I've decided...

to wear my jeans tucked in to my rodeo boots today. I'm going to the grocery store with mom in a little bit, hopefully we will run into someone I know... I will tell them I just got back in town from Rodeoing full time and damn my ass is sore. They wouldn't bat an eye at that explaination...



Can I have a cold Lone Star Beer now please?

Something else I love...

Bioluminescence. Some of you sailing types may have seen this with your own eyes, it's truly amazing...

Found a great clip of some in Australia...



They are throwing water into the water...

Grow your own HERE!

IT'S CUBAN DAY GET OVER IT! enjoy... siempre coca-cola.

Ooo! Look what I found!

I can't even begin to tell you how much I LOVE Benicio Del Toro, but what a wonderful combo....

The new movie "Guerrila" about Che Guevara has been in production for years but keeps being pushed back due to politics I think... But I have been browsing through pics from the film's production and dman, Benicio makes a great Che...

Look at this!

Feeling Festive???

Pan Cubano (Authentic Cuban bread recipe)

courtesy of Cocina Cubana Club (please join) / Pascual Perez and chef Sonia Martinez



Cuban bread is ideal for making Cuban sandwiches, especially Pan con Lechon(*) Fresh Cuban bread is also wonderful served with a small slab of guava paste or dollop of guava marmalade and cream cheese!



[site owner's note: for those who email me asking, there is only one website I know of to buy Cuban Bread online, click here to visit their site. They send it fresh from La Rosa Bakery in Miami, it's traditional and tastes incredible]


Day-old Cuban bread makes the best bread puddings I've ever tasted! Or if you have some left over bread, the next day, slice it thin, spread a bit of butter and toast it!

The distinctive taste is due to the use of a starter, which is made the day before. Also the dough is enriched with lard. You can substitute the lard with solid vegetable shortening if you prefer, but the bread acquires its' basic smoothness through the addition of the lard.

STARTER
3/4 tsp active dry yeast(1/3 envelope)
1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup bread or all-purpose flour

The day before baking; mix the starter ingredients, dissolving the yeast in the water first. You want a thick paste when you add the flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let "ripen" in refrigerator for 24 hours. Leftover starter will keep for several days in the refrigerator and can be frozen.

DOUGH
4-1/2 tsp active dry yeast -(2 envelopes or 2 cakes of compressed yeast)
1 Tbsp sugar
1-1/2 cups warm water
3 to 4 Tbsp lard or solid vegetable shortening, at room temperature
1/2 batch starter (see above recipe)
1 Tbsp salt
4 to 5 cups bread or all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast and sugar in 3 tablespoons of water in a large mixing bowl. When the mixture is foamy (5 to 10 minutes), stir in the lard, the remaining water, and the 1/2 batch of starter.

Mix well with your fingers or a wooden spoon. Stir in salt and flour, 1 cup at a time. You want to get a dough that is stiff enough to knead. You can also mix and knead in a mixer fitted with the dough hook or in a food processor fitted with the double blade, as the processor dough hook will not handle this job easily.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes, adding flour as necessary. The dough should be pliable and not sticky.

Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles its' bulk, about 45 minutes. Punch down.

To form the loaves, divide the dough in 4 pieces. Roll out each to form a 14-inch long tube, with rounded ends (sort of like a long meat loaf) Put 2 of the loaves on a baking sheet, about 6 inches apart. Cover with dampened cotton dish towels and let rise in warm, draft-free spot until double their bulk, about 1 hour. If you want to let it rise at a slower pace, you can do it in a cooler spot and even in the refrigerator, but give it 3 to 4 hours instead.

Preheat oven to 350 F

Lay a dampened piece of thick kitchen string or twine (about 1/8 " thick) all along the top length of the loaf. Bake until the breads are lightly browned on top and sound hollow when lightly tapped, about 30 minutes.

Let them cool slightly and remove the strings. They will leave a distinct little ridge on top. Transfer loaves onto a wire rack for cooling.

(*)Pan con Lechon can be found in many little luncheon places all over Miami. Literary Bread with Pork. The pork is roasted Cuban Style, with the mojo marinade.

The storm has passed...

And it was a lovely one. We didn't lose power at all, just some thunder and lightening and a lot of rain. It's good for the area to get a good soaking every once in a while! I can't sleep because I am stressed. Haven't been sleeping well for a couple of weeks actually. I stay up late looking for crew agencies that I haven't found yet. As if there was one. I swear I am a member of every crew agency out there. Even some that I am pretty sure are just crabby old salts lookin for love in all the wrong places. Who knows, I may get that desperate. I am going to look for a part time job here close to the house to keep me busy while I wait for another yacht job to come around. It's the one thing that I never ever ever ever wanted to have to do. Get a job in my home town. I used to feel so sorry for the ex-cheerleaders that ended up working at the Sonic for like five years after we graduated and then got knocked up by some other guy who never got the hell out of this town and ended up never seeing anything but north Texas. Not that there is anything wrong with that... Ahem. I really don't want anyone from High School to see me here in town. I hate seeing people I went to school with. I think it's because they never understand what I do for work and walk off thinking I am a maid on a Carnival Cruise Ship. I'm not. I am awesome! I have had some awesome jobs and seen awesome things but they are so fucking confused when I say I worked on a yacht in the Virgin Islands, I can't even begin to explain what that means before they say "Oh laaiiike a cruuuze shiap?" (did you get that hick accent?) Then it's all I can do to roll my eyes and tell them with a fake smile "no, like a luxury yacht owned by one billionaire. i get paid a lot of money." But now, now that I have decided to take a job while I wait for my badass job to come back, if someone asks me what I have been up to, they probably wont believe me when I say that. They will say "why are you working at the resale shop then?" and I will say, "WHY ARE YOU SHOPPING IN ONE HOE GET OUTTAMYFACE!!!" Oh man. This is a mean nasty blog and I will delete it right after posting it. But I'm gonna do it anyway.