Aunt J was always there for me. Someone I could talk to, ask questions of, or just watch as she went about her normal busy life, working, taking care of my older cousins, cooking, laundering and cleaning after taking the bus to work and back each day.
My favorite times with her were taking the bus around Miami, to the brand new Omni Mall on weekends, or watching as she harvested and prepared banana leaves from the trees Uncle Len tended at the end of our duplex back yard for tamales making.
Anyone who knows me much knows my favorite foods are tea, butter tarts and tamales! But tamales were not always my favorite food! Mom and Aunt J could tell you, when I was little I didn't much like tamales. But Aunt J took Angie and me to the back of the yard with a machete, cut off the smoothest leaves, gave them to us to hold for her, and then brought us inside to help as she carefully heated each leaf to prepare it for use as a wrap to hold in the fragrant masa, cull, meat and veggies. The peculiar smell of the heated banana leaves piqued my interest, and eventually won me over as I sampled the finished product many hours later. Since that day, my love of tamales has only grown. They have become a comfort food, sought after in the rarest of Salvadoreno or Oaxaceno restaurants in Powderhorn, Kensington or Chitown. I am always happy when I hear from one of my favorite tamales makers... Betty in Toronto, the late great Mr. Neale in Miramar, Mr. Vernon here in Sistrunk and now Barbara in Hollywood... There are times when verde or rojo tamales from El Burrito Mercado or La Union Bakery have to do... but there is no substitute for the fragrant perfection of a Belizean tamales.
I have Aunt J to thank for my love of tamales, and my mom, of course, for always insisting that I continue to sample foods I don't like. Aunt J was the last of the great tamales makers of my youth. Hopefully my generation will continue to work to learn the art of creating this sacred delicacy. In the mean time, I'll go water the fledgling banana trees in anticipation of the day we go harvest the leaves and prepare them for use as wrappers to hold the corn masa, cull, meat and veggies....
Love you Angie, Dave, Heathcliff & Jaylen.
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