Made in the 956: Valley author turns childhood memories into book
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Those who grew up in the Valley, chances are memories of going for a raspa on a hot summer day are memorable.
It's memories like those that Eliza Garza turned into a book.
Garza wrote Raspas Con Mi Grandpa.
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"Ever since I was little, my dad would always talk about us having a snow cone stand," Garza said. "And it was a seed that stuck inside me."
Garza eventually got that now cone stand. She owns Iced Cube Mexican Street Eats, and little did she know that this shop would inspire so much more.
"I didn't even know it all lived inside me," Garza said. "I wrote it in about 30 minutes, and it fell out of me onto the computer screen, and I just typed it up and afterwards I was like,' wow I have it, what do I do with it now?'"
Garza got the inspiration to write her book from her family, friends, and the raspa shop.
"Here in the Valley, we make a lot of memories over having a raspa with someone," Garza said. "We go out on the weekend, and we pick up some snacks, and we eat them together; and growing up, those are some of my fondest memories."
Garza took that inspiration and turned it into a book.
"So the book is about a little boy in South Texas who is anticipating a raspa adventure after school with his grandfather," Garza said. "You get to hear a lot of the terms we have here in the Valley, slang, mia, mio, what chamayo is, where it originated from. We eat a lot of these things, but we don't even know what they are, we just know that they taste good, right? So I really wanted the child to know what they're eating too and the history of these snacks and where they're from."
To learn more about Garza's book, her speaking engagements and more, you can visit her website elizamgarza.com
Garza also says her book was illustrated by Edna Galvan, who is also from the Valley.
Eliza Garza, Made in the 956.
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