I Have Naturally Curly Hair

I'm the youngest of six, five of whom are female. Hair is a big thing when you're growing up Cuban. I was born with a big, unruly mop of natural curls.

Here I am at 6 years old in all my newly-arrived-from-Cuba glory with my freshly-coifed-by-Mirta-de-Perales-herself afro. My mom seriously did not know how to parent a curly haired child. (Not blaming. Just stating fact.)

My perception, when I started the first grade in Miami was that I was different. My language, my family's customs, my food - all different. My naturally curly hair made those differences more pronounced. Even as I wrote that last sentence, I still experience a twinge of pain as I remember the feeling of "otherness," but that's not important right now.

I came of age in the late sixties and early seventies. In my early high school years, the flip was the hairdo of choice and I had learned from my older sisters how to "set" my hair. In Spanish, we called the curlers, moños. And Saturdays would find all of us in our curlers and hairnets. The word for hairnet is "redesilla."

My sister, Miriam rocking those giant hair curlers and her "redesilla." Circa 1967

You know what Spanish word is fun to say? Redesilla. You're welcome.

Here I am when I first started high school. There was a way to comb out your rolled hair into a perfect flip if you had enough body. We curly-haired people had all the body. Be jealous.

But notice how the rest of the hair had to be perfectly smooth? We used to buy Dippity-Do by the gallon. (I know. Shut up.) 

The flips of the early sixties soon gave way to the perfectly-straight-parted-down-the-middle Flower Child look. I remember reading a teen magazine that gave the dubious summer beach advice: "If your hair is curly, live in your room." Seriously. I'm sure it was a tongue-in-cheek piece, but those words burned deeply into my very tormented 15-year-old soul.

So I spent years (years, people!) hating my hair for not playing nice and getting along with the other kids.

I wrote (and made a video) about getting a Brazilian Blowout here: The Taming of the Do. (Don't judge.)

By the summer of 2012, I was burned out on the years of straightening and fighting and taming my hair. I serendipitously had two friends tell me I should go back to my natural curls. I made an appointment with a local salon called Curls on Top in Laguna Beach.

I wrote all about my friends and their intervention and the beginning of my Curl Recovery here: Jesus and My Hair.

It was just a few weeks ago, nearly 18 months since I started My Curly Hair Journey that my hairdresser finally cut those last few strands of straight pieces off forever. I suppose I could have cut all my hair off über-short and started from there, but we, People-of-The-Round-Face have to be careful about those kinds of spontaneously bad decisions.

I kept accountable to my friend, Carrie by taking "selfies" of my Curly Hair Recovery Process. Today I'm sharing the magic with you.

(Also, please appreciate that it's difficult for me to share my curly struggle so publicly. Be kind.)

This is me, totally embracing my Curly Awesome.

If you have any questions about going from straight back to your natural curls, please feel free to contact me. I'm totally a Curly Hair Evangelist now.

The LEGO Movie Experience at Legoland. Yes, we did.

My son, Jonathan is 18 years old. He's not your typical high school senior in that he's been homeschooled since the first grade. He's got a ton of friends and pretty much does your typical teen guy stuff.

It was my delight to take Jon with me when I was invited to Legoland® for the day to preview The LEGO® Movie Experience. I was doing the Media Thing. How accidentally cool is this?

What this meant was that Jon and I got to spend a day together at Legoland®. This is something we haven't done since he was pretty young. But, as you know, we are all Unabashed Lovers of All Things Lego. See here, here, here, and here.

The new Legoland attraction, the LEGO Movie Experience was a visit to the set of Finn's Basement. The place where the live action portion of The LEGO Movie was filmed.

Picture a city and attending sets built with over 3 million LEGO bricks. I know. Mind blown.

If you look hard enough, you can actually find Emmet and his friends in vignettes from the movie. We may or may not have spent hours doing exactly this.

