Barrios aren't for everyone, but everyone should try one. They're isolates of a certain class and kind of people. Tampa's Ybor City was different, a mixture. Maybe that's why I never forgot it.

Blond and blue-eyed people stared at me from afar, askance. All barrios let their inhabitants know they're different. Perhaps that's what creates solidarity among the people. It was a time before the information age. There were no interstates or TVs to allow me to step outside the barrio and visit America.

Ybor City was as Cuban as Cuban sandwiches and Cuban coffee, as Hispanic as barrios are supposed to be. After all, "barrio" is the Spanish word for neighborhood, and it was mine.

It was not sterile, blah, trendy or squeaky clean. My barrio was booby-trapped with smells of life, ranging from alley garbage cans to the pungent odor of tobacco fumigating our homes. The tangy aroma of spicy food hovered inside shacks cigarmakers called casitas, and the fragrance of sweet basil and the green of collards in tiny backyards let me know Sicilian immigrants lived there, too.

Ybor City bubbled over with infectious sounds. Spanish and Sicilian cuss words exploded in red-bricked streets and school playgrounds. Broken English wasn't broken, not to young ears. Suspended swings in porches were the norm, as was the use of sidewalks. Almost no one wore a wristwatch. A cigar factory's clock tower taught me to tell time.

My barrio bedded down next to "colored town" each night, yet there were no steel bars on my windows or doors. I abided by Jim Crow laws during the day, going to school with white classmates, and the water I drank from drinking fountains was white, too, like the toilets I pissed in.

I'm afraid barrios are no longer places to visit. Maybe they never were.

3-4 lbs. chicken thighs, breasts, and/or drumsticks

Marinade:

     2 T. Olive oil
     Juice of 1 lemon
     2 T. white vinegar
     2 t. dried oregano
     3-4 garlic cloves, pressed
     Salt & pepper

Rinse and dry chicken. Spread out in flat container. Mix together marinade ingredients. Add to chicken, turning to coat. Marinate several hours or overnight in refrigerator. Remove excess marinade from chicken and place in single layer in broiling pan. Save excess marinade. Bake at 350', for 1 hour; then broil at 400' for approximately 30 minutes to brown and crisp. Remove chicken from roasting pan and keep warm. Sauce: Combine excess marinade and juices from roasting pan in a saucepan and boil for several minutes. Add water to increase if desired. Serve with the chicken.

     2 lb. ground beef
     1 T. olive oil
     2 yellow onions, diced
     3 garlic cloves, minced
     1 green pepper, diced
     2 T. chopped parsley
     1 bay leaf
     1 t. salt
     1 small can tomato sauce
     1 cup water
     2 T. capers
     12 -15 stuffed Spanish olives, sliced
     2 T. raisins

Fry ground beef in olive oil in large pot until brown. Add onions, garlic cloves, green pepper, parsley, bay leaf and salt. Fry until light brown. Add tomato sauce, capers, olives and raisins. Simmer in covered pan 1 hour, stirring as necessary. Add more water if the mixture becomes dry. Sauce is desirable.
Serve on top of white rice.

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