So, all the Blog Stars have one…a Media Kit. It is a fancy — or simple — document that tells potential advertisers all about the web site, the publishers, the demographics of its amazing and beautiful and super cool readers. (That’s you!) And, of course, the rates. (We’re affordable!)

But, Marta and I decided that paper and words are not enough to describe what the heck the Tiki Tiki is all about, so in May when we both were in Miami, we stayed up way too late and created a video for our Media Kit. That video currently lives on our advertising page. (Hat’s off to Marta’s cool cousin Yllien for being our director.)

Marta and I agree the Outtakes video, shown here, is much more fun, and it definitely shows us, the humor we share, and mutual-love-of-each-other-we’ve-got-going-on. We were sober when we shot all this and we both wore orange by coincidence, by the way.

Now, dear reader…fear not we’re going to mess up your space with a bunch of “Look Younger Now!” ads or sell you on scams and junk. We are careful about the ads we put up, and sponsors we work with. And seriously, we need the ads: We have dulce leche and Bustelo habits to support.

OK, enjoy and Happy Miercoles!

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. What is el Tiki Tiki?
2. Vlogiando Week at the Tiki Tiki
3. Sotomayor, Social Media and Sabor

I was privileged to attend an event in Minneapolis last week called Baking With Betty. As in Betty Crocker. (Yes, I know!) I was out-of-my-skin excited to get to visit and cook in the famed Betty Crocker Kitchens.

The event included about 30 bloggers from all over the country. I can’t even begin to tell you what a wonderful time we had. I think all of us were a little wide-eyed about getting to experience the fabulousness of being in the iconic Betty Crocker Kitchens.

But much to my everlasting delight, I was part of a smaller group that got to cook with the incredible Chef Cristina of Que Rica Vida in the Studio Kitchen. (I know. Shut up.)

NOTE: Click on the headline to watch Chef Cristina describe our time with her in the Betty Crocker Kitchens.

Me, with Sylvia of Mama Latina Tips and Melanie of Modern Mami.

And because we were the Hispanic bloggers, we got to cook some familiar dishes. (In Spanish, of course.) The six of us learned to make crepes with dulce de leche, of course! And churros (which I’ll find a way of stuffing with dulce de leche also.) All were made using Bisquick. <–Genius. (I promise to share those recipes in the weeks to come.)

We made cookies of various types, but of course, I was personally enthralled with anything that involved dulce de leche. I totally had my Diva de Dulce de Leche radar working that day.

Heaven in a can: Dulce de Leche.

I was amazed (and relieved) that Cristina didn’t ask me to leave the kitchen. I was just having that much fun. I worried that my very loud vocalization and declarations of love for the perfect crepe (Crepes, people!) were a bit much, but Cristina was a wonderful teacher and a fun sport.

Seeing my enthusiasm for the dulce de leche, she assigned me to dulce de leche detail. No way was I going to turn down that sweet job! (no pun intended.)

And so we commenced with the baking and the filming and the tasting.Yes, tasting. I know I was out of turn, but that there is dulce de leche!

Caught with my hand in the Dulce de Leche.

I was particularly happy that I got to make alfajores with the dulce de leche filling. I thought that was right up my alley.

Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Sandwich Crème Cookies)

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, 1/2 cup of the coconut, the pecans, butter and egg until stiff dough forms.
3. On floured surface, roll half of dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with 2-inch round or fluted cookie cutter. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Repeat with remaining half of dough.
4. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely.
5. To make each sandwich cookie, spread about 2 teaspoons dulce de leche on bottom of 1 cookie. Top with second cookie, bottom side down; gently press cookies together so some of filling seeps out around edges. Roll edges in remaining 1/2 cup coconut. Place cookies on cooling rack.
6. Sprinkle tops of sandwich cookies with powdered sugar. Store between sheets of waxed paper in tightly covered container.

This recipe along with many other wonderful things can be found on the General Mills/Que Rica Vida website in Spanish. Or on the Betty Crocker site in English.

But then, my people, dulce de leche is as bilingual as they come!

Latina Bloggers with Chef Cristina

Our group of Latina Bloggers included: Melanie of Modern Mami, Silvia of Mama Latina Tips, Myself, Joscelyn of Mami of Multiples, Migdalia of Latina on a Mission, and Nika of Nika’s Culinaria.

