The Smell of Home - Gaviña Coffee Basket Giveaway

I remember being about 5 years old when I really took notice that my family brewed coffee a dozen times a day. It was almost a Sacred Ritual. This also happened, I took note, in every single Cuban home I had ever entered.

The daily brewing of the perfect Cuban cafecito is something that happens repeatedly throughout the day in Cuban households and ventanitas everywhere ("little windows" - these are mostly found in Miami, but that's not important right now).

I think one of my very first sensory memories has to do with the fragrance of a beautifully brewed, hot, sweet espresso. The aroma is something that evokes warmth and family and men in guayaberas and women in crisp aprons and lots of loud talking. The smell of home.

A few weeks ago I announced that My Big, Fat, Cuban Family had partnered with Gaviña Gourmet Coffee. I'm so pleased that they are my newest sponsor.

In light of this wonderful parnership, I think we need to celebrate, don't you?

And what better way to celebrate than to do a giveaway of a Basket of Coffee Awesomeness from Gaviña? Can I just tell you that my morning cafecito tastes sooo much better when drunk from one of these adorable Cafe La Llave tacitas. It does. I promise.

The Cafe La Llave Cuban Coffee Basket consists of the following:

• 2- 10oz. Cafe La Llave espresso bricks
• 1- 8.8oz. Cafe La Llave decaf. espresso brick
• 4- 1.75oz. Cafe La Llave espresso samples
• 4- "tacitas" - demitasse cups and saucers

1) To enter this drawing for this beautiful Cafe La Llave Cuban Coffee Basket, please leave a comment on this post and answer one or both of the following questions:

• Do you remember the first time you had a perfectly brewed espresso?
  
• Or is this a taste you acquired later in life? Tell me.
  

Please leave your comment on this post and I'll choose a winner on Friday, March 28th, 2014 at 11am PST.

2) For an extra entry, please go "like" Cafe La Llave on Facebook and come back and leave me another comment telling me:  

• "I like Cafe La Llave!"

So that's not one, but two entries. De nada.

If you want even more coffee awesomeness, please click on the sponsored La Llave Coffee link to the right and be sure to enter Cuban20 at checkout for 20% off Cafe La Llave.

Also, please let them know that Marta from My Big, Fat, Cuban Family sent you. It doesn't make any difference to how I choose the winner. I just want them to know you are reading about it here, but that's not important right now.

Marta's Christmas Gift Guide #2 - It's all about the image

As long and as far back as I can remember, everyone in my family has had an old school "cafetera" sitting on the stove. There might have been a few years (waaay back in the day) where my parents used a sock-thingy to make Cuban coffee. But for the most part, the stovetop cafetera has always been the must-have Cuban coffee making device.

And so, whenever I see this very familiar image of a stovetop Cuban cafetera it makes me totally happy. And makes me want whatever I find with a cafetera on it. (Shut up. I know.)

I do all my Christmas shopping online. All of it. It makes total sense for me in all my busy-ness, plus the stuff gets delivered to my door, all that's left for me to do is to wrap and tag. And voilá I'm done with Christmas shopping. Win-win.

Today I want to share some of the very cool online I-love-my-Cuban-cafetera finds with you.

From the super fun ChiChi and Flaco shop comes the Cafe con Leche! tshirt:

I love the clean simplicity of the design. 

From the very prolific and talented Cuban artist, Tony Mendoza, one of his most fun Fine Art Reproductions, Cuban-American:

I have been coveting this charm for my Pandora Charm Bracelet for ages. (Thinly veiled hint to whoever happens to be buying me something for Christmas, but that's not important right now.) From Santayana Jewelers in South Florida, the Cafetera bead charm:

My very artistic friend, Maria Soto Robbins has the most beautiful stuff. This one is a pin with her original art called Cuban Coffee and Lime. I am completely in love with it! You can also get her Cuban Coffee and Lime print at Fine Art America. 

And from the muy loco geniuses at Latin Laundry, comes the Artudito tshirt for the Cuban Star Wars lovers.

Me? I'm going to have another colada so I can get my second wind for wrapping all the fabulousness I just purchased.

P.S. You're welcome.  ;-)

The Sandwich Generation - A Rant, a Classic Cuban Sandwich Recipe, and a Giveaway

The term, "sandwich generation" is used to describe those adults who are caring for aging parents while still actively parenting their kids. 

While I'm grateful that my sisters and I share the load of caring for my 97 year old mom, Luza, I still feel the push-pull of having teenagers in the house and helping my mom with her needs. 

Jonathan is a sophomore in high school and even though I'm not his primary teacher, I'm still overseeing much of his schoolwork and am still very present in his life. He does not yet drive and so I'm also schlepping him around from event to event. But I still get phone calls from my mom when she needs bananas or bread or because her prescription ran out. 

And so I feel squished at times between his needs and her wants and sometimes there doesn't seem to be enough hours in my day. 

I'm ashamed to admit that I sometimes feel sorry for myself. What about me? I wonder. What about what I want? I don't say it out loud, of course, but I sure think it enough. (I'll deny it if you tell anybody, but that's not important right now.)

I guess if my life is to be defined by being sandwiched between two generations, I'm grateful it's a Cuban Sandwich. ;-)

Speaking of Cuban Sandwiches, you know there are rules to what you put in a Classic Cuban, right?

 Classic Cuban Sandwich Recipe

• Long loaf of bread (preferably Cuban, but French will do.)
• Softened butter (to spread on the outside of the bread)
• Yellow mustard
• Swiss cheese
• Dill pickles (Clausen Bread and Butter Sandwich Pickles make all the difference here)
• Roast Pork
• Sliced Ham

1) Coat the bread lightly with mustard.
2) Make the sandwich with the ingredients in this order: Swiss cheese, pickles, roast pork, and sliced ham.
3) Butter the bread on the outside.
4) Grill. A sandwich press is ideal for this.

The goal is to get the sandwich nice and toasty and melt the cheese.

Serve hot, with an ice cold Materva and some authentic Cuban plantain chips.

Follow with a sweet, hot cafesito (with KILLER Espuma^®, of course).

Like so.....

Of course, to make the perfect Cuban sandwich, you definitely need a Cuban sandwich maker.  I'd like to thank the kind folks at IMUSA USA who are generously sponsoring today's giveaway:

A beautiful sandwich maker (A Plancha!) and a Cuban coffee maker. Soo classically Cuban, right?

To enter the drawing for a chance to win both the sandwich maker and the coffee maker, please leave a comment on this post and answer one or both of the following questions:

• Are you part of the Sandwich Generation? Tell me.
• What goes into a Classic Cuban Sandwich?
• What's your favorite sandwich?

I'll do a random drawing on Sunday, October 30th at 5 pm Pacific Time.