I wont spit on my platanitos today.

I promise, Serpico.

A Cuban meal just isnt complete without a side of platanitos maduros fritos. Fried sweet plantains. They are the perfect compliment to every Cuban dish imaginable. Whether muy maduros - very ripe - or pintones - not so ripe and my favorite - they offer that much loved sugary something along with your ropa vieja or arroz con pollo or palomilla steak. And they are coveted. Very coveted.

Growing up in my parents home, Mom made a different Cuban staple every day. Whether the aforementioned dishes or potaje de chicharos, or carne con papas, or boliche, or any other delicious Cuban culinary masterpiece, each and every one was accompanied by platanitos maduros fritos. Mom would serve all of our plates with the main dishes and we'd sit down at the table with our plates in front of us and wait. Waiting not just for all of us to be seated before eating, as good table manners dictate, but because the precious and coveted platanitos were the last thing brought to the table.

Mom would set the plate of platanitos in the center of the table and swipe her hand away quickly, almost like a gunslinger, so that she wouldnt get forked as my sister and I vied for the "good ones."

See, my sister and I love the same kind of platanitos. The thinner, longer ones, not over ripe but just sweet enough to melt in your mouth. Los pintones.

With lightning speed, and sometimes before the plate was even set down, my sister and I would wield our forks like samurais, stabbing as many good ones as we were allowed and dropping them on our plates. Mom had long given up on admonishing us. There was just nothing she could do as far as our nightly platanito competition. So she'sd just set the platanito plate down and roll her eyes.

And the competion wasnt always friendly. If I turned away from my plate for even a second, to watch something on the TV, or if either one of us was asked to get something Mom had forgotten from the kitchen, it was on. The minute we got back or our eyes came back to our plate, there would be a few platanitos missing, replaced, sometimes, with the not-so-coveted fat overripe kind.

Yes. That's right. We'd steal each other's platanitos.

Of course, me being the youngest meant that I was always the one sent to the kitchen for the salt or the water or my dad's favorite fork. And I'd come back and my plate had always been looted. And my sister sittting there, plate full of the good platanitos with a smirk on her face.

But much to my parents chagrin, I developed a strategy.

When asked to leave the dinner table to get something that we were missing, I began ceremoniously standing in place, picking up my platanito laden plate with both hands and with full ceremonial regalia, lifting it straight to my face, and spitting on my platanitos. Now, Im not talking about hawking lugies on them, but a good PFFFFTTT all over my coveted plantains. It was the best and perhaps only defense against the platanito usurption.

It worked great until that one day that I came back to the table with whatever it was I was sent for and my sister, smiling from ear to ear, just poked the best spit riddled platanito from my plate right there in front of me, and stuffed the whole thing in her mouth, chewing with a smile and looking me straight in the eyes.

Every single time I eat a platanito, I remember my sister. Sitting there at the table munching on that stolen plantain, laughing inside.

Today is the platanito thief's birthday. I wont mention her age or the many many many years that Serpico (I call her Serpico, which is another story altogether) is older than me. But I will mention that I could not have asked for a better sister - even a platanito stealing one. She's always been there for me when I needed her. She's a little kooky in her own astrological, metaphysical, Feng Shue, planets aligning, moon over Uranus kinda way, but she's still my sis and I love her.

She has raised three wonderful kids that have turned out to be wonderful adults and she's an incredibly doting and loving grandmother. She's faced life's trouble with dignity and courage and is always there, punto fijo, whenever the family needs her. Her bursts of laughter are always contagious and this world and my life are all the better for having been blessed with her presence.

Happy birthday, Serpico. And remember, now that youre getting older, your platanito stealing dexterity may be faultering. And maybe, just maybe, Ill get a good platanito for a change.

Posted by Val Prieto at March 26, 2006 06:59 AM

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To my mom, on her 40+-some birthday (Val didn't say, so I won't either). Thank you for being a wonderful mother and an extraordinary grandmother. Thank you for the life you have given us, and the example you have set.... [Read More]

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» Felicidades!! from Brandon's Puppy
To my mom, on her 40+-some birthday (Val didn't say, so I won't either). Thank you for being a wonderful mother and an extraordinary grandmother. Thank you for the life you have given us, and the example you have set.... [Read More]

Tracked on March 26, 2006 11:32 AM

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