My Big Fat Cuban Family is a Cuban-American lifestyle and food blog by Marta Verdes Darby.
January 6th, marks the Feast of the Epiphany on the Catholic Church calendar.
If you were counting the 12 days of Christmas - from December 25th until the 5th of January - you would have just received your 12 Lords a Leaping.
Read MoreI was recently invited to cook with celebrity chef Sunny Anderson. I know. Shut up. Of course I was going to attend!
The surprise was that she was kicking off The SPAMERICAN!TM Tour and would be cooking - wait for it - with SPAM®.
Read MoreI love nothing more than gathering around a laden table full of delicious food and my favorite people. As a matter of fact, my favorite people happen to be my kids.
Mother's Day weekend felt like it should have a lot of those moments. But of course, I wanted to spend as much time as possible just visiting with Amy and Adam. And enjoying my delightful grandson. So I opted for a super simple (but delicious!) menu. You know my motto: "Food Should Taste Delicious."
In this case I have a favorite go-to Chicken and Pasta Bake. It takes almost no time to put together (and I cheat a little by getting a pre-cooked chicken to save time) but it has a super wow factor when it hits the table.
I was truly craving more time to connect with everyone, including my own mom, Luza. She's 101, as you know, and I felt like time together was much more important than creating an elaborate meal.
Also, my kids were all here for the weekend and because I don't get to see the two older ones as much since they've moved, I felt like incredibly blessed and I was, of course, crazy-happy. My whole everyone-around-the-table-fantasy actually came true.
Celebrating our family being together was paramount. And feeding them mass quantities, I feel, is part of my job description. Keeping it super simple was Eric's only stipulation. (I tend to make myself a little crazy working super hard in the kitchen but that's not important right now.)
Fine. I can do simple with the best of them. This weekend was a total win. I didn't cook Cuban, although I suppose I could have. But I did go Italian. Read here about my mom and the Random Italian Thing.
I ran over to Walmart and picked up some Barilla® Penne Pasta. I planned on making a simple chicken and pasta bake that's always a favorite around here.
Once it's in the oven, I have much more time to visit and hold the baby. Win.
INGREDIENTS
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Spray a 13 x 9 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
3) In a very large skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat.
4) Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until onion is slightly translucent.
5) Add flour, and cook, stirring constantly for about 2 minutes.
6) Stir in milk, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and cook for about 5 minutes or until slightly thickened.
7) Stir in chicken, 3 cups cheese, salt, pepper, and sugar.
8) Stir in cooked pasta.
9) Spoon mixture into prepared baking dish and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.
10) Bake at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes until hot and bubbly and the cheese is slightly toasted on top.
Serve with warm bread and a nice green salad.
I'm kind of feeling like this may be a new Mother's Day Tradition. The next time you have all your people with you around the table, don't forget to go simple, but delicious.
And by all means, be kind to your mother. She lives for this kind of stuff.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Barilla. The opinions and text are all mine.
For those of you loyal readers, by know you've figured out that almost every Mother's Day, we (the children of MBFCF) have proudly hijacked our mom's blog with some adorable photos and commentary about how much we love and adore our mom.
The first year, we wrote THIS.
The following, THIS.
This year, we decided we were tired of writing about it… but that’s not important right now.
(Happy Mother’s Day. We love you!)
There is so much more we have to say... but maybe we'll save that for next year.
;-)
I was feeling a little sorry for myself because Mother's Day is coming and half of my kids are scattered all over the map. See this story.
For us Cubans, as is true for most Hispanic cultures, Mother's Day is like a High Holy Day. Am I right?
Either way, I was still going to celebrate with the 2 that are still here and of course, I'll be spending the afternoon with my own mom and wearing the mandatory Red Carnation, of course.
I was still kind of day dreaming about how wonderful it would be if we could have one big dinner together. Wouldn't it be awesome if they could all be here for Mother's Day?
It was more of a fantasy than an actual prayer, however...
Through some miracle of work scheduling and life events, it turns out that I'm going to have them all with me on Sunday, May 10th for Mother's Day. BEST. GIFT. EVER!
*does the happy dance*
Because Amy and Adam are traveling here and have other commitments and I want to spend as much time with them as possible, I'm going to be making a very simple dinner. Technically, they have no reason to object since Mami's doing the cooking anyway, but that's not important right now.
You know how much I love to cook for my family. I'm just so crazy happy to have them all here. My goal is to get the most out of the weekend and spend every last possible minute I can with them.
