“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 ...
books
Celebrating Abuela
I never knew my grandparents. We left Cuba when I was so very young that I barely remember my grandmothers. I think my dad's parents had already passed away by the time I was born. And I have just the few mental snapshots that a five year old can retain of my mom's mother. Here's a beautiful old photo of her, my maternal grandmother, ...
Sabor! Cuban Cookbook – A Hot Giveaway
My beautiful friend, Ana Quincoces, has authored an equally beautiful Cuban cookbook. (I say equally, only because the pages are filled with fabulous photos of both her and her food, and I can't think of which is more gorgeous, but that's not important right now.) Just recently, Ana was voted Miami's Hottest Chef over on Eater ...
Cookbook Giveaway – Winner!
I've decided that what I love best about doing a giveaway, besides actually giving cool stuff away (duh) is reading your stories. Those tidbits of your lives that you share with me in the comments is like gold. If you just leave a comment and run (thank you, for commenting!), that's fine. But if you have a moment, please go back and read ...
Chipper Chicken Recipe and a Giveaway
My mom taught us girls how to cook when we were very young. During the summers, when my sisters and I were out of school, she devised a rotating system of teaching us Homemaking, the Cuban Way. My older sisters were already married and gone, but the three of us younger ones, Miriam, Alina and myself still needed to be groomed to be Perfect Cuban ...
Blog Talk
As far back as I can remember I have kept a journal or a diary of some sort. In the years before blogging, I would faithfully recap the mundane events of my uneventful life, my hopes, my fears, and maybe a little wishful thinking. Because my personal journals were never intended for public consumption, I felt free to write whatever I felt without ...
Stuffed French Toast, Cuban Style – A Love Story and A Giveaway
Breakfast is my very favorite meal. There. I said it. I love eggs and bacon and toast and orange juice and anything with maple syrup on it. I love my hot coffee. And I love crispy sausage. Dutch babies? Love them. And don't even get me started on my love for hash browns and homestyle potatoes! In fact, if left to my own devices, I would find ...
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Thank you all for your wonderful response to the post about Christina Diaz Gonzalez's book, The Red Umbrella. I received lots of emails and Facebook and Twitter comments. I was struck by a couple of things, which I had already suspected:Most Cubans knew about the Pedro Pans, but unless they had read Yvonne Conde's excellent book, ...
The Red Umbrella – a giveaway.
There is an episode in Cuban history that not many people outside of our community are aware of . When Castro and his cronies took power, not only was personal property at risk of being confiscated by the new communist government, but parents were going to lose their rights over their own children. Desperate and terrified Cuban parents made ...
Reading in the 21st Century – A Very Cool Giveaway
We are voracious readers in our family. Seriously voracious. As I write this, four out of five of the people living in this house right now have a book in hand. I am personally in love with the Kindle for iPhone app, but that's not important right now. So I was delighted when the makers of the new V.Reader for kids by VTech asked if I would ...
