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People ask me what's a Gummie? Gummie is my best friends grandmother who is called "Gummie", like Granny, Mee Maw, Big Mamma, Nana, and other nicknames people have for grandparents.   Legally known as Heidi Nieves Cruz, she is one of my favorite persons alive today. She has welcomed me into he family, when things were not exactly going great in my life. She has "adopted" me, and considers me a grandkid.

Next photo opprotunity I'll be in the next gathering of the grandkids!

She is an imigrant for Peurto Rico, and has been living in Buffalo since the 1950's . She has stories, and talks of her life here, and back where she grew up. It always makes my day when she has time to sit with us and just talk about her life. She is so positive, caring, and just genuine.

I wanted to keep talking to her, but she has a nine p.m. bedtime, I can't imagine hanging out with my best friends family without her, she is such a joy to be around. I will breifly touch on her history, upbringing, and her culture. I had about 5 pages of shorthand notes, and lived every minute talking to her. She always meaks me feel welcome!

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Heidi and her family came to America in the 1950's. Her father came over first, in search of a better life. As beautiful as Puerto Rico is, it is very poor, and being in his 40s, he knew he had to make a change to better his situation.

A family friend suggested Buffalo since he sent Heidi's family a letter telling them there is work, and it has good places to live. In 1953 Heidi's father came here first, and alone. He started working at Bethlehem Steel, and only one year later, had enough money to send for his wife and 3 of his 4 kids, leaving Heidi to finish high school before finally coming over one year later in 1955 when she was 18 years old.

Not knowing any English the father reached out to the pastor of the community hospital and got Heidi a job as nurse's aide at a facility, but now closed Emergency Hospital near Pine, and Eagle streets in Buffalo N.Y.

She got married, and when she did it was a challenge due to the culture of this new world, and her old. The tradition of Latin culture in Puerto Rico is to have your fathers last name, and your mothers last name. So for example Confesor Nieves took Heidi Cruz to be his wife they both would be known as Confesor and Heidi Nieves Cruz. Her husband and her had problems with the American way since when filling out paperwork, the powers that were in charge of paperwork took Nieves to be like a middle name, so they shortened it legally to be Heidi N. Cruz. Shortening names seems to be a very "American" thing since it has been done to a lot of very long named immigrants that came through Ellis Island.

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When Heidi was a child in the 1950's there was not any television, or any toys to entertain the kids growing up on the island. By going to church every chance they got was very important to the health of the family, and the social interactions of the kids.

Christmas, Easter, Holy Week, all were big celebrations that swept over her home town. Three Kings day on January 6th was huge since back when she was a child there was no "Santa Claus" and after Christmas the kids would have to wait all the way till January 6th to get their presents. The reason behind that being it was the three wisemen that delivered the gifts to the infant Jesus, so that's when gifts were given.

Special foods were made during these times such as Pig roasted on a spit, that took over 8 hours to finish, Chicken Fricase, Pidgeon Peas with Rice, Pasteles (similar to Tamales), Rice pudding made with fresh coconut milk, Bread Pudding just to name a few of the many dishes served.

Participation in all the church activities was essential for the families  living in the community. The infrastructure of the island at the time was not modern, not a lot of people could afford to travel around even on their own island, this meant that all they had known was their community, and the church helped keep it together.

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Food in the New World, with Old World techniques

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Food in the New World, with Old World techniques

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Heidi is a self taught cook, and her meals (take my word for it) are simplistic, yet detailed, and delicious.

Growing up in Puerto Rico food was grown in the rural areas, and grocery stores were more for the larger towns with limited space. Heidi grew up in the town of Patillas in Puerto Rico, but there were little places that food was communally grown that she helped take care of. Rice and Beans, the staple, served mostly at dinner, and other items accompanied them. Catfish was very popular with her family being less expensive than red meat. Chicken and pigs were raised in rural areas, so the people sell or eat what they needed to make ends meet.

Her grandparents were the main source of cooking, and charcoal fires, grilling, and spit style cooking was the only kind of cooking techniques available. There were no ovens of any kind available to her family. So when they came to America they dicovered a different way to cook. Heidi experemented and tried new things until she perfected them.

Being exposed to an oven, items such as roast beef, other kinds of roasts, and larger cuts of meat were now being made for her family. The items we take for granted like turkey, and prime rib, cakes, pies, all the things cooked in an oven they were not able to do at home. It opened Heidi up to exploring more foods that populate her new home. She sill retains the core of her grandparents cooking, but is now able to add new items to her family's table.

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Heidi's Grandfather had a saying "Science will advance, more than the generation, and then there will be a destruction"

Heidi is patiently waiting for ECMC to come back online so she can get her surgery. Arthritis has totally destroyed the cartilage in her right shoulder, and the left is getting worse. The hackers, and ransom wear they used to extort the facility have made this hospital grind to a halt. She needs a complete right shoulder replacement, which she should have recieved last Tuesday the 4th of April. She keeps her spirit high, saying everything happens for a reason, and it was meant to be delayed. The words of her grandfather ring true, as much as technology give us progress, there are elements that destroy us. It is not apparent at the time, but it can be there silently waiting to strike.

On a more positive note, she told me "that when people ask me am I rich, all I have to do is look around, and know I am. By seeing my kids, , my grandkids, they are my riches" -H. N. Cruz

*We also have plans after surgery to design a cook book. Which I plan on turning into a children's cook book, using her "Gummie" persona. I will be doing all the recording, design, and art for the book, which I hope to have stared in the next 2 months.