I'm proud to say that I have parnered with Barilla® Pasta to make a simple and memorable Mother's Day feast. I had to keep from making myself crazy with creating an elaborate menu. And I think we have achieved simplicity here.
I got the following recipe from Barilla® Pasta. It's simple and delicious and I'm oh-so-grateful that this is a wonderful start to a winning menu. I ran over to Walmart and picked up all the ingredients pretty easily.
I'm making spaghetti, people! *everyone cheers*
I only made one substitution - the crushed tomatoes for the whole ones.
Barilla® Spaghetti with San Marzano Tomato Meat Sauce
Preparation Time: 20 minutes - Servings: 8
Ingredients:
* NOTE - I substituted 28 oz. can of Cento Crushed Tomatoes because that's what my people prefer, and added two tablespoons of basil so I could get the same flavor because the San Marzano Tomatoes have basil already added.
Directions:
1) PLACE a pot of water to boil.
2) MEANWHILE, in a large skillet, sauté the onion, carrot and celery with the extra virgin olive oil. ADD the meat and cook until browned well.
3) INCORPORATE the tomatoes and 1 cup of water, season with salt and pepper to taste and bring to a simmer.
4) COOK pasta in the boiling water according to the package directions. DRAIN pasta and toss with sauce. TOP with cheese.
5) OPTIONAL: After the meat is browned, you can deglaze the sauce by adding the wine and let it reduce all the way.
There you have a simple, crowd-pleasing, absolutely delicious meal that everyone loves. Also, I'm not going to be spending hours in the kitchen, I'm going to be spending lots of time with the ones I love best.
And isn't that what we all really want for Mother's Day?
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Barilla. The opinions and text are all mine.
Let's face it, I'm already a self-confessed Marvel Fangirl, so I went into the screening of Avengers: Age of Ultron with really high expectations.
I am not exaggerating when I say that not only were my expectations met, they were fantastically exceeded.
Yes, of course, this much anticipated entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an excellent popcorn movie. That was to be expected. But it's the unexpected that makes this film a home run for writer/director Joss Whedon.
First of all, imagine taking such a formidable cast, Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) all accomplished actors in their own right and treating them, not just as an ensemble, but each as the stars they are. Whedon absolutely accomplished this in Age of Ultron.
He has taken six characters, heroes no less, and not only developed their heroic mythologies, but deepened their personal characters and advanced their relationships in a very satisfying way.
The screenplay accomplishes this in a wonderfully compelling story which is moved along by absolutely jaw-dropping action scenes. Juxtaposing those two things was no small feat.
Again, coming from an Uber-Nerdy Fangirl perspective, I was blown away.
Even the introduction of a few new characters, notably, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch (Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen), even they are given a chance to shine in their own right. Their backstory makes you love and hate them all at once. That was just genius.
The Super Villain, Ultron (beautifully voiced by the awesomely talented James Spader) is a very credible match for the world's six most amazing superheros.
I have to add here that the dialogue and the comedy in the film truly delivers real belly laughs. Much more so, dare I say, than many films calling themselves comedies. The one-to-one moments between the characters, (particularly the celebration that ends badly) are just as enjoyable as the action scenes. And for this type of film, that's saying a lot.
The action scenes. Ah, this is what this movie is all about, isn't it?
Yes, the world is about to be annihilated by Ultron. Of course.
But what makes this particular story more compelling than the usual the-world-is-in-peril-and-we're-all-surely-going-to-die is what I would call the "little" moments. Whedon makes us worry about a litte boy, a dog, and a family trapped in a high rise building all while the world appears to be coming to an end. I won't get into the minutia, but this is where Joss Whedon as storyteller absolutely shines.
This type of thing is what makes us as the audience so invested in the action sequences.
In the film's best moment, which I won't give away, the Avengers reveal that they aren't really fighting to save the world, they are fighting to save a very simple way of life depicted by a typical middle America farm with the stars and stripes proudly displayed. This humanity is what adds to the genius of this film.
I hope you appreciate how much self-control this fangirl has displayed in not giving away any of the film's best, most revealing moments. I will just say that it was an absolutely satisfying movie.
What makes it so fantastic is that when you leave the theater, after spending 141 minutes of your life in this world, your appetite is absolutely whetted for more.
Bravo, Marvel. Agents of Ultron is not just a home run, but a grand slam.
Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in theaters everywhere today, May 1st, 2015.
I can't very well let the month of April go without stopping to celebrate the things that I'm grateful for in my very extraordinarily ordinary life.
