My Big, Fat, Cuban Family is 8 Years Old

I sat down at my computer 8 years ago today and started crafting my very first blog post. I wasn't quite sure exactly who I was writing for, but I tentatively introduced myself and my family to cyber-space.

I crossed my fingers and hoped that maybe somehow, some way, someone out there would read the stories about my extraordinarily ordinary life and maybe enjoy what I had to say.

I was homeschooling both Lucy and Jonathan at the time and started over sharing about what our days were like. I reminisced about my childhood in Cuba. I posted photos. I told my tales of growing up Cuban and wondered if they were just going out into the ether. 

I decided early on to write to please myself. Not trying to sound self-serving here, but writing about my life and the things I care about is a very personal and vulnerable process. Also, I have a tendency to crack myself up, but that's not important right now.

To date I've written over 1400 posts and have had almost 2 million visitors. (GUAT?) Obviously, someone out there has indeed found me (or they just keep forgetting to write down my picadillo recipe).

And oh-so-much has happened in my life these past 8 years. I'm so glad to have had a place to document the little things and the Very Big Ones. And I'm grateful to all of you for following along. This has been such a cathartic experience for me. Would you believe me if I told you that at first I was very much afraid? (Obviously, I'm over it now.)

My family has been truly amazing these past years for putting up with me as their lives have been so publicly showcased, without a word of complaint. And of course, you know that I now have a grandson, so the over sharing will very likely reach stratospheric levels. Be prepared.  

Please join me today as I celebrate 8 Years in the Blogosphere. (<--is that a word?)

There are times I do better at self-disclosure than others. There are times when my real life gets so busy that my cyber-life has to take a back seat. But I have always enjoyed the process of sitting down to the empty page and hoping what I have to over share amuses, entertains, enriches, inspires, or just makes you think.

I'm grateful to those of you who have been faithful readers for these many years. I'm delighted to have found an audience, who, like me, are lovers-of-all-things-Cuban or you're just my friends and are gracious enough to read my stuff. Thanks, guys!

I hope to be over sharing (si Dios quiere) for many more years.

Hey! According to Dictionary.com, "blogosphere" is totally a word. So there's that.

Here's a quick photo recap of the cyber-celebrations of previous years. Also, I really want you to appreciate the whole I-made-a-custom-magazine-cover thing I do every year.

October 1, 2007 - Thank YOU.

October 1, 2008 - In my dreams...

October 1, 2009 - ... is a Magic Number

October 1, 2010 - Cada Dia Con Marta Maria

October 1, 2011 - Five.

October 1, 2012 - Celebrating Six Years in the Blogosphere

October 1, 2013 - Seven Years.

Last year I even managed to create a celebratory video. And, okay, so I didn't do one this year, but I totally wanted to. (Shut up. I know.)

And because I can't just celebrate and not give you anything (I think that's a Cuban thing), in celebration of my 8 years here in this space, I'd like to do a few giveaways in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Today, I'd like to do a giveaway for 3 (three!) of my Comida Cubana (Cuban Food) Posters. I have one hanging in my kitchen and it makes me super happy (and super motivated to cook) every single day. 

It's a beautiful 16x20 poster with all of my favorite Cuban foods, suitable for framing. Fabulous, no?

To enter the drawing for a chance to win one of three Comida Cubana Posters, please leave a comment on this post and answer the following question:

• When and how did you find My big, fat, Cuban family?

I'll choose a winner on Friday, October 3rd, 2014 at 11 am PST.

Thanks for reading and for putting up with my over sharing and being so willing to engage in my "relajo" 

Cuban Picadillo Pies® Recipe

I have a recipe today that was kind of a happy accident.

Ever since I went up to San Francisco a few months ago to cook my Picadillo, my family has been clamoring for it. Yes, there's been clamoring. For the past few years I've been making my picadillo with ground turkey. It's just become a thing.

When I cooked for the Blurb Food Fair, I used fresh ground beef. And here's what I found: it definitely tastes different. Better. In fact, I'm so sorry, ground turkey, but ground beef totally wins.

