I was feeling a little sorry for myself because Mother's Day is coming and half of my kids are scattered all over the map. See this story. For us Cubans, as is true for most Hispanic cultures, Mother's Day is like a High Holy Day. Am I right? Either way, I was still going to celebrate with the 2 that are still here and of course, ...
Celebrate
I'm Cuban. I throw lots of parties. You shouldn't be surprised.
SALE! Get Mami a Cuban Food Poster For Mother’s Day
I first want to thank all of you who have supported my Cuban food poster. I love every time one of you sends me a photo of your framed poster and when you tell me how much you're enjoying it. It makes me feel like I'm right in your kitchen with you. (Not in a weird way, of course.)I've been hearing from many of you that the 16 x 20 ...
A Red Letter Day
In looking to review the things I have not blogged about, particularly parties from this year, I came across the photos we took last year at Christmas. And in keeping with my theme of Oversharing About My Parties Week, and since it's December, I thought I'd actually share some holiday party stuff from last year. (Because I'm usually ...
Celebrating Gratitude
In my family of origin we have the custom of always sending out invitations to events that people already know about and are coming to anyway. Welcome to our own special brand of crazy. Thanksgiving is always on the 4th Thursday of November. My sisters and I are pretty much in constant discussion for weeks ahead of the party. Who will bring what? ...
Arroz con Maiz Recipe – An Original Thanksgiving Side Dish Cuban-style
Thanksgiving with my big, fat, Cuban family is usually a very typical American feast. But because my family has so many amazing cooks, we're often trying new recipes and sometimes we like to put a spin on some old classics. Our turkeys have run the gamut from deep-fried to classically oven-baked to (my favorite) the Guavalicious ...
The Best Graduation Party of The Year
My son, Jonathan, graduated from high school a few weeks ago. As I've done with each one of my four kids, I asked what type of celebration he'd enjoy. The four of them have asked for completely different types of parties and I have tried my best to comply. in 2001, Amy wanted an All-Cuban theme, with all the family and her friends, ...
Hospitality 101
Yesterday (Mother's Day) morning, I came downstairs and found this:I'm glad they opted for the sit-down-in-the-dining-room breakfast because I'm so not the breakfast-in-bed type. Happily, my children learned this about me many, many Mother's Days ago. Don't get me wrong, I love breakfast. It's The Most Important ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
