I set a reading goal of 100 books last year, but only managed 88 — which isn’t bad!
Here are my 10 favorite new reads of 2019, in no particular order, and I threw in two re-reads. Click the covers to see the corresponding Goodreads pages.
(I’ve again set a 100-book goal for the year and here’s what I’ve read so far in 2020.) More …
My St. John’s University alma mater recently profiled in its glossy magazine a number of alumni who have worked as professional journalists.
Writer Dana Drazenovich whipped up a bunch of bios that are brilliant in their brevity and yet sum up professional lives perfectly.
More …
My parents made Christmas magical for my siblings and me, generously showering us during our Puerto Rico childhoods with thoughtful gifts, for which I’ll always be appreciative and grateful.
Sometime during my pre-teen period, though, I grew weary of the materialism and issued a good-natured edict to Mom and Dad: If you want to give me something for Christmas, make it a book, just one hardcover book, nothing more. More …
When I was Puerto Rican kid and obsessively devoted to my collection of science-fiction novels, I would create paper bookplates with my personal details along with drawings of zooming spaceships, planetary panoramas and the like.
I carefully attached the ex libris slips to the insides of the books’ front covers, and I felt a swelling of geeky pride at having enhanced my beloved library so. More …
A friend at work who is aware of my Puerto Rican background surprised me today with the gift of this jacket, which I promptly put on display in a place of honor near my desk at work. More …
As a Puerto Rican or boricua transplanted decades ago to St. Paul, Minn., I still have my “dear God, what have I done” moments when the weather is coldest.
Ah, but I love it here. My wife and I live in a fine house, in a great part of the city, with neighbors we have come to adore. When the weather is warm, we sit on our front porch for hours, wave hello to friends who pass by, and feel fortunate, indeed. More …
Didn’t know my native island of Puerto Rico is a coffee-growing region? Well, now you do.
My wife and I sampled some of these during a marathon AeroPress-ing session at the home of good friends (one of whom is #boricua). More …
(Note: This essay originally was published in The Magazine, the iOS-based e-magazine created by Marco Arment and edited by Glenn Fleishman.)
The quenepa is a tree-grown fruit found in a gigantic swath of the tropics: From Florida to Mexico it grows, and across the Caribbean and Central and South America. It is my favorite fruit, by far, because it is a bit like candy. More …
Puerto Rican-style chicken fricassee is my hands-down favorite childhood dish. Growing up in San Juan, I ate it a lot. My mother’s version was killer.
Now, when I ask her how she made it, she has no idea.
That’s because fricasé de pollo has infinite variations (extending beyond Puerto Rico and Latin America to include other regions and influences, including Cajun versions), and rarely comes out the same way twice. More …
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