Also, it became a personal scavenger hunt to find Batman. Of course, there was only one Batman, because, well, there's really only one Batman. (Duh.)

Everywhere we turned there were more scenes from the movie. If you're a BrickLover (and we totally are), you would seriously appreciate.

We so loved the movie and we so love the bricks and now here's yet another reason to love them both.

Both my husband and son have always loved building with LEGO bricks. I'm pretty sure Legoland was designed for the 12-and-under crowd and I absolutely remember the appeal for that age group, but there's something so iconic and delightful about LEGOS.

Maybe it's just nostalgia, or maybe it's something more. Could it be that the Love of All Things LEGO is transcendent?

Or maybe we're just the type of über-geeks who are imaginative enough to picture ourselves in the beautiful world of bricks where Everything is Awesome.

Let's play find the Cuban Lego Mama...

I wrote some more about this fabulous day over at The OC Latina Moms Blog.

Celebrating the Centenarian

I hope you're not yet tired of hearing about how my mom celebrated her 100th birthday because I have so much more to share. But of course, reaching 100 is kind of a big deal, isn't it?

My sisters and I had spent weeks preparing for the event and keeping our fingers crossed that the weather would hold up. (It's been getting stupid-cold in the afternoons lately.) The weather was Southern California at its most gorgeous. (Thank you, God.)

Luza thought it would be a mellow afternoon gathering with just the local family, but friends and family traveled for the party. This was the look on her face time and time again as each new person walked in and surprised her.

Can I just tell you that it's kind of a sketchy thing surprising a 100 year old, but I know my mom is healthy and strong and she was just delighted to see so many people that she wasn't expecting. In they came, one after the other, wishing her a Happy Birthday. I'm so grateful that she is so beautifully in her right mind (most of the time). It was glorious watching her greet each guest with recognition. What a gift.

One of the highlights of the day was the 100 piñata. It was bigger than life as a 100 year piñata should be. No, we didn't fill it and break it. We just moved it around and appreciated the awesome.

Left to right, back row: Helen (71), Rudy (68), Ofelia (73), Marta (58). Front row: Miriam (64), Luza (100), Alina (60). That's a lot of collective years, people.

We had, as promised Italian food for lunch. Lasagna, Mac & Cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, but then we also had plantains. (Damn Cubans!)

Desserts were many and varied, with two cakes and lots of cupcakes. Also, we opted out of trying to light 100 candles. (Call me lazy.)

For the decorations, I hung some banners. You may recall I really got into hanging words at Christmas time? I made two banners. The first said, Happy 100 Luza! I didn't want it to just say Happy Birthday, because, well, you can say that to anyone at any birthday party, but that's not important right now.

The other was made from photos of my mom through the years. I was quite pleased with the results.

My niece very cleverly created these cool jam labels. Talk about awesome party favors. They were quite the hit.

The day ended as we sang "Japi Bersdei" and she blew out her candles and we toasted her good health and long life.

So sweet and oh, so satisfying. Happy Birthday, Luza! Y muchos mas...

The Secret of Long Life

As many of you know, yesterday we celebrated my mom, Luza's 100th birthday. Thank you all for the wonderful birthday wishes. I printed them all out and they're going in her newest scrapbook, but that's not important right now.

When you reach a certain age, in this case, 100 years, people often ask, "So, what's your secret?"

The question they're really asking, I think, is, "What did you do to get here?"

I can't answer that for other people, but I can tell you that the secret to my mom's long and healthy life are not the things she did, but the things she did not do.

1. She never worked outside of her home.

My dad was always the breadwinner. She went from her parents' home to becoming his bride. She was exclusively a wife and mother and eventually, a grandmother. My siblings and I continue to take care of her.

2. She never drove a car.

My dad, and as we got our drivers licenses, all of us drove her wherever she wanted or needed to go.

3. She was never bitter about the past.

Her life changed radically and completely when we came here to the U.S. She lost the only country and language she had ever known. She never saw her mother again. She left her home and wealth to start over in this new country with a family of 6 kids. She was 47 years old.

