The glory of Cuban cuisine:

USA Today's fluff piece on the "World's 10 best cities for coffee" features a stop in Havana: [...] In Cuba, coffee is basically its own food group. A vital part of each day, steaming little cups of Cafe Cubano—espresso mixed with sugar as it brews—or Coradito—espresso topped with steamed milk—mark the morning, signal the end [...]

Every now and then I get invited to be a guest on someone's radio show and talk about my life and about Cuban food. I never, ever say no, but that's not important right now. Tonight at 7 pm Pacific, I'll be a guest on Silvio Canto Jr.'s radio show, along with the lovely and [...]

Marta "La Cocinera" Darby, of My Big Fat Cuban Family, was featured in today's "Food Blogs We Love" on NBClatino.com. Check it out here.

I have spent the last three days thinking about what I want to say about our experience in San Antonio and Cooking With the Troops. My family has talked and talked and rehashed almost every detail of our weekend, multiple times. And I'm still at a loss for words to describe all that we experienced. [...]

Making Cuban coffee is more art than science. I think I learned how to make Cuban coffee when I was about 8 years old and able to maneuver in the kitchen without hurting anything. It wasn't just a matter of making the coffee itself, there had to be a frothy topping to that café and [...]

Sometimes my family sits around and has noisy, opinionated and pointless discussions. (Hello? Cubans!) In this case, we were discussing the wonders of plantains and engaging in the Eternal Cuban debate: Maduros or Tostones? It depends on the main dish you’re serving, of course. I mean, I love a good tostón with garlic sauce. (Who [...]

When it comes to Noche Buena, the menu doesn't really vary at my house: Lechón asado, frijoles negros, arroz blanco, yuca con mojo, etc. You know the drill. (I'm sooo not complaining.) Where I do get to play in the kitchen and flex my creative muscle, is for breakfast/brunch. Actually, I excel at this, but [...]

Miss me yet? I haven’t been cooking as much as I’d like (or as much as my family would like, but that’s not important right now). That doesn’t mean I haven’t been busy. I’ve been experimenting with food and presentation and recipes and tastes. I’ve also been experimenting with tape. Video tape. (I know. Shut [...]

It’s been raining like crazy here in So Cal. And when weather happens to us we really don’t know how to act: “Should we wear shoes? Does anyone have a jacket? I know I have an umbrella in here somewhere from the last time...” Seriously, we just don’t “do” weather. And so last week we [...]

So, I’m still on my quixotic quest of declaring November as National Guava Month. To that end, I am happy to share my recipe for Guava Cheesecake in time for you to make it for “El Sanguibin.” Of course, the main ingredient in cheesecake is cream cheese, which is inexorably tied to Philadelphia (thank you, [...]

Hi all! It's a special Monday, Pre-Thanksgiving Edition of Marta's Cuban American Kitchen. I have been trying, without much success, to declare November "National Guava Month." Sadly, no one seems to take me seriously about this, but that's not important right now. So, I'm going to try again today. I, Marta, hereby declare November to [...]

The holidays are approaching and with them the ensuing "comelatas." As much as I love tradition and our traditional Cuban food, I'm always looking for quick and easy. (I know. Shut up.) Better yet, quick and easy while still tasting traditional. Because as far as I'm concerned, and I'm sure you'll agree, super tasty and [...]

My son, Adam is a handsome guy. (Okay, I know I’m his mom and all that, but I am being truly objective here. Shut up.) And even though he’s not fluent in Spanish, he can defend himself pretty well for the most part. So he was visiting my mom (his grandmother) the other day. She [...]

My mom has been in Miami for the summer. Last week she was telling me about an avocado that she had purchased from the local viandero. Here in California we get the Haas avocados that are small with bumpy dark skin. The ones in Miami are considerably larger. She says this to make the point: [...]