I mentioned this tidbit to my family and immediately they started asking for it. Clamoring. I had already sung the praises of the ground beef vs the ground turkey. I couldn't just leave them hanging.

Fine, I said. I'll do it, I said. And I did. And there was much rejoicing in the land.

Last week Eric's family was having a Christmas party and we were asked to bring appetizers for the buffet.

Eric: "Why don't you just make the picadillo? With the beef, of course."

Me: "Because it's a main dish, not an appetizer. That would be weird."

Then the brainstorming began and the result was the making of individual personal meat-filled pies. Cuban Picadillo Pies®. Not empanadas, but muffin-tin sized pies. Enough that you get a good portion of picadillo and the perfect proportion of crust. In fact, a couple of these beauties and a salad is practically a complete meal.

They were the hit of the party, by the way. But I sort of knew that would probably be the case. Hello? Cuban. Picadillo. Pies. It's genius, right?

After some experimentation, I decided the picadillo filling needed to have a little more substance and not be too runny, so I added more tomato paste. I added an envelope of Golla seasoning with saffron. I just love the taste it adds, but it can be made without it.

Also, I came to the cataclysmic decision to not use the olives. I know. Call me a rebel. The pie filling is therefore thicker and sweeter than regular picadillo, which works with the slight saltiness of the crust.

Picadillo pies

You love me now, don't you?

Cuban Picadillo Pie Recipe

Cuban Picadillo Pies

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• ½ green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, pressed
• 1 ½ lbs. Ground beef
• 1 tsp. Salt
• ½ tsp. Pepper
• ½ tsp. Cumin
• ½ tsp. Oregano
• 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
• 2 small cans tomato paste
• 1 small envelope Sazón Golla (with saffron)
• ¼ cup dry white wine (the cheaper, the better!)
• 1 small box of dark raisins
• 2 packages Refrigerated Pillsbury Pie Crust
• A small amount of butter to grease the muffin tin

1) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion, green pepper and garlic until the onion is transluscent.

2) Add the ground beef and brown over medium heat.

3) Add the rest of the ingredients and continue cooking until meat is tender and completely cooked through. About 25 minutes.

4) Let picadillo cool completely.

5) Grease muffin tin slightly with butter. Mostly just around the bottom.

Muffin tin

6) Cut approximately 5" round circles from pie crust. (I used what I had handy in my kitchen. I'm going to run out and get proper circle cookie cutters for next time, but that's not important right now.) You can get about four 5 inch crusts out of the pie crust and then I combine and roll out the remainder for the tops.

Picadillo pie dough

7) Stuff these into the greased muffin tin.

Picadillo pie dough in tin

8) Spoon cooled picadillo into the pie crust.

Picadillo pie filling

9) Using the leftover dough, roll it out to seal and Cut 3" circles from the scraps of the pie crust.

Cutting dough

10) Stretch these out just slightly to make tops of the pies.

Picadillo pies before baking

11) Press the top and bottom edges of pies together to seal. With a knife, make some slits on the top to vent. You can also just poke a hole in the middle. That works, too, but isn't as cute.

12) Bake in a 425 degree oven for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until crusts are brown. Allow to cool for a bit before serving. Makes 12 pies.

Baked Cuban Picadillo pies

Now they're clamoring for my Cuban Picadillo Pies.®

I totally called it.

Pageant of the Masters - The Big Picture

As I mentioned the other day, I have a Summer To Do List. I call it my Summer Manifesto. I'm quite proud of us. We've been busy scheduling and checking things off the list which has made it quite a lovely and busy summer so far.

I just got back from a weekend in New York, which I will write about later (I have sooo much to tell you!), even though it wasn't on my list. I promise.

So, every summer, Laguna Beach turns into Art Festival Central. It is THE place to go for all the local art fabulousness which Orange County has to offer.

And every year as part of the Festival of Arts they put on what is called The Pageant of the Masters. We don't usually go to the pageant every year, but this year the theme is The Big Picture which encompases two of our favorite things: art and movies. Yes, please.

