The sweltering Miami sun, humidity you could taste, and a little Cuban café you could smell from the street. Inside the café a cacophony, conversation of dishes and cutlery, milk and steam, and a Spanish woman singing a song of family and home. A woman, frenetic, with Spanish loud in her mouth but kindness in her eyes placed a dish in front of me. From it came a happy heat and the smell of childhood, slow-cooked meat on the prismatic tiles of the café counter, a stark white Styrofoam container leaking at the bottom. The old woman tells me its old clothes --ropa vieja—a meal given by the gods, mixed with Spanish heat, and tomatoes pulled from the back of a penniless father. The air was humid in Spain, workers slaving, children starving, King Phillip laughing. Torn shirt seasoned by salt and prayers and cooked with tomatoes and peppers. A Desperate Father began to pray, knees bruised, face discouraged. He Prayed to the gods, prayed to the saints, prayed to the devil. On his knees, mixing a pot of pure need and tomatoes: a father's desperate prayer answered by the gods with rice and shredded beef
Old Clothes and Beef
Old Clothes and Beef
Old Clothes and Beef
The sweltering Miami sun, humidity you could taste, and a little Cuban café you could smell from the street. Inside the café a cacophony, conversation of dishes and cutlery, milk and steam, and a Spanish woman singing a song of family and home. A woman, frenetic, with Spanish loud in her mouth but kindness in her eyes placed a dish in front of me. From it came a happy heat and the smell of childhood, slow-cooked meat on the prismatic tiles of the café counter, a stark white Styrofoam container leaking at the bottom. The old woman tells me its old clothes --ropa vieja—a meal given by the gods, mixed with Spanish heat, and tomatoes pulled from the back of a penniless father. The air was humid in Spain, workers slaving, children starving, King Phillip laughing. Torn shirt seasoned by salt and prayers and cooked with tomatoes and peppers. A Desperate Father began to pray, knees bruised, face discouraged. He Prayed to the gods, prayed to the saints, prayed to the devil. On his knees, mixing a pot of pure need and tomatoes: a father's desperate prayer answered by the gods with rice and shredded beef