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.

"Mas café por favor!" (MBFCF Giveaway #5)

I hope you're enjoying the week long celebration of My Big, Fat, Cuban Family being here on the web for 7 years now. I'm so seriously delighted with the generosity of my sponsors and I'm grateful to all my Cuban cubiches who are helping me celebrate by offering such fun prizes.

This summer, Eric and I had the wonderful opportunity to enjoy a day at Gaviña Gourmet Coffee Roasters.

La Llave is my husband's absolute favorite espresso. In fact, (warning! over-share alert!) he makes happy, yummy sounds pretty much every single morning as he's having his La Llave. This, of course, pleases me greatly. I love that such a simple thing makes him happy.

I further love that he's embraced this part of my Cuban heritage.

This is Eric happily supervising the vacuum packing of the La Llave coffee on the Gaviña tour.

"Mas café, por favor!"

He says it with an almost flawless accent. It reminds me of my dad and I feel a catch in my throat. My husband happily drinks his La Llave from one of these gorgeous little cups every day. His wife sits in wonder at the continuity in her life.

My good friends at Gaviña & Sons Coffee have graciously agreed to sponsor a La Llave Cuban Coffee Basket for today's giveaway, which includes those same awesome La Llave "tacitas."

Isn't it fabulous?

MBFCF Blogiversary Giveaway #5

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 drink espresso? How often?
• Do you like it sweet? With milk? Latte? Cappuccino? Tell me.

Please leave your comment on this post and I'll choose a winner on Wednesday, October 9th, 2013 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.

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.

Mami Loves Cuban Coffee - A Giveaway

Mother's Day is next week, people.

It always comes on the 2nd weekend in May. And yet, I'm always surprised that it comes so soon after the month starts. What's that about?

Anyway, because I love you, and I know that you love Cuban coffee as much as I do, I have fabulous news:

My good friends at Gaviña & Sons Coffee have offered to sponsor a La Llave Cuban Coffee Basket for a Mother's Day Giveaway. The beauty of this is that the Gaviña family is Cuban and they know espresso.

The La Llave Cuban Coffee Basket for Mother's Day 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

It's a beautiful thing, right?

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:

• How do you like your espresso? Straight up? With espumita? Cortadito?
  
• How many times a day do you drink it?
  

Please leave your comment on this post and I'll choose a winner on Monday, 6thth, 2013 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 apiece. You're welcome. Mami will love it. I promise. Also, please let them know that Marta from My Big, Fat, Cuban Family sent you. (I don't get extra points for that or anything. I just want them to know you are reading about it here, but that's not important right now.)

{Disclaimer: Gaviña Gourmet Coffee has graciously provided this Cafe La Llave Gift Basket as a giveaway.  I have received no compensation for this. I just truly love them.}

How I Choose Who Gets the Giveaway Stuff (and Espresso Set Winner)

I'm still laughing at how seriously you all take your "taka taka" and how often you celebrate National Coffee Day. Some of you, it seems, celebrate National Coffee Hour, but that's not important right now. ;-)

I hope you enjoyed the "Taka Taka Time" video. I laugh out loud every time I watch it. It's obvious that I share my genetic material with those two, isn't it? (I know. Shut up.)

I'm grateful to all of you for taking the time to leave a comment and enter the drawing. I have lots more giveaways coming up in the next few weeks. 

(SPOILER: Tomorrow I'm celebrating a big bloggy thing with some giveaways. Now that I told you, I may have to kill you.....)

I love hosting giveaways, but I'm always so conflicted, because I hate choosing just one winner. (Can you say, "co-dependent?")

In case you were curious, this is how I choose that one winner:

• I read all the entries and check for duplicates. (If there are dupes, I don't count the 2nd entry in the final tally. I think it's only fair.)
• I enter the number of comments from 1 to 32 (in this case) into the Random Number Generator at Random.org.
• It immediately generates a number. 

