- So what was it like making friends when you moved to Tennessee?

- Southern people are more warm.

- Their southern hospitality that we're famous for?

- It's different, yes.

They make you feel like family.

(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Meg, Executive Producer at Nashville Public Television, and on this series, we talk about the little things that stood out to folks when they first moved to the region from another country.

Today, I'm here with Suzy Vera.

Suzy lives in Nashville, Tennessee now, but she was born near Ciudad Hidalgo Michoacán, Mexico.

Suzy has a background in business administration, she's married to an incredible artist, Jose Vera.

In her free time, she enjoys listening to music, hanging out outdoors, and spending time with her family, including her five kids and four grandkids.

And I've only gotten to experience a little bit of your cooking, but I already know that it's incredible, especially the chicharrón.

My goodness.

- [Suzy] Thank you.

- But we'll get into that later.

So I wanted to kick us off talking about food and what you thought about the food in the US when you moved here from Mexico.

- So I got in this country when I was about, I would say nine years old.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- And my father brought me to Chicago.

So being from the country and then moving to Chicago at that age, it was an experience.

- [Meg] Sure.

- Not a very pleasant experience.

It was kind of a dramatic, I would say, because I was used to having home cooked meals.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- Everything that we ate, it was homegrown so it was more, we say organic.

Got to Chicago, I didn't like the tortillas that they had.

I don't like the way they make the Mexican food.

Definitely American food.

I try hamburgers.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- [Suzy] I was like... (Suzy groans) - [Meg] I don't know about the hamburgers.

- Hot dogs (Suzy groans) - [Meg] Okay.

- I mean, I was not very... - [Meg] Cause they're so different.

- [Suzy] Uh-huh, it was different.

So my father lucky me, he was a sous chef in an Italian restaurant.

So he was like, "Okay, let's try this, I'm gonna start you with Italian food."

And that I definitely love it.

- [Meg] Okay and you still like Italian food to this day?

- [Suzy] Yes, yes I do.

I cook a lot of Italian, I should've brought some of the Italian foods 'cause- - [Meg] Oh, we have plenty.

- [Suzy] Yeah, I know but yeah, my kids love...

I learn how to make lasagna.

- [Meg] Oh, okay.

- [Suzy] Manicotti, I know how to make tiramisu.

Tiramisu, I learn how to make it when I was 13.

- Yeah, you can cook so many things.

And I also wanted to ask you about just that experience of moving from this small town, a ranch like you said, to a big city like Chicago.

What was that like at that age?

How was the transition?

- It was, like I say, it was a very, I would say traumatic.

- Kinda traumatic?

- Uh-huh, because one, I didn't know the English, so I had to learn English.

- Okay, yeah.

- That was one thing.

So I would go into a classroom, everybody was talking, I couldn't understand anything.

And but I didn't wanna stay back and not know so I started taking my personal English lessons.

I bought me a dictionary and remember that, bought me my dictionary.

- That's how you started just with a dictionary?

- Yeah, a dictionary.

And I used to listen to songs and I used to write the songs.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- Translate the songs, the ones that I like, put them in English and then translate 'em to Spanish, so... - That's such a good way to do it.

- Yes, who were your favorite artists at the time?

- Mariah Carey definite she's on my top list.

Whitney Houston.

- [Meg] Okay.

- [Suzy] Boyz II Men.

- [Meg] Love it, love it.

- Yes, definitely, and Celine Dion.

And that's how I started learning English and as I...

Think it took me about a year.

- Okay.

- I was young.

- [Meg] That's pretty quick.

- When you're young you're... - [Meg] Yeah the sponge, right?

Just absorbing.

- You're like a little sponge.

- And you had told me something a while back about your style on how it was a little different maybe than the kids there.

- Yes, yes.

- How you just got comfortable with yourself.

Can you just- - Yeah.

- Share a little bit about that process?

- In Mexico, I'm used to wearing boots.

As you can see, I'm always wearing boots because you're on the farm, so you wear boots.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- [Suzy] So I would wear skirts and boots or I had my own way of dressing.

And kids would be like, "Why would they you dress like that?"

You know, cause at that time in the nineties, the girls, they would dress up and they would like put their hair- - [Meg] Oh yeah.

- A lot of hairspray and makeup and mini skirts.

I don't- - Jean, jean on jean.

- Yeah and I don't wear miniskirts up to date.

I just don't wear minis skirt for some reason I just, I'm weird like that.

And they used to pick on me and they were like, "Why do you dress like that?

I mean you're..." I'm like, "This is how I like it.

I mean, are you buying my clothes?"

- Are you buying my clothes?

So you've always had your own kind of unique defined style.

- [Suzy] Yeah.

- [Meg] And Jose does too so- - [Suzy] Yes.

- [Meg] I love that about you two.

- [Suzy] Yeah, it's so crazy because when we are like...

When we go out, we get ready, he's like, "How this look?"

I'm like, "Yeah, no, I don't think that suits you."

He's like, "Okay."

And then I'd be like, "How this look?"

The red shoes, the space shoes.

So we just have- - You help each other.

- No, but we have like a kinda competition.

He's like, "I'm gonna look better than you do."

I'm like, "You're not gonna look better than I do."

