I had the pleasure of seeing the woman behind the bag: Unknown Mami, a hilarious writer from San Francisco, who does not reveal her identity online. We sat next to each other on a bus ride in Miami when we both were invited to Que Rica Vida’s relaunch.

The the promise that I would keep her identity a secret, she did this video essay for the Tiki Tiki. It’s a story about what happens when your mostly Spanish-speaking mother buys you a “Miss You” card in English.

Watch and enjoy. And then go read her blog.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Tiki Tiki video: Mi Mama invento el Cappuccino
2. Spanish Slang, Sayings, Palabras, Dichos
3. Contribute to the Tiki Tiki

If you are an e-mail or rss subscriber, please click the headline to see the videos.

Silvia from Mama Latina Tips is all sorts of fabulous. She is smart and tells wonderful cuentos. When I met her in Miami last month, I convinced her to tell some stories on video.

And, here they are.

In the first, Silvia describes what happens when the American groom does not understand the Mexican priest and in the second, she explains why her husband calls every man in the family “Pepe.”

Watch and enjoy.

Silvia is a former Human Resources executive who lives in California’s Central Valley with her loco husband of eight years and two traviesos sons. In an effort to express herself as a wife, mother, and multi-faceted Latina woman, she began Mama Latina Tips, a bilingual blog for Latina moms. Since that all wasn’t enough, she also blogs at Disneylandia al Día, a Spanish blog about the magic world of Disney.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. What Do You Call Your Abuela?
2. Vlogiando: I’m a Latina NASCAR Fan
3. How I Met My Gringo Husband

Jennifer Vides refuses to let a trilingual parrot show up her monolingual son.

The Green Chicken

By Jennifer Vides

I recently spent a few days at my parents’ home, where I was warmly greeted by my mom – a full-fledged white girl raised in Texas – and my dad, who was born and raised in El Salvador.

Their Amazon Yellow-Nape parrot – AKA “The Green Chicken” – was not as enthusiastic about my arrival (yes, I teased him when I was a child. Don’t judge). He’s been in my family since we acquired him in El Salvador in 1973, so yes that makes him around 37, and older than my brother, I should point out.

The Green Chicken literally grew up with us. He traveled with us from El Salvador to Puerto Rico to Costa Rica and to Miami. He continued on to Brazil, then Canada, back to Miami and finally to Houston.

As a result, he is trilingual: He speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese. And with every word he uttered during my visit, it was like he was taunting me with his language skills.

Why?

My kid only speaks English.

This is a sore point for me. My older sister and I speak Spanish and English fluently and French badly. My younger brother and sister add Portuguese to the list since they also lived in Brazil. (I need to say my younger sister also speaks German and French, or she’ll get mad at me.)

I suppose I could cut myself a break and say that hey, my sibs and I learned Spanish because we grew up in Latin America, so we didn’t have a choice. And I could say that my kid only has occasion to use his Spanish when he’s speaking to me. Yeah I could say that but it would be a total cop-out. I mean: I live in L.A.

The truth is: my sibs and I had a choice. Well, my parents did. They chose to put us in bilingual schools. And I don’t mean the schools where the U.S. Embassy kids go when they are in Latin America, where Spanish is taught one period a day in much the same way it’s taught in U.S. public schools.

No, my parents sent us to schools where the population was mostly not American. We HAD to speak Spanish. At home, we were more-than-encouraged to learn Spanish. And with every move, we learned a new kind of Spanish, since in every Latin American country the Spanish is different.

I swore I’d be the same way; that no matter what, my son would learn Spanish. I mean, think of the advantages, right?

Turns out? It’s not that easy. I married an American of Polish & Irish descent who wholeheartedly supported and encouraged my desire to teach our son Spanish. But the kid refuses – mostly because it was, by necessity, an English-speaking household. He’ll learn words I push on him. But fundamentally he isn’t interested in learning.

So here I sit, sick with the realization that The Green Chicken could be stealing my kid’s jobs of the future. (I kid, I kid.)

