CINCO de MAYO

BENTON RESIDENCE

History

The holiday of Cinco de Mayo, the 5th of May, commemorated the Victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at The Battle of Puebla in 1862. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the Mexican state capital city of Puebla and especially in U.S. cities with a significant Mexican population. Today, Cinco de Mayo has become a celebration of Mexican culture. During the week of Cinco de Mayo festivals and parades are held, featuring Mexican food and music. The consumers at the Benton residence selected two projects to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.  The consumers made Mini Sombrero’s to decorate the table and Black Bean Salad in avocado boats to sample Mexican food.

The consumers went to the store to purchase materials for the Sombreros and the local supermarket for the ingredients for Black Bean Salad in avocado boats.

Mini Sombrero

Styrofoam or paper cup
Mini paper plates
1 inch wide strip of brown felt
¼ inch strip of red felt
¼ inch strip of orange felt
Acrylic paint in sunflower
Medium pom-poms in green, yellow, red, brown and orange.                                        
Paint Brush
Scissors
Red marker

Step 1: Place newspaper or plastic covering on table before painting. Paint paper plate and cup (turn upside down) with sunflower paint. Let dry, a second coat may be needed.  

Step 2: Cut strips of brown, red, and orange felt to desired length and width. Working with the paper cup upside down, glue brown felt around the bottom of the cup and orange felt to the bottom edge brown felt, and the red felt to top edge of orange felt, giving a strip effect.  

Step 3: Glue the paper cup upside down to the painted side of the paper plate, and let it dry. Make a red boarder with the marker around the edge of the paper plate. Decorate the edge of the paper plate with alternating colors of the pom-poms.

Black Bean Salad (Serves 8)  

15 oz. can black beans                     
½ cucumber, seeded and chopped
1 cup diced tomatoes                           
2 Serrano chilis, finely chopped
½ bell pepper finely chopped               
½ cup canned Kernel corn
½ medium red onion chopped              
½ bunch cilantro, finely chopped
½ tsp. chili powder                              
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
Hot sauce to taste                                
salt and pepper to taste
4 medium size avocados  

If you do not want the salad spicy you may omit the hot sauce and Serrano chilis. 

Step 1: Wash and chop tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers onion and cilantro on cutting board.  

Step 2: Drain black beans, place in a medium size bowl, add chopped vegetables, chili powder, vinegar, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Mix well.  

Step 3: Cut the avocado in half, remove pit. Sprinkle with vinegar, so the avocado doesn’t turn brown. Fill the depression from the pit with black bean salad.

The consumers enjoyed making the Sombrero’s and Avocado Salad Boats to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.