But yeah, it's crazy but we get along fine.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I think we're a perfect match.

- [Meg] No, me too.

- [Suzy] Because both are... We both like to cook, we both like to dress up.

We both like to dance, we both like almost a similar things.

Like this is our hangout place as you can see, this is your house.

- [Meg] Which is gorgeous, so colorful and vibrant.

- [Suzy] We have our friends that come over.

So many talented friends, they come, they sing on stage and then I cook for them.

- So what was it like making friends when you moved to Tennessee?

Did you find it easier being older and just kind of adjusting here?

- Yes, I think Tennessee- - What was that like?

- It's more friendly than being up in north.

- Really?

- Yes.

Southern people are more warm.

- Their southern hospitality that there's... - [Suzy] Yes.

- We're famous for.

- It's different, yes.

They make you feel like family.

When I came to Tennessee was in year 2007.

And in this place where I work, it was mostly older people.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- And it was easy for me to make friends.

Tennessee, I do definitely love it.

Yeah, I don't think...

Sometimes I talk to my husband like, "Oh, what if we move somewhere else?"

I'm like, "No, I like it here."

- [Meg] Something keepin' me.

- [Suzy] I mean, Tennessee, I like the falls, I go to the parks.

- [Meg] Yeah.

- [Suzy] My kids, they know.

We haven't experienced, there's so many falls that we have been through.

I think if I would've moved from Mexico, the beginning from Tennessee, I would not had the same transition.

- Would've been easier?

- It would be easier.

Because the southern, it's more similar to what I was raised.

- In what way?

- Like, see, you just heard the rooster just next door.

- We did just hear a rooster.

- So it's very similar.

In Chicago, it's ambulances, fire trucks.

- [Meg] Airplanes, sure.

- Yeah, it's just noisy with cars and trucks and it's, yeah.

No, this is peaceful so I came here.

- What did you like about it?

- The food.

- The food?

Oh, we should talk about the food.

I brought, I did know that you like grits.

So we have some shrimp and grits we're gonna try.

- Yes.

- Fruit tea as well.

- My fruit tea, yeah.

- We've got some peach tea here.

- Love.

So the food, the southern food, that I really, really, really like.

The grits is one of my favorites.

There's a place but I love the chicken.

The fried chicken, definitely fried chicken.

- The spicy or... - The spicy, yeah.

- Hot chicken, okay.

- Yeah, the fried chicken, the spicy one.

They have the sweet potato, the patties...

The sweet potato, that's really, really good.

- [Meg] Green.

- [Suzy] The greens because the greens- - [Meg] Collared greens?

- [Suzy] Yeah, collard greens because in Mexico, we have something called califas so it looks like...

They're kind of the same.

- [Meg] Okay.

- [Suzy] So that's why I like it a lot.

- [Meg] More similarities than I would've thought.

- [Suzy] Yeah, the meatloaf, love their meatloaf.

Next time you go there, you try the meatloaf.

- [Meg] To H&T's?

- [Suzy] Yes, uh-huh.

- [Meg] Have you tried the meatloaf there?

- [Suzy] Yes, uh-huh.

- Well, speaking of food, my tummy has a grumbling.

Can we try some of this?

- Yeah, definitely, let's go ahead.

- Let's have some of this chicharrón.

My favorite in the whole world.

I'm not even just saying that because Suzy's here.

This is actually- - We made... We bought the pork belly yesterday.

We were making it so it's fresh, fresh, fresh, fresh.

- Looks amazing and then we'll get some of our southern grits over here.

- [Suzy] Oh the grits, I got this.

- Shrimp and grits.

- Yeah, this is really good.

- Gimme a little scoop there?

- And then I made tamales for extra.

You wanna try tamal?

- Should we try tamale, yeah.

- [Suzy] Let's do... - [Meg] We can split one?

- [Suzy] Let me see, uh-Huh.

- I'm digging in, I'm goin'.

So good.

(Meg savoring) Yeah, I don't know what kind of magic you put in here, but just the spice level and it just melts in your mouth.

I'm in love, yeah.

- Try this tamal.

- Okay.

- [Suzy] But this is not spicy.

- Yeah and the masa you were saying, is also just really great and they go well together because if you're getting a little spice kick here, you can cool it down here.

Okay and now let's see if the grits is a weird combination or if we approve of it.

A little Southern Fusion.

Oh, they're really good too!

H&T's coming through for us.

- Oh, yes they are.

- You were correct.

Okay and then we're gonna have a little swig of our peach tea.

- [Suzy] I love the grits.

- Yeah, I think this Mexican Southern fusion is approved at least on my end.

What are your thoughts?

Yeah?

- Definitely.

- Good.

- Definitely.

- Alright, well we won't make you all watch us eat so you, you know, you're gonna get very jealous I'm sure.

And just appreciate you taking the time to- - [Suzy] Thank you.

- To, you know, sit down with Suzy and me, listen to the conversation.

If you enjoyed it, subscribe so you can catch more in the series and we'll see you in the next one.

(Meg speaking in Spanish) (Suzy speaking in Spanish) - [Announcer] "Next Door Neighbors" is made possible by the support of the Nissan Foundation.