My Kitchen My World: Cuba!

Finally! I made my Cuban meal and it was very yummy.

A couple of weeks ago, I joined a blog group called, My Kitchen My World. About twice a month they come up with a country to "visit" and our job is to make food from that country and share the results via our blogs. I joined this group in the hopes that it would inspire me and, in a way, force me and my family to try new things. Cuba was my first one and I was excited, we used to eat Cuban food all the time in Florida! I had so many ideas, so many foods that we loved to eat.

But what should I choose?

I totally over-thought this assignment. For weeks, I stressed and planned and changed my plans. Finally, I decided on roast pork with mojo sauce, black beans and rice, and some mangoes and papaya topped with toasted coconut. Yum!

The black beans were sooo good. I soaked them overnight and, after reading about a million different recipes for them, came up with my own version, omitting the ham hock and adding sofrito. (I think any Cuban mother would understand my making do with what I had.)

Even better than the beans was the simple fruit salad, a perfect sweet foil to the salty and savory pork and black beans.

Having said all that, I think the very best part of the meal was the simple fact that all the kids liked it! They've even requested that I make the beans more often, so I definitely will.

In the meantime... I have to come up with a plan for next weeks assignment, Azerbaijan!

oh, dear...