The objects shown above are known as el  Molcajete and a wooden tortilla presser.  My parents decide to migrate to the USA in hopes for a better life for my siblings and I. However, that didn't mean that my mother had to let go of her traditional techniques of cooking. Growing up, my mother often used these objects to make delicious dishes and even at young age she was in the kitchen preparing meals. The wooden tortilla presser is a tool used to make corn tortilla. Balls of dough are placed in the center and pressure is applied to make a flattened, round tortilla. It is then lifted with your palm and placed on a comal.  El molcajete is used to prepare salsas using a  pestle to grind in a larger bowl of pestle. It brings her happiness because it reminds her of what she can still do even though she has left so much.My mother taught us how to use these objects in order to remind us of never forgetting where we come from and how much they had to leave for us. It shows me how much we can do out of all the small little things. 

– Eleanor

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant