Guava Cheesecake Recipe: Move Over, Pumpkin Pie! So, I’m still on my quixotic quest of declaring November as National Guava Month. To that end, I am happy to share my recipe for Guava Cheesecake in time for you to make it for “El Sanguibin.” Of course, the main ingredient in cheesecake is cream cheese, which is inexorably tied to Philadelphia ...
Cuban Picadillo Recipe
Cuban Picadillo Recipe - Comfort Food I love to cook and entertain and I almost always make Cuban food when we have company. People are usually surprised that even the simplest food is so flavorful. In the early 60’s when we were new to this country, my mom experimented with all kinds of traditional, inexpensive American foods. We kids went along ...
Fufú Recipe
“Ju got some ‘splaining to do..” from Marta’s Cuban American Kitchen It seems to me that being Cuban has always meant explaining things. Maybe it’s just living in Southern California where there are just pockets of Cuban communities, but the majority of the Hispanic population is Mexican. I confess the questions sometimes sound ignorant to me. ...
Pastelitos de Guayaba Recipe (Guava Pastry)
Marta's Homemade Pastelitos de Guayaba Recipe (Guava Pastry) My husband is an Internet Marketing Guy. (He prefers to be called “The Marketing Guru,” but that’s not important right now.) He tells me search engine facts like: “Your site has had X number of hits today.” This information totally makes me feel cool, although I’m a little puzzled by how ...
Moros y Cristianos Recipe
Moros y Cristianos Recipe Family Reunion My family, like so many others, felt compelled to leave Cuba in the early years of the revolution. I was five years old when we left everything we knew. We left behind our home and our possessions, but saddest of all, our extended family. These are the people I share my earliest memories with. There were ...
A Very Cuban Picnic – “en cajita”
Summer and outdoor living just go hand in hand, don't they? It seems that since the weather has warmed up we are spending much more of our time outdoors. Sometimes that just means serving dinner out on the patio, but often it means packing a picnic and enjoying it somewhere... out there. Because we live in Southern California, one of my very ...
The Lazy Cuban Girl’s Guide To Gardening
My first disclaimer is that if you happen to know any Cuban girls, you know for a fact that we don't tend to be lazy in any meaningful way. Second disclaimer - this post is about my own personal gardening choices and no one else's. Now that we've established that I'm the only Lazy Cuban Girl here, let's continue, shall we? I love color in my ...
A Hunk, A Hunk of Burning YES!
Is there anything better than a live show? The answer to that, of course, is "no, Marta, nothing better." (Except for maybe a fresh, hot pastelito de guayaba, but that's not important right now.) Eric and and I went to see the BEST show at the Laguna Playhouse last night. Loosely based on Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, All Shook Up (book by Joe ...
Starting Small and Dreaming Big
The new grandson, Sebastian (call him "Bash"), has us all nutty in the best possible way. I seriously cannot get enough of holding him and just staring. And as I do, I'm aware of how quickly time is going by. People, he's already a month old! Maybe it's because I have this guy in such close proximity that I'm barely aware of how much he's grown ...
Meet The Baby Bash – it’s a Party!
My newest grandson, Sebastian (we call him Bash) was born a month ago. During the months leading up to his birth my life got a little crazy-busy and I couldn't see myself organizing a baby shower for Amy. I know. Mom fail. But, in my defense, we did get everything she needed for her first few weeks including a rocking chair, diapers, and receiving ...