But in all seriousness, I’m re-motivated to make sure my kid speaks Spanish.

I’m not letting that Green Chicken show up my kid.

Jennifer Vides is a PR practitioner, writer, blogger, tweeter, and mom to the funniest kid on Earth. The daughter of a Salvadoran father and Texan mother, Jennifer was raised in El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica and Miami, and has worked in Miami, New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. These experiences have made her a culturally-confused Latina who can’t roll her Rs but who speaks Salvadoran, Puertorican, Costarican, Cuban, Mexican and..well you get the drill.

This essay is reposted from her blog Mami, Deconstructed.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Googling for Cultura
2. Monkeys and Chickens
3. We Are Not the Ricky Ricardos, or Embracing Each Other’s Culture.

Editor’s note: My mother and aunt left Cuba in 1957 when they were 14 and 11. The guerrillas were in the hills in Oriente Province when my family left. My mom and aunt returned to their hometown on the eastern side of the island last month for the first time. This is my mom’s recount.

My mom and Tia, Banes, Cuba

My father, God bless him, did the best thing for all his children when he took us out of Banes in 1957. I was 14-years-old, but all these years Banes was always in my mind and heart.

I don’t have another 53 years to wait to go back.

As the plane was flying over Holguin I had tears rolling down. This is the country where my soul became a being, where family I never saw again are resting in peace. When we drove to Banes, all my childhood memories came back. I so enjoyed walking the street, going to my old school, to the little church.

I walked into the church on Sunday morning and told a few people there who I am and about my family and what that church meant to me as a child. Abuelo Santiago and Tita Elina used to take me there and Tio Luis would ring the bells to let everyone know services were ready to start. I don’t have to tell you how much I cried.

The few friends I have left there were loving. It was like one of your own coming back. To my surprise old neighbors remember us.

Now, I am trying to tell my mind to keep those all memories of long ago. The Banes I saw a few days ago is not the Banes of my childhood. Nothing stays the same, that I know. But due to circumstance the Banes of my heart is gone.

I thank God for giving me the chance to go back at this time in my life. I am blessed with good health, I am Home and at peace. This  great Country gave me a blessed life. I will always remember this trip with nostalgia and with sadness but also glad I made it.

Maybe some day, when my nietas get older, I will tell them a story of Once Upon a Time there was a town called Banes where their abuela and their ancestors were born —  a beautiful place with palm trees, blue sky, where stars shine brighter than any other place, where the sea is as blue as the sky. Maybe some day when abuela is long gone, and things change,  they will be able to walk the same streets, and find their roots and create their own memories.

And a final editor’s note. When I visited Cuba in 1996, I went to my mother’s hometown and to the beautiful Guardalavaca beach. My husband took the picture of me, below. When my mom was there last month, she had my aunt shoot her in the same pose….and now, the two will be framed side by side. Maybe one day, we’ll take the photo there together.

Me, Guardlavaca, Cuba, 1996

My mom, Guardalavaca, Cuba, 2010

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Researching Latino Family Roots: Your Raices
2. What Do You Call Your Abuela?
3. Going Home

What exactly does “tiki tiki” mean?

I usually answer that question by putting my fingers and thumbs together in an “habla habla” motion. Regardless of language, culture and age, everybody gets that, si?

Last week, when Marta and I were in Miami for the relaunch of General Mills’ Que Rica Vida we were lucky enough to be in the company of Latina bloggers who also were flown in from around the country. (The lovely Jeannette Kaplun from TodoBebe.com, who you’ll see on the video, lives in Miami and joined us for a breakfast.)

Some of the bloggers we had met in person at events and conferences and some we read regularly. Some we have linked to on the Tiki Tiki Blogroll and others have contributed essays to the Tiki Tiki. Now, others are new friends.

We asked them to do a little “tiki tiki” for the camera and well, we got gold. Watch the video to see these smart, talented, funny and beautiful women in action.

A couple of years ago, most of these women were not blogging. How lucky we are that they now are.

