Every year we make a large batch of Cremé de Vie or Cuban Egg Nog, if you will. Photo: Jae C. Hong, AP And every year we toast, "El año que viene estamos en Cuba." "Next year in Cuba." This started in December of 1961. We had been in this country for a little less than a year and it was obvious that the whole silly revolution ...
Archives for December 2013
The days are long, but the years are short.
Today in our home, we've hit a milestone. There are no longer any children here. Jonathan, my youngest is 18 years old and officially an adult. I'm so grateful that because I've been blogging for the past 7 years our lives are pretty well documented. I know everyone has a shoebox or ten full of photos. And I am actually pretty ...
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 ...
Cuban Picadillo Pies®
I have a recipe today that was kind of a happy accident. Ever since I went up to San Francisco a few months ago to cook my Picadillo, my family has been clamoring for it. Yes, there's been clamoring. For the past few years I've been making my picadillo with ground turkey. It's just become a thing. When I cooked for the Blurb Food ...
Saving Mr. Banks – a love story
The year was 1964 and my family had just moved from Florida to California. (Obviously, we've been here ever since, but that's not important right now.) I was nine years old. One of the very first things we did was visit Disneyland. It had captured our imaginations from early on and we were so excited to visit the iconic park. Of course, ...
The Book of New Zealand – The Hobbit Event
You know how seriously nerdy my family is about Tokien, right? If not, let me direct you here, here, and here. I'm about to go seriously uber-Tolkien-geeky right here. You've been warned. Last week Lucy and I got to participate in The Hobbit Event, much to our über-Tolkien-nerdy delight. In partnership with Tourism New Zealand, the ...
A Cuban Poster & Your Own Custom Subway Art!
I have often described myself as a Lover of Words. Just as often, I self-describe as a Lover of Cuban Food. Also, I'm a Serial List Maker. Just recently, all those worlds collided in my creative brain and the resulting explosion was this Cuban poster... Words + Cuban Food = Comida Cubana to create a subway style Cuban poster! I know. The ...
Thank you for your order
We've received your order! We've received your order and the Cuban elves here at My Big, Fat, Cuban Family are already hard at work putting together your Custom Subway Art. (Okay, not really any elves. Just me, but that's not important right now.) I'll be in touch with you as soon as I have a beautiful one-of-a-kind-made-just-for-you work of art ...
My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cookbook for Christmas
If you'd like to own your very own copy of My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cookbook; A celebration of Cuban-American life around our family table or (even better!) would like to give it as a gift, my publisher, Blurb Books is offering a very nice promotion right now. 25% off with the promo code: BLURBGIFT-1 at checkout.* Here's the link: MBFCF ...
The Best Baked Potato Soup EVER®
For the holidays many of us get one of those beautiful spiral hams. You set it out on your table and it always gets oohs and aahs. There's nothing like a fabulous ham. Am I right? For Thanksgiving we served two turkeys - one smoked, one roasted, and then there was also the spiral cut ham. Because we Cubans like an abundant table. There are a ...
I talk about Cuban food. A lot. Listen in.
I had the privilege of discussing my love affair with Cuban food and how my family and I celebrate Cuban holiday traditions on Silvio Canto Jr.'s Blogtalk Radio show the other day. This is what I looked like. (Don't judge.) If you want to hear what I sound like, you should click on the following link. I swear, I sound much taller on the ...
The Cuban Hipster Thanksgiving
When I host family or friends for a big, elaborate dinner, my delight is in designing the tablescapes. My job, as I see it, is to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, but not get too hung up on making things so department-store-perfect that it feels too cold and impersonal. It's fun for me to set a pretty table. It's much more fun to ...
