This blog is officially one year old today.
Believe it.
Yes, of course I’m celebrating (any excuse to have chocolate =D).
But I also want to take a moment to thank you guys.
You know who you are.
You visit faithfully and even leave comments occasionally. Some of you don’t comment at all, but I’m always grateful that you stop by. Still another portion of you send me emails and tell me your own stories.
And I LOVE that about you.
You relate to being a Cuban refugee, or having kids, or scrapbooking, or surfing, or gardening, or homeschooling, or dealing with an aging parent, or even quoting movie lines.
You tolerate my uber-geekiness, and my love for Andy Garcia (sigh). And you always play the Kevin Bacon game with me. 😉
And I LOVE that about you.
You never complain about my grammar or my moronic punctuation skills (or because I speak parenthetically, and I never quite know where to put the period. Or because I use run-on sentences, or I capitalize words that aren’t Proper Nouns.) You never complain, at least not to me directly, but that’s not important right now. =D
And, of course, we share a love of Cuban food. And you faithfully visit me over at Babalú every other Thursday for a new installment to Marta’s Cuban American Kitchen. And then you write and tell me how much you loved the dish I made or how no one could ever make it better than your abuelita.
I LOVE that about you.
A big thanks to Henry and Marc for the nice things you said and for putting me on your blogroll when I started this a year ago. Thank you, Val for putting MBFCF on the Cuban Blogging World map (so to speak) by adding me to your Cubiches list. I’m so grateful to you guys for showing me courtesy and kindness when we first “met” online. Thank you for letting me cook for you. It is an amazing honor to be counted as a Babalúcontributor family member.
Thanks, Humberto, for sharing your fish stories.
Thanks, Carrie for peer-pressuring me inviting me to Cuba Nostalgia and calling me “Candela.”
Thanks, Robert for smuggling us in. =D
Thanks, Ziva for how much you care and for sharing your sweetest moment.
Thanks, Reinier for stepping up for my family’s honor. 😉
Thanks, Julio for documenting it all.
Thanks to all of you who have accepted me as one of your own without question.
I LOVE that about you guys.
Thanks to my old friends who have always been so faithful and have always encouraged me to be my artsy creative self. “You’re blogging now?? Cool.” And who send me pink boxes when I most need them. =D
I LOVE that about you.
Thanks to all of you who bought my stuff over at Cuba To GO!
(You ROCK!) And I LOVE that about you.
Thanks Eric, Amy, Adam, Lucy and Jonathan. Even though your lives and actions are constant fodder for this blog, you are consistently so gracious to let me share you all with the rest of the blogosphere.
I LOVE that about you.
Thanks to all of you who come here every day and have your morning cafécito with me. I hope you all know that This is Your Home. And that all of YOU make up My Big, Fat Cuban Family.
I LOVE that about you. 😉
Thank you for making this one of the most seriously amazing years of my life,
Marta
Happy blog birthday!! Thanks for all the wonderful posts, the mouth-watering recipes, and especially thanks for being a friend-for the listening, the understanding…and well thanks for being you and sharing with us. Thats what I love about you. 😉
Mom:You are amazing to have kept this up for a year (without collapsing by the computer) and I am so proud of you. You are not only my mother, but my role model as well. I really don’t think I could be happier…but a slice of that cake could realllly push me over the edge. =D
I love you Mom!!!!
Lucy D.
Thank YOU for letting me be your Rhoda . . . ;-)Bueno, thanks for letting me post when your sick. hahaha
Marta,Thanks to you! I have thoroughly enjoyed “mi cafecito” while reading your blog. You are a gifted story teller … you are witty … and you manage to relay things as they are, but with a touch of “azucar” and optimism. As a regular reader of your blog, I thank you for sharing all these wonderful family stories in your “virtual” scrapbook with us!
I wish you well 🙂 Melek
“Siempre queda algo de fragancia en la mano que da rosas.” Proverbio Chino
Marta,I didn’t know you have been blogging for only a year! “¡Le pusíste la tapa al pomo!” You are so good at this! I enjoy spending time with you and your family every day. Every morning I get on the computer thinking, “I wonder what Marta is up to today.” Thank you for being a little ray of “California sunshine” here in Florida.
Mercedes
Happy birthday! Congrats on a job well done!
Happy Blogging Anniversary, Mrs. Darby!! Keep it up- checking your blog is something I look forward to every morning before school…heheheLuv you!!
Happy Bloggy Birthday!! =)
Congratulations on your first anniversary! Found you through the Babalu blog- and am happy I did! Even though I was born to a Cuban father y una Americana, heh , i can identify with you and your family.Thanks for the sharing, best of everyhing to you….Yasmin
…of all the gin joints in all the world…Gracias, Marta and CONGRATULATIONS! Que cumplas muchs muchos mas!
