December 08, 2012

Nochebuena is coming and everyone's invited!

December 08, 2012/ Marta M. Darby

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 a fabulous time to celebrate with family and friends. We always celebrate on December 24th. Always.

And everyone who is invited knows this, and yet...an invitation is always sent.

Always.

For some of my past Nochebuena invitation designs: Click here.

This year, I decided to step it up a notch and make the invitation a cheerful one. I made labels and pasted them on bottles of Martinelli's. Frankly, I was quite pleased with myself.

Here's the label. It says:

Please join us for some Christmas Cheer and Cucufate at the Darby Home. 6:00 pm. Nochebuena, Monday, December 24th, 2012

I handed them out at Thanksgiving and mailed just the above postcard to those who were not present that day. I'm kind of pleased with myself.

If you got an invitation to a party attached to a bottle of sparkling cider, wouldn't you make it a point to get there?

Yeah, me too. ;-)

December 23, 2011

The Dark Christmas Tree

December 23, 2011/ Marta M. Darby

It's December the 24th and my Christmas tree is finally up. But there are no ornaments on it.

My friends tease me because I don't like to decorate my home for Christmas very early in the month of December. In the Christmases of my youth, we would always wait until Christmas eve to decorate the tree. There's nothing like feeling the season when you're hanging ornaments, listening to carols, sipping creme de vie and smelling the intoxicating smell of the pork roasting all day in all of the garlicky goodness that is our Cuban Nochebuena.

So I like to wait. It's not that I don't love Christmas. I totally do. I love everything about it.

And it's not like I haven't been busy. I finished all my shopping by the first week of December (thank you, Cyber Monday).

We (by "we," I mean Lucy) have made vats of creme de vie. It's all been bottled and tagged and delivered to our friends. This includes my dearest Desi Arnaz Jr. (see photo below). *sigh*

(I'm kind of in love with my tags this year, but that's not important right now.)

This past week I have been busy hanging our Christmas stockings, by the chimney with care, of course. ;-)

I have already given my girls their traditional matching Christmas PJs.

This week I also stocked my hutch with my favorite Christmas dishes.

We (again, by "we," I mean Lucy) have made countless Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies. (That also means we have eaten countless Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies, but that's not important right now.)

I edited and packaged our annual Christmas video and a family keepsake photo album of the highlights of everyone's year. They are all wrapped, tagged, and ready to give to the rest of the family tonight at our annual Nochebuena celebration.

The kids made our annual run to Porto's already this morning. (25 tamales, 25 croquetas de jamón, 25 pastelitos de guayaba, 25 pastelitos de coco, 25 pastelitos de guayaba y queso, 4 loaves of Cuban bread, a dozen papas rellenas, and some steak sandwiches to get us through the day. =D)

But it's already noon on Christmas Eve, and my Christmas tree is still not decorated. And I'm okay with that.

Let me explain. My son, Adam, just got home today. Happily, he'll be with us for the rest of the week. He arrived on the o-dark-hundred flight from San Francisco and barely slept last night. He's here and napping now.

He was so looking forward to coming home for Christmas and he wouldn't be putting up a Christmas tree in his world. And so, I am completely content to wait with that dark tree in my living room.

When Adam wakes up from his nap, we will hang the ornaments, listen to Christmas Carols, sip some creme de vie, and enjoy the intoxicating smell of the garlicky goodness that is our Cuban Nochebuena.

I'll be reminded of the Christmases of my childhood and we will have made a memory. Isn't that what Christmas is all about?

Feliz Navidad, my friends!

December 27, 2010

Nochebuena. Cubans. Photo Booth. (Pachanga!)

December 27, 2010/ Marta M. Darby

My home, as I've told you before, is freakishly small cottage-like.

Accomodating my big, fat, Cuban family for Nochebuena takes quite a bit of planning and hard work and a little bit of creativity. Actually, a LOT of creativity.

My family is full of extroverted, noisy people. (Hello? Cubans!) They are easy conversationalists and will most always cooperate with whatever creative suggestions get thrown their way. (This quality is what makes our yearly Christmas videos so compelling.)

But to be honest, hosting a big party like this in our freakishly small cottage-like home requires that we also do some "crowd control." (AKA: have some activities planned.)

This year, we had a Photo Booth. (I know. Genius, right?) I'd gotten the idea from a few blog events I've attended this year. The Photo Booths were always a hit.

Me to my (very creative) kids: "We need to do a Photo Booth for Nochebuena."

Lucy: "Let's ask Mr. G (our favorite professional photographer and awesome neighbor) for help."

Our Awesome Professional Photographer Neighbor, Raphael, let us borrow a backdrop and a remote flash and lights and the whole set-up for The Great Nochebuena Photo Booth of 2010.

We moved all the furniture out of the way in Jonathan's room and voila! Instant Photo Booth!

I wanted to make sure that everyone had their photos taken with my mom, Luza.

And that each family would be well represented.

I insisted that the couples jump in.

"Yes, of course you can bring the dog."

I suggested generational pictures.

And Lucy had the great eye for the crazy kid pics. (Do not miss Ben's Clip-on Tie of Awesomeness.)

We made sure to get the parents with each individual child. (This is probably because of some deep, psychological wounding I received because I was the youngest and there are no pictures of just me with my parents, but that's really a conversation I'll have to save for my therapist.)

And of course, there were the siblings.

And my men. (Missed you, Adam!)

The cousins got a little crazy.

And of course, we had to take the Classic Sister Picture of 2010. (Suitable for framing, no?)

Some of the photos were out of focus and a little goofy.....which made them absolutely Picture Perfect.

Yes, that's me. Right up front. With the smug self-satisfied grin on my face. (And gift wrapping ribbon in my hair, but that's not important right now.) =D

December 22, 2010

Cheaters Lechón Asado (don't judge me.)

December 22, 2010/ Marta M. Darby

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, after all, self-respecting Cubans. Going without lechón on Nochebuena is not an option.

It just means we'll cheat a little. ;-)

Super Garlicky Lechón Asado (In the crockpot. I know. Shut up.)

2 Tbsp. Olive oil
1 1/2 lbs. Pork loin chops – the big, thick ones
2 cups Mojo Criollo*
1 white onion – sliced into rings
1 tsp. Parsley

Stab each of the chops two or three times and brown them quickly in the olive oil.
Put them in a crockpot. Cover with the mojo and the onion slices and sprinkle with parsley.
Cook on high for 4-5 hours. Or on low for 6-8 hours.
For added Cuban tastiness: Double the Mojo recipe and after the pork is cooked, pull it apart just a bit - it should be very tender - then, move it into a roasting pan.
Pour mojo over the pork and bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

Serve with black beans and white rice.

*Mojo Criollo
You can use the mojo that comes in a bottle, or make your own.
Here’s my recipe.