There are things I like and there are things I love. (I'm not talking about the obvious, like husband and kids and grandsons.) Right now there are a few things in my life that have I more than love. Truthfully, I'm a little obsessed with them. I know you'll appreciate these as much as I do, because you have excellent ...
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The Bench
I promised to regale you with the stories that are missing from the last year. And as you know, I like to give you backstory. Let's start with this one... When Lucy and Jonathan were in first and fourth grades we began homeschooling in earnest. One of the first projects we tackled was digging up a cutesy portion of the back yard so we could plant ...
19 Stories I’m Excited to Tell
As I dip my toe back into the world of OverSharing, I have some Really Big Thoughts, but that’s not important right now. It all began the other day when I was talking to Lucy and she began filming my frustration without my knowledge. She basically inspired me to go ahead and fearlessly write about my own extraordinarily ordinary life. Don't ...
My Big Fat Cuban Cooking Playlist
As we head into the holidays, we are marking the beginning of what my dad used to call The Gran Comelatas. There's going to be lots of eating which means there's going to be lots of cooking. Lots and lots of cooking. And eating. And so on, and so on... I don't know about you, but there's nothing that makes me happier in the kitchen than some ...
El Flan de La Reina Recipe
Cuban Flan Recipe de La Reina My mom calls herself La Reina del Flan (which would make me the Reigning Princess of Egg Custard, but that’s not important right now). On Christmas Eve, we sometimes have other desserts along with it, but in my big, fat, Cuban family, my mom’s flan is a given. I have a ritual I go through every Christmas with her. ...
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 ...
8 Rules to Getting Your House Cuban Clean®
I wrote the following after years of struggle, not with dirt or cleanliness, but with guilt that my house was never clean enough. I hope it proves cathartic for those of you raised in homes where Cuban Clean® was a thing. Also, this is NOT a sponsored post. This is The World According to Marta. This is the time of year when you throw open all the ...
10 Cuban Superstitions That Helped You Survive
I've been writing this blog since 2006. That's 9 years of (over)sharing about my big, fat, Cuban family and our sometimes nutty life. Growing up Cuban brings with it its own set of rules and many shared experiences. We have certain products that we are compelled to use and behavior which we don't quite think is odd, because...Cuban. For example, ...
Cuban Bruschetta. Believe it.
I know what you're thinking. You saw the title of this post and you said out loud, "There's no such thing as Cuban Bruschetta." That's also what my mom said. (But then she's a Cuban Mother and it's part of her job description to argue recreationally, but that's not important right now.) Lucy (who is the Bruschetta Expert of the family) asked, ...
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 ...
