I was willing. Really I was.A houseful of people to cook for?Count me in!But, it wasn't meant to be."Mom, can we just order pizza?"ORDER PIZZA??Blasphemy!Of course not. If you must have pizza, I will make homemade pizzas for a dozen people. Cheese, pepperoni, mushroom & onion, garlic, tomato & basil. And serve sugary drinks.And ...
Food and Drink
Salsa Fresca Recipe: And now for something completely different…
I don't dare post pictures of what I have been up to in the kitchen anymore without posting the recipe. (I get emails...) I know I usually post about Cuban food, but I wanted to share one of my family's favorite foods with a Mexican influence. Believe it. My family moved to California in 1964. My oldest sister was pregnant with the first ...
Salon Hair and Rum
There are certain rules that I live by as a Cuban woman.One very important one is that if I spend a Saturday morning at the Hair Salon (thanks, Kate!), I will not be cooking for anyone on Saturday night. And in fact, Husband should be prepared to actually take me out on a date. Seriously, Salon Hair should NOT be wasted. He's been ...
“Thank you, Mrs. Darby!”
They've been ringing my doorbell all afternoon. I guess I'm just a sucker for their sweet gap-toothed smiles. And those cute little brown vests. And there are about a dozen of them on my street. And Eric really loves those Thin Mints. ;-) (if this keeps up, I may be able to construct a rudimentary barricade out of GS cookie boxes...) ...
93 bottles of beer on the wall…
You would think that a birthday celebration for a 93 year old would be a little tame.Not when my mom is involved. Lots of food. Lots of people. A regular cake? Not for Luz .... "panetela borracha" - translates to "drunken cake." (the key is to make it with sweet vermouth instead of rum - gives it just the right flavor, but ...
“Fin de semana” – An alliteration.
My big, FAT, Cuban weekend: It began on Friday. With fifteen people. And our lovely French friends. And small fry in the house. We had a feast. Then the family arrived. With more food. And fresh flowers everywhere. And of course, lots of CaFEcito. Que Felicidad! It just doesn't get any better than this. =D ...
Desperate times call for desperate measures
I made pastelitos de guayaba. (guava pastries) I had to. It has been about 6 weeks (6 weeks, people!!) since we've had them.(since our road trip to Porto's in Glendale - see album to the left) And I would have to travel through quite a few area codes to get good ones.So I broke down and baked. And being a bit greedy for guava, I think I put too ...
Salud!
I don't know anyone who truly likes egg nog.And then they try our Cuban Egg Nog and all perception changes. We call it Creme de Vie. ("creme" rhymes with Auntie M. and "vie" rhymes with More For Me! =D) Rather than making cookies for gifts, we make and "package" the Creme de Vie. (we also keep a whole lot for ...
It shouldn’t be food – a rant.
Yesterday I was in the grocery store with Lucy and we happened to cruise down the Asian food aisle. We stopped and took notice. They have shrimp chips!Did you catch that? SHRIMP! CHIPS! Not to mention some of the other brightly packaged and indigestible looking snacks catering to whoever it is that find this appealing or even ...
Japi Jalo Uin (Happy Halloween)
In October of 1961, having been in the states for about 8 months, we found out about the delicious custom of Halloween. At first there was the confusion of why we would be dressing up: "Is it like carnaval? Is there a parade we get to ride in?" ("Pardon me..... but your Caribbean roots are showing.") It was exactly like a Jerry Seinfeld ...
