Weeepa!

The door opens and you can hear Lola (my stepdaughter) yelling, “Why is so loud in here?” She knows well that when she hears “Salsa” (music genre) from Hector Lavoe I am on cooking mode. It is a requirement for me to sing and dance to “Salsa” while I’m cooking one of my Puerto Rican dishes. She comes in the kitchen and immediately says “you are making your pink beans!”  Yeah, she can tell by the way it smells, not only in the kitchen but in the entire house.

White rice

The menu looks really appetizing and I don’t say this because I’m the one cooking, I only speak the truth! The rice is about to be done, the pink beans are boiling and you can see the spices move around as the bubbles pop and the chicken looks delicious covered in all those yummy spices is five minutes away from being done. Unfortunately, I can’t go to my backyard and grab an avocado and some plantains but I guess the ones I got from Kroger will have to do. Rice and beans is considered a Puerto Rican dish however the ingredients originated from different parts of the world (pretty cool right?). Rice is one of the main ingredients, it is believed to be originated from China. Beans and avocado came from southern Mexico, plantains originated in East South Asia and chickens were first domesticated in Asia. So as you can see this “traditional” plate comes from all over the world. 

Potatoes

It is extremely important that you get some specific ingredients and spices. For me, the rice has to be brand “Rico”, the pink beans and tomato sauce have to be “Goya”. The spices have to be “Goya” brand called “adobo and sofrito”. You will also need onions, green peppers, potatoes and water. 
      
The first step it would be to start cooking the rice but not in a rice cooker, you have to do it what it is considered the Puerto Rican original way to cook it. You wash the rice multiple times to clean, then you will put it in a pot and fill in with water, a little bit of salt and a little bit of olive oil. Enough water just to cover the surface of the rice, stir occasionally, medium fire.   While the rice is cooking you will then move to the pink beans, to make these you will need other ingredients such as “sofrito”, tomato sauce, “adobo”, onions, green peppers, a potato and water. You will mix all of these together and cook it at low fire for the same amount of time you cook the rice (20-25 mins.). While all these are going on make sure you have a plantain cut already like you cut a banana. Then you will put some olive oil in a pan at a low fire setting and then add the pieces of plantain and fry each side for a minute after you will remove it from the pan and then smash it with something hard (you can use a full can of beans) once they are smashed and look like a giant chip you will put it in back in the pan and fry until golden and crunchy at a low fire setting.
     
Then you get the chicken breast and spice it up with some “adobo” grab another pan put some olive oil in it and then proceed to fry the chicken breast. The required time to cook the entire meal should be under 35 minutes and while it cooks you can’t forget to go to your backyard and pick up your avocado and plantains. However, here in Georgia I went to Kroger. All of this food is cooked without measurements and it’s cooked by range estimation or until you hear a little voice in your head that says “ya!” (Stop).  Once everything is done you are ready to serve yourself or your guest.

To serve, I will grab my big round plate and put the rice to my right, the beans top right, next to the beans (top left) the “tostones” (smashed plantain) then to the bottom left the fried chicken breast. The avocado is cut in slices and put in the separate small plate. I serve my food this way, it feels awkward if anything is out of place in my plate. This is because I eat it a specific way and it’s by mixing everything in my mouth to give a unique flavor. Yes, this means I will have a bit of rice, pink beans, avocado and chicken in my mouth and has I am chewing the flavors mix all together. The only thing that I would eat by myself is the “tostones” maybe add a little bit of salt if needed. 
      
As I was writing this paper it made me think about how other people in my family cook and it’s completely different. My mother cooks in complete silence and so did my grandmother, my father would watch a movie while he is cooking or play solitaire in his computer. However, I am the complete opposite, I will have a concert and my kitchen becomes a crazy dance floor as you see me using a big spoon as the microphone and moving my hips all over the kitchen. While I was in college, I had a friend that was a great cook and he would always play music, dance and have a beer while he cooked. One day after class I went to his apartment and as I was opening the door I could hear music and singing. I open the door I see Ernie, my friend dancing while cooking and we both look at each and scream “Weeepa!” (A word that Puerto Ricans use to say hi when they are in a fun atmosphere).
      “Why so much craziness just for cooking?” I asked Ernie
       Ernie looking confused replied “What are you talking about? That’s the proper way to cook!”
      
That’s when I became a fan of his style of cooking, his hometown called “Jayuya”. Once I visit him in his hometown and saw his mother and father cook. I was so confused on what was going on that I didn’t know if they were at the kitchen cooking or partying at a club. Then I realized how happy people were in this little town if this is how they cook. This inspired me to learn how to cook.
      
After that, YouTube became my best friend in college, that’s where I learned how to cook other things than Ramen noodles every day. I lost count of all the times that the fire alarm went off and I had to run to the kitchen because I burned the rice and there was smoke all over or the chicken was too dry, pieces of fried oily plantain flying across the kitchen and landing on my roommates ten page paper that it was due that day. To me it didn’t matter it was burned or too salty I ate it, not because I liked but because I had no choice, I had no money back then so I couldn’t afford to throw away food.

Rice and beans is really important to me because my grandmother used to cook it for me, it became my favorite as a kid. That is why I tried so hard to learn how to cook it and it don’t matter how hard I try to get the same flavor she did I am missing a key ingredient that you can’t find in the store or at the backyard, that special ingredient is called love. Regardless if my family cooked in silence and without music the food was always cooked with love. I’ve always strive to cook something with love especially if I’m cooking for other people. I don’t like to cook with bad vibes or in a bad mood because I feel like that can pass down to the person that eats it. 
      
I love food in general but this would be my favorite dish of all time and the funny thing is that now that I think about it, while I was learning how to cook I was also learning new songs and dance moves, something so simple was bringing me so much joy not only in my life but to people that witness me get down in the kitchen. I like to think that one day in the future I will be coming home from work and when I open the door I hear Hector Lavoe singing in the background and see Lola dancing while she cooks. 

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