Like so:

• Then I come back and count the comments until I get to that number and take a screen shot of the comment, like so:

• And then I congratulate the winner and ask them to send me an email so I can send the goodies to them.

So....congratulations, Crystal! 

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) with your snail mail address so I can send out your Coffee Goodies ASAP! You've won - a 10 oz. can of Bustelo Espresso Supreme, a 1.75 oz. jar of Café Bustelo Instant Coffee, and that beautiful Fiesta espresso set. (For those of you that are interested in purchasing your own, I got it from Cost Plus World Market - they have them in jumbo mug size, too. You're welcome.)

• Then I wait for an email from the excited winner.
• As soon as I get an address to send the stuff to, I pack it and ship it to the winner. Or sometimes, the company who sponsors will send stuff out to the winner directly. 
• And if you've ever won anything from me, that doesn't disqualify you in any way from winning again, so you're welcome to enter as many separate giveaways as you like. (Just not multiple entries on the same post. Did that make sense?)

I so delight in hosting giveaways, because I personally know how fun it is to get cool stuff in the mail and I love sharing. Plus I seriously love interacting with you. I love that you tell me about your coffee drinking or rice making or *insert random giveaway question of the day here* habits. 

You are genuinely the loveliest blog readers ever. 

Thank you!

National Coffee Day - It's "taka taka" time! (A Coffee Giveaway, too.)

Don't ask me how I know these things. I just do. 

This is one of those geeky things that has gotten stuck in my brain and screams to be celebrated.

Like Hobbit Day, which we always celebrate elaborately. Or like Pi Day, which also happens to be Albert Einstein's birthday. Or even Star Wars Day ("May the 4th be with you!" - get it?), but that's not important right now.

It's probably a homeschool thing. We're Uber-geeks, aren't we? I know. Shut up.

But today is slightly different. Today, September 29th, is National Coffee Day. (Let's have a moment of reverential silence, please.)

And being Cuban-coffee-loving-uber-geeks, we celebrate this particular holiday with great devotion. In fact, we pretty much celebrate coffee, not just yearly, but much more on a daily-possibly-even-hourly basis.

Of course, we love our first-cup-in-the-morning black coffee, or café con leche, or sweet espresso, or even a wake-me-up-please latte.

But around 2:00 pm, there's that slump. You know what I'm talking about.That boy-am-I-tired-how-will-I-get-through-the-rest-of-my-day feeling. And the answer to that (at least around here) is....

It's “taka taka” time!

Taka taka is the sound of the spoon in the cup stirring the espresso and sugar into Killer Espuma®.

For us Cubans, it's the highlight of our mornings and afternoons and evenings and around here, we dance and sing when it's taka taka time ...

My daughter, Amy Kikita is the reigning Queen of the Taka Taka. She's the one who makes the best cafecito in our household. In fact, she takes coffee making to another entire level.

Let me illustrate:

So, today, in honor of National Coffee Day, I'd like to do a coffee related giveaway. 

What better brand of coffee for a Hispanic Heritage Month National Coffee Day Coffee Giveaway, than our very own Cuban go-to brand? Bustelo, of course.

And no, the Bustelo people are not sponsoring this giveaway. (I wish!) This is my very own personal I-love-MBFCF-readers-because-you-are-all-so-fabulous giveaway. You're welcome.)

I'm giving away a 10 oz. can of this beautiful Bustelo Supreme Espresso by Bustelo:

  

and ...

a 1.75 oz. jar of Café Bustelo Instant Coffee: 
 

and ...

A this set of six beautiful (Fiesta colors, people!) espresso cups:

My son, Adam, gave me this very same set and I love these tacitas so much I want to marry them. (Sorry, Eric.)

So.....let's have some Coffee Talk.

I'll be giving away all THREE items to one lucky winner.

To be entered in this fabulous National Coffee Day Giveaway, please answer one or all of the following questions:

• Do you have a mid-afternoon coffee, latte, cappucino, decaf or regular?
• Do you make it yourself, or does someone else make it for you?
• Do you “taka taka”?  ;-)

I will pick a winner randomly from your comments on Friday, September 30th at 7 pm.

