Kikita here. I'm sure you are wondering why I've hijacked the blog so consistently this week . . . well, the first reason is because I've done so many cool things . . . Helloooo Andy! But the other reason is that Mami went to Vegas this weekend so she was busy getting ready for her mini-viaje. I'm sure that she will have some great posts when she gets back; in the meantime, the Andy obsession continues . . . ;-)
One of our faithful readers sent us some pictures of his kids trick-or-treating and gave me permission to share them with you . . . Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but you're going to love this!
Yes, that's George Lopez. In case you didn't know, we consider him cool because he's married to a Cubana. =D
That's not all. Here is the REAL "treat" . . .
Ladies and gentleman, ANDY GARCIA in full Cuban glory! Cigar and Drink in hand! (no, we're not sure who the witch is other than very lucky to be in the presence of royalty)
First, I'd like to apologize for waiting over 24 hours to post, but once you hear my excuse, I'm sure you will forgive me. This is Kikita and peer pressure still works on me. :-)
A few days ago, I received and email from our blogging buddy Ziva (from Blog for Cuba - a wonderful blog and an amazing woman, but that's not important right now). As it turns out, she had an extra ticket to go see . . . drumroll please . . . ANDY GARCIA & THE CINESON ALL STARS!!
Yes, our beloved Andy does more than just act! (Speaking of his acting, he's going to be in the new Pink Panther which is reason enough to see it, but that too is not important right now)
I was honored (that she would invite me) and excited beyond all reason. When it was the DAY OF, Mami called and asked if I would stop by the house on my way to Hollywood, she had something she wanted me to take . . .
I admit, I was worried Mami was going to give me a signed cookbook that I would have to give to Andy, but that was not it at all.
You see, her camera is broken and the only camera I have is the one from my phone . . . which does not take the best quality pictures. Mami knew I was embarking on a momentous adventure, that this was a big moment in my life (as it would be in anyone's) and all I had to document it was my silly little camera phone . . . so she had gone out and bought a new camera! Not a big and intense and serious one like hers, just a cute little digital thing, but Olympus nonetheless.
Which was perfect!
Yes, it was a dark, jazz club, but I still got pictures thanks to Mami's new camera.
Ok, Andy really is a golden god. He played the bongos, the cowbell, the harmonica, the piano . . . he sang, he danced . . . and all with an ecstatic expression on his face. He introduced every song and he knew it's history. It was great! Being the good Cubana I am, I recognized every song and then had a higher appreciation for each one after getting a history lesson from Andy.
They opened with "Descarga Cachao" in honor to the great musician who is not longer with us.
They did "Lagrimas Negras." They did . . . everything! Danzon, Rumba, Mambo. All the classics.
He was FUNNY too! He sat down at the piano and said, "I'd like to play a song I wrote for a little movie I did called 'The Lost City'" HA! Little? Que humilidad! :-)
This is so hard to blog about because I don't have the words to say what an amazing and fun experience this was.
The two things that I took away from it were:
1. I think Andy is really a musician who acts. (Instead of an actor who plays music.)
2. I LOVE BEING CUBAN! I LOVE CUBAN MUSIC.
And let me just take a moment to tell you about the company I was in . . .
Henry Agueros and Ziva Sahl. I got there a bit late (the traffic took me 2 & 1/2 hours this time - and yes, I took the 405), but when I arrived they caught me up on the conversation. We discussed Cuban music, Cubans today, Cuban politics, Cuban music, Cuban food (Henry actually asked if I was any good at cooking with such a famous cooking mom - "Claro que si!"). I felt so cool having real conversation with such intelligent and passionate people.
(Hey you two! If you ever need a third, I'm in! And Ziva, THANK YOU SO MUCH!)
After dinner as the music started, you know I couldn't sit still, so I was up
and out of my sit and dancing in no time . . . meanwhile, I was trying
to take pictures for Mami to see what she had missed. Then I did something REALLY cool because Andy was doing something really cool . . .
He did a tribute to Celia! And what a tribute!
