About Marta

Marta darby
Marta darby

Hola! My name is Marta Maria Darby, and I am passionate about telling stories.

Designer, blogger, Cuban cook, scrapbooker, photographer and mother of four, I wear many hats which may or may not include seasonal fruit (but that’s not important right now). I have been blogging for almost seven years - sharing my life, my culture, my family, and my recipes in my own Cuban-American style.

I tell the stories of my extraordinarily ordinary Cuban-American life. I believe in celebrating the “everyday.” Often. And well.

Some Background

I was born in Havana, Cuba. My family left the island on February 14th (Valentine's Day), 1961. All my family's memories of Cuba, B.C. (Before Castro) are happy ones. We still maintain many of our Cuban traditions and love all things Cuban, particularly the music and the food. I am the youngest of six. My parents, Luz and Rodolfo Verdés were married for 60 years. My family lived in Miami for the first three years of our exile. We then moved across the country and settled in California. My dad, Papi, passed away in December, 1999. But we have never lost our Cuban-ness. (<--Is that a word? If not, it totally should be.)

My big fat cuban family
My big fat cuban family

I live in Southern California with my husband, Eric in our cottage home with a white picket fence. I am mother to Amy-30, Adam-27, Lucy-20, and Jonathan-18, who were all born here in the U.S. They are extremely proud of their Cuban heritage.

Celebrating Cuban-American Life

This blog, My Big Fat Cuban Family, is a daily destination for hundreds of Cubans worldwide. Each day I get to weave stories and anecdotes about my very passionate and fabulous Cuban family and our delectable Cuban food. I get to celebrate the blending of my two defining cultures as I live life on the Cuban-American hyphen. I’m 100% Cuban and 100% American.

Marta’s Cuban American Kitchen was born online six years ago when I was invited to become a regular contributor to the popular Cuban blog, Babalú. I am pretty masterful (if I do say so myself) at taking the Cuban recipes that I grew up with and re-inventing them for today’s modern kitchen. (I also make a mean all-American apple pie, but that’s not important right now.)

In 2009, along with my online partner and friend, Carrie Ferguson Weir, I helped launch the popular Latina Cultural site, Tiki Tiki Blog. Many of my stories, recipes, and videos can be found populating those pages.

Ten Things You Should Know About Me (in no particular order)

  1. I’m passionate about “all things Cuban,” especially the food and the music.
  2. I talk with my hands.
  3. I always wear perfume and red lipstick.
  4. I’m fiercely loyal to those I love.
  5. I find humor in pretty much everything, and don’t take myself too seriously.
  6. I have homeschooled my kids for years and have a passion for learning and I read anything and everything I can get my hands on: Kindle, books, magazines, cereal boxes.
  7. I’m a Reagan Conservative and an Evangelical Christian.
  8. I’m a techie, especially loving anything with the Apple logo: Mac, iPad, iPhone.
  9. I am the family historian - a job I take very seriously, therefore I scrapbook.
  10. I take pictures. Every. Single. Day.

I Live A Lot of My Life Online

Social_icons
Social_icons

Email: mdarby@cox.net

Twitter: @Smrtqbn

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyBigFatCubanFamily

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/marta_m_darby/

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/smrtqbn

Instagram: http://instagram.com/smrtqbn#

RSS Feed: http://www.bloglovin.com

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/+MartaDarby/

Welcome to my world. Please make yourself at home.

My blog-casa is your blog-casa.

Besos,

Marta

Cuban Ropa Vieja Recipe In A Slow Cooker

When we arrived in Miami in the early 60’s, we barely had enough money to cover basic expenses. As you can imagine, rent, utilities, and food dominated the budget. Because we left Cuba with just the suitcases we could carry, we were glad to receive donated clothing. We were grateful for other people’s cast-offs. My parents especially appreciated the charity. I don’t think they could have managed otherwise. Trying to clothe five daughters on a ship welder’s hourly wage? Impossible.

But then, something amazing happened. My dad finally found a job in his field, which was engineering. He began working in early spring, so that by Easter, my mom made the announcement that we were going to buy new clothes for Easter.

Seriously, this was an Easter Miracle. And although, we had grown used to “making do,” we rose to the shopping occasion like the true Cuban women we are. Dresses, gloves, hats, purses – the works! I confess that every year at this time, I remember the giddy relief of that Blessed Event.

And I continue to be so very grateful that the only “ropa vieja” I have now, I usually eat with white rice. =D

Ropa vieja 1
Ropa vieja 1

Crockpot Cuban Ropa Vieja Recipe

The Meat:

1 ½ - 2 lb. flank steak

½ green pepper, sliced into strips

½ Spanish onion, sliced into strips

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

2 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Coarse Black Pepper

1/2 tsp. cumin

½ cup red wine

Ropa vieja 2
Ropa vieja 2

1) Put all these ingredients into the crockpot in order. Add water to just cover the steak.