OMG, it seems like I’ve known you forever, dearestMarta. Thank you for your wit and wisdom, gift of
friendship and amazing creativity. When I grow up, I want
to be just like you!!
Happy Anniversary and know how much you are loved.
Lee
Happy Birthday from Rafaelmartel.com!
Congratulations Marta! Keep up the good work, you’re doing an excellent job!!!
Happy BlogDay to you!Happy BlogDay to you!
Happy BlogDay, dear Marta!
Happy BlogDay to you!
…and many more!
I love our cybervisits! (ooo, that sounds a bit weird….!) Anyway, I love walking through your front door and smelling the flowers of your fragrant, abundant life, day after day. Thank you for sharing (as the old saying goes….)!
Hey, my husband just said the funniest thing earlier this evening. We had had a good friend over for dinner, and after she left, he said, “You know, our home is a bit like a Cuban house!” I assumed he said this because he had been reading your blog, BUT HE HADN’T. (He’s seen a couple of entries, but isn’t an addict like me!) I asked him if he was referring to the blog, and he said, “No, I’ve been to her house. I know what it’s like. What’s that saying she has written up on the wall, “Sit down, stay long, talk much.” ROTFL! He said, “I think it’s great. I’m glad our home is that way. But….” my gently introverted husband paused, “I just don’t want the Cuban house to turn into the Big Fat Greek Wedding!” I’m not making this up. And you know what I felt? Intensely proud that someone could consider me (or our home) Cubanesque. An honorary Cubanita! An aspiring Martita!
Beaming with delight here on a very different island!
Happy blog birthday Marta!just keep it up….there is more people enjoying and learning from your blog than you think 😉
Apio verde tu ju! Apio verde tu ju! (okay, enough of that silliness.)I didn’t know that you’ve only been blogging for a year. What a coincidence; my one year is on the 7th. Thank you for sharing your stories, your photos and your family with all of us. I admit it – yours is the first blog I read every morning with my cafecito (okay, really it’s a cafeSON!) in hand. I am also a parenthetical, punctualizing, run-on sentence writing blogger, so maybe that’s why I enjoy reading your blog so much. =)
We Cubans are pretty amazing, huh? We could find each other across a vast desert just by following the smell of violetas and the very loud storytelling, lol! So glad I found you!
Marta: Love your recipes and your love for our wonderful and kaleidoscopic Cuban culture. Now, since you live in California I’m sure you have heard the term ‘carne asada’ used for what we would call ‘bistec a la parilla.’ How about a recipe for ‘our’ carne asada? Cuando sale el libro?
Felicitaciones, Cubanita! Thank you for being my inspiration. You are a gift and generous to share so much of yourself and your life with the rest of us.Con mucho carino,
Norita
Hi honey! Congratulations on your first anniversary! I’ve seen you go through the joys and trials of having this blog, and I admire you for taking the risk one year ago to start M.B.F.C.F.Your blog really is a reflection of who you are, honey. And to that end, I came up with an alternative acronym for YOU.
Marti’s
Brilliant
Funny
Cuban
Flair
I love you.
– Eric
P.S. Anyone else out there care to try? 🙂
MyBrilliant
Funny
Christ-like
Friend
How’s that, Eric? I don’t think it is half bad and the best part is that it is one hundred percent true!
Oh, after I posted I noticed I used the same adjectives Eric used to describe Marti. So, Marti, you know what that means? CONFIRMATION!!! Always remember you ARE brilliant and funny…and my world is better since I have the pleasure of knowing you.Happy birthday, you blogger, you.
Love,
Kristen
MomBiasly
Flaunts
Cooked
Food
😀
Congrats and another apio verde tu ju!Is it really the first year? Oh my!…when I started my own blogging experiment a few months ago, I assumed yours have been around for years!!!!
Great work, awesome writing, yummy food, love it all! I told you when I started: cuando crezca, I want to be a blogger like you are.
Cariños desde Colorado
(Way to go Rockies last night!)
MagnificentBold
FANTASTIC!
Courageous
Fabulous
I love you mom!
Happy Blog-Day tiu-yiuHappy Blog-Day tiu-yiu
Happy Blog Day dear Cubanita
Happy Blog Day tiu-yiu.
And many more.
Love, Lys
P.S. I am always entertained. Wish you lived across the street. Had a great time with you and Eric the other night.
Marta,It was a pleasure to “smuggle” you and Amy in. Congrats on your 1st blogiversary! Look forward to another year of fun posts and yummy recipes!
Did I say THANK YOU enough, yet??Wow.
I am officially overwhelmed now.
Marta