They are sharing their lives, and breathing  energy into our culture as it is viewed online, by Latinos and non-Latinos. They are being read by both private citizens and the smart corporations who are seeking to reach Hispanics. I can imagine a non-Latino reading a Latina blog and saying something like “Yeah, me too! Maybe we’re not that different from each other, after all.”

The topics Latina bloggers write about range from budgeting to babywearing to bilingualism to bochinche…as varied as the culture that is Latino itself.

So, follow the link to our blogroll and get to know them better.

You’ll thank us.

By the way, you can watch the other Tiki Tiki-centric videos we did in Miami here and here. The second one is a must-see if you ever watched  ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Tiki Tiki video: Mi Mama invento el Cappuccino
2. Smart Latina vs. Sexy Latina
3. What is el Tiki Tiki?

If you are an e-mail or rss subscriber, click the link to see the videos

I have interviewed Rosa Parks,  Michael Stipe and the funny guy who sang (Shake, Shake, Shake) Shake your Booty with K.C. & the Sunshine Band. There have also been national politicians and country singers and corporate muckety-mucks. They are footnotes in a long career as nosy reporter.

Rosa Parks was a privilege, for sure. The rest of the famous were interesting, but I am not sure meeting, or talking to, any of them made me as giddy as meeting Ana Margarita Menendez, who played Carmencita on ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?, a television program I watched as a kid in Miami. It ran from 1977 to 1980.

I met her Sunday at Cuba Nostalgia, a weekend event where the food, music and culture of Cuba de ayer is celebrated by the young and old alike.

Marta and I asked her if she would allow us to film her explaining exactly what “the tiki tiki” is to those who don’t understand it. She agreed, offered up this video, and then I hugged her. And she was gracious. (You can see the video we made at Cuba Nostalgia here.)

Thinking about why I got so excited, I can only reason that besides being supremely funny, the show offered up the first look of what it is like to live Latino in a new country. To speak two languages, to balance two cultures and move between the push and the pull of both.

As a young girl watching, it was the only time I saw myself — my experience — on television and honestly, nothing else has come close in the three decades since. At least, for me.

When my husband and I got married, I had him watch ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.? so he’d get it. When he saw me laugh until the tears came, he got it. Even if he only understood half of what they were saying, he knew that the words and actions on the little screen reached me, explained me.

When my 6-year-old is old enough to get it, I will sit her down for marathons of ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.? too. I think it will help her better understand the crazy, funny I come from. And maybe by then, there will be something in pop culture that truly captures her multi-cultural experience too.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Tiki Tiki video: Mi Mama invento el Cappuccino
2. What is el Tiki Tiki?
3. Vlogiando Week at the Tiki Tiki

Miami, circa early '70s.

Note: Click the headline link to see the video in this Sponsored Post. Details below. Contest runs through MAY 14.

I have an aunt whose nickname is both “La Escobita” and “El Sargento.”

The Little Broom and The Sergeant.

God love her, she’s a trip-and-a-half.

When I was a snotty teen, La Escobita showed up at my grandmother’s, where I was doing nothing more than taking up space.

“Why haven’t you swept the house for your grandmother?” she asked me in Spanish, and holding the broom.

“Because she did it today already and I knew you were coming and you were going to do it all again,” I answered.

My grandmother swept a lot. She even swept and hosed down the front stoop daily, which I thought was a bit insane until I traveled to Cuba and the Dominican Republic and saw lots of ladies in their housedresses and chancletas doing the same thing in the early mornings.

It’s genetic. And, my guess it’s a necessary when you live in the salty-air of the Caribbean.

I hose down my porch just a few times a year to rid it of the green pollen that settles down from the woods around my house. And, I complain about how messy my house is with regularity, to which my non-Latina friends snicker and remind me that my house is pristine next to their own.

So, while I have fallen way short of the standards set by las cubanas in my life, something has stuck. I try. And, while I am a mad stacker —  as my husband calls me — I attempt to attain a working-mother’s version of my grandmother’s obsession with clean. Really, with the cultural dedication to clean. I cannot remember ever stepping into a Cuban woman’s house and thinking it dirty or messy.