So, come on....let's talk “taka taka.

Cuando salí de Cuba - Maria Elena's story + A Giveaway

Marta here: I'm celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month: Cuban-Style with a series of stories about Cuban American families: Cuando Sali de Cuba, stories of courage and hope.

Today's story comes from MS. She owns and operates the online store, A Taste of Cuba. 

*Tissue warning!*

I was born in Havana, Cuba in 1956.  My mother was married to my father, I had a sister and a brother.

My father owned his own business, family owned accounting firm.

 

 Her dad, sister and brother on car in front of their house in Cuba.

My mother is still alive and is a feisty 92 1/2  year old  mother, grandmother  and great grandmother!

My memories of Cuba actually begin when our life in Cuba ended.

 Her brother with his nanny.

By 1960 my mother and father had separated. My mother and her immediate family began to make plans to flee Castro's regime.  One thing my mother promised was that Castro was taking over her home but she was not leaving anything inside for the communist to enjoy.  She kept her promise.  Sometimes in the wee hours of the morning she removed every piece of furniture and gave it  to friends that were staying in Cuba.  By the time August 1961 came around there was nothing left inside the home.

My memory of that horrible departure begins.

My mother took my sister, brother, grandmother and grandfather to the airport.  We had packed a suitcase and were leaving to Miami, FL on a Pan Am airplane.  We arrived at the airport.  The soldiers had separated the people leaving from the people that were staying. 

All of a sudden my mother and I were separated by this huge glass wall.  The glass wall was a partition so that the people could not smuggle things to the family members leaving. The passengers were not allowed to take anything but a suitcase.  Our suitcases where searched by the military personnel and only clothing was allowed.

I did not know what was happening, why my mother wasn't with me, I was only 4 years old?  I quickly found out she was not going with us.  She decided to stay behind with her brother that did not get his visa.  She didn't want to leave him in Cuba by himself.  By now all my aunts and uncles had left, two uncles went to Miami and one had settled in NYC.

I had never been separated from my mother before and was not happy.  I started crying and having a big tantrum.  Finally a soldier allowed my mother to comfort me.  She hugged and kissed me, and assured me everything was going to be ok.  She told me my grandparents were going to take care of me until she could join me again in a few days.

I remember I was holding my favorite doll, she told me when I got to my seat on the plane hold the doll up to the window and wave to me.  She said, "Then I'll know you are ok."

 After a few minutes we had to board the plane.  But back then they didn't have ramps to board a plane.  You actually had to walk on the tarmac to a stairway to board the airplane.  I started walking and right before we boarded the plane there was a soldier making a last minute check of all boarding passengers.  He took my doll and told me I could not take it in the airplane. 

I started to cry that it was my only connection to my mother. I had promised her I would wave so she knew I was ok. My family pleaded with the soldier that the doll had already been checked inside and I was to wave to mother good bye.  So I was able to board the plane with my doll. 

I sat down next to the window, waved my dolly goodbye to mother, as I cried, the plane too off into the sky.

That was very traumatic for me, as a four year old, but nothing compared to what my family went through.

Days turned into months, it wasn't until two or three long months later my mother and my uncle were able to leave Cuba and reunite with us in Miami.

As a mature woman now, mother and grandmother myself I often think back and wonder how my mother was able to handle everything in her life.  I realize how strong my mother is and her strong faith in Jesus has allowed her to sustain the turmoil.

This was very difficult to write I was reliving it.

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

Marta here: I'm so grateful to M.S. for sharing her deeply personal and painful story. As a mother myself, I cannot imagine letting go of my 4 year old and putting her on a plane to another world not knowing when we would be reunited. I have tears in my eyes even as I type this. 

MS owns the very cool online shop, A Taste of Cuba and has generously offered to host today's giveaway.

