There are puffy clouds called people that float through your sky of life. Some are so cottony white, some are dark and filled with lightening and rain. Others are almost translucent, allowing you to look beyond into heaven above. That one was my Aunt Suzie. A bit tinier than a Christmas doll my aunt would never reach five feet tall, in actuality a shade under and a few inches below that. She was born in Puerto Rico, grew up in Manhattan and fell in love with my Uncle Henry. Together they both could not reach over ten feet tall. He was adopted by my father’s Sicilian aunt and uncle, but kept his Flemish surname of Fierman.
My aunt Suzie had the golden heart and just wore her all day smile for everyone to share. She never had a cross word for anyone. And man, could she cook. In that tiny kitchen in that one bedroom walkup apartment on 106 ST and Third Ave my aunt Suzie could create the tastiest meals. Her rice and beans was so damn good that when they moved to Tampa, Florida in ‘ 71 she would actually mail me a package of her red kidney beans to mix with rice. Having a father who was a gourmet cook and made the finest Sunday gravy ( Italians didn’t call tomato sauce anything but that) with spare ribs, meatballs and hard boiled eggs flavored with marsala wine, his masterpiece was well known through my mother’s family ( dad was an only child. Well, once my Aunt Suzie got his recipe she outdid my pop!
When I was going to go to sleep at their place during our Christmas or Easter visit, being just a little boy, Aunt Suzie would tell me ” Go put on your cousin’s Pahyamas.” When it was time to go home she would come over to me and hug me as if I just returned from a battle zone. She was just a bundle of love. In 1983, now a 34 year old man, I took a trip down to Florida from NYC for a one week winter vacation. Of course I was invited to my aunt and uncle’s home for dinner. Well, when I arrived with a friend of mine my uncle told me ” Your aunt was cooking all day Philip, with all the things you love.” She made a roast loin of pork with fried plantains ( platanos frito) and of course her signature rice and beans. A feast made in heaven! I hadn’t seen her in perhaps 12 years and it was if time stayed in a bottle. God, I loved my Aunt Suzie!
PA Farruggio