Maybe like me, they hid their stacks?

But, I have to admit, it is my gringo husband who each spring announces that it is Spring Cleaning Week in the Woods. It is happening right now. All the furniture has been moved and every single rug and carpet has been steam cleaned. My sinks are sparkling and all dust bunnies have gone to heaven. It is a task I usually avoid by asking him to do it while I am away. This year, here I am.

In any case, when Clorox asked me to judge their “Mi Hogar Mi Orgullo” blogging contest, I said yes because I get it. (And so does the Molly Maid-loving Marta!)

A clean home, an organized home, is a gift to those who live in it.

Details on the contest direct from The Clorox Company

Background: Latina Moms take pride in their work at home. Whether we are career women or stay-at-home Moms, we surround our families with tangible evidence that everything we do is done with love and pride – from the food we put on the table, the band-aid we put on our child’s boo-boo, the fabric softener that brings a smell of home to our family’s clothing to keeping a clean home.
Preventing the spread of germs is one way to help keep our families from getting sick. We may not always love doing it but it is a labor of love.  Now that there is still the threat of H1N1 flu activity through the summer, it is important to protect our families and there are ways to achieve this at home, especially because Latinos are four times more likely to be hospitalized as a result of the H1N1 virus (Associated Press). It is in this spirit that Clorox is launching “Mi Hogar Mi Orgullo,” a Mommy blogger contest that collects stories of what keeping a clean house means to her, what gets her through the ickiest chores, and what tips she has to complete her cleaning routine as she juggles so many other activities.

How It Works:
Through May 14, blog about what “Mi Hogar Mi Orgullo” means to you, your cleaning and disinfecting routine, how you protect your family against the flu virus, how you’ve taught them to help prevent spreading germs – or any other cleaning/germ prevention topic that you’d like.Have other Moms comment on your “Mi Hogar Mi Orgullo” stories.

How to Win: Send us the links to your posts at editor@mihogarmiorgullo.com so we can see what you’ve written and any comments/buzz generated.

We will pick one grand prizewinner to become a featured colaboradora for three months on VidaySalud, the top Spanish site devoted to health with more than 1 million viewers. The grand prize winner will have a bio, photo and six columns featured in the main VidaySalud site and within the Casa Sana section of the site. All content, including photo and bio, will be archived on the site. The two runners up will win a large basket of Clorox® products. Winner will be selected May 10.

Judges:
Dr. Aliza Lifshitz, internist at Cedar-Sinai, editor-in-chief of Vida y Salud and health contributor for Univision.
Carrie Ferguson Weir, co-editor/co-publisher of Tiki Tiki Blog.
Ana Lilian Flores, co-editor/co-publisher of SpanglishBaby, an online community and blog for parents raising bilingual and bicultural children.

Frequently asked Questions:

What kind of content is Clorox looking for? Short, compelling, blog posts that do not need to mention any products but that:

· Offer cleaning/disinfecting advice

· Describe how you protect your family against germs

· Talk about how family traditions have influenced your cleaning routine

· What Mi Hogar, Mi Orgullo means to you

Just write the post on your site and email a link to editor@mihogarmiorgullo.com. (Also email this address for the official rules.)

Should I submit my entry in English or in Spanish? We are accepting entries in English and Spanish. Should you be selected as a winner, VidaySalud.com is a Spanish-language web site. We will provide any necessary translations should you be more comfortable writing in English.

What is Vida y Salud? Vida y Salud (www.vidaysalud.com) is the largest source of health and wellness information in Spanish on the web. Edited by Dr. Aliza Lifshitz, internist at Cedar-Sinai and health contributor for Univision, Vida y Salud has more 285,000 unique visitors per month and more than 1.5 million total visitors since it launched 10 months ago.

