Cocina Supplies (retired)

Josefina loves her random branch of goodies! The branch is a really odd choice. Josefina can't hold it, and though her things look nice hung on it, there's not really anything to hang it *on.* The corn is pretty- my family also keeps ears of Indian corn in the home as decoration. The blue and red corn cobs are accurate, but the yellow would have been better in an off-white color.

The garlic seems out of scale at first, but I decided that these ears of corn were just smaller, as corn was before genetic engineering. I love thinking about Josefina and her sisters sitting and braiding the stalks and husks into these strands. The chile ristras are very pretty- it was so creative to use twists of paper as chiles!

The squash, unfortunately, looks particularly unappetizing.



I love Josefina's big, black water jug. Again, it reminds me of stuff my family has at home. The braided ring is so cunning! Poor Josefina, however, cannot use her gourd dipper to actually get water from the jug- it's bigger than the opening at the top!

The mano and metate are great toys. They're probably the items with the longest history- even prehistoric native New Mexicans used these to grind their cornmeal. It's too bad that no cornmeal/ blue cornmeal is included, but that would be messy.

I love the big copper pan. I like to think of it bubbling with thick green chile stew on its iron stand. Additionally, it looks just like the big copper washtub that Josefina and her sisters use in the first book. Great dual purposing!

The basket is very pretty, but I think it would have been better if they had included a basket in the Pueblo style with designs. The Montoyas would almost certainly have traded for them.

Grade: A