Viva Cuba

For the seventh time, my family has celebrated at the holidays with an ethnic-themed meal. This year was my choice, and I chose Cuban cuisine. My husband and I spent this year researching (i.e. eating at Havana Grill in Cary) different menu options, and I choice a little something for everyone. We bumped up our schedule to have the meal at Thanksgiving, when my entire family was present. Eight adults and two kids cooking Cuban food, with Cuban music in the background. Good times.

Our beverage was mojitos, now a popular drink, but Cuban in origin. As an appetizer, we had Cuban corn fritters and Cuban sandwiches. Making the Cuban sandwiches was challenging, and my ever-resourceful father came up with a great way to “press” them together. Placing the sandwiches on the electric griddle, he put a cookie sheet on top with four foil-covered bricks from the garden on top. It had the desired effect, and the sandwiches were fantastic.

Our salad course was an avocado and pineapple salad, which is added to iceberg lettuce and sliced onions. We had two main dishes, arroz con pollo cubano (chicken and rice), and ropa vieja (shredded beef in a tomato base). Ropa vieja is literally translated as “old clothes” and involves the boiling of a tougher cut of beef until tender and simmering in a sofrito (tomato-based) sauce. Muy bien!

We also had a couple of side dishes, including a Cuban bean salad and platillos moros y cristianos (black beans and white rice), which is the national dish of Cuba. It literally translates as “moors” and “Christians”. The moors refers to the black beans, and the Christians (the white rice) is a a reference to the early settlers of Cuba.

Our dessert, compliments of Sandra Sublett, was a chocolate rum cake with Cuban coffee. Many thanks to Sandra for her wonderful cake, and to Elizabeth Plata for all her help with the menu and the translation of the blessing.

Needless to say, we were stuffed. Next year’s choice was announced at dessert. Northern Italian is the cuisine, and we move from alimento bueno to buono cibo.

Ciao!

House Re-do

We are done with the renovations/redecorating of the house. The carpet has been replaced, and the bedrooms upstairs are completed. Here are a couple of pics.

Plan B

No, not the day-after thing. Plan B with the book!

The first publisher I sent it to finally got in touch to say they were not interested in taking my project any further in their process. No sweat here...getting to the third step with the first publisher I sent it to? Good sign. Now I am looking for the right one to send it to next. Because you can only send to one at a time and it takes sooooo long to hear back sometimes (took 11 months for the first one), I want to make the right choice. I am going to sit down this weekend and go through my Writers Guide and decide on one.

Dogs, Dogs, Dogs, Kids

It has certainly been awhile since I posted, but I promise you I have been busy. Eric and I have been preparing our house for the prospect of adopting a child(ren). Exciting time. Needless to say, our dogs don't know what to think.

As part of this process, we have remodeled and revamped much of our house. Because our dogs are such a critical part of the family, it was important that they benefit from the revamp too.

One of the best sites I have visited to help us with this is: www.petgadgets.com. Things that I never knew existed were available to assist dog (and other pet) owners with both special needs and day-to-day necessities. We were particularly interested in the furniture pieces so that our living room doesn't look like a kennel. In addition, at least two of our dogs are compromised by mobility issues, so ramps and special feeders were also very important. Some people think that you can go overboard for your pets, and sometimes I think that is true. Our dogs are our babies, and we want them to be as comfortable as possible. Product selection like that found at www.petgadgets.com opened up a world of possibilities for us so that our dogs can be comfortable and we have the design elements we are looking for in furniture and other household accessories.

Return from Door County

We are back from our week-long vacation in Door County, WI. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it. I cannot believe I grew up in WI and never went to Door County. We rented a beautiful house that faced west on Green Bay, so we saw some magnificent sunsets.

My whole family was there: Mom and Dad, my hubby Eric, Chris, Susan, Aiden and Emma, and Dan and Gillian. I really enjoyed cooking and eating with everyone, though Dan and my dad did most of the cooking! They are great cooks, and we were enthusiastic fans.

I am actually still on vacation. I got smart this year and took the first three days of the following week off. It is nice to ease back into work.

Vacation in WI

Our family vacation is approaching quickly! We are all headed to Door County, WI this year for a full week. Here's hoping for good weather and good times. We rented a 5 bedroom house for the week, right on Green Bay. At least we know the lake won't drain like it did last year. We rented a house on Lake Delton, just outside the Wis. Dells. About a month (I think) before we were scheduled to go, floods washed away the earthen dam that created the lake and caused it to drain. There are like 10,000 lakes in WI and we pick a) a man-made one; and b) one that drains. We had a great time nonetheless.

The Waiting is Killing Me!

I am almost at the six-month wait point with the publisher. This can only mean good news right? I am very anxious, but am trying to be patient. Murder in Town Hall is coming together conceptually, though I am still trying to work out a plot snag. Eric scored some OT and I bought myself a netbook, which is the coolest thing under 3 pounds I have seen lately. It does basic web surfing and allows me to write anywhere.