Disclaimer: This post contains an inordinate amount of selfie-type photos of me. Forgive me. I was so over-the-top excited about this night and being where I was and meeting who I met. It's a Cuban thing. Imagine a stadium full of Cubans, all noisy and celebrating and munching on Dodger dogs. Picture them stopping to do the mandatory ...
Andy Garcia
The Versailles Restaurant Cookbook – A Giveaway
I can't, in good conscience, end Hispanic Heritage Month without talking about my love of Cuban food and sharing a wonderful new Cuban cookbook. Obviously I'm a lover of all-things-Cuban. Particularly the food that so defines our culture. Platanos, black beans, tostones, lechón asado, picadillo, and of course, pastelitos de guayaba. ...
Cubamerican the Movie on DVD – Giveaway
I so love celebrating Cuban (!) Hispanic Heritage Month with you guys because... Our stories need to be told. Cubans are amazing people. Speaking of great "Cuando sali de Cuba" stories, I know many of you have already seen the documentary, Cubamerican. If you haven't yet, you will be amazed at how beautifully and poignantly it ...
The Best of MBFCF in 2013
I'm looking at my calendar and it's already the 8th day of 2014. I was planning on taking a few days off at the beginning of the year and wow, did they go by quickly! Come to think of it, 2013 feels like it went by pretty quickly also. Is it just me, or is this one of those things people tend to repeat a lot as they get old? Shut up. ...
Ahora Si!
*The title of this post, "Ahora si." translates literally to "Now yes!" It's an idiom we Cubans like to use when something is REALLY happening. As in "this is really going down right now." It's also the title of a song sung by Andy Garcia and the Cineson All Stars, but that's not important right ...
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 ...
The Cocoon
Eric found the cocoon on May 27th. We had never seen anything like it before. It looked to me like a jade earring with perfect gold flecks. It looked so, so surreal. "What is that?" We quickly asked Señor Google better known around here as Cuco. =D A Monarch. Shut. UP! It took a few weeks for the thing to begin to turn transparent and ...
Abre que voy!
I'm having one of those accidentally cool things happening that happens to me occasionally because I live in a fun bloggy world. I am traveling to Miami for Blogalicious Weekend 2010. Celebrating Diversity in Social Media. (The words celebrating and social seem like they describe me perfectly. Am I right?) My trip is being sponsored in full by ...
Ready to Roll
My 96 year old mom, Luza, has been glued to her tv watching the coverage of all the Cubans marching in solidarity with the Damas de Blanco. (See Amy's post below.) I have so many posts that begin, "my mom will be with us this weekend...." Well, this is one of those weekends. In preparation, I called her the other day and she told ...
Speaking of Cuban Dissidents . . .
The following post was written by Kikita. My whole life I've grown up hearing the songs about how beautiful Cuba is. I've seen the paintings. I know Cuba is beautiful. I've always known. "Pearl of the Antilles" "La Reina de la Mar Caribe" "Cuba Linda de mi vida" Despite constantly hearing it growing up, ...
The Best of MBFCF in 2009
Everywhere you hear about and see the flashbacks, the nostalgia, the reminiscing about the past year. Well, today I look back on this blogging year and some of my favorite posts. (Yes, I do have favorite posts and lots of others that make me wring my hands and wonder why I do this in the first place, but that's not important right ...
Magical Summer Moments
Sunday, September 6, 1970. My very first concert. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. Their opening act was Little Stevie Wonder who had just had a big hit with "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." This was my very first concert. I found the ticket tucked away in my high school photo album. Thirty-nine years ago ...
Como Su Ritmo No Hay Dos or What Cuban Music Heaven Looks Like
We live about an hour south of Los Angeles. (That's how you calculate distances here in Southern California; by how long it takes you in traffic to get from one place to another.) This is a wonderful thing because that means that we can go see shows in L.A. but not have to live there. See what I mean? Win-win. ;-) And when summer begins the ...
I’m a fool. *sigh*
I know it's been a while since I've written anything, but I trust my first-born kept you entertained while I was gone. (thanks, Amy Kikita!) I have so much to tell you that I don't know where to start.... Okay, so my husband Eric had to go to Las Vegas to work. And because I can be opportunistic sometimes (=D) I invited myself ...
The Obsession Continues . . .
Kikita here. I'm sure you are wondering why I've hijacked the blog so consistently this week . . . well, the first reason is because I've done so many cool things . . . Helloooo Andy! But the other reason is that Mami went to Vegas this weekend so she was busy getting ready for her mini-viaje. I'm sure that she will have some ...
Andy Garcia is a golden god.
First, I'd like to apologize for waiting over 24 hours to post, but once you hear my excuse, I'm sure you will forgive me. This is Kikita and peer pressure still works on me. :-) A few days ago, I received and email from our blogging buddy Ziva (from Blog for Cuba - a wonderful blog and an amazing woman, but that's not important ...
