Parenting.com: Dreading La Tween Dora

I could not help myself today. I dissed Dora. Or at least the potential that she is about to turn into yet another mamacita, a Spanish stereotype in short skirts...or maybe just a too-smart-for-her-age mocosa shopaholic.

Supposedly, her morphers did a bunch of focus groups before coming up with the right look and right formula. (Long hair and accessories!) I would have been the hold-out, but I would have voted for changing her voice.

Tween Dora will debut this fall. The image above is a small preview of what she will look like, as the whole package is under tight wraps.

I dissed over at Parenting.com and probably pissed off people who wear hoop earrings and stilettos.

Famous for my platanos...

The New York Post has featured our Chichi&Flaco "Oro Parece" t-shirt in a hilarious blog item today: Ten most creative uses for a platano. 

Platano bling, platano carvings and platano removal surgery!

The Post blog is called Tempo Espresso and it is Latin-flavored and focused. 

The tag is "We speak Spanish so you don't have to.''

Very nice, and thank you New York Post.

And, by the way, here is the plantain pie recipe I was looking for the other day. I loved it though I am not a huge fan of the ripe platano...but put cheese on it and I'm good.

The pie link is courtesy of a Puerto Rican friend, a great cook and furniture builder who Zumbas with me. The old guys in class loooove her and her Caribbean sway. They're all like "Hey, where's your friend?'' 

Sucios.

***Edited to add this video of my dad with his "Do you Fufu?" tee:

Cuban family reunification and damned walls

Next week, six of my relatives in Havana will meet with representatives of the American government. With luck and prayers they will be given a set date to get the hell out of Cuba. They're ready to shake the sand from their shoes and start anew. We're ready to help them -- recession or not.

The Baby Brother Dictator just had a shake-up in his government that has caused much curiousity in American government. This is happening at the same time Cubans and Cuban-Americans are closely watching to see what direction the new U.S. president's policy will take toward the island nation. Some Americans want to continue the trade embargo, which has been squeezing Cuba for 47 years. Some want it loosened up.

Having no government or diplomatic training, I admit I have no idea what the right answer is. There's a valid and just case for not dealing with thugs and liars, but there's also something about beating your head against a wall for 47 years and expecting it will stop hurting.

So, I guess I'm voting for talking, for finding a way in that works for everybody, particularly the Cuban people. 

Whenever the trade embargo and travel restrictions are in the news, my memory goes back to an exchange I had in 1991 with a Cuban teen-ager. (pictured left.) 

I was walking along the Malecon, Havana's famous sea wall. It's a place for lovers, for families, for tourists. Somehow I got to talking with this young guy and he asked me questions about my life, my career, my future.

"You can move anywhere you want, you can travel to any country you want?'' he asked.

"Yes, I can,'' I explained.

He gently touched the Malecon wall: "Mi mundo para aqui.'' 

My world ends here.

He broke my heart.  

I was 24, with a new career and bold future.

And, he was stuck behind a wall.

Complaining about cold days and hot links

We woke up here Sunday morning to powdery snow. It was beautiful, but I covered my head with the blankets again. I long for Spring, warm breezes and nesting baby birds. 

Aye.

The snow has mostly melted, but it's still freezing here in the Boonies. And, I am beginning to think of myself as Jack Nicholson in The Shining, but instead of typing "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy'' over and over and over and over again, I would be typing "Que freakin

g frio, que freaking frio, que freaking frio, que freaking frio.''

I whine about the cold a lot.

It gets old. 

I know.

Here's hot stuff though:

Through Spanglish Baby I found this post by a writer whose kids do not speak Spanish. She feels judged by Spanish-speakers for her monolingual children. Be sure to read the comments. Yowza.

My opinion: Whatever works for you. No one should judge a family's decision to speak a second language or not. But, if you want your children to be bilingual, it's not that hard to speak Spanish to your kids. Even bad Spanish. If my lazy ass can do it here in Tennessee, you can too. 

I feel strongly about it because my second language has opened doors and expanded my brain -- not to mention avoid ordering tongue tacos and buy correct train tickets in Italy. I want my daughter to have extra skills and heart-ties to the culture that swims through her veins. Even her very American father wants that, so we work at it. Constantly. Check out this post too.

As an aside, last week I attended a Latina business women's luncheon. It was in a popular restaurant. Lots of hip locals, lots of Music Row people. My former newspaper publisher was sitting in the next room. I do not think he heard the women break into a rendition of Los Pollitos Dicen -- a loud rendition -- as they passed the t-shirts around the table. It was very fun and a reminder that it's a good thing "English-Only'' did not pass.

OK, mira here. I found two Latino food blogs this week that have left me very excited and very hungry. Laylita is from Ecuador and she has a delightful and delicious food site. Excellent photography too. I found her when I was googling for a plantano and three-cheese casserole recipe. I never found the recipe, but found Laylita. (The picture to the left is from her fish ceviche recipe.) 

