Mexican in Miami

You wouldn't think that finding Mexican food would be hard in this largely Hispanic city, but it is. The Mexican community is not big, and you can only find the odd Cantina or real honest-to-goodness Mexican establishment in a handful of places. They tend to be in sketchy areas of the city as well, and if you don't know anyone who knows where to look, you are stuck going to the one or two fake taco places in South Beach. I mean, there were more taco trucks and cantinas in Seattle than here. The majority of Latin food originates mostly from Cuba (obviously) and South America. I have missed Mexican food with its huge range and many hot dishes and the always amazing tacitos. I just couldn't take it any longer, and begged my landlord to take me to a sketchy area of town to eat tacos with lime, cilantro and onions, sopas, enchiladas, carne asada, goopy beans, jalapenos and of course, two double Margaritas. What can I say ... it was better than I expected and exactly what I wanted. Pinatas and Mexican flags and a juke box ... ahh ... heaven. At Tres Amigos Mexican Restaurant we were waited on a lady and her young child from El Salvador (close enough).

Florida Keys Christmas Day 2012

Una Limpieza Espiritual

The condo where I am staying is haunted. The owner's deny that this is the case even though the things that have gone on are not explainable by any stretch of the imagination. They insist that all the weirdness and problems are either the wind or I have outright made it all up. This, despite the fact that it was the owner's very own ex boyfriend that no longer wanted to "be here" - if you get my drift. A month or so prior, I was at my wits end about the whole thing, I couldn't sleep, and was just getting exhausted by the TV turning on and off, the lamps being on when I woke, or the trash exploding all over the kitchen floor. I started looking for ways to do a limpieza (or spiritual cleaning) as it is known around the Hispanic community. I kind of gave up on the idea for awhile, but walking around South Beach one day after attempting to shop at Whole Foods, and I just happen to be on a street corner that I never normally pass, and looked up to see this:

I would never under normal circumstances go in such an establishment to a see a psychic (not because I don't believe in it, I do, but I am superstitious and think that people can give you wrong info if they are not good, or are fakes and I don't wanna risk that). However, I did go in after seeing that they do Limpiezas Espirituales. There was a long gauzy curtain separating the sitting area from the back, it looked like a hair or nail salon without the smell. After yelling hello two or three times, a woman named Nina came out. I told her I don't normally do this kind of thing (such a cliche statement) but that I was desperate to get this guy out of my condo. I didn't want her to touch me, but she grabbed my hand anyways and visibly convulsed like she had just squeezed lemon juice in her mouth. I freaked out, but she would not let go of my hand. Anyway, she confirmed that the spirit wanted me out of the condo (of course it did), and that he would do anything to get me to leave (I know that). She said it would be $60 to come to my house and then whatever the cost to get him to "leave" the world to the other side. I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible and picked up my bag and started for the door, but she said, wait, give me your number and I will call you first thing in the morning. I did, and walked out on to the street. She followed me out, frowning, and she said, you know, true love will be your downfall, and I was like, what does that mean? And she says, you know. It was the LAST thing I wanted to hear at that moment, however, I cannot tell if she was just scamming me because everyone has relationship issues, or if she really was psychic. She never called the next morning, I finally got a message on my cell phone at the end of the week. I refused to listen to it for a month. Just the other day, I finally had the guts to listen to the voicemail. She said, "you better call me back, I lost your number, wow, he really doesn't want you there, he made me lose your number!" Call me right away."

I haven't called. Something about it all, I just can't put my finger on. Maybe it is because she reminds me of one of my Aunts with her nasty, deep smokers voice, and bad dye job. The evil eye as the Greeks call it.

Thanksgiving Miami Beach Style

St. Patricks Church - Thanksgiving Day - Miami Beach, FL 

Free Thanksgiving Dinner courtesy of the Church. There were lots of different types of people there. Lonely people, homeless people, people who didn't want to cook, religious people, kids, seniors, couples, white people, black people, latino families. The people volunteering were so incredibley bubbly and nice, I almost didn't know what to do with myself. I just had them fill my lemonade everytime they made rounds past our table. I was told though, that this cheeriness was because the volunteers at St. Patricks Church were actually rich people, hence the overtly chipper and helful attitudes (and I have to say it, good manners!) It did make total sense. I saw them differently after that, as they floated around our tables with pitchers of ice tea and lemonade filled with ice. Very smilely. 

Saint Francis Borgia. It is strange. I was standing in the pews listening to the priests and glanced up to see St. Francis. I knew there were Borgias and I knew there was a St. Francis, but didn't know there was a Saint Francis Borgia who warranted his own stained glass window. After church I looked him up on catholic.org and it says this: Francis was a young nobleman at the court of the King of Spain. He became a Duke when he was only thirty-three and lived a happy, peaceful life with his wife Eleanor and their eight children. But unlike so many other powerful nobles, Francis was a perfect Christian gentleman, a true man of God and his great joy was to receive Holy Communion often. Hmm ...

It is just so hard to hate the Catholic Church with all that beautiful stained glass and gold plating everywhere.

Almost makes me want to get baptized again.

La Virgen standing guard out front!

There were no regular mashed potatoes. When I asked the servers where they were, they responded, "look, this is Miami ... South Beach no less ... and the the closest you are going to get to Gringo Thanksgiving mashed patatas is a table spoon of creamed sweet potatoes." Which upon further inspection, I did see that they are there. Under the jam.