Miami, Part 2

Spent another week in Miami with Mi Cariño and her family. It was a great visit indeed, and the time just FLEW. Which is nice, and then it isn't.

We flew in Tuesday night, in theory. By the time we were heading to the airport, thunder was crackling like crazy, which delayed us right off the bat - originally we were scheduled to depart at 9pm but that didn't happen until after midnight. Thankfully Mi Cariño's parents still picked us up and we arrived at the house somewhere close to 4am. But since we had nowhere to go the next day it was all good, and we just spent Wednesday lazying about and catching up on sleep.

Highlights from the trip: a visit to Coral Castle Museum.

This guy (25) is jilted by his 16 year old fiancee. After deciding he will never love anyone else, that no one else can love him, and being told by the "Sweet Sixteen" that she was saying no to him because he didn't have any money, he made it his life mission to build himself a castle. And he did so, by using Coral. It's essentially a sculpture garden, the guy's name is Edward (you look up his last name!) The amazing thing is that he built it all himself, and he did it at night so no one could see him. He "knew the secret of pyramids" apparently, and went about making reading chairs, thrones, bedrooms, a well, a confession room, a place to stargaze, and a place for children to play. It's actually kind of impressive. 

I mean, y'all, he made a heart table. Without modern tools. We're talking before 1951. Amazing. 

Another Highlight - Zoo Miami. Mi Cariño, two of my nieces, and my buddy O and his youngest son Caleb and I, had us a good time looking at animals and melting in the sun. We should've gotten a bike to ride through and minimize the walking and the child whining, but it was all good. Witness, cute picture of kid turned Jaguar!

We also visited the mall and had us some fun at Dave & Buster's and went crazy at the bookstore buying the kiddies books (and ourselves) and had us a 50% dinner at some chain looking restaurant thanks to the girls and their connections. Here, a pretty decent spaghetti bolognese. 

Which makes me say: let's talk about food! First there was Yucca with grilled chicken and maduros.

We ate that at Las Islas, where we ate at the last trip. The food was once again, uninspired. But the Abuela likes it, and so, we go. 

Then, we had pasta bolognese at some fancy outdoor restaurant by their "Lincoln Center." The area has a name. I do not remember it. It was very nice, like a loooong strip of stores and restaurants. Does it count as an outdoor mall? We ate there after watching "Sarah's Key," a movie that's just chock full of happy, happy, joy, joy. (Smell the sarcasm.) It was a nice movie, though. So was the pasta. 

A couple of days later we ate at some new trendy restaurant in the heart of Miami. Kill me because I don't have the desire to check for the name. I suck. We began with some cheese balls as appetizers

An I had me an extremely expensive Chicken Mofongo. It was worth it though, the stuff was delish. But don't tell Mi Cariño I said that.

On our last night there, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory, a first time for me. The food was good, I had meatloaf with mashed potatoes. I'm pretty sure I took a picture of that, but can't find it, so just imagine it. Mi Cariño sent me a picture of our dessert though:

The Cheesecake did not disappoint. Neither did this amazing week. I will leave you with an image from Matheson Hammock, a manmade area we visited (but did not swim in) that afforded us a great view of the Miami skyline. But don't worry, I did swim in Miami Beach. I even got a tiny tan! So, yay.

April 20th

This day was a very special day. This day, I was able to, finally, go to a Pita Pit.

You must understand, that Mi Cariño has talked about this place since our second date. I'm quite sure. If not then, then our third. This is a very much loved franchise.

We ate here late afternoon, the place practically empty. The look is very reminiscent of "healthy" fast food chains, ala Subway. I had a very healthy chicken pita with a very unhealthy sauce. I cannot remember the name of the Sauce. Y'all, I eat chicken in this sauce all this time, but can't remember it, because the thing happened over 17 days ago and I'm lucky to remember the lovely heat I experienced that day, so stop being so annoying about the details.

In any case, you essentially pick a protein and pack that pita up with all the healthy stuffing you'd like, like mushrooms and lettuce and tomatoes and peppers and onions and all that goodness. You can have all of that grilled if you'd like to. I had my fresh pita with some stale chips and a diet coke, because I'm trying to get myself used to not drinking regular soda. Boo.

My verdict: I made the wrong choice by choosing the sauce. Otherwise I felt that the Pita was delish and worth returning to. Why aren't there any Pita Pits in NYC? Maybe I should open a Franchise... how much are those? In any case, I'm glad it was good because I would've hated to have found that the place Mi Cariño had been talking about for so long sucked.

Measurements


Like flashes I remember
chopping vegetables for the locrio de vegetales:
carrots, celery, peppers and more
until finally the rice reached that deep 
brown orange color that can only be achieved with
salsa de tomate, ajo, sal, cebolla, un chin de aceite, 
and always, oregano. 


There were the days after school 
rushing to sprinkle brown sugar on hot oil
til it was the right brown
to coat the chicken with
to feed my brothers with
to leave the food on the pots so
Mami could serve me because


there's nothing so bad as cooking
and serving yourself. Like flashes I remember
slowly moving away from the kitchen
first by making desserts and then
by making


nothing at all. This is all to say
chopping ain't nothing if it means
having you around. 


© Yazcaminante, 2011

April 18th

All Mondays should be like this one. Slow and sweet, with only a responsibility or two to keep things from getting too sluggish.

For lunch we stopped by Las Islas Canarias, where I had me some Pan con Bistec, which is supposed to be some quintessential Cuban meal. Never heard of it. It was quite tasty, but there were no surprises... it tastes just as you would imagine it does.

Before the Bistec, however, I had this croqueta-like thing. I cannot remember for the life of me what they were. Obviously, although pretty looking, not very memorable. Yucca something? Who knows. The sauce was the good thing about it.

El famoso Pan con Bistec, came with some chips.

And now, to some poetry.

Boo!


I like
that we talk during movies,
that our fingers fight 
over popcorn,
that you'll always lean over
to kiss me
when the movie starts.


It reminds me of a time
back when our dates went by
number, and popcorn spilled,
slushie given and kisses
were new, you
leaned in to kiss and I 


leaned in to kiss and I
forgot for a second
or two
my name and 
social security number and
my city and state, please, 


because your lips are
delicious enough to scare away
knowledge, thought, fear


every time. 


© Yazcaminante, 2011