And then there is A Little Cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate and More. I am going to make her albondigas soup. I love the pictures too.

Given that I have had Latino sites on the brain lately, please also allow me to introduce you to a blog portal called Blogadera. They just launched with the mission of gathering the best of Latino blogs. If you have a blog, be sure to submit your site if it isn't already listed. They're also on Twitter at @blogadera.

Parenting.com: Fathers and daughters

I told my husband a few nights ago I would be writing about him at Parenting.com.

He gave me a suspicious look.

I told him it was about him and Maria, about what an amazing dad he is.

He gave me a suspicious look.

"Listen, other than my having to remind you to carry her Epi pen and that time you asked me what went into her diaper bag when she was 2, I have only praise for you as a father.''

I've never really forgiven that diaper bag question.

I don't think he's read the post yet either.

Check it out and praise him. He's a very good dad.

"The other night my husband came downstairs after telling Maria bedtime stories. "I asked her what she thought of when she thought about Daddy,'' he said. "She said ‘Somebody who tells me he loves me a lot.'''

And then he grinned a very big grin. I grinned with him."

Ultimate Tostonera meets Platano T-shirt. Romance begins.

The other morning, I got a note from Annette Alvarez.

She said her toston smasher and my plantain t-shirt should meet.

I thought it was a great suggestion. So, here they are together -- a fabulous pair who would make a great gift for some platano, plantain chip, tostones fan. 

You can read more about the cool, bamboo Tostobueno on the site and on the company blog. They're even selling a version that makes tostones cups at Target.com. My tostonera is in the mail. Que rico.

I have lots of memories of watching my grandmother slice plantains, run them through the hot oil, pull them out, smash them between two layers of brown paper bag and put them back in the oil. It felt like it took forever, but waiting was worth it. There is nothing like the taste of a warm, golden toston with just a sprinkle of salt to make you close your eyes and say an Amen for goodness. 

The t-shirt to the left "Do you Fufu?" is indicative of my partner Oscar's sense of humor. 

Fufu, common in Caribbean countries, is a mash made of ripe plantains. You either love or hate the dish. In other words, you either fufu or you don't fufu.

Me, no fufu. 

I prefer tostones.

You can see our other Platano t-shirts at Chichi&Flaco

and get 17% off (in honor of St. Patrick's) by using the code MARCH19.

Latina blogger round-up: Part II

The Latina blogger link list up, down there to the right.

You'll notice my Cubana friends have their own separate category and so some of them are blog linked twice. Cubanitas,  I may edit you out of the Latina list and leave you in your own little space. Not sure. 

But anyway, it has been an interesting thing to watch the list grow. I hope you all will spread the word and continue to add names to the Latina Blogger Link List. (We need a more poetic name...) And thanks to those who have linked from their blogs.

I also hope you are visiting each other. It is an interesting tribe we have going here.

Some examples:

• Kenia takes beautiful pictures of her native El Salvador at I Asked For Wonder.
  
• Elsita will at any minute post pictures of her Oscar adventure last night.
  
• Adriana loves to cook and share her recipes. Churros!
  
• My passionate and funny friend, Maria, accidentally deleted her blog.
  
• Gwendolyn Zepeda will talk to Las Comadres across the country tonight about her new book, "Houston, we have a problema."
  
• Keen makes us hungry for granizados o copos from Costa Rica.
  

So tell me, what have you been doing? Do I have to post another Mr. Linky to get you talk? Si?

Y yo, aqui watching the returning robins eat big fat red berries outside my window and praying Spring arrives very quickly. It is very cold here and I would like to be eating copos with Keen.

Parenting.com: Playing with the costume jewelry and a contest for you

Over at Parenting.com this week, Maria shows off her green fingernails and my costume jewelry.

She spent lots of time this week in my tackle boxes full of costume jewelry, 99% of which I rarely wear, and begged to make it all hers one day. I told her no problema, mama, all yours. Even the scary '80s stuff, which I can't part with. That stuff is going to be hip again one day, right? (I did throw out all evidence of shoulder pads a long time ago, however.)

And now, a contest:

Hey, want to win a free two-day trip to Miami and have breakfast with a beautiful and smart Latina? No, it's not with me, but thank you.

Click over here to register for a Bisquick-sponsored contest for breakfast/desayuno with Karla Martinez of Despierta America on Univision. The theme is a Mother's Day celebration with the Mexican-born beauty, pictured above in a Univision photograph.

OK, I have to tell this story here:

When Univision first came to Nashville, back when there weren't too many Latinos here, a bachelor co-worker stopped me as I passed his desk and confessed he had spent several hours watching the channel.

"Oh my god, the variety,'' he said.

So, I am thinking he's talking about the novelas and talk-shows.

"The women are of every shade, even red-heads, and oh my god, they are beautiful and barely dressed. I had no idea! I have a new hobby: Univision.''

And there you go.