It's not often that the entire family has the same craving at the very same time, but occasionally it happens.The dinner conversation started innocently enough. "Best dessert you've ever had. Go!""Mom's Chocolate Mousse.""The triple layer chocolate cake from the Daily Grill.""Lemon bars.""Pastelitos de guayaba. Duh.""No. Wait! Remember the warm ...
Guayaberas and Cubanity
{Disclosure: I received the shirts as described below in order to review them. I did not otherwise receive any compensation for writing this post.} A "guayabera," for the uninformed, is a beautiful linen shirt with two stripes of tiny pin-tucks and four large pockets. It has decorative buttons and a straight bottom as it was designed to ...
The Best of MBFCF in 2013
I'm looking at my calendar and it's already the 8th day of 2014. I was planning on taking a few days off at the beginning of the year and wow, did they go by quickly! Come to think of it, 2013 feels like it went by pretty quickly also. Is it just me, or is this one of those things people tend to repeat a lot as they get old? Shut up. ...
“Next Year in Cuba”
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 ...
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 ...
