Happy Dia de los Reyes. Day of the Three Kings. Day of the Magi. It's always so strange to try and explain some of our Cuban superstitions traditions. And yes, I know we've been exiled for 50 years now, but some traditions we still keep. Even if they are now mostly just as a nod to our heritage. Enter the Three Kings. Or the Three Wise ...
Everything I wished for…
Happy New Year, everyone! I know some of you are wondering what happened with the Dark Christmas Tree. Here's the story: My son, Adam flew in from the Bay Area at the crack of dawn, landing at around 7:30 AM on Christmas eve. Lucy and Jonathan went to pick him up at the airport while Eric and I finished up the last minute touches around ...
Just Jon
I was hoping to have something profound to say about my youngest son, Jonathan turning 16 today. I wanted to compare and contrast the kid he was,to the man he's become.I wanted to write about what a decent person he's grown up to be. I wanted to tell you about the many qualities that he's developed that make him a great guy. ...
The Dark Christmas Tree
It's December the 24th and my Christmas tree is finally up. But there are no ornaments on it. My friends tease me because I don't like to decorate my home for Christmas very early in the month of December. In the Christmases of my youth, we would always wait until Christmas eve to decorate the tree. There's nothing like feeling the ...
12 Days of Cucufate
Every year at Christmastime, I make it a point to find a really fun live show to enjoy with my girls. It's one of our favorite traditions and it has become kind of a big thing. We start searching for shows and tickets early in the fall. And we fret and argue and try to choose a really fun show. This is what happened the year when Amy ...
The Great Christmas Card Challenge of 2011
I love the tradition of exchanging Christmas cards. I don't know if my parents ever sent out Christmas greetings, but I remember being 18 years old and buying my first pack of Christmas cards. My family had just moved to Orange County from the Los Angeles area where I had left all of my old friends. It was 1973 and I was still regularly ...
Lovers of Rice Unite! (A Winner)
I can't even tell you how happy I was to host this giveaway! Your comments made it obvious that you all love rice just as much as I do. I sincerely wish I could send you all something, but I can only choose one winner. *insert sad face here* I'm so happy to have partnered with IMUSA USA to bring you this wonderful giveaway. I've ...
For the Love of Rice. (A Cuban Christmas Giveaway)
As we're nearing the holiday countdown and making all the preparations, I'm all about making lists. I have a book with the following lists:My Christmas List My Crema de Vie Recipient List My Menu List My Grocery Shopping List My Stocking Stuffer List My Christmas Card List My Decorating List My Christmas Tag List (The to/from kind) My ...
Marta’s Christmas Gift Guide #2 – It’s all about the image
As long and as far back as I can remember, everyone in my family has had an old school "cafetera" sitting on the stove. There might have been a few years (waaay back in the day) where my parents used a sock-thingy to make Cuban coffee. But for the most part, the stovetop cafetera has always been the must-have Cuban coffee making ...
It’s Nochebuena! And everyone’s invited. Again.
My big, fat, Cuban family consists of pretty much the same people year after year. Except for the occasional birth, marriage, or divorce, I'm still related to the same people. It's still just "us." (Sometimes "us" can get to upwards of 40 people, but that's not important right now.) We Cubans have our BIG ...
