurt Locker types, the Navy EOD (Explosive Ordance Disposal) or to simplify it further, a bomb squad. Yeah, those guys. They work hard in incredibly dangerous conditions and save countless lives in the process. They are, each and every o...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 12, 2011, 6:10 pm
Today is December 12th, which means it is the anniversary of the day that the Virgen de Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego on the sierra de Tepeyac.  For Mexican Catholics, it’s HUGE.  For Mexican non-Catholics it’s still huge. For me, growing up with a grandmother named Guadalupe who had an ab...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 12, 2011, 4:58 pm
This is our grocery store haul. When I was a kid, those red boxes of Duncan Hines cake mix were like the Holy Grail.  My mom didn’t cook or bake, but my grandmother and Aunt Jessie did.  They mostly baked from scratch, but there were a few recipes that they used boxed cake mix for.  For me and...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 11, 2011, 4:57 pm
Do you ever have those days when you just want comfort food?  Something rich, creamy, decadent and certainly not on any diet or healthy menu? I do.  Sometimes comfort food to mes a grilled cheese sandwich with hot tomato soup and sometimes it is crispy fried hash browns sizzling on a plate.  Mas...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 9, 2011, 11:51 pm
  Are you ready for some Christmas cheer?   I didn’t hear you… Vivemejor, an amazing website that caters to the Latino community has a little holiday present for two lucky readers! Do you want to know what’s in the baskets?  I’m super duper excited to be able to do a giveaway and wish...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 7, 2011, 3:49 pm
Adoration of the Magi by Gentile da Fabriano During the Christmas season, there was lots of hustle and bustle at the creaky old house on Goodwin Avenue.  All of us loved the season, but my very religious grandparents loved it most of all.  For us kids, it meant presents; good food; a break from s...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Dec 2, 2011, 2:21 pm
Yesterday it was my privilege to head over to the Los Angeles Central Public Library to listen to Luis Urrea speak about his new novel, Queen of America. I first met Luis several years ago when I went to interview him at a signing at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena. The signing went long; I never g...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Nov 15, 2011, 11:20 pm
I always said I wouldn’t fall for an e-reader. They were the evil newcomers stomping all over my precious books. I love hardcover books. There is something almost sensual about hearing that slight crack in the spine of a newly purchased treasure. The smell of ink and paper, the beauty of a dust c...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Oct 30, 2011, 6:19 pm
Each October, about this time of the month, I start baking the bread known as pan de muertos. It’s traditional, sweet, delicious with coffee and we only make it at this time. I make several loaves of it from about October 28-November 2nd. Four go with me to the Dia de los muertos ceremony I attend...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Oct 29, 2011, 3:34 am
I’m participating in this blog carnival to support the tireless advocate for Spina Bifida, Laurita Tellado. October is Spina Bifida Awareness month, so read on and learn. October is an eerie month, filled with monsters, mummies, and the macabre. But while the occasional witch or skeleton might fr...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Oct 29, 2011, 3:31 am
I’m participating in this blog carnival to support the tireless advocate for Spina Bifida, Laurita Tellado. October is Spina Bifida Awareness month, so read on and learn. October is an eerie month, filled with monsters, mummies, and the macabre. But while the occasional witch or skeleton might fr...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Oct 27, 2011, 2:36 pm
Tonight, the usual Thursday LATISM party is about something dear to my heart.  Social good.  This evening’s Twitter chat will be about doing good with your mobile phone and that go me thinking about some of the possibilities.  To be honest, I’ve never really thought of using my phone for doin...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Oct 27, 2011, 2:14 pm
The economy is horrid, jobs few and far between, and yet every day I see that people just aren’t out for themselves, they are doing social good in some way.  Whether it be a greener planet, helping someone out with a resume or lead, or Tweeting for donations to a cause, people care and are workin...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Oct 26, 2011, 4:55 pm
About seven years ago at Book Expo America in New York, I met a tiny dynamo named Aurora Anaya-Cerda.  I remember that meeting vividly because we talked about our mutual love of books and Latino literature, the Latino Book Awards ceremony we’d just come from and her determination to build a books...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Oct 25, 2011, 4:11 pm
