For the Love of Blue

Yesterday, as many of you know, was Baseball Opening Day. 

Can you just smell the freshly mown grass and the chatter of happy and excited fans?

Can you picture the dramatic unfurling of the US shaped flag?

And of course, the fireworks?

And are you now celebrating the Dodgers' Opening Day (1-0) win over the Padres?

And are you now so super excited for Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium coming this summer? (Of course you are.) We've also added a Cuban Night at Dodger Stadium this year. On Monday, May 11th at 7:10pm. How cool is that?

That's two games of Cuban Dodger Awesomeness. Oh the Cubanity!

I happen to live a few area codes from Chavez Ravine, but having grown up in Santa Monica, LA will always be my team. And, of course, I'm Cuban, which means baseball is part of my cultural DNA.

I'm super excited to be involved in the Cuban Heritage Day Committee to help plan all the fun for Cuban Heritage Day (July 12, 2015) and Cuban Night at Dodger Stadium (May 11th, 2015).

So, for the planning...

I get to visit with my favorite Cuban friends at Portos Bakery while we plan the festivities for both Cuban Night and Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium.

So picture us having coffee and pastelitos and talking baseball at Porto's Bakery. (I know you're jealous.)

Now picture us having coffee and pastelitos and talking baseball at Dodger Stadium. (I know. Shut up.)

I can't even believe I get to be one of the members of this group. All lovers of baseball. All leaders in the Cuban community. And I'm out-of-my-skin excited that they've let me be a part of this. I feel sooo accidentally cool.

First, let's talk about Cuban Night. Monday, May 11th, 2015. No se pierdan esta noche de Dodger Baseball mixed in with a bunch of Cubania. The Dodgers love us Cubans so much that they will be giving away the awesome Cuba t-shirt to EVERY person that buys a ticket thruwww.dodgers.com/cuba.

ONLY those that buy tickets for Cuba Night on 5/11 thru dodgers.com/cuba or thru Sammy Park at group sales will receive a voucher for the commemorative t-shirt. Dale see you all there!

And now, since we're on the subject, let's talk Cuban Heritage Day Tshirts. 

Picture a stadium full of Cubans all wearing the same beautifully designed tshirts. Last year it was something to see and seriously, took my breath away. Here's some pictures from last year's event. It felt like being a part of a really cool and exclusive club.

Now picture yourself as part of that sea of beautiful blue Cubanity. I want you to have this experience. 

Which is why I want all of you to stop what you're doing right now and pre-order your tshirts for this year's fabulous Cuban Heritage Day.

Habana Brand Clothing is accepting pre-orders now thru May 1st, at a special Pre-Order Price of only $20.00 - after May 1st the online price will be $25.00.

Orders will be shipped early May. They are only producing a very limited amount of these shirts, so do not be left out.  

Wear it proudly when you join your family and friends at Dodger Stadium for the cultural celebration of the 3rd annual Cuban Heritage Day on Sunday, July 12th.

The Cuban-themed Viva Los Dodgers festival will begin 2 hours prior to first pitch and fans can enjoy festive live music, player autographs and various activities. Admission to Viva Los Dodgers is free with a paid ticket to the game.

We will also be selling the t-shirts on various dates at Porto's Bakeries.

Click on this link to Habana Brand Clothing to pre-order your shirts. I can't wait to see all of you in your beautiful shirts.

Because, Go Blue!

For more info, please follow Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium on Facebook.

My Big, Fat, Dodger Blue Cuban Family

I have amazing news! I'm proud and privileged to announce that I was invited to be on the planning committee for Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium this year! (I know. Shut up.)

Seriously, if I was going to add an item to my Bucket List, this would be it. Of course, I didn't know I would have added it until they actually asked me, but that's not important right now.

So our very first meeting was at Porto's Bakery. (If I was writing the script for the movie of my life and adding this chapter, I swear I couldn't have written it any better than this. Pinch me.)

And even though I was completely driven to distraction by the giant plate of pastelitos de guayaba (guava pastries) they placed in front of me, I think I was able to contribute something of value besides, "Can I please have another?"

I have a lovely Facebook friend/MBFCF reader, whose name is Ed. He was following my Hey-I'm-on-the-Cuban-Heritage-Day-at-Dodger-Stadium-Committee excitement on Facebook (if you're not following the relajo on My Big, Fat, Cuban Family Facebook page, you totally should) and he sent me and my family an amazing gift.

Shirts! Beautiful Dodger Blue Shirts! Not only that, they say, "Los Doyers." Also, he sent them for the entire family. I was overwhelmed. (Again, I couldn't have written this part of the book better myself.)

