In honor of Father's Day, 2014, I have a special 'photo-op', taken back in the late 1960s (when I still used a Kodak Instamatic 104 camera), in the backyard of our two-story home in Elmont, New York. I was in my early teens when I took this picture of my father, Joaquin Martinez - appropriately dressed for cooking barbecued food for his family (our mother Sheila, my sister Rhonda, my brother Glenn, and yours truly).

Born on October 14, 1927 in Vigo, Spain, Joaquin eventually came to America during the Great Depression. Many years later, he met and married Sheila Schell, and raised three children in a small apartment in Bronx, New York. In 1962, we all had relocated to our Aunt Sita's home in Queens, New York (sharing the two-story Brownstone with her family); and in 1964 (fifty years ago) we had relocated to Elmont, New York...

By then, Dad had a job as the manager and co-owner of the Cafe Barcelona in midtown Manhattan (on Eighth Avenue, one block west of Times Square), where he cooked meals for local New Yorkers and out-of-towners alike. He'd carried over his cooking skills to the suburbs, whenever he prepared meals for his family. (His specialties included chili con carne, gazpacho soup, empanadas, and chorizo [sausage] sandwiches.)

And in the backyard, when he fired up the barbecue grill, he was a master chef! Besides the obligatory hot dogs and hamburgers, he'd make barbecue chicken and steaks (with a special maraschino cherry sauce), as well as shish-kabobs - saving room for toasted marshmallows for dessert!

It should be noted that during the summer months in Elmont, we'd have an above-ground swimming pool for all of us to cool off in. You can see part of the pool in the background of this picture...

Regrettably, we had to give up the pool by the early 1970s, when Dad became a 'laryngectomee'. (In other words, as a result of his cigarette-smoking, he developed cancer in his 'voice box', and had to have it surgically removed - in order to keep the disease from spreading.) But our father was still quite resourceful; the ground that the pool occupied was later used for a garden, where he grew fruits (strawberries, watermelon, etc.) and vegetables (tomatoes, zucchini, etc.) - additional foods that became part of our backyard barbecue fare.

Therefore, this individual 'photo-op' of Dad truly defines his culinary talents, by the simple message on his chef's hat: "Chow Doctor"!

"Happy Father's Day!"