Farina is my childhood breakfast. I ate this most of my childhood , aside from the traditional Dominican breakfast. But the farina is my forever favorite and Sunday’s are my favorite day of the week. When I was a kid, every Sunday was no cooking , stay at home and relax Sunday’s. It was the original self-care day of my childhood. My dad would order mangu with the tres golpes or bread w/ butter with Dominican Avena for breakfast from a Dominican restaurant that was located on Isham street and 207. we would just be chilling on Sunday’s during the cold months , windy or rainy days. If that was not the option it would be Farina.
I would eat Farina on other days of the week .
My mother would make it with whole milk (I don’t drink that anymore ) , add imported Dominican vanilla extract and pieces of lime peel to make it a lil sour. She would tell the kids to let it sit for 5 minutes to cool off a bit and then start from the sides to eat it . Sometimes I’ll add cinnamon to make it spicy. Today I’m home and I’m forced to stay grounded. Farina takes me back to a time of stillness, present and less noise. It would remind me of just being us, care-free and having privileged to do every day things, being forced to stay as grounded as possible and with little to no human contact. I believe this is a message from our creator and farina is being placed in front of me to help me analyze myself and surroundings. I say this, eat some farina or something that takes you back when you were present, less noise and more privileged. Stay grounded , listen and help one another during this time. I am learning that the purpose of life is serving others.
About the writer: Yaddy Valerio is a Dominican American that resides in Inwood section of Manhattan . She is a pastry cook and a writer. She is the creator of “In Yaddy’s Words “
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