Family Tree Detective

Christine Eclavea Mercer — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:43:28 +0000

Whenever I get bored with the family tree I seem to discover something really interesting that captures my attention. Over the weekend, I relented and decided to try the Ancestry.com two week free subscription. I try never to do such things. Because I tend to forget to cancel and spend a bunch of money that isn’t necessary. The public library has a subscription. But going there with an infant sucks. And it doesn’t just suck for me, which I could stand. It sucks for everyone else in the library, which is just bad manners.

Enrique and Concepcion Eclavea's home prior to WWII - 1941

I have discovered that there are Eclaveas, from Tayabas, Philippines, where my great grandfather was born, right here in Georgia. I fancy that I will call them. But being a freak about such things, I still haven’t managed to get the courage to call my really nice, elderly aunt. So I can hardly figure out how I’ll call complete strangers and say, hey, are you related to Lucio Quinto Eclavea? Maybe I can get my much friendlier cousin John to do it. lol. He’s awesome like that. I would say he even called me. But I’ve established that even deer are not afraid of me. So probably not an amazing feat.

There are more photos and documents that survived WWII than I imagined. I was under the impression that the entire village of Dededo, Guam burned to the ground. But apparently, my grandparents home did burn to the ground. But not every relatives home burned to the ground. And some of them managed to preserve a few photos.

I checked out a book about the Philippines from the library. And in the first chapter it tells me that in the late 1800s, Philippino revolutionaries were banished to Guam. This fits the timeline of the family oral history that Lucio Quinto Eclavea left the Philippines for Guam because his father was involved with the revolution. I’ll see if I can find a link. Fascinating stuff this genealogy. Who knew the Eclaveas were better than a Sopranos episode?

Thanksgiving Turkey

Christine Eclavea Mercer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:10:08 +0000

I’m not a huge fan of turkey. I appreciate the skill of a good cook, who can make one just right. But I don’t love the turkey taste. I like it well enough at Thanksgiving. But I’ve never understood people who will buy the biggest bird they can find and eat the leftovers for days on end.

Last year one of my SILs made a turkey sage soup. And that is probably my most favorite use of turkey leftovers yet.

So today, I get to the Kroger, and there is almost no chicken for sale. Which is weird since there are dozens of poultry farms nearby. Are they called farms if it’s for chickens? Chicken ranch? Anyway, I saw only a few types of chicken. And all of it is more expensive than last week.

Am I the only person trying to buy chicken this week? How odd.

I made cadon for dinner. Pronounced kuh-doo. It’s Chamarro beef stew. I did this by accident, which seems to be how it always happens. I make lots of Guamanian food on purpose, especially the fried rice. But the cadon is always a surprise. I just put stuff in the dutch oven, and might even think to myself beef stew. But out comes cadon.

I submitted it on allrecipes. But it isn’t approved yet, so can’t share it yet. But I have two other recipes showing there.

DD ate a whole lot of it. I gave her a bowlful and she wolfed it down and asked for more. My dad would be so proud.

Cadon

Frog In North Georgia » dededo

Family Tree Detective

Thanksgiving Turkey