Rice and black beans, my way. I live the Cuban version of classic back beans and rice but I don't believe that I can reproduce them. To the rice I added a finely chopped carrot, some celery, a small diced potatoe and leeks for a lighter taste. What made this dish memorable was the addition of cauliflower florets that totally disappeared in the mix. the result was a very tasty dish.

 Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily, my beloved birthplace. Houses that are now restructured and made into B&B's as the town becomes more and more touristy. 

 This is the quintessential Sicilian soul food for the summer. Long Sicilian squach or cucuzza, simply boiled along with its tender leaves or tinnirumi and serve with garlic, sea salt and the superb olive oil from the area. This dish is supposed to be fresco, cool, meaning that it good for te body as opposed to caldo or hot such as eggplant and most fried foods. However because fried tastes better than boiled and because eggplants in Sicily rule the summer who cars. You eat the hot and then calm your body with the cold. You must live to eat; there's no other way.

 Paris at dusk. Enough said.

 A vert tasty hot antipasto grilled vegetables along with stuffed zucchine and mushrooms, what a great way to start a meal.

 I always get goose pimples when I look at this beautiful bridge and with Old Glory fluttering in the wind it makes my day. Happy 250th America.

 

Early morning shot. Chinatown, Manhattan, NYC. Leica, Ektachrome 64.