• Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen

latinopia.com

Latino arts, history and culture

  • Home
    • Get the Podcasts
    • About
      • Contact Latinopia.com
      • Copyright Credits
      • Production Credits
      • Research Credits
      • Terms of Use
      • Teachers Guides
  • Art
    • LATINOPIA ART
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Film/TV
    • LATINOPIA CINEMA
    • LATINOPIA SHOWCASE
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Food
    • LATINOPIA FOOD
    • COOKING
    • RESTAURANTS
  • History
    • LATINOPIA EVENT
    • LATINOPIA HERO
    • TIMELINES
    • BIOGRAPHY
    • EVENT PROFILE
    • MOMENT IN TIME
    • DOCUMENTS
    • TEACHERS GUIDES
  • Lit
    • LATINOPIA WORD
    • LATINOPIA PLÁTICA
    • LATINOPIA BOOK REVIEW
    • PIONEER AMERICAN LATINA AUTHORS
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Music
    • LATINOPIA MUSIC
    • INTERVIEWS
    • FEATURES
  • Theater
    • LATINOPIA TEATRO
    • INTERVIEWS
  • Blogs
    • Angela’s Photo of the Week
    • Arnie & Porfi
    • Bravo Road with Don Felípe
    • Burundanga Boricua
    • Chicano Music Chronicles
    • Fierce Politics by Dr. Alvaro Huerta
    • Mirándolo Bien with Eduado Díaz
    • Political Salsa y Más
    • Mis Pensamientos
    • Latinopia Guest Blogs
    • Tales of Torres
    • Word Vision Harry Gamboa Jr.
    • Julio Medina Serendipity
    • ROMO DE TEJAS
    • Sara Ines Calderon
    • Ricky Luv Video
    • Zombie Mex Diaries
    • Tia Tenopia
  • Podcasts
    • Louie Perez’s Good Morning Aztlán
    • Mark Guerrero’s ELA Music Stories
    • Mark Guerrero’s Chicano Music Chronicles
      • Yoga Talk with Julie Carmen
You are here: Home / Blogs / VIEW FROM THE PIER 6.05.2016 “SHOPPING”

VIEW FROM THE PIER 6.05.2016 “SHOPPING”

June 5, 2016 by Tia Tenopia

Fifty plus years ago, my folks and I went to meet Cora’s parents to ask their permission for Cora’s hand in marriage.  Mexican tradition required this step.  Cora and I had dated each other for over a year, but this was the first joint gathering of our families.  After introductory remarks, my father cleared his throat.  He told Cora’s father that I was a good son, a hard worker and that we had come seeking his permission to allow me to marry his daughter.

Cora’s protective father responded that Cora didn’t cook, didn’t help around the house nor keep her room clean.  I assured him that I loved Cora and would take care of her in spite of his comments.  He nodded his head and gave us permission to wed.  Cora’s mother brought out the tequila and we all toasted the future.  I was a law student and we married a year later.

We both worked.  Cora didn’t drive a car, but cooked our meals.  Each one was an improvement.  Today she is a great cook.  In those early years, I drove her to the market and pushed the cart as she filled it.  I didn’t like going to the market and eventually we could afford a car for her.  I obtained the services of a driving school to teach her how to drive.  We both loved her new found freedom.  She could drive around to see her friends and shop.  Better still, I didn’t have to go to the market anymore.

Over the years I learned to barbeque and cook other dishes as well.  But Cora let me know that the kitchen was her domain.  At best I was an allowed trespasser.  After our children left home, cooking required less effort.  Eventually, it was just Cora and I eating together.  As we aged, I’d accompany her to the market and push the cart to help her out.  I didn’t mind doing it then, but never focused on what she was buying.  “Cosco,” “Ralph’s,” the “99cents Store,” “Trader Joe’s,” and “Smart and Final,” were her destinations.  She was a bargain hunter and I tagged along.

Recently due to a minor stroke, Cora is under doctor’s order to stay home while she gets some physical therapy.  Don’t worry folks, she is doing fine.  With God’s blessing, Cora will be out and about in no time.  In the meantime, I have become the shopper and the cook.  She gives me the shopping list designating the product, label, volume and which store to visit.  I head out . . . . alone.