What's important right now?
DRIVING a brand new car. So new, in fact, that I don't quite recognize it yet. I told Eric that I felt like I needed an ESCAPE. He took me literally. I am pleased.
LISTENING to a wonderful collection of inherited old records from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. I'm so glad Jonathan appreciates vinyl, big bands, and crooners. We've been having a great time sitting around just listening to records. It's become a thing around here.
CELEBRATING Eric's 50th birthday. We kidnapped him and took the train up to LA and spent a day at the California Science Center exploring the Dead Sea Scrolls. A dream field trip for us nerdy types.
BABYSITTING as often as possible for our grandson, Asher. We set aside an entire day and just give him attention. It's good medicine for all of us.
BAKING fresh bread in a new bread machine. I know. I suppose I could easily let things rise and punch out and shape and bake, but I'm kind of enjoying the dump and go method. My favorite is fresh hot bread with real butter and honey. That's heaven to me.
SHARING the moon. My BFF, Pam and I send each other photos of the moon from wherever we happen to be. There's a comfort in knowing that no matter where our travels take us and how different our lives may be, we are looking up at the same moon each night. It brings comfort in an I'm-thinking-of-you way.
APPRECIATING the little things. Eric makes extra boiled eggs in the morning which I find when I get up a little later than he does once he's off to work. I appreciate that I was on his mind and that he's taking care of me with this small gesture. Also, I'm on a fresh raspberry jam kick. Don't try to stop me.
READING Chip Chip by Rusty Jaquays. Sent to me by one of my blog readers, it's a novel based on the events of the Mariel boatlift in 1980. So far I'm enjoying it immensely and am intrigued by the plot.
THINKING a lot about the coming summer months. Fixing up my garden, making notes for outdoor entertaining, collecting movies for outdoor movie nights. Come on, summer!
PLANNING Cuban Night at Dodger Stadium in a few weeks and Cuban Heritage Day at Dodger Stadium in July. Looking forward to seeing all my cubiches and hoping for a Dodger win.
If you don't already have your shirts for the July game, be sure to order them early from my friends at Habana Brand Clothing.
RELISHING the days we can spend time with the kids. We're having fun negotiating our growing and changing relationships.
GOING out of our way to cultivate gratitude in our simple lives. I'm so glad that we are stopping to make time to celebrate the good stuff. It takes just a moment for me to look at these photos from this past month and reflect and thank God. We are indeed blessed.
What about you? What's important right now? Feel free to share.
I should probably start with a disclaimer about how this post is going to have lots of photos (you can thank me later) and be really long and fangirly (<--is that a word?) and I'm probably most definitely going to be gushing.
(Oh, no! There's going to be gushing?)
I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron Press Junket at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.
And I just had the distinct pleasure of typing that last statement and can hardly believe it actually refers to my real life, but that's not important right now.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably heard that the newest Avengers film - Avengers: Age of Ultron is going to be coming out in theaters on Friday, May 1st.
I promise to write a review on Friday to give you my thoughts on the film (Warning: there will probably be gushing), but today I just want to share what it was like to attend the press junket and interview the amazing cast.
The interviews were held in the Walt Disney Studios Main Theater, which is an automatic set-up to expect something magical.
And just in case we were a little confused about who we were interviewing, the names of the participating talent were prominently displayed in front of each seat and its corresponding microphone.
Right here is where the pinch-me-is-this-really-happening moments began.
This is the list that we got before the event.
· Robert Downey Jr. (“Iron Man”)
· Chris Evans (“Captain America”)
· Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”)
· Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow”)
· Mark Ruffalo (“The Hulk”)
· Jeremy Renner (“Hawkeye”)
· Cobie Smulders (“Maria Hill”)
· Elizabeth Olsen (“Scarlett Witch”)
· Aaron Taylor Johnson (“Quicksilver”)
· James Spader (“Ultron”)
· Paul Bettany (“Vision”)
· Joss Whedon (Director)
· Kevin Feige (Producer)
And suddenly, there they were in the flesh. I know. Pinch me, please. Although I have to confess that I was a little disappointed because I really, really wanted the moderator to say, "Avengers, assemble." It would've been fantastic, right? I know.
The fun began as soon as they all sat down.
First of all, I was kind of blown away by all that star power. And I just started clicking away with my camera hoping to capture what it was like to be in the same room with all that talent.
Wait. I was in the same room with all that talent. *sigh*
I was half listening to their answers to the very thoughtful questions being asked.