The last song of the night was "una congita." Yeah, we totally started a conga line. Would you expect anything less?
"Henry was at my house on Sunday for the Dolphins game and mentioned that he’s on a list serv for his graduating class at Belen. Basically, it’s a net service where men from that class post links and communicate with each other. Someone had mentioned on the list serv about Cuban food and missing pastelitos de guayaba as he lives up north somewhere where there’s no Cuban food and Henry posted your pastelito recipe to the list serv. He says that a bunch of those guys – mind you, Cuban, professional men that have no idea what a kitchen is actually for – actually made the pastelitos and not only loved them, but found themselves talking about and trading “pastelito baking tips” on the list serv.
It's all your fault they're all acting kinda gay."
Then, Henry (also from Babalú blog) sent me the actual thread:
From: Henry Louis Gomez Subject: Re: [belen87] Pastelito Recipe
Thanks for the recipe - it looks totally do-able ( and I can get the Ancel Guayaba here...) It is clearly a Cuban cook, with the manicure and the bracelets while she cooks..... R
From: Henry Louis Gomez Subject: Re: [belen87] Pastelito Recipe
Marta Darby is one of the sweetest people in the world. She lives in California and thus she's had to become an expert in Cuban cooking just to be able to eat.
From: Jorge C. Subject: Re: [belen87] Pastelito Recipe
Awesome recipe (I had to try it out).
From: RD Subject: Re: [belen87] Pastelito Recipe
Boy, the tone of this list has taken a post-election turn. Now we're exchanging recipes.... R
OMG! Isn't that AWESOME??? I just about wept because I was laughing so hard picturing the Cuban men exchanging "pastelito baking tips." And I especially LOVE that one of them included pictures of his final product!
"Desi saw it just now and loves it! Tomorrow I'll take the picture and send it to you. There are a few recipes in there that his Dad always made and we never really knew how to make them."
(NOTE: emphasis mine. BTW, Mrs. Arnaz, who is a lovely ballerina, has a blog called Insights from the Magic Tutu. Go visit her and tell her Marta from MBFCF sent you.)
To me, those were the very BEST compliments I could receive. I often say that I'm not a "foodie" or anything, I'm just Cuban and I cook. My goal is to make easy, delicious, Cuban-tasting food.
If I can get people (that is, Cuban professional men!) to connect to their Cuban roots by way of their stomach I feel like I've done a good job. That Desi Arnaz, Jr. is able to connect with memories of his Dad in this way "puts the lid on the jar" for me.
Which is why I'm framing this picture and putting it in my kitchen:
Desi Arnaz Jr. (*sigh*) enjoys MBFCF Cookbook.
Well, okay, that... and because he's still so dang ADORABLE!(Hi Desi! Besitos!!)
I'm making baby-back ribs today using the pimentón I just received. Get yourselves over to Babalú blog for some Costillitas de Martica.
And be sure to tell any Cuban guys you know that I have a cookbook. ;-)
Before there was Andy.... (insert heart flutter here)
There was Desi... (sigh)
That's right. Desi Arnaz Jr. (be still my foolish heart...)
Proud and handsome descendant of Cuban Royalty, Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball (let's have a moment of reverent silence here - thank you).
MY Desi. (heavy sigh) My First True Love. (in my 12 year-old mind, we were MFEO. "made for each other." =D)
THE Desi of my elaborate he's-Cuban-and-I'm-Cuban adolescent daydreams. The would-be recipient of my Dear Desi letters (that I wrote only in the absolute privacy of my very personal pink-with-a-lock-on-it-we-all-had-one Diary, but that's not important right now).
Ah, Desi.... (heavy sigh.)
So imagine my surprise and delight when I received the following comment on one of my posts...
WHO?? And did she really say, "...can't wait to show it to Desi." ???
THE Desi? MY Desi???
Feeling emboldened, I decided to send him a token of my unfailing love and devotion...
Sorry, Andy. It had to be done.
"The course of true love never did run smooth."
~ Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream
DISCLAIMER: Just to let you know that I'm not as stalkery as all this sounds, I've exchanged emails with the lovely Mrs. Arnaz and she responded with the following:
"Yes, Marta, please blog me and also send the cookbook! And autograph it with kisses to Desi. He'll love that! He has taught me how to make alot of Cuban dishes that he remembers from his father."
Emphasis is mine. And I am nothing if not obedient. ;-)
I don't know if this is a general Cuban birthday custom or if it was just peculiar to our family, but on your birthday, you would display your opened gifts on your bed all day. I always liked that. You know, it made me feel special and celebrated and somehow made my birthday feel like an important milestone. Even if there was no party, seeing the gifts displayed together always gave me the feeling that today is something special. In fact, I continue to follow the tradition with my kids.
How it works is that on your birthday as you receive and open gifts, you immediately place them on your bed (which was beautifully and perfectly made, at least for this day!) in a wonderful display of abundance and celebration of your family's generosity. Isn't that cool? Plus it gave you a ready-made birthday show-and-tell venue which added a bit of theatricality to the day. "This is from ........"
I continued to enjoy the Birthday Bed Display myself until I got married. It's a little trickier because well (ahem) I share a bed now. But because I still like the tradition of keeping birthday gifts on display, I went with another option - the hutch.
Check out my birthday stash! (and guess who's going to be having an Andy Garcia/Ocean's 11, 12, & 13 film festival VERY soon, but that's not important right now. =D)
Anyway, except for the tulips (thanks, Michelle!) my birthday gifts are still on display on my hutch. I know. I'm not being lazy or anything (which of course, is entirely possible, but not true in this case) it's just that I'm still trying to drag out this birthday celebration thing for the entire month...
.....which means I get to celebrate for one more day. ;-)
We love any kind of game, really, but trivia games are our special favorites.
Lucy got a fabulous Electronic Catch Phrase game for Christmas and we've already chewed through a pair of double-A's.
Serious.
We have a family reputation as serious game players, too. And a lot of the time my brain seems to be as slow as molasses and I cannot think clearly at all, but sometimes I have moments.
Take, for example the following true story:
The phone rings and it's one of Adam's 22 year old friends and he wants to talk to me. . .
It's a week before Christmas and I find this taped to my studio door. What on earth. . .?
Oh yes, it's crunch time.
You see we (Amy, Lucy and I) make a Christmas film every year. We take all our home movies and set them to music and cut the clips together and give it a fun title and ta-da! it becomes a family keepsake. Okay, so the process is a bit more complicated than that.
The movie making branch of our family is Cucufate Pictures. (it's just us, but it sounds cool, doesn't it?) And really Amy is the glue that holds this movie crew together. She's just amazing at taking home movies and turning them into a thing of beauty. Lucy is her loyal sidekick hero support. I just try to push my weight around and get them to employ my suggestions - for that they let me call myself the Director. (I like that. It makes me sound taller, somehow. . .)
We're in full Christmas video making mode now. Yes, we're ready for Christmas otherwise, but we Must. Have. The. Video. The rest of my big fat Cuban family is expecting it and we don't want to disappoint.
So the girls have been working feverishly on this year's production and it's going to be amazing (as usual).
I thought it would be fun to add a few of the segments to my blog this week for your holiday blog viewing pleasure. (and so you can ooh and aah about how talented my girls are and how fun my family is. =D)
Amy cut together this sweet piece showing the men in our family at various ages and the title of the home movie they appeared in. It's just an extra added bonus that Andy Garcia just happens to be a part of this clip. (Yes, I had to lean on her a little. You'll find that under my job description as The Director. ;-)
It was really even too hot to think about fighting the crowds and Labor Day weekend traffic to get to the beach. I know. I can still barely believe I'd give up a beach day...
But we cranked up the a/c and made it a point to move as little as possible.
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.
Love, love, love your Big Fat Cuban Family blog. Found it by accident and can't wait to show it to Desi.
Muchas gracias!
Amy Arnaz