4. She did not stop reading.

She still reads voraciously and has two or three novels going at once. She also enjoys the occasional self-help book. Go figure.

5. She didn't lose her faith.

Communism took over our island home and with it, came the destruction of the church. She continues to read her bible every single day. The readings go like this - 1 chapter New Testament, 1 chapter Old Testament, 1 Psalm, 1 Proverbs. On this schedule, she reads her bible cover to cover every year. And it shows.

6. She has never stopped learning.

Because she's such a voracious reader, she likes to clip articles from magazines and newspapers (in Spanish, of course). She likes to learn fun facts about the nations competing in the Olympics. She collects inspirational quotes. She can have an intelligent conversation about what's happening in the world and politics. She has voted in every U.S. election since she became an American citizen.

7. She won't stop making plans.

Of course, it's been years since she has been able to work on any projects herself, but that hasn't stopped her from clipping decorating ideas from magazines, or making plans to add flowers to her garden. Even when I'm the one hosting the party, she will always offer an idea that she has found. Also, she keeps scrapbooks. She has dozens of them full of the things that she finds cute, or useful, or memorable. She works diligently on these all the time.

8. She doesn't worry about her phone bill.

She is still in touch with her siblings in Cuba and our first next door neighbor when we first arrived in the U.S. She calls many of her old friends (some that she knew from summers in the late 50's from Varadero Beach) regularly.

9. She didn't stop taking care of herself.

She still regularly colors her hair, goes to the beauty parlor, paints her nails, wears perfume, and of course, wears lipstick. Even if no one is visiting that day and even if she's not going anywhere, she gets dressed and grooms herself every day.

10. She never despaired.

She had to start her life over in mid-life, and true to the Cuban character, she made jokes about it. She raised a family in a new and foreign culture. She was always of the "Where There's Life, There's Hope" camp and that's how she has lived her life.

My indomitable mother is 100 years old young. Maybe it's time to make my own not-to-do list.

The Random Italian Thing or Mac and Cheese for All

We're getting ready to celebrate my mom, Luza's 100th birthday in another week. And of course, as we're trying to put this thing together, we've tried to include her in as many decisions as possible.

She doesn't care much about the decorations, she says. She trusts us with those, as long as they are bright, not just one color, but all the spring colors, but no red and absolutely no black. Oh, and flowers. Lots of flowers. (So much for the trusting us part... but that's not important right now.)

There are two other things that she has a very strong opinion about.

1) Send an invitation to every single person in her address book. This was a no-brainer and obvious to us, of course. The interesting part is that the names in her address book ranged from her first neighbor in Miami back when we first arrived in the U.S. back in 1961 to her old ESL classmates from the 70's. *shaking my head*

2) When we asked if she had a preference for the food we'd be serving, she said, "Yes, I want it to be Italian."

This second feature comes up randomly and at the most bizarre moments. Of course, there's a back story...

The Random Italian Thing

When she was growing up in the Cuban port town of Manatí (read some of that story here), the big cargo ships would come in to load Cuban's main export, which was sugar and they would unload whatever import happened to be coming from Italy (of all places). It was the Italians that captured her imagination. They were from a far away place called, Napoli, and they sang songs, like "Oh, Marie," and talked in accents and fascinated the residents of Manatí, particularly the children.

Apparently the entire family was enthralled with the Italian Thing. My grandmother, Osmunda (as my mom tells the story) learned to cook the most amazing macaroni. And every now and then, as happens to all of us, the craving for the food that her mom cooked overwhelms her.

So, the menu for the party is Italian with a Cuban spin.

In honor of that, I'd love to share this recipe for the most delicious Mac and Cheese. It's pretty simple and in fact, I did a test run the day of the Super Bowl Big Game and it was a hit with everyone. My grandmother, Osmunda's secret was to use chicken broth to cook the pasta and then make it in a flat pan so that every bite has cheese and crunch. I promise you will love.

