Maria Socorro Valines

I've been MIA for a while - a litttle traveling plus I was down with a stomach virus. I started out in Los Angeles, planning to show Ivette's designs to some stylists and to a friend who would help me develop promotion and marketing ideas. But some "bug" laid me low for three days and made me cancel all my appointments in LA.

So, on to Portland for a visit with my sister Anita, who with her boyfriend Mike, works with fused glass. Stevie's Artisans will soon include their candle sconces, sun catchers, coaster sets and jewelry - images soon to be posted. Then Anita, her daughter Alyssa, Mike and I drove up to Washington State to meet up with sisters Joie and Zoralie who are potters - two more soon-to-be additions to Stevie's Artisans.

The family get-together of four Trudeau sisters, various brothers-in-law and many nieces and one nephew took place to commemorate the first anniversary of our mother's death. We marked the date by cooking a dinner that celebrated her's and our culture. My mother, Maria Socorro Valines, was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico and came to New York with her mother and three brothers in 1936. She was six years and spoke no English. Although she was born a US citizen, she came to America by way of New York Harbor, sailing pass the Statue of Liberty and thus sharing the experience of so many European immigrants before her.

My mother eventually became totally bilingual and was completely American but she knew and remembered discrimination growing up a little Puerto Rican girl in NYC and later from my father's mid-West American family. Her beginnings were harrowing - my grandmother brought her children to New York to escape an abusive husband who beat her in the presence of her children. Mom was amazingly accomplished following the "American success model." She educated herself, worked hard and built an income tax business that served clients in her home state, California, and then eventually from all over the US. Her business began with and continued to serve Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants, many of whom she helped become American citizens. She never forgot her roots.

So we cooked a huge Puerto Rican feast. I made chicken fricasee (chicken stewed in a tomato sauce seasoned with onions, garlic, bay leaves, oregano and green olives.) I also cooked arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas). And all of us rolled dough and filled pastelillos (little pies) to be fried by another sister. Pastelillos are the Puerto Rican version of empanadas. Anita and her daughter made flan and Joie made a pineapple upside down cake - my mother's favorite and a dessert we always make for any and all family gatherings. As one of our family friends once commented, "If it's a Trudeau gathering, there will be pineapple upside down cake." We toasted mom and ate well. We told lots of stories and it seemed a very good way to mark this first anniversary of her passing.