On this day a year ago, my mother, Floria Valdez, became suddenly and unexpectedly ill. I managed to leave Washington in the midst of the worst snow storm in years and was there at her side until she departed on her birthday, February 8. It is still difficult to think about what this loss has meant to me. At the most unexpected moments, I remember her...when I hear a special song, when I want to brag about a personal achievement, when I want to talk about the funny things my students do, when I need to talk about my son. But most of all I think of her...when I'm in the kitchen. My mother loved to cook and was a purist about the things she made, for example, her tamales. She was a stickler for making them just like her own mother had made them. Recently, my paternal cousin, Cotis, from Monterrey, Mexico, sent me a message on Facebook asking me if my tamales recipe came from her mother's … [Read more...]