In honor of Luza's 100th Birthday and the Random Italian Thing, I give you...

 

Flat Pan Mac and Cheese (estilo Osmunda)

• 3/4 pound elbow macaroni
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (you'll be dividing it up)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 cups whole milk (must be whole for the best texture)
• 5 cups chicken broth (divided)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 6 oz bread crumbs. (I use fresh bread and make crumbs with my food processor. This gives it a fresher
• taste.)
• 1 medium bunch of fresh parsley
• 5 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)
• 1 cup Fresh Mozzarella, diced into small cubes (8 oz)

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Add a tablespoon of kosher salt.
3. Boil macaroni for about 5 minutes. You want it "al dente." Drain. Do not rinse. Set aside.
4. In the same large pot, melt 4 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat.
5. Add flour, whisking constantly for about a minute. Add milk and chicken broth, whisking constantly.
6. Bring to boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer. Add kosher salt and pepper to taste.
7. Simmer until mixture begins to thicken, about 20 minutes. Note: It won't get too thick, but it should coat the spoon.
8. Meanwhile, melt remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Measure 3 cups of breadcrumbs (Pulse bread in food processor to make crumbs or use packaged crumbs) and place in a mixing bowl.
9. Add parsley and garlic to food processor. Pulse until fine, then add to bowl with breadcrumbs. Season with 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Pour butter over top and mix with spatula until combined.
10. In a large mixing bowl, toss macaroni with grated the grated Parmesan — it's ok if the noodles are sticking together.
11. Pour the milk mixture (bechamel) over the top of the noodles. They should come apart easily now.
12. Line a long, flat, jelly roll pan with a sheet of parchment paper. Spread macaroni mixture over top.
13. Distribute the diced mozzarella cubes over top. Scatter breadcrumb mixture evenly over top of those. You can add any other toppings that make you happy at this point. I like it as is.
14. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until top is golden and the macaroni is bubbling. Let it sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

 Also, it's not too late if you would like to send my mom a Happy 100th Birthday Greeting. Click here and feel free to leave your good wishes in the comment section.

A Century of Life

My mom, Luza, of Cuco and Yayo fame, will be celebrating her 100th birthday in a few weeks.

100.

A century.

If you've been reading my blog for a while you know that she gives me some of my best material. She's still pretty funny and with it. And I appreciate that you've all come to know and love her.

We're going to be celebrating, of course. That's what we do best. She's very excited about her party, too.

I'd love it if you would join us in wishing Luza a Happy 100th Birthday.

Please leave a comment here on this post with your good wishes. I'm going to be compiling all the greetings into a book to be presented to her on the actual day, Sunday, February 23rd. 

She reads in both English and Spanish, so send your greeting in the language that is most comfortable for you.

Also, she loves stuff like this.

Gracias.

In case you haven't seen this already, please enjoy my mom (back when she was only 96!) explaining how the internet search engines work.

I give you.....Cuco and Yayo.

Everything is Awesome - The LEGO® Movie

A few months ago when we first became aware that Warner Bros was going to be releasing The Lego® Movie, we sat up and took notice.

My husband, Eric, who is now 48 played with LEGO® bricks as a kid. As a matter of fact, he would tell you that they were his very favorite toy. He would spend hours, he says, lost in the world of bricks and his imagination.

Well, the apple does not fall far from the tree. Jonathan quickly, happily, and easily became addicted to the bricks. See here and here.

Last week we were delighted to have been invited to a preview of The LEGO® Movie.
The story is about an ordinary LEGO® minifigure, mistakenly thought to be the extraordinary Master Builder, and is recruited to join a quest to stop an evil LEGO® tyrant from gluing the universe together.

We were captivated from the start. The story, the characters, the execution - all brilliant. I don’t say that lightly. Chris Pratt is the voice of Emmet, the average, rule-following everyman.