The bowl in which this takes place is a beautiful outdoor amphiteatre which I could show you, except for I took my life in my hands trying to take our silly-grainy-hand-held-we-were-here photo. It's a good thing the iPhone Photo Police were so quick to stop me from revealing the Secrets of the Bowl, but that's not important right now.

The show started after dark, which was around 8:30 pm, so the first decision (clearly) was where shall we eat? Laguna has dozens of terrific little restaurants, but my people reminded me that we have that beautiful, brand new farmhouse table, and didn't I say that I wanted to eat outdoors as often as possible and could I please make my picadillo, please-mom-please?

We made it to the Pageant which had this fantastic life-sized mural of one of the masterpieces depicted in the show, The Trevi Fountain from the film, Three Coins in the Fountain. (Note to self: must find that so we can show it on one of our Outdoor Movie Nights. But, again, that's not important right now.)

But it made for a great photo backdrop.

No, the Darbys are not in Rome. This is Laguna Beach. Fabulous backdrop, no?

Jonathan had been to the pageant when he was very young and didn't remember much about it. He gave me the disclaimer: "You know, Mom, I'm not too much into art. " Which then led to the discussion that it wasn't so much the art, but the art of the decpiction of the art. (I'll wait until you wrap your brain around that last sentence. Okay? Let's continue...)

Living pictures! Those were live people! He didn't quite get it until the show started, but then it was, "What? What! Those are real people! I get it now! Wow. This is amazing."

Jon also fell in love. He has quite the crush on Audrey Hepburn.

An amazing show. If you're in Laguna over the summer months, you should definitely take in the Festivals and most definitely the Pageant.

It's kind of hard to understand until you can see The Big Picture. (<--see what I did there?)

Cuban Picadillo Recipe - Comfort Food

I love to cook and entertain and I almost always make Cuban food when we have company. People are usually surprised that even the simplest food is so flavorful.

In the early 60’s when we were new to this country, my mom experimented with all kinds of traditional, inexpensive American foods. We kids went along with it for a while, but it was my dad who got very vocal about getting his picadillo at least once a week.

The moment we began to smell the sofrito, all was right again in our little exile world.

Ingredients

I have been reluctant to serve picadillo to American friends because it is my absolute favorite comfort food and it’s a little difficult to explain that the incredible sweet and sour taste comes from pimiento-stuffed green olives and raisins. Then the explanation becomes more complex when I start raving about how tasty it is for breakfast the next day with a fried egg.

Raisins & olives

I figure…

If you just don’t “get it" - there's more for me.

PICADILLO

Papi’s Favorite Picadillo Recipe

• 3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• ½ green bell pepper, diced
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, pressed
• 1 ½ lbs. Ground beef (I have substituted ground turkey and it’s still awesome)
• 1 tsp. Salt
• ½ tsp. Pepper
• 1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 small can tomato paste
• ¼ cup dry white wine (the cheaper, the better!)
• 4 Tbsp. Pimiento-stuffed green olives, sliced
• 1 small box of dark raisins
• ½ tsp. Cumin
• ½ tsp. Oregano

1) Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute the onion, green pepper and garlic until the onion is transluscent.

2) Add the ground beef and brown over medium heat.

3) Add the rest of the ingredients and continue cooking until meat is tender and completely cooked through. About 25 minutes.

4) Serve over white rice. And tostones.

5) Makes 6 servings.

// <![CDATA[ var pfHeaderImgUrl = '';var pfHeaderTagline = '';var pfdisableClickToDel = 0;var pfHideImages = 0;var pfImageDisplayStyle = 'right';var pfDisablePDF = 0;var pfDisableEmail = 0;var pfDisablePrint = 0;var pfCustomCSS = '';var pfBtVersion='1';(function(){var js, pf;pf = document.createElement('script');pf.type = 'text/javascript';if('https:' == document.location.protocol){js='https://pf-cdn.printfriendly.com/ssl/main.js'}else{js='http://cdn.printfriendly.com/printfriendly.js'}pf.src=js;document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(pf)})(); // ]]</p></div>