Shelter Puppies US $19.95, CAN $21.95, UK £12.95 Hardback, 96 pages 80 illustrations / 65 in color 24 x 21.5 cm (9.5 x 8.5 in) ISBN: 978-1-8589-4560-6 Merrell Publishers CUTE ALERT! I have to say that this is one of the cutest books I’ve run into in a long, long time.  Each page is grace...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Oct 21, 2011, 2:59 pm
Now We Are Six. I’ve been with the Cybils since the beginning when I timidly raised my hand as a volunteer panelist.  Since then, the Cybils have grown with all the force of a young child, springing all too rapidly into young adulthood.  We’re still relatively young.  Six years old isn’t s...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Oct 19, 2011, 5:32 pm
AmoXcalli is about books and reading.  Looking at it, you’ll think “oh another book blog” and you’ll be right.  Look deeper.  It’s much more than that.  Books are the keys to education.  If a child loves books, that child will grow up to have a thirst and hunger for knowledge and educ...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Oct 18, 2011, 8:49 pm
I can’t remember exactly when I fell in love with books.  It was early on that’s for sure, but my real, honest to goodness love affair with books began when my mother moved to an apartment building a half block away from a Los Angeles Public Library.  I found it first.  It was at the end of o...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Oct 18, 2011, 4:21 pm
Doña Lupe’s Kitchen was nominated and is a finalist for a LATISM award!  Can you hear me squeeing?  Because I am and have been for a week since I found out.  I would have written this post then, but I was still in crazy blog hell as I struggled to move DLK and other blogs to new hosting. So NO...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Oct 17, 2011, 4:10 pm
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and this time of year always makes me think of my Grandma Lupe and the excitement of cooking a holiday dinner.  Nothing was better than Thanksgiving at Grandma and Papa’s house. We’d arrive a few days or the day before depending on school, etc.  Either ...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Sep 28, 2011, 7:57 pm
I am addicted to Iron Chef America. In fact, one of my dreams is to be a judge on the show and get to taste all that glorious food. I love all the chefs and have a serious chef crush on Michael Symon (his love for pork is almost Mexican). Morimoto’s artistry just boggles my mind and Bobby Flay�...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Aug 17, 2011, 1:16 pm
I hate plain scrambled eggs.  When I was growing up, we never had plain scrambled eggs.  Well, my mother made them on occasion but to me they were just nasty and had no flavor.  They weren’t like the amazing concoctions my grandmother laid on my plate at her house.  Those eggs were full of col...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Flor y Canto = Poetry - Aug 1, 2011, 12:36 pm
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jul 17, 2011, 9:57 pm
Mmmmm raspberries! Sundays are for family and I often spend mine with my nearest grandchildren, Jasmine and Aiden.  We do all kinds of things: go to the park, museums, the zoo, the beach; but no matter what we do we always have fun. We had planned a park day in Eagle Rock where they live in a t...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jul 16, 2011, 10:02 pm
Nopales con tortas de camaron Ewwwwwwww cactus! Is that what you are thinking?  It’s a reaction I get often when I speak longingly of cactus in salads, or in scrambled eggs, or in red mole sauce with pork or, one of my favorites; nopales con tortas de camaron.  Go ahead and think ewww, that le...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jul 15, 2011, 12:23 pm
This isn’t a post about food. This is a post about love. I am the grandchild of immigrants.  My mother’s parents were Mexican and my father’s were a motley mix of Irish, English and Dutch Jew.  In Azteca/Mexica tradition it is believed that we stand upon the shoulders of our ancestors and ...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jul 13, 2011, 6:43 pm
Quieres un tésito? If you are Latino, you’ve probably heard those words many a time from a grandmother, aunt or your mother. It means, “do you want a cup of tea?” In Mexican households at least (I can’t speak for other Latinos), té or tea fixes everything. You have a stomach ache? Yer...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jul 12, 2011, 12:53 am
It’s been crazy hot here in L.A., but that’s usual for July. My meals have been light, cold, crunchy and not cooked. Things like tostadas de atun, sandwiches, fruit or even ice cream have made their way onto my table. I had the ice cream for breakfast one particularly hot day. Hey, there’s...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jul 5, 2011, 7:38 pm
Mmmmm cafecito! What is it about Latinos and our love affair with coffee?  Could it be that we’re basically weaned from the bottle on it?  I remember being a little girl in my grandparent’s kitchen stealing sips of my Papa Chava’s cafecito and loving it.  Even knowing better, I’d give my...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jun 19, 2011, 1:53 pm
