One of the things I write too infrequently about are the simple pleasures available from living in Florida that I have not encountered elsewhere.
For example, lunch today was at a small restaurant called "Q'Kennans." Q'Kennans features Venezuelan cuisine--most particularly two types of sandwiches a Patacon which is made with either green or sweet plantains as the bread, and Arepas (my favorite) which are sandwiches in which the filling is stuffed into a small corn-cake that has been split and hollowed out. The procedure itself is well worth watching and reminiscent of the actions of an oyster-shucker.
My favorite of the arepas is the Reina Pepeada which consists of a good but rather bland white-meat chicken salad stuffed into the corn-cake with about half an avocado. Usually I top this off with black beans and rice, but today I went with fried green plantains.
Such a simple and delightful lunch in a restaurant where English is tolerated, even welcomed, but certainly not the predominant part of the polyglot mix of different flavors of Spanish and Portuguese.
It is good to thank God for these simple and delightful things.