Elizabeth Banks is Wyldstyle "Are you a DJ?," the daring and independent female lead who believes Emmet is the "Special." Her real name, by the way, is Lucy. (Yay!)

Will Ferrell starts as the voice of President Business, an uptight CEO who has a hard time balancing World Domination with micro-managing his own life (see what I mean? Already the premise is hilarious.), while Liam Neeson voices the president' powerful henchman, known as Bad Cop/Good Cop. (<--You can totally predict how this is going to happen, right Lego® Lovers?) Nick Offerman lends his voice to a craggy, swaggering pirate obsessed with revenge. And Alison Brie plays a sweet, lovable member of this unlikely dream team with a powerful secret. (What's there not to love already?)

Our favorite was Will Arnett as Batman. He delivered Batman’s lines in that choppy, deep, let’s-mock-all-the-Batman-movies-you've-ever-seen voice. Every time he spoke, we held our sides from laughing so hard.

All that to say this: The LEGO® Movie is a must see.

On the day we saw it, the theater was filled with mostly families with young children. Jon and his best friend, Nathan - the two lone 18 year olds - were the oldest. Their take was that the little kids will find it funny, but the adults will totally appreciate the sublime humor.

There are lots of fantastic voice cameos, like Channing Tatum as Superman, Jonah Hill as the Green Lantern, and Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman. You really need to be paying attention to catch some of the nuances of the jokes.

This film was very obviously made by people who love LEGO® as much as we do. There was old-school Spaceman Benny (voiced by Charlie Day), with the space ship that so easily fell apart. Eric totally identified with that. It was clear that the film makers were all true LEGO fans. You could feel the love in every frame.

There was a nod to all the varied and extensive collectors sets. Hello, Shaquille O’Neil and the 2003 LA Lakers! Do you remember that? My guys did.

I loved that they even made a point to highlight the odds and ends that randomly find their way into the LEGO bin. I won’t spoil that, but be on the look out for the "Relics." The best homage to childhood ever.

The bottom line is that we laughed. Long and hard and out loud throughout the entire film. The first thing we said as we left the theater was “We need to see that AGAIN."

The film has very broad family appeal, not just because it has a PG rating. My family appreciated that they didn’t didn’t dumb anything down for a particular age group and totally respected how beloved the bricks are to so many generations of Would-be Master Builders. It could have easily devolved into a long commercial for the popular toy brand, but much to their credit, instead the story had us laughing out loud and rooting for the unlikely hero. The film is a total win.

The only character missing was this Coffee-drinking, Red-lipstick wearing, Curly-haired, Cuban LEGO Mama. See what I did there? (I totally crack myself up.)

Make your own LEGO® Sigfig here.

Also, as soon as we got home we downloaded the very catchy theme song by Tegan and Sara. I'm convinced that after you see this movie, you too will agree that “Everything is Awesome.”

Well played, Warner Bros. and LEGO®. Very well-played.

In theaters everywhere on February 7th, 2014.

Taking the Cake

It's not often that the entire family has the same craving at the very same time, but occasionally it happens.

The dinner conversation started innocently enough. "Best dessert you've ever had. Go!"

"Mom's Chocolate Mousse."

"The triple layer chocolate cake from the Daily Grill."

"Lemon bars."

"Pastelitos de guayaba. Duh."

"No. Wait! Remember the warm butter cake from California Pizza Kitchen?"

That's where the conversation abruptly ended. We all agreed that yes, the Butter Cake we had had at CPK was the best thing any of us had ever tasted. I actually had a childhood cake experience that came quite close, but that's not important right now.

The conversation eventually turned to: "Mom, you should make it."

And so it was that I went on a hunt for the Best Butter Cake Recipe. It turns out that CPK is not forthcoming with their recipe and that lots of people try to replicate it with varying degrees of success. And truly, there are a lot of good butter cake recipes out there. I finally found one that made me happy in my mom's old Cocina Al Minuto Cookbook. (Go figure.) 

