Who doesn't appreciate a little shopping help at this time of year? Of course, I know you can head down to the local mall and spend a few frustrating hours hunting from store to store to find just the right thing. Of course, there's always the issue of finding a convenient place to park and fighting the Battle of the Parking Structure. And this ...
Cuban Christmas
Enjoy these Cuban Christmas traditions, Cuban recipes, and stories from my family to yours. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Cuban Christmas!
Deck the Hall With Arturo Sandoval
I often say that there's nothing better than being Cuban at Christmas. Click here to read 10 Things That Are Awesome About Being Cuban At Christmas for the definitive proof that I'm right. I was delighted to learn that El Maestro, Arturo Sandoval and his Big Band will be Decking the Hall - the Walt Disney Concert Hall - next week. Do you hear ...
Getting It Before Christmas
I'm a giver. That's just in my Cuban DNA. Maybe it's something in my personal genetic programming, but I have a hard time saying, "no." "Do you want me to do something that will take me lots of time I don't have?" "Yes. Of course I'll do it." I'm convinced it all started with my family of origin. Have you ever tried to say, "no" to your ...
Love Me, Love My Tech Christmas Gift Guide
{This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Amazon and #WeAllGrow Latina Network. The opinions and text are all my own.} It's no secret that I'm a lover of all things Cuban. But did you further know that I'm a lover of all kinds of techie devices? My daughter, Lucy just moved to Austin and we were able to text with her and ...
My Big Fat Cuban Christmas Playlist
Do you love everything about December? I absolutely do. Also, being Cuban at Christmas is like the best thing ever. I wrote about that here: 10 Things That Are Awesome About Being Cuban At Christmas. You're welcome. And because I'm a giver and you asked for it, I created a very Cuban Christmas playlist for you to enjoy while you're making your ...
Crema de Vie (Cuban Egg Nog) Recipe
Cuban Crema de Vie Recipe - A Toast! In the first few years of my family’s exile, we still had high hopes that that whole pesky revolution nonsense would quickly blow over. Every year around the holidays we would make our Cuban egg nog, which we call Crème de Vie (or Crema de Vie - “the cream of life”). Every year we would raise our glasses at ...
El Dia de Los Reyes
Happy New Year! January 6th, marks the Feast of the Epiphany on the Catholic Church calendar.If you were counting the 12 days of Christmas - from December 25th until the 5th of January - you would have just received your 12 Lords a Leaping. And you would probably be frantically posting stuff on eBay, ...
How to Make a Cuban Roast Leg of Pork
Every year around Christmastime, I think I'll post the instructions for how to roast a Cuban-style leg of pork. Because that's what my family (and most every Cuban family I know) eats on December 24th as we celebrate our traditional Cuban Nochebuena. And every year when there's a garlicky, porky, fat mess in my kitchen, I forbid cameras because ...
A Red Letter Day
In looking to review the things I have not blogged about, particularly parties from this year, I came across the photos we took last year at Christmas. And in keeping with my theme of Oversharing About My Parties Week, and since it's December, I thought I'd actually share some holiday party stuff from last year. (Because I'm usually ...
Finding Joy
There has been so much preparation leading up to this week. Of course, I'm sure it's been like that in every home that celebrates Christmas. And also, did it seem like December just vanished in a puff of smoke, or is that just me? We're not the people who put up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving. We take our time and ...
Nochebuena in the O.C. (¡Oh, Sí!)
I'm just now recovering from the Food Coma that has ensued since our fabulous Nochebuena celebration. Once again it fell to me to host My Big, Fat, Cuban Family for our big Cuban feast on December the 24th. Cubans celebrate Christmas Eve more so than Christmas Day. It's a fall-back, I think, to the days when we actually celebrated the 12 ...
Starting our Nochebuena right – Thank you, Avocados from Mexico.
Nochebuena preparations are in full swing around here.The pig is happily marinating in the Mojo Criollo I told you about a few days ago. The Matervas are chilling in the fridge. Lucy is out in the world on a hunt for Turrones.Every time the phone rings or there is a text, it is Christmas related.My sister, Helen, calls: "We need an appetizer."We ...
El Wiwichu
There's so much that I love about the holidays. My earliest Christmas memories are all filled with abundance and magic. I think one of my favorites happened as we were learning the language and the customs of our new adopted country. Our default greeting was always "Feliz Navidad." But here in the U.S. things were a little ...
It’s beginning to look a lot like…
I often say that the best part of Christmas for me is being Cuban. Our traditional Nochebuena celebration begins with the fabulousness that is Lechón Asado. A roasted pig. Or, if you don't have 50 of your closest relatives coming for dinner on Christmas Eve, then a 20 lb. pork shoulder will do. If you're a cheater, like me, you can also ...
My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cubiche Christmas Gift Guide
Christmas shopping. I am so not the get-up-at-the-crack-of-dawn-to-snap-up-deals-on-Black-Friday type of person. I am much more the online-shopper-in-my-pjs type. (However, if you tell anyone about the PJ thing, I'll most certainly deny it, but that's not important right now.) It's just a matter of covering more territory while ...
Nochebuena is coming and everyone’s invited!
We Cubans celebrate December the 24th. It's our BIG Christmas celebration with the extended family. And when I say celebrate, I mean we pull out all the stops. It's a PARTY. The meal is usually roast pork (lechón asado), white rice, black beans, plantains, yuca con mojo. And a great big flan (and assorted sweets) for dessert. It's ...
