"Richard Periut" wrote in message
. ..
> Mike Pearce wrote:
>>
>> I have a question for you. When I was growing up my Grandmother made
>> jelly roll fairly regularly. She was originally from Ireland, but moved
>> to Cuba when she was in her twenties. She pretty much learned to cook in
>> Cuba. I'd always assumed that her jelly roll was one of the few things
>> she made that went back to Ireland. Recently I was doing some reading
>> about Cuban food and read that jelly roll is common in Cuba. So, how
>> about you? Do you think of jelly roll as a Cuban dessert?
>>
>>
> Yes, it's called Brazo Jitano (gypsy arm,) and it's quite good.

I know that my Grandmother's was delicious. Thanks.

>
> Ireland to Cuba? Wow!

In 1918 or so when my grandmother was 19 years old she moved from Ireland to
Boston, MA where her older brother was already living. She met my
grandfather (Moises Garcia) in Boston and they moved to Havana in the early
20s. In the early forties they moved back to Boston which is where I grew
up.

When in Havana my mom's family had a guy named Eligio who helped around the
house and he taught my grandmother how to cook.

>Then again, Cuba was a mosaic that attracted many people (spaniards,
>turkish, jews, lebanese, syrians, french, chinese, et cetera.) They
>basically wanted to come to the US, but when they saw Cuba's eclectic
>people, and their tolerance for other religion and cultures, they stayed.

I once worked with a woman who was Albanian in descent, but she was as Cuban
as anyone I've ever known.

-Mike