A Cuban Birthday

Frequently on Fridays I meet a handful of friends for breakfast. These are mom's from my kid's school and they are also part of my Latina group.

I hosted a breakfast recently and decided to throw in a little birthday surprise for one of the ladies.

The birthday surprise was for Ana.

She is from Cuba,

so I thought it would be nice to celebrate her birthday

with a little Cuban flare.

Because, I'm all about nice.

Really I am.

And, I'm a sucker for a theme party.

When I was first introduced to Ana, she was funny, bold, unique, and energetic.

I instinctively knew that I'd like her.

Whatta you know,

she is still funny, bold, unique and energetic.

What you see is what you get with this girl.

Lucky for me, those Latina ladies know what their doing when it comes to cooking, and helped with preparing the foods.

Want popcorn? Sure no problem, I got that down pat.

Cuban food?

What's that?

They helped me serve:

Fried plaintains, called Tostones.

Not to be confused with Tostitos or Totinos, not that anyone would call them that.

A popular cuban breakfast, Cafe con leche y pan Cubano, or Cuban espresso with bread.

Bread is buttered, toasted, then dunked in sweet espresso made with very hot milk.

Croquettas,

which had a chicken filling surrounded by bread crumbs and then were deep fried.

I love anything deep fried.

Empanadas, or turnovers, made with guava and cream cheese.

These were delish.

Here is Sandy, hard at work preparing for my breakfast.

I love Sandy, she is such a trooper.

I provided a Mojito bar.

Some of you might question my decision to provide Mojito's for a breakfast gathering, but here's my justification,

9 a.m. in Arizona,

Cuba time, noon.

I had my thinking cap on that day.

Incidentily, the ladies didn't question the Mojito's,

they were wondering why it was taking me so long to make them.

What's a Cuban themed birthday party without a Cuban flag party cake?

It's not a theme party, that's for sure.

I'm no baker,

I just did the best that I could until

Carley stepped in and reshaped my star for me.

She claimed it looked like a house.

Well...maybe I wanted it to look like a house.

8 year olds, who needs them anyway?

Oh my, I almost forgot!

The cigar.

What's a Cuban party without the cigar?

Here's a fine Cuban cigar for you, Ana.

Okay, okay,

so it's a chocolate cigar from Mrs. See's Candies.

Certainly, Mrs. See's was thinking of a fine Cuban cigar

when she molded it together.

I'm sure of it.

Happy Birthday Ana!!!!

********************************

P.S.

The story here,

is not about the food or the drinks

that were served

but about the person we gathered to honor,

and her story.

Man, does she have a story,

but that story,

is going to have to wait until tomorrow.

All of this writing about Ana has zapped my energy.

She'll do that to you.

Salud!

(Cheers!)

to be continued.....