I push the cart down the aisles holding Cora’s list in my hand.  As I searched for the items, I began to realize how fortunate we are in this town.  I thought about all the people involved in bringing food to us: the growers, cattlemen, fishermen, farm workers, butchers, meat packers, wholesale buyers, canneries, truck drivers, warehouse persons, managers, clerks, cashiers, and box persons.  Then I thought of the food industry, trying to meet our tastes and government’s regulations in an effort to protect us.  Our choice of good food is endless.

But becoming a forced shopper, I gained respect for Cora and all other committed shoppers.  What I once viewed as a time wasting process, I now recognize its importance.  Cora always checked labels for ingredients’ quality, quantity and price.  She picked vegetables and fruit that were fresh.  All these steps bring us better health.  Cora seeks information from other shoppers and gives them tips as well.  Recipes and food secrets were also shared at the takeout line.  Serving as a temporary full-time shopper, I discovered a new world.  When Cora returns to the market aisles, I will accompany her, but do more than riding shotgun, I’ll be a selector too.  That’s the view from the pier.

______________________________________

Copyright 2016 by Herman Sillas who is  an attorney and artist, fishes at the San Clemente Pier most Saturday mornings.  He is the author of the award winning book, “View from the Pier-Stories from San Clemente.” He may be reached at sillasla@aol.com)

 

Filed Under: Blogs, View from the Pier Tagged With: Vier From the Pier

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 06.27.25 SANTA BARRRAZA AND KATHY VARGAS AWARDED FELLOWSHIPS

June 26, 2025 By wpengine

Latina Artists Santa Barraza and Kathy Vargas Honored with Prestigious Latinx Artist Fellowships. The Latinx Artist Fellowship announced this week an award of $50,000 each to a multi-generational cohort of 15 Latinx visual artists. Administered by the US Latinx Art Forum in collaboration with the New York Foundation for the Arts and supported by the […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 6.20.25 REMEMBERING JESUS MOROLES

June 20, 2025 By wpengine

Latino Sculptor Jesús Moroles Remembered Born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1950, Jesús Bautista Moroles, the renowned Mexican American artist and sculptor, created a name for himself through his brilliant monumental abstract granite works. At the time of his sudden and tragic death in 2014, Moroles had completed more than 2,000 granite sculptures worldwide which […]

RICARDO ROMO’S TEJANO REPORT 06.13.24

June 13, 2025 By wpengine

Latina Artists Take Texas Culture to New York City The Ruiz-Healy Art Gallery in New York City presents Vast and Varied: Texan Women Painters, a group exhibition that includes works by Marta Sánchez , Eva Marengo Sánchez , and Ethel Shipton. The exhibit will be on view at the gallery from June 12 to August […]

MIS PENSAMIENTOS with ALFREDO SANTOS 06.13.25

June 13, 2025 By wpengine

Bienvenidos a La Voz Newspaper. As you know, there are so many things going on all around us today. The Trump administration is moving quickly to remake America into a vision that he believes will take us into the future, but the real question is who is “us”? The Make America Great Again movement doesn’t […]

More Posts from this Category

New On Latinopia

LATINOPIA ART SONIA ROMERO 2

By Tia Tenopia on October 20, 2013

Sonia Romero is a graphic artist,muralist and print maker. In this second profile on Sonia and her work, Latinopia explores Sonia’s public murals, in particular the “Urban Oasis” mural at the MacArthur Park Metro Station in Los Angeles, California.

Category: Art, LATINOPIA ART

LATINOPIA WORD JOSÉ MONTOYA “PACHUCO PORTFOLIO”

By Tia Tenopia on June 12, 2011

José Montoya is a renowned poet, artist and activist who has been in the forefront of the Chicano art movement. One of his most celebrated poems is titled “Pachuco Portfolio” which pays homage to the iconic and enduring character of El Pachuco, the 1940s  Mexican American youth who dressed in the stylish Zoot Suit.

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

LATINOPIA WORD XOCHITL JULISA BERMEJO “OUR LADY OF THE WATER GALLONS”

By Tia Tenopia on May 26, 2013

Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo is a poet and teacher from Asuza, California. She volunteered with No More Deaths, a humanitarian organization providing water bottles in the Arizona desert where immigrants crossing from Mexico often die of exposure. She read her poem, “Our Lady of the Water Gallons” at a Mental Cocido (Mental Stew) gathering of Latino authors […]

Category: LATINOPIA WORD, Literature

© 2025 latinopia.com · Pin It - Genesis - WordPress · Admin