If I am selected as the grand prizewinner, will I be compensated for being a Vida y Salud contributor? There is no financial compensation; however there will be tremendous exposure for the winner. Your name and your blog will be included on Vida y Salud. Your posts on Vida y Salud will be under your byline and will include an author bio and a link to your blog. We will promote you and the fact that you are winning this competition.

How many articles will the grand prizewinner have to deliver to Vida y Salud? During the three month commitment, the winner will be asked to write six short articles under your byline on the topics of your choice (two articles a month) – no more than 300 words per article. As mentioned above, translation will be provided if needed. If you would like to see samples of the articles visit VidaySalud in Casa Sana section.

This post was paid for, and sponsored by, The Clorox Company

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Contest: All about Cotton and Algodón
2. How to be a Green Latina
3. “Somebody” Knows or Living with a Suegra

My grandmother, left, with my grandfather, and her sister. Banes, Cuba.

My grandmother, far right, dressed as boy.

A second cousin has been researching the family of my maternal grandfather — good looking guy pictured above — for more than two decades. That’s before the internet, gente. He wrote letters to military, government and church offices in Spain and the Philippines. He got photocopies back.

Several years ago, he showed me the thick binder where he keeps meticulous records on our family, marking each of this generation’s marriages, births and deaths, along with the stories of those who came before us. He showed me the letter sent to the queen of Spain when my great-great grandfather, then stationed in the Philippines, requested permission to marry the daughter of a fellow Spanish military man.

The letter stated the young woman was of Spanish blood, and only of Spanish blood. It made me a little ill to read it and I was grateful we have moved beyond that in the last hundred years. The couple was married and my great-grandfather, Raul, was born to them in 1888 on the island of Mindanao.

Eventually, Raul’s mother went to Cuba and his father to Spain, where he started a second family despite the fact he was still married to my great-great grandmother. (Scandalous!). Raul, who married and had children in Cuba, died in Miami when I was 5. I met the half-sister he never knew in Madrid 25 years ago. She looked just like him.

If my family tree had to be described, it would be a banyan tree — tall, strong and twisted around with roots going in every which way. Thanks to the colorful storytellers and tireless researchers on my mom’s side, I know a lot about where I came from.

Rare is the week that my Tia Mirtha, who comments on the Tiki Tiki a lot, doesn’t send some new picture she has unearthed, or a new document she found in an archive. The latest document: A letter that same great-grandfather Raul wrote to Fulgencio Batista. She found it in the Cuban Heritage Collection of the University of Miami. The latest pictures she has scanned were collected by a relative on a recent trip to Cuba and the people in the photos identified by yet another relative to whom she sent photocopies.

So, I asked Tia to help me write a “How to Begin the Research on Your Latino Roots”:

C: How does someone get started researching Hispanic family genealogy?
Tia: 1. They need to talk to their grandparents, parents and gather as much information as possible.
2. If they have old family pictures, ask for the name of the people in the picture, now that they
that their minds are clear and they can give you valuable information.
3. In searching family roots you need to go backwards in your search, meaning: Father/Mother; Grandparents; Great-grandparents; Great-Great-grandparents.
4. Then, you start looking for birth certificates, baptism certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates, social security records. and more.
5. There are a lot of websites to look into like the Cuban Genealogy Center, the Anillo de Genealogia Hispana, the USGenWeb Project and The Center for Family History and Genealogy.
6. You can buy a “Family Tree” program and start entering all the information you have and up-date as you gather more data. (My aunt uses MyHeritage.com and we get regular notices about birthdays and anniversaries in the family…)

The most important part is to talk to your family, especialmente los mas viejos. Ellos tienen mucha informacion y despues que se mueran, es muy dificil buscarla. La informacion familiar, es la mas inportante para empezar.

C: How do you feel when you find new info?
Tia: Great. It makes want to keep on going and try to find more information. And on the way you meet a lot of nice people that just love to help you find the information that you need.