Amy Kikita and I put ours on immediately and Instagrammed the awesome. (If you're not following me on Instagram, you totally should. I'm Smrtqbn. That is all.)

How cute and happy do we look in our Los Doyers shirts? (Didn't I tell you they were awesome?)

Lucy and Jon decided they would rather do a "photo shoot." Of course.

"Look at my shirt!"

I don't know which makes me happier - being on the Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium this year, or having such a thoughtful and generous reader bless our family in this way. (I'm thinking it may be a tie.)

Also, having my kids be so excited and proud to represent makes my cup runneth over.

Eric got a shirt, too. But he was busy doing some work in the garden, so he missed the photo shoot. (Or did he?)

Thank you to the Dodgers ("Viva Los Doyers!") and the Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium Committee (if you're not following them on Facebook, you totally should) for including me in this awesome event.

Thank you to my friend, Ed for the beautiful and generous gifts.

Color me happy! (Of course, you realize that happy is now officially Dodger Blue, but that's not important right now.)

Here's Wassup. (MBFCF Giveaway #2)

Back in March, I was privileged to be an eyewitness when television history was being made.

The pilot for Wassup En LA? was filmed before a live audience that included me and Eric. I originally got involved with the project after seeing an online pitch for a Kickstarter to fund it, which didn't work out, but technically, it did, because the person who became the Executive Producer on the project read about it right here on my blog and decided to jump into the fray, but that's not important right now. (I'm looking at you, SugarCube Productions.)

Notice my Varadero sign above the kitchen door. See? I'm totally the Cuban Props R Us.

Co-creators Rudolpho Zalez and Carlos de la Vega approached me about pulling together some Cuban props for the Diaz television home. I quickly started collecting stuff around my house and off my walls. Just call me Cuban Prop Mistress Deluxe. (Or maybe that could just be a cool band name.)

We met for lunch at Porto's (of course) and became insta-friends in that familiar Cubans-love-each-other-at-first-sight way. I wrote about our day at the Wassup En LA taping in great, newsy detail.

Here's a 60 second spot showing the highlights of that pilot episode.

When I was contemplating who I could reach out to so they could help me celebrate my 7th Year in the Blogosphere, my first thought was, Wassup En LA. They quickly and graciously agreed to be a sponsor and so without further ado....

MBFCF Blogiversary Giveaway #2:

Wassup En LA? Family Gift Pack

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a the WASSUP Family Gift Pack which includes:

• Wassup en LA? jute gift bag
• Wassup En LA? tshirt
• Wassup En LA? hats,
• Wassup En LA? mini Cuban cafetera (!!!)
• Wassup En LA? tacita
• Café Sol de Cuba
• Conchita Guava Bites (I know. Shut up!)

Please leave a comment on this post and answer one or all of the following questions:

• What is your favorite TV sitcom of all time?
• If you were cast as a character in a Cuban American sitcom, what part would you play?

2) For an extra entry, please go "like" Wassup En LA? on Facebook and come back and leave me another comment telling me:  

• "I like Wassup En LA!"

So that's not one, but two entries apiece. You're welcome.

I'll choose the winners at the end of MBFCF Blogoversary Giveaway Week on Wednesday, October 9th, 2013 at 11 am.

A Pastelito by any other name...

There are thousands of fantastic restaurants in Southern California. And I'm sure the fair city of Glendale has a bizzillion wonderful eateries. But, if we're going to be in Glendale for any reason, we must always stop at Porto's Bakery and load up on Cuban Provisions.

There's no better Cuban bakery in So Cal.

Lucy, Jonathan and I were in Glendale a few weeks back. So we (of course!) stopped at Porto's. (I'm almost certain it's a state mandate, but that's not important right now.)

And guess what we stocked up on?

Guava Cheese "Strudel?" They can call it whatever they like as long as I can have one with my cafecito.

Wait. One? Who are we kidding?

This is Wassup...

Last summer, I came across a Kickstarter Campaign for a not-yet-produced TV show called "Wassup en LA?" The theme was that a young Cuban American actor from Miami goes to Los Angeles to find fame and fortune. And his Cuban family, abuelos and all, follow and support him.

I clicked on the link, read the synopsis and and fell in love. You will recall that I wrote about it here.

If you know how Kickstarter works, you know that the project has to meet your fundraising goal by a pre-determined date to get the funds. Sadly, they did not meet their goal.

