We Cubans celebrate December the 24th. It's our BIG Christmas celebration with the extended family. And when I say celebrate, I mean we pull out all the stops. It's a PARTY. The meal is usually roast pork (lechón asado), white rice, black beans, plantains, yuca con mojo. And a great big flan (and assorted sweets) for dessert. It's ...
Cuban Christmas
Happy Dia de los Reyes!
Happy Dia de los Reyes. Day of the Three Kings. Day of the Magi. It's always so strange to try and explain some of our Cuban superstitions traditions. And yes, I know we've been exiled for 50 years now, but some traditions we still keep. Even if they are now mostly just as a nod to our heritage. Enter the Three Kings. Or the Three Wise ...
Everything I wished for…
Happy New Year, everyone! I know some of you are wondering what happened with the Dark Christmas Tree. Here's the story: My son, Adam flew in from the Bay Area at the crack of dawn, landing at around 7:30 AM on Christmas eve. Lucy and Jonathan went to pick him up at the airport while Eric and I finished up the last minute touches around ...
It’s Nochebuena! And everyone’s invited. Again.
My big, fat, Cuban family consists of pretty much the same people year after year. Except for the occasional birth, marriage, or divorce, I'm still related to the same people. It's still just "us." (Sometimes "us" can get to upwards of 40 people, but that's not important right now.) We Cubans have our BIG ...
Cheaters Lechón Asado (don’t judge me.)
It's raining like mad here in So Cal. And we live in The Bubble (aka. The O.C.). And Nochebuena falls on a Friday. And the men-folk are all working. What does this mean? It means that there will be no Cuban Caja China Pig Roasting for us. (*insert sad face here*) Of course, this does not mean that we won't have our lechóncito. We are, ...
“Making Christmas?” or “Resolviendo”?
Our home is small. You could say it's freakishly small, but I prefer to call it cottage-like. (That makes it sound so much cuter.) So hosting my big, fat, Cuban family for holidays is often a challenge. We have to move furniture around to make room for everyone. Can I just add right here that even though it's kind of a challenge, ...
Let the Noche Buena Preparations Begin!
It's time to get ready for Noche Buena at the Darbys! I wish you could all come. It's going to be such a fabulous event! We've been up to our eyeballs in party preparations and I'm totally excited. This year we are hosting my big, fat, Cuban family. And our house is small. Freakishly small when I think of the logistics ...