It's called "Cake Coriente." Or, Basic Cake. (Umm...no. It's kind of fantastic. Nothing basic about it.)

So I tweaked Nitza's recipe a bit and played with the cream cheese topping. The key to the cream cheese filling is that it needs to give it the sufficient gooeyness this particular butter cake requires.

I was going to make the cake in individual ramekins, but I stumbled upon these cool mini (5 inch) springform pans at Target (here's the link) from Wilton that made me very happy. And since I was adding the cream cheese, I thought the cakes might go all cheesecake on me, so I decided these were a good choice.

Mini springform pans

Warm Cuban Butter Cake Recipe

Cake Batter
 (makes 4 - 5 inch cakes)

Start with all the ingredients at room temperature (including the eggs). If any of them are too cold, the batter and the cream cheese layer won't set up correctly.

• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream Cheese Layer

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F.

1) Spray 4 mini springform pans (or ramekins) with baking spray or butter.

Prepare the cake batter as follows:

2) In a stand mixer cream butter, cream cheese, and sugar for 1-2 minutes.

3) Add eggs one at a time and beat on low for 20 seconds after each addition.

4) Whisk flour and salt, then add to creamed mixture. Beat on low until just incorporated, making sure not to over beat.

5) Add the vanilla.

Prepare the cream cheese layer as follows:

1) In a small bowl whip together cream cheese and granulated sugar until creamed, add egg and vanilla extract.

2) Pour cake batter into prepared springform pans then top with a layer of the cream cheese mixture. Bake for 60 – 75 minutes at 325 degrees (F), or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cakes.

Butter cake

You can go ahead and make the cakes a day ahead and refrigerate. When ready to serve, microwave until hot (approximately 40 seconds). With a kitchen torch, you can brûlée the top and sides of the cake to caramelize the sugar crystals, but this is not necessary. The cakes will come out beautifully. I promise.

Optionally, you may want to drizzle with guava marmalade, which takes this dessert to another level, but that's not important right now.

I think the very best part of this entire process for me was licking the beaters.

Cake mixer

I swear, I haven't done this for years. I may or may not have traveled back in time a bit.

Also, I promise you, there's nothing "corriente" about this cake.

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Guayaberas and Cubanity

{Disclosure: I received the shirts as described below in order to review them. I did not otherwise receive any compensation for writing this post.}

A "guayabera," for the uninformed, is a beautiful linen shirt with two stripes of tiny pin-tucks and four large pockets. It has decorative buttons and a straight bottom as it was designed to be worn untucked. It is the iconic dress item for men in many Latin American countries. I've heard it called a "Mexican wedding shirt," however, historical evidence suggests that the guayabera shirt originated in 18th century Cuba.

HistoryMiami has a wonderful history of the guayabera that you may enjoy.

Men in Guayaberas

All my life, for as far back as I can remember, (and that's a really long time, people!) all the Cuban men I have ever known have worn guayaberas.

It is the iconically beautiful Cuban shirt worn by iconically handsome Cuban men. It is as God intended.

My Cuban Store graciously provided these gorgeous guayaberas for me to review. (Well, technically, for my guys to wear and review, but that's not important right now.)

Although the original guayaberas are white or light, today you can find them in a wonderful plethora of colors and styles. Coincidentally, the men in my family come in a plethora, too.

Brace yourself for the awesome...

My handsome men in their new guayaberas from My Cuban Store. You're speechless right now, aren't you?

*puts on her best Runway Announcer Voice*

My husband, Eric on the left is wearing a gorgeous black linen Men's Long- Sleeved Guayabera. He has already worn this to the office and gotten many compliments. Someone actually said, "Pretty fly for a white guy." (I know. 1998 called. They want the use of the word, "fly" back.)

Adam is looking handsome in the beautifully detailed Deluxe French Cuff Fitted Lavender Guayabera. The soft lavender color brings out his striking blue eyes. The guayabera style brings out his Cubanity. (<--is that a word?)