C: What is the most interesting information you have found?
Tia: I got copies from Spain’s Archivo General Militar de Segovia dated 1888 where my great-grandfather (your great-great-grandfather) was requesting from the Spanish Army permission to stay in Cuba after the war. All the documents were written by hand in old Spanish. There was another document signed by him in Cuba dated: “Holguin, 28 de Agosto, 1886″ and another dated “Holguin, 4 de Febrero, 1896.” It is incredible to be able to have, in your hand, these documents that many, many years ago were written by your great-grandfather. Some one you never met, but who is part of your genes.”

*** OK, everybody say gracias to my fabulous Tia for the information and inspiration and onward with More Hispanic Family Research Resources to get you started on the search for raices.

If my family is any example of the notoriously good record-keeping by the Spanish, researching Latino and Hispanic roots can be pretty fruitful, compared to those with roots in other parts of the world. The Spanish — and the Mexicans and other Latin Americans — liked their records thorough. And, unless there has been fire or destruction, those records likely are available and waiting for you to dust them off.

Experts say data going back to at least 1500 is available. My family has found records through both governmental and church sources — everything from deeds to ship logs to birth records. Church records — especially the Catholic Church — can provide information on baptisms, marriage, death and more.

If your family has roots in Spain and Latin America, look for national identity records, which were required for citizens to carry. And, of course, don’t forget that Latinos have roots belonging to native people, plus countries like the Philippines, Ireland, England, France, Germany, Portugal, China and dozens of other lands.

The Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormon Church, is an excellent starting place. The library has more than 3 million records from 11o countries, according a page on About.com. It also has several branches across the United States and the church has an online research site called Family Search, with a page specific to Hispanic research.

The book, Finding Your Hispanic Roots by George R. Ryskamp, a Brigham Young University professor, is often cited. Here’s a link to a great talk he gave in Texas. He has written several other books, including Finding Your Mexican Ancestors.

A great place for background reading, tips and links is the genealogy page at About.com.

MyHeritage.com, where you can create an online family tree, get matched with others who add the same ancestor and participate in forums.

Ancestry.com offers a variety of services, including beginner guides and searches for census, military, birth and immigration records.

Association of Hispanic Genealogy, Hispagen, a Spain-based site for family search.

University of Miami Cuban Heritage Collection.

Cuban Genealogy Center

Hispanic Genealogical Research Center of New Mexico, with links to other sources.

The San Antonio Public Library has a Hispanic Genealogical Research Guide with tips and links for getting started.

A thorough post with links to resources at Genealogy and Family History.

And you, where do your roots dig in? De donde vienes?

If you have been doing family tree research, what resources can you share?

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Researching El Ratón
2. Duality of Being Latino in the US: Open Thread
3. I Remember. Do You?

(If you are an RSS or email subscriber, click the headline link to see the post video)

(Video courtesy of the fabulous chef, Juan Montalvo from The Hungry Cuban.)

When my father was visiting last month, he made Camarones Enchilados — or Shrimp Creole — a couple of times. It’s a staple dish he makes and the only problem is he sometimes doesn’t make enough. It is delicious and to my ridiculousness, I haven’t watched him make it. Ever.

So, I saw the recipe — a worn piece of paper — as he pulled it from his shirt pocket and asked him for a copy.

“OK, copy it and then let me tell you how I change it,” he said.
As he went ingredient by ingredient, he pretty much changes the whole thing.

On the day he left my house in Tennessee, he left the ingredients ready and chopped in the fridge for me. So, armed with his recipe and my kitchen whizziness, I went for it.

And of course, it tasted nothing like my dad’s. My husband, a big fan of Papi’s shrimp, gave his feedback and ate them anyway. Maybe I put in too much tomato juice because my sauce was more watery than my dad’s, which is fragrant and thick and memorable.

Below is a copy of his recipe, plus some links to other Camarones Enchilados recipes around the web. And, hey, enchilado is not enchiladas, OK?

Hungry Sofia
Best Cuban Recipes
Gourmet Betty

Papi’s Enchilados, which is similar to the recipe I have in my copy of Cuban Cookbook by Cuban food Goddess Nitza Villapol.

