My kids are generally pretty nice to each other. Of course, there are the occasional sibling fights that crop up when someone's in a foul mood or has had a bad day and chooses to take it out on those closest to them. For the most part, they get along great and are friends. The exception being that the older ones would take advantage of the ...
Friends
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 ...
The Summer House
My friend, Jana blogs over at The Summer House. It's called the Summer House because she loves the simplicity of living in a summer beach rental-type atmosphere where everything is clean, decluttered, and ready for fun. She lives out her philosophy of simple living beautifully. And I'm always impressed and inspired by ...
This Girl
I fell in love with this girl the moment I first laid eyes on her. It was August 11, 1993. Today is the 18th Anniversary of the Beginning of the Love Affair.Her good friends, Brandon and David made the following film in her honor, with a little help from her brother, Jonathan and a few willing strangers. Get some popcorn.And let the ...
Famous Last Bites: A Cautionary Tale
Marta here. It's summer and the Orange County Fair is in full swing here in our little corner of the world. My Lucy went with her friends, her camera, and her appetite. What follows is her account of the crap unfortunate food choices available to her. CAUTION: Not for the squeamish. - - - I’ve tasted regret. And it’s ...
Cooking With the Troops or Meet Team Cubanaso
I have spent the last three days thinking about what I want to say about our experience in San Antonio and Cooking With the Troops. My family has talked and talked and rehashed almost every detail of our weekend, multiple times. And I'm still at a loss for words to describe all that we experienced. I'm just going to post lots of photos ...
Happy 40th Birthday, Versailles! (An homage and a giveaway.)
“I need a blurb from you about Versailles.” This request came from my friend (the amazing Cuban chef and cookbook author) Ana Quincoces. She was working on a TOP SECRET project and thought I might have something to say about my favorite Cuban restaurant in Miami. Me: “Tell me what you're doing, so I can put it in context.” That's when she ...
Marta’s Birthday Month®
I know. Everyone else celebrates their birthDAY. And some clever folks even celebrate Birthday Week, which I did, too, until I said to myself, "Self, we should try to see if we can drag out this birthday celebration stuff for the entire month of May." No, I don't really talk to myself that way....or maybe I do, but that's not ...
Lighting the Menorah and Spinning the Dreidel
One of my favorite things about the holiday season is the parties and celebrating with friends. What's different is that not all of our friends do Christmas Trees and Nochebuena. Tonight, my son will be wearing a yarmulke and my daughter will help light the menorah.There will be a wonderful matzoh-ball soup made by a Genuine Jewish ...
El Palacio and me. (It was love at first sight.)
I've been home for a week now and I'm still processing all the wonderful things I got to do and experience in Miami. I'll be writing about the trip little by little as I sort through my stuff and check my mental rolodex to remind myself of the stories I want to tell. This particular one, I videotaped. (I know! Shut up!) I'm ...