2) Set it on low and cook for 6 to 8 hours.

When the meat is very tender (comes apart with a fork), remove from the crockpot and finely shred it into a separate dish.

Ropa vieja 3
Ropa vieja 3

The Sauce:

The pepper, garlic, and onion from the crockpot

3 Tbsp. Olive oil

2 cups beef broth

1 small can tomato sauce

1 small can tomato paste

1 tsp. oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

With a slotted spoon, remove the onion, garlic and peppers from the crockpot and sauté in a large frying pan. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste and beef broth.

Add the shredded beef to the tomato mixture and cook together for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with white rice.

Buen Provecho!

(originally posted at Babalú blog - April 2007)

Celebrating My 4th Bloggiversary - Winners!

I want to thank you all for your kind words and good wishes.

I love celebrating blog birthdays because unlike regular birthdays, I get to give stuff away.

It makes me so happy to be able to give back to you, even in this small way. I so want you to know how much I appreciate that you read and enjoy my stories and misadventures.

To choose winners, I used Random.org. I put in the number of valid entry comments into the True Random Number Generator and it gave me 4 random numbers that I matched to entries. So without further ado, here are the winners of the giveaway. 

Congratulations to the winners. And thank you to all of you. I love you MORE.

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1) The My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Mug goes to:

Mbfcf mug

Marta Quinn said...

Congratulations on 4 great years, just a side
note: I mastered Arroz con Pollo thanks to your
recipe. Thanks for the recipes and the storys
Carinos tu tocaya, Marta

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2) The Cafe Cubano Mug from CubaToGo! goes to:

Cafe cubano mug

martacperez@gmail.com said...

Congratulations! I love your Cuban recipes.

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3) The Marta's Cuban American Kitchen Apron goes to:

MCAK apron

Angela Garcia said...

Love you and your blog, Marta! I've had you bookmarked for about 3 years now, and you are a daily "must click" for me. Thank you for all the wonderful stories, insights, inspirations, and of course your delicious recipes (especially that magnificent guava glazed turkey recipe, which was a hit at my house last Thanksgiving!)

Carinos,
Angie G.

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Mbfcf cookbook

Mercy Arrate said...

Congratulations! May you (and we) enjoy many more years of the adventures of Marta!

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Once again, thank you. Congratulations to the winners. Please send me an email with HEY, MARTA! I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG in the subject line (so I don't accidentally delete you) and send me your snail mail address so I can get your goodies out to you right away.

You truly make me happy (but that's not important right now). ;-)

Link Love

I've been blogging here at MBFCF for almost four years (Wow! That's like high school!) now.

I love blogging as an a creative outlet. Not only because it's my blog and I can write pretty much whatever I want, but also because I get feedback. And for the most part, that feedback is positive, which makes me happy. 

I enjoy blogging so much that I also cook (and write) over at Babalú blog as you know. My feature there is called Marta's Cuban American Kitchen. That's where most of my recipes live on the web.

Martas kitchen logo 1 copy-1

I'm assuming you already know that I also co-edit a blog called Tiki Tiki with my friend, Carrie Ferguson Weir of Bilingual in the Boonies fame. 

Tiki

Carrie gave me the news yesterday that Parenting.com had chosen the Tiki Tiki as one of their Must-Read Moms: Mom Blogs We Love

I was especially excited that they chose a blurb from one of my articles. (See actual post about my family's cleaning habits here.) They also mention my recipes.... 

And I quote: "And the recipes!? Oh. My."

I know. Shut. UP!

Screen shot 2010-08-12 at 10.34.50 AM

Our friends from Modern Mami and Spanglish Baby also made the list. Congratulations, amigas!

If you get a chance, check out the other Mom Blogs. Those women are talented! But also, get yourself over to the Tiki Tiki. Check out the contributor articles and videos. And you may want to consider sharing some of your stories there. (Sin pena!)

What exactly is the Tiki Tiki?  This video from Cuba Nostalgia explains a lot.

Look for Christina Diaz Gonzalez, author of The Red Umbrella. Also, Tony Mendoza the phenomenal Cuban artist. My friend, Val Prieto, editor of Babalú blog is represented here. And yes, you may even recognize yourself.

I feel sooo accidentally cool once more. =D

Cuban Recipes with Pictures

Martas kitchen logo 1 copy-1

Welcome to Marta's Cuban-American Kitchen!

