Mexican food

If you want a paleta, raise your hand!

Mango? Lime? Coconut? Strawberry? Pineapple? What do you fancy? We need one last tasty lick before summer ends.

Carmen Tafolla’s story makes me want to visit the girl narrator’s barrio — where “the smell of crispy tacos or buttery tortillas or juicy fruta floats out of every window, and where the paleta wagon rings its tinkly bell and carries a treasure of icy paletas in every color of the sarape.”

What Can You Do With a Paleta? is pitch perfect storytelling. Dr. Tafolla captures the fun, anticipation and utter deliciousness of this favorite Mexican ice pop treat, the very essence of summer and childhood.

And I LOVE the way she reads her story aloud. You’ll see what I mean:

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Wasn’t that great? My favorite part is the blue mustache. 🙂

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Good News: Award-winning author and poet Jorge Argueta has just published the third book in his delightful bilingual Cooking Poem series!

Jorge first fed us warm and comforting Sopa de frijoles/Bean Soup, followed by a yummy batch of Arroz con leche/Rice Pudding (which I reviewed here), and now he celebrates the singular joy of making guacamole. Yum!

A young girl chef makes guacamole for her parents and two younger siblings — not just any guacamole, mind you, but an especially delicious one that will leave them begging for more. Just as with Jorge’s other cooking poems, everything about the process, from the careful selection of and reverence paid to the utensils and ingredients, to the anticipation of eating and sharing the final product, is seasoned with a generous measure of love, playfulness and magical realism.

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