Carlos' Corner: Peña getting back to his roots
By Carlos Peña / Special to MLB.com

Carlos Peña, a 23-year-old rookie heralded as one of the top
prospects in the game, was acquired by Oakland during the offseason
in a six-player trade with Texas. He's replacing Jason Giambi as the
A's first baseman and is providing MLB.com an exclusive daily diary
for the 2002 season.

Before Sunday's game in Anaheim, Peña talked about getting a little
taste of mom's cooking at a Southern California restaurant.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Yesterday, a couple of old friends and I went to a
Spanish restaurant in an old part of town. It felt like old L.A., it
was a very quaint area, with lots of restaurants and shops, parks,
cafes and those things, and the restaurant was very cozy.

Inside, all the waiters were wearing guayaberas, which are the
traditional Cuban-style shirts. They look elegant, but keep you cool.
The atmosphere was great.

I ate pollo criollo, which is a very ethnic chicken dish, with rice
and beans. Along with that I had sweet plantains. For desert, I had
tres leches, which is a cake. And what to drink with all this? A
malta, which is like root beer, a very ethnic drink.

It wasn't mom's cooking, but it was close enough.

All of this really takes me back to my roots. And it's not just the
food.

The people in the restaurant were all having very animated
discussions in Spanish, arguing about baseball, politics, everything.
There was Spanish music, people playing dominos.

It's always nice to take a trip back to your roots whenever possible.
It's something I'm going to try to do as often as possible. Now I
just have to find a good place in Oakland.

Carlos Pena's diary appears as told to Kent Schacht who is an
editorial producer for MLB.com.