But something else magical and serendipitous happened. A faithful reader and follower of MBFCF in Sugarland, Texas (of all places!) stepped up and became the Executive Producer. Her production company is called Sugar Cube Productions. (Get it? Cuban? From Sugarland? Sugar Cube. Genius.)

After four years of sweat and toil and script writing and casting decisions, the day came when the pilot of Wassup En LA? got a green light for filming on March 23rd.

A few weeks before The Filming Day, I had a fabulous lunch (at Porto's Bakery, of course!) with the co-creators of the show, Rudolpho Zalez and Carlos de la Vega.

They gifted me some cool Wassup gear. I gave them autographed copies of my cookbook. Win-Win.

During lunch they asked me: Did I have any Cuban-looking props they could use on the set?

Hello? My (freakishly small) house is one Big Cuban Prop. "Help yourselves."

Which is how a few of our household items ended up on the set of the TV home of the Diaz Family. How cool is that?

I have so much more to tell you about the show and how fabulous it was to watch the live taping and being part of a mostly Cuban studio audience. I promise I WILL BLOG ABOUT IT IN NAUSEATING DETAIL, but today's not that day.

For now, I just want you to just appreciate how accidentally awesome it is that a blogging Cuban mom in Mission Viejo wrote about a project that was seen by the movers and shakers in Texas (hello, Sugarland!) who actually brought the thing to fruition. Mind. Blown.

Makes me think that God's hand was in it somehow. And that makes me feel completely humbled, and sooo accidentally cool.

Go give them your support and love:

On Facebook. On Twitter. On YouTube. That's Wassup...

The Dark Christmas Tree

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!

For the love of guava...

WARNING: I've used a lot (!) of exclamation points in the following post. Such was my level of excitement...

In my family of origin and in the Cuban home where I grew up, we always had a couple of items in the pantry:

1. Cans of leche condensada (sweetened condensed milk).
2. Bars of guava paste.

I'm guessing that the way we used those two culinary (?) items might seem questionable to those outside of our culture, but they were staples in our home.

I'm also guessing that guava might be an acquired taste.

This doesn't, however, diminish my love for guava in any form, particularly when it comes to desserts.

Exhibit A - Pastelito de Guayaba from the nearest Portos Cuban Bakery:

The following exchange started when a fan of MBFCF posted the following photo on my Facebook fan page. (By the way, if you don't follow MyBigFatCubanFamily on Facebook, you really should. But that's not important right now.)

"Look!" My friend, Maria Prieto, tagged me in a photo:

They look like Fig Newtons, but made with guava?

GUAT?!!

I decided that I Must. Have. These. Sadly, this guavaliciousness is only to be found 3,ooo miles away... in Miami.

Then another friend posted this ad from Sedanos. Which I'm pretty sure only exists in Miami, which, again, is 3,000 miles away from me.

(I'm starting to take this personally...)

They're even on sale! Why, oh why, do I live 3,000 miles away from this guavaliciousness?

At almost the same time, I got an email from Reader Grace with the following photo:

And another from Geraldine raving about the guavalicious goodness of these forbidden treats. (3,000 miles away, people!)

And then this one from the lovely Christina Flores-Pina. Her blog is called La Cocina de Christina, and you want to go check it out. Trust me. (She can probably even tell you how many Weight Watchers points in these, because she knows stuff and is cool that way.)

The taunts photos were coming from everywhere. *heavy sigh*

But then, because MBFCF readers are fabulous that way....the offers started coming in, too....

My friend, Maria, who happens to live in Miami and near a place that sells the forbidden fruit bites, offered to send me some.

Umm....YES!

{Special NOTE: Maria is the fabulous artist, Maria Soto Robbins - here's a link to her artsy blog, who made the beautiful pendants that my daughters and I love and wear most all the time. Please check out her wonderful ETSY shop, art by msr, and give her some love.}

And another from Reader Gladys in New Jersey. (New Jersey, you might have noticed, is still 3,000 miles away from me. Just sayin.')

So now, I've got quite the stash of the fabulously amazing Conchita Guava Bites! (<--That exclamation point is actually part of their logo, but that's not important right now.)

And while we're on the subject, to the Conchita Guava Bites! (<--again) People, I'd just like to say that I'd really love a lifetime supply of these beauties for all this free press I'm giving you and also because the nearest store that carries these is 3,000 miles away. Just consider it, please. That is all.  ;-)

And to those of you who have so generously offered to help me maintain my guava habit, muchisimos besos!

And for those of you who would like to join in on the relajo that is MBFCF fan page, please "like" us on El Feisbu. Even if you're 3,ooo miles away. =D