It's a Cuban Coffee Basket (yes, please!) that includes the following:

1 Coffee maker (3 cup pressure system)coffeemaker is perfect for cafe, latte, or cafe con leche! 1 Cafe Cubano (espresso coffee) 2 cups and saucers (design varies) 1 Maria cookies(3.5 oz)

Just leave a comment on this post telling MS your thoughts about her story, or tell your own. 

I'll choose a winner on Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at 5 pm.

Espresso time! And the winner is...

I was quite pleased as I read the comments on the How to Make Cuban Coffee With Killer Espuma post.

Most of you are of the Old Stovetop School of Cuban Coffee Making Goodness. (Yay!)

And can I just tell you right now how much I love when you tell me about even the minutia of your life? I feel like we're sharing a cafecito at my kitchen table. So thank you all.

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

The winner of the Red IMUSA^® Coffee Maker and Red Espresso Cups is:

Aida Nava said...

i'm not ashamed to say this, we fail at making any kind of espuma.. we have a stovetop maker but haven't mastered making anything delicous from it! but if i could get my hands on turkish coffee i'd be happy!

and...

The winner of the IMUSA^® Nine Piece Stainless Steel Espresso Set is

Suzy said...

It's all about being old school. I first learned how to make espumita with my Tia Olimpia. She use to blend her coffee and sugar in one of those weird bottle/glasses that already made shrimp cocktail came in. (Not sure if they had those in Cali, but my guess is probably). Anyway I was always fasinated by the foam that was created in that weird little glass.

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

Congratulations to you both! Please shoot me an email with HEY MARTA! I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG! in the subject line (so I don't accidentally delete you). Please include your snail mail address so that I can forward to IMUSA^® and they can get your goodies out to you.

I'd like to thank the very generous folks at IMUSA^® for sponsoring this giveaway. And if you thought this one was cool (and it totally was)....they have very generously offered to partner with MBFCF and do some more fabulous giveaways in the next few months, so stay tuned for that.

Check out their fabulous products and visit them online at www.imusausa.com. Or go "like" them on Facebook - they have the best cooking tips every day. Thanks again, IMUSA!

I have lots of giveaways coming up this summer, so please keep checking back in. Seriously, I'm a little overwhelmed with all the coolness I get to share, but that's not important right now.

In the meantime, I hope you're all practicing your Killer Espuma^®.

Must Have Cuban Coffee

Kikita wrote this post under the influence of caffeine. You have been warned.

Mmmmmm . . . do you smell that?

That is the smell of the perfect Café Cubano. One more time, deep breath . . . Yes! Glorious!

Everyone grab your "tacita", sit back and enjoy it!

What's that?

YOU. DON'T. HAVE. ANY. CAFE????

**Kikita se desmayo!! (Kiki has fainted!!)**

**Mami holds a cafecito under Kikita's nose to revive her.**

Ok, so you don't have coffee to make espresso with. That's no problem, I'm sure you have regular coffee.

WHAT???

This is supposed to be the BEST part of waking up! Beyond that, it's supposed to be the best MOMENT at ANY time of day. It's the afternoon/after-lunch pick-me-up.

"It's terrible and wonderful at the same time! It's like freedom in a cup!"

Not to worry! I, Kikita, can help you! You know I have a guy (bueno, gal) on the INSIDE!

Through the magic of Facebook, I was introduced to a yummy new supplier.

Kaña Cuban Coffee Roasters.

I asked them for a sample and I couldn't wait for it to arrive in the mail.

When it finally did, it was an event!

(Isn't it beautiful? So full of promise!)

EVERYONE had to have a taste.

Everyone came to the same conclusion: RIQUISIMO!! (DELICIOUS!!)

So, I strongly encourage everyone to try Kaña's Hialeah Blend (espresso grind) and then come back here and Learn How to Make Cuban Coffee OR you could get CRAZY and Learn How to Make Cafe Con Leche. Either way, you gotta try this coffee.

I know you won't regret it.

In fact, you'll probably start singing (the way we all did when we had our first taste) . . .