My grandfather, Salvador Medina Camarillo was the strongest father influence in my young life.  My parents were divorced and I rarely saw my father — the divorce was bitter and combative.  Eventually, the other grandparents faded into the background because to my mother, they were sources of gre...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jun 16, 2011, 5:15 pm
Albert — He likes his salsa HOT. This post may kill you…just kidding. My boys love salsa.  Red, green, black, corn salsa, mango salsa, you name it they love it but when it comes to their favorite all three of them will tell you the same thing: “My mom’s Tupperware-eating salsa”.  They ...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jun 6, 2011, 6:50 pm
I’m home.  Back in Los Angeles where I belong and happy to be back amongst friends and familia.  I got here just in time too.  Summer, which to me means jacaranda blossoms and the scent of fresh peaches. I had hoped to make it home while the jacarandas were still in full bloom.  I love those ...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Mar 5, 2011, 12:24 pm
Arriving in SLC I love that song by The Grateful Dead, What A Long Strange Trip It’s Been. My life summed up by a song title. What does it have to do with food? Well, I’ll tell you. You may have noticed there’s not been much on Dona Lupe’s in a while. A couple of months actually. That...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Feb 27, 2011, 5:37 pm
When I was growing up in a poor Latino neighborhood, books were considered luxos (luxuries).  While education was important and we were encouraged to go to school and study hard, for some reason there was a great disconnect between the school and home.  Books, unless they were the bible or...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Feb 18, 2011, 5:31 pm
NEW YORK CITY WELCOMES WORLD’S LARGEST SOCIAL MEDIA CONFERENCE ~~BlogWorld & New Media Expo Expands to Host East and West Coast Events: Inaugural BlogWorld East Joins with Book Expo America, May 24-26 at Jacob K. Javits Center~ FEBRUARY 17, 2011 (San Diego, CA) -BlogWorld & New Media Exp...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Jan 27, 2011, 8:12 pm
You can't see it, but she's wearing her apron. The only times I remember seeing my Grandma Lupe without her apron on was on Sundays when we walked over to the little church Cristo Rey on Perlita Avenue.  On those days she looked elegant and wore lipstick.  As soon as we got home though, she would...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 23, 2010, 7:59 pm
When I was growing up the best thing in the world to eat was a fresh flour tortilla right off the comal.  My grandmother Lupe would always slather the fluffy, white moon-shaped tortilla in butter and roll it up, tucking in the ends and wrapping it in a paper towel so I would drip butter everywhere....
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Dec 17, 2010, 6:37 pm
Grandma & Papa taught me the true spirit of Christmas From my window far from home I can see snow on the rooftops.  The day is sunny and bright, but I can see the snow clouds closing in.  There will be more snow before I get home to family and friends for Christmas.  I’m nostalgic this mornin...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Nov 13, 2010, 6:09 pm
My new phone. Isn't it pretty? Oh and those are my son's fingers. I'm yelling at him about his nails now. This is not a post about food. This is a post about gratitude. I’ve been incredibly honored and privileged to join in with the hashtag group called LATISM on Twitter. LATISM stands for L...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on AmoXcalli - Nov 11, 2010, 4:54 pm
Chronicle Books is having a contest to win a haul of books.  All I have to do is list some of their books, I’d most like to haul here on AmoXcalli up to $500.00 worth and I’m automatically entered.  Best part is, if I win the list one of my readers that comments will win the list...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Nov 1, 2010, 5:50 pm
Pan de Muertos at Lincoln Park Ceremony The people on my altar for day of the dead are all very special. They were loved, are loved still and are missed profoundly. With each one of them there is a recipe or dish I make on November 2nd in honor of their memory. In my home, we also read poetry, p...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Oct 25, 2010, 12:14 pm
Doña Lupe’s Kitchen is again graced and honored with a lovely guest post by author Julia Alvarez. Thank you so much Julia for sharing your family recipes and stories! ************************************************************************************************* You’d think that white rice...
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Gina Ruiz posted an article on Doña Lupe’s Kitchen - Oct 19, 2010, 3:01 am
Habichuelas from our farm in the Dominican Republic cafealtagracia.com> Photographs courtesy of Julia Alvarez and Bill Eichner In How Tía Lola Learned to Teach, one of Tía Lola’s favorite sayings is “En todas partes cuecen habas“: Everywhere people cook beans. In other words, despite supe...
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