Fifth Blogoversary Cool Stuff Winners

I have to tell you that my family has been lovely and so supportive as I've been talking non-stop about how cool it is that I've been blogging for 5 years. I read your awesome comments out loud as they would come in and the fam listened attentively. 

It could also be that I made a Killer Arroz con Pollo and I had a captive audience, but that's not important right now. My Arroz con Pollo de Perez-Puelles recipe can be found right here.

I kept talking about the many wonderful cyber-relationships I've developed over these last five years and how, even how with those of you that I've met in real life, it's never been "weird." I always feel like I'm with old friends. 

So, again, my thanks for being such wonderful readers and friends and so generous with your compliments.

The winners of the Fifth Blogoversary Giveaways are as follows:

********************************************************

1) The MBFCF Mug 

goes to:

********************************************************

2) A Cuban Spice Apron:

goes to:

 

********************************************************

3) & 4)  My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cookbooks

go to:

********************************************************
 and another MBFCF Cookbook goes to:

 ********************************************************

 5) An autographed copy of  my friend, Gustavo Perez-Firmat's fabulous book, The Havana Habit

goes to:

********************************************************
 
Congratulations to all the winners and thank you, my friends for all your very kind words. (Stop it. I'm blushing.)

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 it. Send me your snail mail address and I'll make sure your goodies go out ASAP. 

Thanks again for playing and for celebrating with me. I'll be resuming the Cuando Sali de Cuba posts this week and I also have lots more stories and giveaways (!) coming up. 

Besos,

Marta

Five. (A giveaway)

I sat down at my computer on October 1st, 2006 and wrote out my very first blog post with the title, "Life on the hyphen..." 

You're welcome to click over and read it. I lifted that post title from a book written by my friend, Gustavo Perez-Firmat, called Life on the Hyphen: The Cuban-American Way. In that book, he brilliantly describes how we Cubans "straddle" the hyphen between being Cuban and American. That so resounded with me that I was inspired to write about my everyday life here in The O.C. as a Cuban-American wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend.

I've written about how I've homeschooled my kids, which is an odd proposition for someone with my history.

I often say that I'm 100% Cuban and 100% American. I'm quite proud of being a part of both of the cultures that have informed my life and personality and for the last five years, this blog.

I have been celebrating Cuban-American life here on this little corner of cyberspace for five years now. And I'm very proud of what I've created.

So, please, help me celebrate my Five Year Blogoversary. Five whole years, people! (I'm like Methuselah in the blogging world, but that's not important right now.)

I'm so grateful that I have had a place to share my stories and my kitchen and the cool stuff I get to do and the people who are so important to me. I'm humbled, too, by the constant and generous attention that you pay me.

I appreciate those of you who have been around since 2006 and have watched my children grow up on these pages. And I appreciate every member of my family who have been gracious enough to let me share their lives here. They are now used to having Mom pointing a camera at them and they're okay with seeing themselves in their fabulous goofiness. 

I am grateful to those of you who have just recently Googled a Cuban recipe and found yourselves here and have decided to continue coming back to visit. Please stay. My blog-casa is your blog-casa. ;-)

To celebrate this auspicious occasion, and as my way of saying thanks for reading my blog, I'm going to give away 5 (!) MBFCF items from my online shop, Cuba To GO! (because I can).

I'm giving away:

1) A MBFCF Mug:

2) A Cuban Spice Apron:

3) and 4)  Two people will win an autographed copy of My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cookbook:

5) And last, but certainly not least, an autographed copy of my friend, Gustavo Perez-Firmat's lastest and absolutely delicious book, The Havana Habit:

 

I thought it only fitting, since he was my inspiration for this whole thing. Gracias, Gustavo!

So, by now you know the drill...

To enter the drawing for a chance to win the above mentioned uber-cool MBFCF stuff, please leave a comment on this post and answer one or all of the following questions:

• If you're a regular MBFCF reader, why do you keep coming back ? 
• Do you also live "on the hyphen?"
• Is it the recipes? 
• The stories?
• The giveaways?
• Or is it like a bad habit you picked up that you can't break? ;-)

I'll do a random drawing on Monday, October 3rd at 12 noon Pacific Time.  

Happy 5th Blogoversary to me! 

*throws confetti*

Cada Dia con Marta Maria

I have been blogging now for 4 years and I'm celebrating! (It seems I'm always celebrating something, but that's not important right now.)

I started this blog on October 1st, 2006. I never pictured I'd still be going four years later. Four years, people! I thought by now I would have run out of stuff to write about. But, obviously, I haven't.

This surprises me, too. I sit down most days at my keyboard and wonder what I'm going to write about and the keyboard stares back at me and says nothing. But then, I start looking at my photos. And I remember that behind every photo I take there's a story.

Every day, no matter how ordinary, has a story.

And that, my friends, is the secret to blogging. Just tell your stories.(<--This bit of advice right there is like gold. You're welcome.)

So won't you celebrate with me? Here's to:

1. My Happy New Year.
2. My Blog Birthday.
3. My New Beginning.
4. The First Day of the Rest of My Blogging Life.

I'm celebrating that I get to tell my stories everyday. I love that you seem to enjoy them. I love that they are saved for posterity. (Win-win.)

To celebrate I'm giving stuff away. (You love this part, don't you?)

Since there are so many of you who tell me that you start the day with your coffee and MBFCF (this pleases me, by the way) and that you like cooking with me, and it's my 4th Bloggiversary, I'm inspired to give away 4 fabulous items:

1) A My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Mug

2) A Cafe Cubano Mug from CubaToGO!

3) A Marta's Cuban American Kitchen Apron

and of course,

4) A My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Cookbook

To enter the drawing for a chance to win the above mentioned uber-cool MBFCF stuff, please leave a comment on this post and I'll do a random drawing on Monday, October 4th at 11 AM Pacific Time. 

A big thank you to all of you who keep reading about and relating to the misadventures of my big, fat, Cuban family.

I look forward to many, many more bloggy years.

Mil gracias. De todo corazón.

[Disclaimer: That's not a real magazine cover. But you knew that, right? =D]