Reprinted with permission of the Raleigh South Connection Newspaper, Raleigh, NC

Written by Lynne Wogan, contributing writer for the Raleigh South Connection – Meet Your Neighbor column

            Anyone who doubts that their neighbors in the Raleigh South area come from far and wide to make their home here should meet Paula Lujan Quinene. 

            Paula, her husband Ed, who works for Verizon Business, and their preschoolers Carson, 4, and Evalie, 3, moved to Holly Springs last October from Cary, NC.  However, Paula and Ed are both originally from the island of Guam.

            To celebrate her roots and share the Chamorro culture of Guam, Paula recently published a cookbook of treasured national recipes such as Chamorro bbq, and other island favorites including Guam desserts.

            Recipes in the book are for such exotic sounding dishes as guyuria, latiya and roskette and is definitely a “must have” for anyone who would like to experiment with their culinary skills and try something new and different.

            Paula and her husband have been married 11 years.  They met in Washington State through relatives and mutual friends and had an unusual courtship.

            “My husband was stationed in Bosnia with the US Army so we got acquainted by talking on the phone for five months.  “By the time we actually met, it was a week before we got married!”

            At the time Paula, who is also a personal trainer, was majoring in exercise science at the University of Oregon in Eugene, but she said she has always loved to bake and had even applied to the French Culinary Institute in New York City after she graduated.

            “I almost became a pastry chef, too, and had even sent in my deposit, but then I decided my college loans had piled up and it might be a little too expensive to pursue a second career so quickly,” she said.

            When she was interviewed recently for Meet Your Neighbor, Paula was busy making plans to make some special dishes for the Guam Liberation Party that was being planned at Pope Air Force Base in Fayetteville.

            “We celebrate the liberation of Guam from the Japanese during WWII every year, both here and in Guam,” said Paula.  She explained that while there are only a handful of families from Guam in the Triangle there are a lot more in Fayetteville and Cherry Point.  They tend to settle near military installations as a result of their history with the US Military.

            For the party this year, Paula was making traditional cookies and the bbq sauce that is used for marinating different meats and is also used as a popular dipping sauce for egg rolls.

            Her egg rolls are similar to the Philippine style of egg rolls rather than the Chinese rolls the Americans are more accustomed to eating.  “Our wrappers are paper thin,” she explained.  “They are delicious dipped in the traditional sauce, fina’denne’.”

            Explaining a little about the island where she grew up until the age of 18, Paula said it is one of the islands in the Marianas chain in the Pacific Ocean close to Japan and the Philippines located on a volcano in an area of ocean that is one of the deepest in the world.

            “I am so proud of my culture and love sharing it through food,” said Paula.  “The food is unique.  The people were originally from Indonesia and Malaysia and later there was Spanish influence.  And food was a center of life on the island when I was a child.”  She said there is a lot of Catholic influence and each village has a patron saint that is honored with a celebration for the community.

            Of course Guam is also a big military post for the United States because of its strategic location.

            Inevitably, there are now McDonalds and KFCs springing up.  But, she said their value meals are a little different than they are in the US, catering to the taste of the people who live there.

            “For instance, McDonald’s has a Spam and rice and egg breakfast value meal on the menu you won’t find here.  Spam is very big in Guam.  And KFC has our traditional red rice and fina’denne’ we all love.”

            Paula published her own book and it’s available on www.buybooksontheweb.com.  She is now working on a second book she plans to call “Remember Guam.”  I seek out people from Guam or who have visited Guam and ask them what they remember and get responses from all over the world,” she said.

            One military person remembered mosquitoes during WWII.  Another person loved Christmas because it’s so warm there and Santa Claus is in shorts on the beach.  She said her own favorite memory is also of the warm Christmases where the celebrations are centered on nine days of prayer and song, and of course food.

            Because she is used to warm weather, Paula and her husband decided to move from the Northwest to North Carolina where she is now a personal trainer with her own Holly Springs business.

            “I loved the Northwest.  It’s beautiful.  But, it’s cloudy and gloomy ten months of the year,” she said.

            “As with many of the new comers to the area, her family members are also relocating here now to be close to one another and to the grandchildren.

            “We like it here much better because of the sun.  The only place we might ever consider moving is back to Guam,” said Paula who is the oldest of six children.  “But as far as the U.S., this is the best place for us.”

Lynne Wogan