Because I was also appreciating how much fun they all seemed to be having together. And again, that I was there in the same room with all that awesome. (Did you pinch me yet?)
I did, of course, have moments of great and intense focus. (See what I did there?)
But the distractions were many.
Which was a related question asked of filmmaker Joss Whedon, the director.
QUESTION - Can you talk about, what were the biggest challenges that you faced putting together the story and then shooting the film? What were the things that surprised you on your journey?
JOSS WHEDON - There’s like 47 of these people. I really didn’t think that through, and I regret very much doing this at all. You know, it’s just making sure that everybody’s, you know, got their moment, that everybody’s got their through-line, that it’s connected to the movie. I have all these people. I love all these people. They’re extraordinary. But making sure that they’re not just all being served, but all within the same narrative structure, that they’re in the same movie, that it’s all connected to the main theme. At some point during the editing process, I could not have told you who they were, who I was, what movie I was making, I got so lost in it. But I think it all came together, and you know, it’s just about making these guys look good, which takes a long time.
Without giving too much away, I'd say he did an amazing job with each story arc and keeping them all connected to the same theme. Again, more on the film itself coming soon. I was still just trying to track what was being said and I couldn't decide where to direct my focus.
KEVIN FEIGE (Producer - on what the experience has been like for him as the man with the grand plan to make all the films and bring these characters to life) - It’s crushingly overwhelming expectations, particularly on this movie. But it’s incredible, and it’s incredible, to look down the line and the table keeps getting bigger and bigger. It’s the greatest ensemble ever assembled in cinematic history, and it is amazing to be a part of it.
I have to agree with Mr. Feige. Just look at this group.
We had already asked a few questions and were about halfway through the interviews when Robert Downey Jr. (much to my everlasting delight) jumped in with this:
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. - I must be mellowing with age, but I want to say this very clearly. The next time I’m not asked the first question, [LAUGHTER] I’ll f___ing walk out. I read Joss’s script, I said, I think this is great. Now, ask Kevin, didn’t I say that? I said that.
KEVIN FEIGE - You did say that.
ROBERT DOWNEY JR. - Thank you. I said: "I think this is great."
Kevin said, “You never say that. You can’t mean that.”
I said, “Yeah, I think it’s great. Let’s go shoot it.”
I thought it was a Swiss watch to begin with and Joss really created some great new situations for Tony to be in, so rather than dig in my heels and try to rewrite every scene, to make them even better, if possible, I showed up and it turned out great.
He was very obviously the ringleader of this merry band and pretty proud of what they had accomplished together. I loved that they all collapsed in laughter as he joked about it all with a straight face.
Those of us in attendance just felt accidentally cool to be in such awesome company and privy to this delicious banter.
I think you get a great taste for that same camaraderie in this (my favorite!) scene from the movie.
I am afraid that if I keep writing I will definitely let loose with the spoilers. Let me just say this: if you're a Marvel fan, this film is super satisfying. (<--no pun intended.) Again, I promise I will tell you all about it on Friday.
Was that fangirly enough? Also, is "fangirly" a word? That hasn't been determined yet.
Le sumba. You know?
Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in theaters everywhere on Friday, May 1st, 2015.
It is my great pleasure to announce that I'm participating in a fabulous celebration of children and books called Día Blog Hop, organized by Latinas for Latino Lit. The Blog Hop features the very best of Latino children's book illustrators and authors.
It's very cool to be a part of such a great group and program. 13 Latino authors and illustrators have been paired up with 12 top Latina bloggers to champion Latino children's literacy.
The schedule of blogs that will be hopping along with me are:
Pat Mora on Latinas 4 Latino Lit
Monica Brown on The Wise Latina Club
Margarita Engle on MommyMaestra
Alma Flor Ada on My Big, Fat, Cuban Family
René Colato-Laínez on Modern Mami
Meg Medina on Atypical Familia
Angela Dominguez on My Friend Betty Says
F. Isabel Campoy on Family is Familia
Mariana Llanos on Discovering the World Through My Son’s Eyes
Thursday, April 30th Graciela Tiscareno-Sato on Viva Fifty!
Rená Saldaña, Jr. on Mama Latina Tips
James Luna on Latinaish
I'm so proud to add my voice to this group. I hope you have a chance to check out all the wonderful offerings.
For more information, please visit Latinas for Latino Lit and their Facebook page for event updates.
The Día Blog Hop will be culminating on April 30th in honor of Día de los Niños, Día de los Libros.