2 pounds shrimp
some olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 dientes of garlic
1 large green pepper
small can of V8 veggie juice instead of tomato sauce.
white cooking wine
1/2 cup of parsley
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Saute the onion, garlic and green peppers in the oil, then add the tomato juice, white wine, vinegar salt, parsley, Worcestershire and lastly add the shrimp. Don’t overcook them.

Serve with fluffy white rice.

Do you have an enchilados recipe? I want to serve this at our next dinner party.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Shrimp and Cotija Enchiladas
2. When it rains…
3. Se dice “Peet-sah”

By Maria de los Angeles

Well-traveled and with a highly sophisticated palette, my boyfriend has sampled exotic culinary delicacies the world over, but is only now learning about Cuban food.

I love el hombre as is, but ever since he had the first bite of a tostón, I’ve been noticing some changes. That twice-fried plantain, smashed flat to look like a big round cracker, has been working its homey magic on my fledgling Cubanaso. Actually, he would be a Jewbanaso, because he’s a Jewish New York transplant. And you know if there’s one thing Jews and Cubans have in common, it’s a healthy appetite for good food.

Served hot and fresh, with a little salt, a good tostón is crispy on the outside but creamy on the inside. Adventurous Cubans may squeeze a lime on their tostones or dip them in a simple mojo – minced garlic lightly fried in oil.

Our first tostón tasting took place in the Redlands, Miami’s agricultural zone, on a blustery December day. We were hungry and stopped at a random Cuban restaurant that was as far from Little Havana in quality as in distance. He liked the tostones, but I had to admit it was a very disappointing introduction to the tostón; these tostones were cold and rubbery. They were probably from the frozen food section at el Publí (Publix), which aren’t bad, but work best served really fresh from the frying pan and probably for those last minute apuros when you’ve got to feed dinner guests but don’t want the hassles of peeling and mashing plantains.

We would have to go on a proper Cuban culinary tour and that we did – fast forward a couple of weeks to our first lunch on Calle Ocho, where he had his first taste of real Cuban food at El Exquisito: vaca frita, maduros, moros y cristianos and of course, tostones. The tostones were just right – piping hot, crispy outside and creamy inside. He was in love. I was getting jealous. Not of him loving the tostones, mind you, but of the enormous portion of fried shredded beef and onions, fried sweet ripe plantains, black beans mixed with white rice on the plate he thoroughly enjoyed. I had ordered a humble Cuban sandwich.

We shared the tostones, though. Love is about compartiendo, right?

We followed this big Cubanaso lunch with a couple of cortaditos at la ventanita – the window facing the street where all the Cubanasos gather to sip the sweet fuel and talk. A caffeine lover, my hombre was sold. We then stepped across the street, where he enjoyed a smoke at Padilla Cigars. Had he been wearing a guayabera and talking with his hands, I would say the transformation would’ve been nearly complete!

But not so fast … a couple of weeks later he told me how he was really craving tostones and asked if we might go back to that place on Calle Ocho. I had heard about the tostones at Habana Vieja, another popular Cuban restaurant in Miami, so off we went. The tostones here are the stuff of legend — plantain goodness mashed so big, each tostón requires a stretched palm to grip.

The next day, while strolling by the Miami River, holding hands and just enjoying life, my hombre was humming the melody from a song by one of our favorite local afro Cuban funk bands, PALO! The song is about a guajiro who explores life in the big city and then decides he’d rather live in the country. “I don’t know what they’re singing about,” he told me. “But I love it, Maria.”

He rolled his rrrr’s on the “Maria.” Oh, how my heart feels, todo derretido just like a hot, fresh tostón, when he says my name that way.

I think the transformation is nearly complete, don’t you?

Maria de los Angeles is a Miami-based freelance wordsmith. She writes for Miami New Times, Miami Beach 411, her own blog Sex and the Beach and a variety of other outlets. Her favorite topics are travel, social media, tech, humor, sex and of course food and culture — not necessarily in that order. Learn more at Wily Wordsmith.

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