Abuela, te quiero

Yesterday we had a party for Jason's B-day and, as usual, he requested I make cuban food. So I called my grandma in miami and asked her for some recipes. She's great at this; tells you in great detail what the ingredients are but don't even ask her in what amount. "Ay hija, yo no se, un poquito..."
My grandmother cooks from the heart, or at least that's how I feel about it. She just knows when it's right without measuring cups or written recipes. This is how I ventured into making frijoles blancos (white beans) and pierna de lechon asada (oven roasted pork shoulder). The provisions (tostones, yuca fries, and fufu) are pretty straight forward but the other two had me worried.

I can say that the outcome was truly amazing even to myself. It all came together at once. I knew I was going in the right path the minute my apartment was filled with the aroma of my grandmother's house on saturday afternoons when we would have our late family lunches. Imagine the smell of softened beans as they come out of the pressure cooker alongside the sofrito (onion, garlic, green and red pepper, salt, cumin, oregano, and bay leaves) placed on the fire, and the oven giving off an indication of the melding of bitter orange, lime, and garlic to the pork meat.

The party was great fun -- Leticia and Mariano got Jason an almost indestructible donkey pinata. I think the makers made it to "the drunken adult" specifications.
The birthday cake was a strawberry cheesecake (big surprise considering last year it was passion fruit cheesecake, and the year before that a margarita cheesecake, and the year before that a plain cheesecake, and the year before that...) which, I spent all of friday night making. Oh yeah, Kieran and Luke are here visiting.

Now, I'm a little exhausted but overall content with the outcome. I hope our guests had as much fun as I did.

Abuela, quizas nunca podras leer estas palabras, pero tu sabes que te quiero.
Has enriquezido mi vida en una manera que no podre describir con palabras.
Esto quiero que el mundo entero lo sepa.