There's something magical about the guayabera. It looks fabulous on multiple body types. And it evokes an air of mystery and Caribbean charm. The guys carry themselves differently when they're wearing them. It is as if the beauty and mystique of the tropics becomes a part of them the moment they put the shirts on.

Jonathan, on the right, is rocking the Short Sleeved Navy Guayabera. He's wearing it all the time now. Seriously. All. The. Time. And he's speaking with a slight Cuban accent when he wears it. And he's started calling me "Mami."

Oh, guayabera, you've cast quite a spell around here.

Jon: (in a Cuban accent) "Papi, look at me in all my Cubanity." (<--it should be a real word.)

Eric: (to himself) "Did my son just call me Papi??"

Thank you, My Cuban Store, for your contribution to my family's Cubanity. (<--it should totally be a word.) My guys love their shirts and they look beautiful in them.

As God intended.

The Best of MBFCF in 2013

I'm looking at my calendar and it's already the 8th day of 2014. I was planning on taking a few days off at the beginning of the year and wow, did they go by quickly!

Come to think of it, 2013 feels like it went by pretty quickly also. Is it just me, or is this one of those things people tend to repeat a lot as they get old? Shut up. Don't even say it!

This past year has been quite eventful in lots of ways, which makes me happy that I blog (and scrapbook) because I would otherwise forget the thoughts and events and conversations I've had this past year. I know. There's that getting old thing again. Stop it.

Here are the top posts for each month of 2013. (Time is seriously flying, isn't it?)

Drum roll, please.

1.The Things I Didn't Blog About in 2012 - Luza - in which I confess my growing discomfort with my mom aging and how our roles are shifting.

2. #LookAtMyFood in which I continue to overshare what exactly I had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner via Instagram. (Also, if you don't already, you should follow me. I'm Smrtqbn.) I'm really very good about sharing my food.

3. Cuban Word of the Day - in which I share my delight at being honored by the wonderful artists from Wassup En LA? in their Cuban Word of the Day segment. (Technically it was 3 words - Pastelitos de Guayaba - but that's not important right now.)

4. 99 Red Balloons in which I share how we celebrated my mom, Luza's 99th birthday. Cute video attached to that post, too.

5. Ahora Sí! in which I tell about the night I finally got to meet Andy Garcia. (I know. I still can't believe it. Pinch me!)

6. Hello, Outdoor Movie Nights - in which I list all the great movies we have to choose from for our Summer Backyard Movie Theater. Also, it always marks the official beginning to our summer. And this pleases me greatly.

7. "If you build it..." - in which I celebrate the wonderful farmhouse table that my kids built for me.

8. Hurry up...and wait - in which I tell the story of Jonathan's first acting job in a feature film. (Now that I told you, I'll probably have to kill you.)

9. We Visited Coffee Heaven and Lived to Tell the Tale - in which I describe (in great over-sharingly detailed detail) our wonderful visit to the Gaviña Coffee plant.

10. My Big, Fat, FROZEN, Cuban family - in which I gush (yes, there's gushing) about my day at the Walt Disney Animation Studios and the making of the animated feature, FROZEN. Also, the Disney Animators made me a personal video which totally put me over the edge.

11. ALL the Picadillo at the Blurb Books Food Fair in which I share about my visit to San Francisco and how I got to cook for lots of hungry book buyers. Also, there's a very cool video they did about me and my picadillo.

12. Cuban Picadillo Pies^® - in which I developed a new and fun way to eat and share picadillo. (<--also, what a weird descriptive sentence that was!)

Thanks to all of you who have been faithfully following MBFCF for all these years or who have just found me in the last year. I write this blog mostly for myself, so it genuinely pleases me when you respond so generously to my over-sharing.

Also, did the year just fly by for you, too? (I know. Old. Shut up.)

Happy New Year, my friends!