Grama ‘prepara un sancocho’ in the morning
Ese mañana when Canutito got up and went pa’la cocina, he could smell algo muy bueno simmering en la estufa. He went over to the stove para ver qué estaba cocinando su grama in the saucepan on the stove. He sniffed and smelled el menjunje that was boiling en el jumate.
“What it this good mixture, grama?” he asked her.
“I am preparing un sancocho, m’hijo,” Grama Cuca replied. “¿Qué es un sancocho, grama?” Canutito asked her.
“En un menjunje de carne with peas and tomatoes y cebollas,” she said. “En otros lugares como México y South America este stew also includes cosas como bananas y coco o frutas like prunes o cinnamon y hasta yucca.”
“It sounds como que anything can be put into este stew. I think que Grampo Caralampio le llama a esto Mulligan Stew.”
“Eso que porque tu grampo was in the Army, m’hijo,” grama said. “En el Army, los Irish soldiers were called Mulligans por los otros soldãos en el ejército. They had popularized ese menjunje where everyone hacía contribute un poco into the cooking pot y luego todos comían juntos. Some say that it was los trampes y los hobos who really invented it durante la Gran Depresión.”
“So what you are telling me es que in this country, Mulligan Stew was invented by the Army soldiers pero que cuando los hobos made this mixture, each one contribuía something into the stew in the cooking pot y luego everyone got to eat? Then why did you call it un sancocho, grama?”
In old Spanish, sancochar is used to describe algo que es parboiled or heated to the boiling point, m’hijo,” Grama Cuca replicó. “In any case, es un really hardy stew and I thought que I would eat some para el almuerzo hoy because today voy a hacer yoga y necesito todo mi strength.” She went pa’l otro cuarto y se puso sweat pants.
Otra vez Canutito looked up at Grama Cuca. He asked her, “Grama, ¿qué es yoga? ¿Qué no es algo como sour cream?”
“No, m’hijo,” she smiled; eso es yogurt. El yoga es una forma de exercise que combina stretching y la meditación at the same time.” She served herself una charolada llena de sancocho y se lo comió.
Canutito watched grama gobble down the whole bowlful of stew con mucho apetito. He watched grama as she got en el suelo pretending to be un gato enojão; she looked funny as a mad cat stretching up su espinazo. Luego grama sat down en una jerga trying to stretch her legs out como una cheerleader haciendo los splits.
Suddenly Grama Cuca started crying out: “¡Canutito! ¡Ven ayúdame, m’hijo! ¡Estaba queriedo hacer los splits y agarré calambres en las dos patas!”
Canutito tried to pick her up pero she still had cramps on both her feet. Canutito asked her, “Grama, why don’t you try acupuncture?”
“I don’t believe en esas clases de brujerías, m’hijo,” she said, pulling herself up en una silleta. “That’s the last time que I try to do esa pinche yoga; de ahora pa’delante, I’m just going to stick to los remedios de aquí. Get me some more sancocho !”…