But, right now, it's my great privilege to introduce you to Alma Flor Ada, the prolific author who is my special guest today.
Sharing the diversity and richness of the Latino roots is a constant in my work and the books I have co-authored with Isabel Campoy. Children growing up in Latin America or Spain are immersed in the Spanish language and the Hispanic culture, while, in the United States, Latino children may have only a reduced contact with their cultural heritage.
This is why we try to offer them, in books and CDs, as much of the culture that contributed so significantly to shape our own lives.
In the collection Cuentos que contaban nuestras abuelas /Tales Our Abuelitas Told co-authored by us, as well as in many of my books: Mediopollito/Half-chicken; The Three Golden Oranges, The rooster who went to his uncle’s wedding/El gallo que fue a la boda de su tío, The Lizard and the Sun/La lagartija y el sol we have retold the stories that delighted us as children, trying to make them as enjoyable as they were in our grandmothers’ voices.
The books Pío Peep, Mother Goose, MuuMoo, andTen Little Puppies/Diez perritos are compilations of our nursery rhymes.
Merry Navidad a collection of villancicos organized to tell the Christmas story. We have also created poetry anthologies, biographies, and books on art and various aspects of the culture.
Alongside collecting what already existed, we have also written our original poetry. Something particularly exciting is that the great composer and singer Suni Paz has created music for many of our poems. All the poems of my books Gathering the Sun, honoring the farm working families, Abecedario de los animales and Coral y espuma Abecedario del mar have been recorded as songs by Suni Paz.
Todo es canción, includes many of my most cherished poems and Arrullos de la sirena, poems for the very young child which I wrote while waiting for the birth of two of my granddaughters.
Yes! We Are Latinos, published in Spanish as Sí, somos latinos is our most recent effort to present important aspects of our history introduced by free verse fictional narratives of latino boys and girls, from various origins, to provide specific circumstances for the reader to better understand the quest for identity.
Me llamo María Isabel /My Name is María Isabel, Dancing Home/Nacer bailando and Love, Amalia/Con cariño, Amalia are all books that explore being Latino from the perspective of protagonists with very different circumstances.
Many of our families are now bicultural and that reality more common each day inspired I Love Saturdays y domingos / Me encantan los Saturdays y domingos about a child who spends Saturdays with her English speaking grandparents and Sundays with her abuelita y abuelito.
Children and adolescents’ search for understanding life can motivate their desire to know about those who lived before and Latino youth also wonder about the lives of their ancestors. In Where the Flame Trees Bloom and Under the Royal Palms, which was awarded the Pura Belpré medal, I share memories of my childhood, written from the desire to honor those who had enriched my growing up years, hoping that recreating the past, it can continue to live in the present and perhaps inspire others in the future.
Now, 15 years later, Under the Royal Palms and Where the Flame Trees Bloom will appear together in one volume, enriched by Days at La Quinta Simoni, a third new collection of childhood stories, and numerous photographs, with a cover from Edel Rodriguez and illustrations by Edel and Antonio Martorell. This new book, called Island Treasures is a recognition to the appreciation shown by numerous students and the teachers who encouraged them to write about their families and childhood after reading my memoirs and the tribute of the publisher, Atheneum, to the importance of Latino experiences.
Thank you, Latinas for Latino Lit for including My Big, Fat, Cuban Family in this project.
Do you know what makes me smile?
I read each of your comments, particularly the ones from those of you who entered my recent giveaway for the beautiful Mother Ring Charm Holder. And what I read was the pride in those few lines. "These are the names of the people I love most." I love that.
And I get it. As a mother, I think I take the most pride in the four lives I've brought into the world. So, thank you all for sharing your loves and I wish every one of you could win.
Sadly, I could only choose one winner. The rest of you may want to consider ordering the commemorative jewelry from my friend, Pam. You can contact her through her Facebook page, Pandora Lee Originals.
To choose a winner, I went to the site, Random.org and plugged in the number of comments into the True Random Number Generator. Whatever random number it picked was the winner. In this case, it was Jackie.
Congratulations! Please send me an email with all with HEY, MARTA I WON STUFF ON YOUR BLOG! in the subject line (so I don't accidentally delete you) with your contact information and I will connect you directly to Pam so she can get started on your beautiful Mother's Day creation.
I'm so delighted all of you played along. Thank you so much!
My Big Fat Cuban Family is all about my Cuban American life. Enjoy my ramblings on my blog about my Cuban family, Cuban heritage, Cuban culture, Cuban life. And some decent Cuban recipes with pictures, too.
