Christmas Dinner in Dominican Republic

I was born in Dominican Republic, a beautiful island surrounded by incredible beaches, coconut trees and blue skies. When Christmas is near, Dominicans love to start enjoying the weather (usually it's too hot for anything!), you can hear special music that it's only heard in December, and people get more close to family and friends.

We play games like "Angelito" o Little Angel, a game in which everybody who is involved has a secret angel and every week that angel send little packages, cards or candy to its dear angel.

At the end of Christmas the all make a party and bring presents to discover who was the angel of each one.

The food for Christmas Eve is wonderful. We make rice with beans, roasted pork, potato salad, a special bread called Telera, and some special plantain cakes called Pasteles en Hoja or Cakes in Leaves, because they're made from a combination of yucca, plantain and other things. They make a dough with these and filled the cakes with chicken, pork or beef. Then they wrapped them in plantain leaves and boiled them till they're tender. This is a delicious thing and if you're going to spend Christmas some day in the Caribbean you should ask for it.

Dominicans love their rum and beer and everybody enjoys a glass of Brugal or a couple of very cold Presidentes, our most popular beverages. Sometimes between meals people try some Pan de Fruta and Lerenes, two different types of some weird fruits that you peel and boil with salt, and regularly it's eaten as a snack.

Of course, we like to eat turkey and potatoes with gravy too, but that's because of Americans influence in our own culture. Most of the people enjoys both things or makes a mixture of plates, having as a result wonderful flavors and magical combinations that tastes incredible and makes Dominican Christmas Dinner an experience that's hard to forget.