Hi all! It's a special Monday, Pre-Thanksgiving Edition of Marta's Cuban American Kitchen. I have been trying, without much success, to declare November "National Guava Month." Sadly, no one seems to take me seriously about this, but that's not important right now. So, I'm going to try again today. I, Marta, hereby declare November to be ...
Celebrate
I'm Cuban. I throw lots of parties. You shouldn't be surprised.
No “El Tri-co-tri” for you!
My mom calls. "Van a ir al tri-co-tri?" She's asking if the kids are going out and Trick or Treating. El Tri-co-tri. You have to say it phonetically, TREE-COH-TREE. It's what Trick or Treat sounds like with a Cuban accent. The "El" is just to make it grammatically correct. El Tri-co-tri. Noun. (Or verb?) The act of dressing up and begging for ...
Cuando Sali de Cuba – Lillian’s Story
Marta here. I started collecting stories from other Cuban Americans to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month. I realize now that our stories will take much longer than just a month to tell, so I'm expanding this series for as long as I have contributed stories to share. Thank you, my friends, for the privilege of letting me tell about your ...
Cuando Sali de Cuba – Jorge’s Story
Marta here: Welcome to my ongoing celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month: Cuban-Style with a series of stories about Cuban American families and how they ended up here in the U.S.:Cuando Sali de Cuba, stories of courage and hope. Today I want to introduce you to my friend, Jorge Carmona. He is one of the Cuban masterminds behind Dos Cubanos Pig ...
Cuando salí de Cuba – Christina’s story
Marta here: I'm celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Cuban-Style with a series of stories about Cuban American families: Cuando Sali de Cuba, stories of courage and hope. This one is from my friend and fellow blogger, Christina Gomez-Pina. Inspired by the book/film Julie & Julia, she has embarked on her own Project: to celebrate ...
Almost 50 years.
My dad passed away on December 11th, 1999. He and my mom would have celebrated their 60th anniversary just 3 weeks later on December 31st. To this day, when asked how long they were married, my mom will always answer, "Casi 60 años." Translation: "Almost 60 years." It's as if she feels like she's lying to just say 60 ...
The “Pamagranate”
I love edible gifts. I do. Lucky for me, I have lots of friends and family who bake many wonderful things at Christmastime. My friend, Debbie makes the most delicious and beautiful pizelle (Italian waffle) cookies as gifts. Eric's grandmother makes incredible peanut butter balls. And we can always count on Eric's Aunt Rita for her famous ...
Nochebuena. Cubans. Photo Booth. (Pachanga!)
My home, as I've told you before, is freakishly small cottage-like. Accomodating my big, fat, Cuban family for Nochebuena takes quite a bit of planning and hard work and a little bit of creativity. Actually, a LOT of creativity. My family is full of extroverted, noisy people. (Hello? Cubans!) They are easy conversationalists and will most ...
Welcome, Christmas!
The tables are already set. The smell of roast pork is intoxicating. The gifts are wrapped and tagged. The creme de vie is already flowing. The girls made a run to Porto's Bakery this morning for some REAL CUBAN BREAD (Thank you, God!), croquetas, pastelitos and Cuban tamales. We are ready for Nochebuena. Everyone is working hard around here, ...
Cheaters Lechón Asado (don’t judge me.)
It's raining like mad here in So Cal. And we live in The Bubble (aka. The O.C.). And Nochebuena falls on a Friday. And the men-folk are all working. What does this mean? It means that there will be no Cuban Caja China Pig Roasting for us. (*insert sad face here*) Of course, this does not mean that we won't have our lechóncito. We are, ...
