Twice in one month

In the month of July, I celebrate Independence Day twice: on the 4th and on the 20th. I pay homage to the nation where I was born and to the nation from where my parents originated.

Colombian Independence Day is celebrated with a big food and music festival out in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. While the folkloric dancing and the salsa bands at the festival are always great, we love the food even more! So now we celebrate Colombian Independence Day by going to a Colombian restaurant or eating at my mom's.

We were told by our dear friend Brother Herrera that there was a "Colombian" restaurant in this neighborhood. So, one day after playgroup, I went with a Colombian friend, Nina Milena, to find out if the rumors where true. Well, after much walking under the sweltering heat of the noonday sun, we found Viva Latin Bistro, only it was closed, so we ended up having lunch at Fuel instead. A few days later though, on July 20th, to celebrate Colombian Independence Day, my husband, our son and I had dinner there and feasted on a couple of specialties.

We had ourselves for an appetizer, the "yuca" fries with Cuban "mojo" -a garlic butter dipping sauce (short for "mantequilla y ajo"). For those of you that are unfamiliar with Latin cuisine, yuca is also known as cassava, a buttery-tasting root vegetable with a potato-like consistency. Next up, our entrees were served in platters because of the enormous amount of food. When the platters were placed on our table we thought, "Oh, boy! Loosen up the pants. Here it comes." We ordered the house specialty called, the "Bandeja Paisa", one of many traditional Colombian dishes. This particular version is comprised of a thin piece of steak sometimes folded to fit on the platter, rice, one fried egg sunny side up right over the rice, beans practically running off the side of the platter, avocado slices, fried yellow plantain on the sides, chorizo (sausage), a bit of pork crackling, and a small white, cornmeal biscuit (Liam nicked it off of the platter pictured below). There was enough leftover for a delicious lunch for my husband the next day. Last, but not least, we had "brevas con queso" for dessert. These are figs and cheese, only they are not pictured here. We had to scarf it down before Liam had a complete meltdown.

Delicioso!

My mother calls this dish "la bomba" with good reason. Not only do you need a hearty appetite, you need to pack an extra artery to the restaurant. Yummy, yes! But yikes.....