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a squatter, not a roamer. But I will be squatting far from home. I know that in Chapel Hill my Nochebuena traditions will suffer a further attenuation, and when this happens I’ll find myself in the position that my father occupies now—I will be the only Cuban rooster in the house. The good night, which became less than good in Miami, may well become not good enough in Chapel Hill. My reluctant but hopeful wager is that the not-so
-buena
Nochebuena will be followed by an excellent Christmas.

Cuban
Congrí
    RICE AND BEANS

    Heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot. Fry the bacon over medium-high heat until golden. Remove bacon and drain on paper towels. Set aside.
    In the olive oil/bacon grease, fry the ham until well heated and crispy. Remove the ham and set aside.
    Lower heat to moderate. Add
sofrito,
garlic paste, and tomato paste. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
    Raise flame to high and add the liquid from beans, the vinegar, bay leaf, cumin, oregano, and salt. When boiling, add rice and beans. Stir to mix well.
    When it boils again, lower flame to moderate and cook uncovered until somewhat dry.
    Reduce flame to low, add half the reserved ham cubes, and stir into rice. Cover and cook for 15 minutes.
    Stir rice again, cover, and cook another 15 minutes, or until rice is tender.
    Serve hot, decorated with the rest of the ham pieces and the fried bacon. For more flavor, stir in 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil before serving.
    Makes
6
servings
    SOFRITO

    Whir all ingredients for the
sofrito
in a blender until chopped. Store in the refrigerator in a tight-lidded container.

Denise Chávez
    Denise Chávez is a native of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Her novel,
Face of an Angel
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux), was awarded the
1994
Premio Aztlán and the
1995
American Book Award.
She is also the author of
The Last of the Menu Girls,
a collection of interrelated short stories. Her forthcoming novel,
Loving Pedro Infante,
will be published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. A performance
artist as well as a writer, Chávez tours in her one-woman
show,
Women in the State of Grace,
throughout the United States. She has been the Artistic Director
of the Border Book Festival, based in Las Cruces, since its inception in
1994
.
    BIG CALZONES
    In memory of my parents,

Delfina Rede Chávez and E. E. “Chano” Chávez

    IT WAS A TRADITION in our family that each year one of us was presented with an unusual gift: an enormous pair of the biggest, whitest, stretchiest polyester panties you have ever seen, size queen-ultra-mega-4X, clownish, enormous drawers. Just to look at them made you laugh out loud. Mother bought them at Aaronson Brothers Clothing store on Main Street, in our little hometown of Las Cruces, New Mexico. Each year, she wrapped this huge pair of
calzones
in the loveliest paper, tied with an elaborate bow, and gave them to some unsuspecting but delighted soul in our immediate family. The package was opened to squeals of laughter. You never knew when it would be your turn to receive the panties.

    Mother’s sense of humor was legendary—and sometimes diabolical. Despite her propriety as a teacher and single mother, she had a great sense of the ridiculous and liked to take photographs of people in disarray. She often ambushed my sister or me in the bathroom—a towel draped loosely around a naked body seated on the toilet, hair in curlers, reading the
National Enquirer.
She kept an album of crazy photographs that I still treasure today.
    The first year, I was the one who received the big
calzones.
As I opened the beautifully wrapped gift, I had no idea why there was a special twinkle in my mother’s eye. We all had a huge laugh as we passed the giant panties around and tried them on. Mother was a large woman, but she, too, modeled the panties. I snuck out of the room to get her camera and catch her in the act.
    After Christmas, the
calzones
went into Mother’s gift box, a large