Below is an easy-reference list of all the Cuban recipes I've posted either here at MBFCF or over on Babalú. Enjoy!

Arroz con leche

Arroz con Leche Recipe

Arroz con maiz

Arroz con Maiz Recipe

Arroz con pollo

Arroz con Pollo de Perez-Puelles Recipe

Arroz con salchichas
Arroz con Salchichas Recipe

Arroz frito con lechon
Arroz Frito con Lechón Recipe

Arroz imperial  
Arroz Imperial Recipe

Avocado cocktail

Avocado Cocktail Recipe

Cuban Style Avocado Salad

Avocado Salad (Cuban Style) Recipe

NMTF Bread Pudding

(Not-My-Tio-Fernando's) Bread Pudding Recipe

Bacon wrapped dates

Bacon-Wrapped Date Appetizers Recipe

Bananas Marta 5

Bananas de Marta Recipe

Batido de Mamey 2

Batido de Mamey Recipe

Mini springform pans

Cuban Butter Cake Recipe

Bistec de palomilla

Bistec de Palomilla Recipe

Cuban boliche

Boliche - Cuban Pot Roast Recipe

Carne con papas

Carne con Papas Recipe

Sopa de pollo

Chicken Soup Cuban-style Recipe

Chocolate mousse  

Chocolatón (Chocolate Mousse) Recipe

Churrasco

Churrasco Estilo Cubano Recipe

Churros
Churros Recipe

Costillitas de puerco
Costillitas de Puerco Recipe

Crema de vie

Crema de Vie (Cuban Egg Nog) Recipe

Crockpot ajiaco criollo
Crockpot Ajiaco Criollo Recipe

Ropa Vieja

Crockpot Ropa Vieja Recipe

Vaca Frita

Crockpot Vaca Frita Recipe

Pan cubano
Crusty Pan Cubano Recipe

Black bean soup

Cuban Black Bean Soup/Chili Recipe

How to make Cuban coffee

Cuban Coffee - How To Make It 

Cuban pizza
Cuban Pizza Recipe

Cuban sandwich 
Cuban Sandwich Recipe

Dulce de leche cheesecake

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Recipe

Dulce de leche ice cream
Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Recipe - Homemade 

Cuban flan

El Flan de La Reina Recipe

Marta's Elena Ruz sandwich
Elena Ruz Sandwich Recipe With a Twist

Empanadosas

Empanadosas Recipe

Giant empanada
Empanada Gigante Recipe (La Empanada Que Se Le Perdio a Santa Barbara =D)

Flan-cake-300x225

Flan Cake Recipe

Fricase de pollo

Fricasé de Pollo Recipe

Frijoles negros
Frijoles Negros a la Latina Recipe

Frita cubana

Frita Cubana Recipe

Frituras de harina de maiz

Frituras de Harina de Maiz Recipe

Fufu

Fufú Recipe

Garlicky chicken

Garlicky Chicken Recipe

Guava-cheesecake

Guava Cheesecake Recipe

Huevos habaneros
Huevos Habaneros Recipe

Crockpot Lechon
Lechon in the Crockpot Recipe (!)

Merengue
Merengue Recipe

Moros y cristianos

Moros y Cristianos Recipe

Natilla
Natilla Recipe

Chicken
Oven-Baked Beer Coke Can Chicken Recipe

Pan-con-bistec
Pan Con Bistec (Cuban-style Steak Sandwich) Recipe

Panetela borracha

Panetela Borracha Recipe

Papa rellena
Papas Rellenas Recipe

Pastel de pollo

Pastel de Pollo Recipe

Pastelitos de guayaba

Pastelitos de Guayaba Recipe

Pescado a la plancha

Pescado a la Plancha Recipe

PICADILLO

Picadillo Recipe

Baked Cuban Picadillo pies

Picadillo Pies® Recipe

Pulpeta

Pulpeta Recipe

Platanos 1

Platanos en Tentación Recipe

Chicken

Roast Chicken - Pollo Asado Recipe

Sopa de platano
Sopa de Platano de Timbiriche Recipe

Spanish Hot Chocolate
Spanish Hot Chocolate Recipe

Sweet and sour guava meatballs

Sweet and Sour Guava Meatballs Recipe

Cuban Tamal en Cazuela
Tamal en Cazuela Recipe

Tomato soup

Tomato Soup Recipe - The Best Tomato Soup EVER

Torrejas

Torrejas Recipe - My big, fat, Cuban family torrejas - Stuffed with Guava & Cream Cheese

Tortilla on plate

Oven-Baked Spanish Tortilla Recipe

Turkey-300x225

Turkey with Port Wine Guava Glaze Recipe (Yes, Guava!)