[Thanks again to General Mills for the invitation. Disclosure: They paid for everything and treated me like a queen. (Even if they hadn't, I would still gush about the fabulous treatment and event.) Thanks to Matt Holland Photography for making me look cute in spite of my self.]  =D

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Divas of Dulce de Leche
2. Dulce de Leche and Vlogging Latinas
3. How to Show Everyone What Great Taste You Have

UrbanoTV is coming soon.

Click the headline link to see the two UrbanoTV videos.

The actor and comedian John Leguizamo will next month launch a video site for Latinos called UrbanoTV. The promotional material says it is like YouTube meets Hulu meets Blogspot meets Flickr — with a touch of cilantro and adobo.

I’ve been hanging around over there, uploading some of our Tiki Tiki videos and watching original Urbano TV shows.  My favorite original is Palabras, which is quickies on words and Spanish dichos by a funny woman named Mariela. (You guys know how much I love dichos!) There’s also a show called Cocotazos, which is all about how we’ve survived la chancla and the cocotazo.

Now, I love a good chancla story, but I’m not too sure about that Cocotazo show, though, because some of the cocotazos featured would get parents arrested today. And hey, if you survived enough cocotazos to need a little therapy, remember the Tiki Tiki has its own in-house therapist: La Comadre…just saying.

Anywa, here are two fun UrbanoTV Palabras shows for you to watch, with a reminder to bookmark UrbanoTV.

Maleta in one country does not mean suitcase in another.
Click here if the video isn’t loading.

Bolsa, not the same in the D.R. as in P.R. (May not be safe for work…)
Click here if the video isn’t loading.

Have you added your name to this week’s wonderful Viva Greetings giveaway?

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Latino Video Dichonary
2. Oprah! Let’s do Tiki Tiki Talk! for OWN. Si?
3. Laughing at Culture Shocks

Click the headline link to see both videos.

Ed. note from Carrie: I met Julie Diaz-Asper en persona last week at Blogher in New York City. We had already connected a lo cubano via Twitter and I knew I would be in for a treat. Julie tells great stories about her familia and she was generous enough to share some video cuentos for the Tiki Tiki.

In the first video, Julie tells us about going to Weight Watchers with her Abuelita and in the second, she recounts how she got accepted to college in Washington, D.C. and her divorced Cuban parents packed up their own belongings and moved too.

They’re all still up in D.C., by the way.

Julie Diaz-Asper is a Latina getting social for the cause. She is a co-founder of Mobile Test Kitchen, a company focused on developing internet and mobile apps for bloggers to help them reach new audiences and monetize. She loves interesting people, good food and travel.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Tiki Tiki video: Mi Mama invento el Cappuccino
2. I have a Latin Mother
3. Cuco y Yayo

(E-mail and RSS subscribers, click the headline link to see the videos)

Thanks to all of you who have been reading along in our archives this week as we celebrated a year of Tiki Tiki. We’re looking forward to many more years, and many more cuentos.

Below are some lovely and thoughtful video wishes sent in by friends and readers.

Thanks for partying with us!

Carrie and Marta

Angelica Perez-Litwin, aka La Comadre, whose column runs here every other Tuesday.

Liz from Thoughts of a Mommy

Yoly and Ronny from YNR Live and Cuponeando

And if you missed this one yesterday, check out Adrian, son of Dariela from Mami Talks.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Reader Birthday Wishes to the Tiki Tiki!
2. Ask La Comadre: My Husband Doesn’t Share His Feelings
3. Introducing Your New Comadre, the Family Coach

Ana from SpanglishBaby.com

Happy Saturday…You don’t usually hear from us on the weekends, but we’ve got a lot of Birthday Wishes sent in and they’re pretty awesome.

Here are two videos from Adrian, hijo de Dariela of Mami Talks. Look at what we make our kids do for our amigas! Super wonderful. The third is from the talented Señora López of Latina-ish and her two awesome boys, whom I was lucky enough to meet last week.

Thank you to those of you who sent us love and good wishes — like Ana Lilian from Spanglish Baby, above — on our First Birthday/Anniversary.

More to come tomorrow!

Off to eat a Happy Birthday/Feliz Cumpleanos cupcake. Just because.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. The Difference Between a Latino Kid Party and an Anglo Birthday Party
2. Latina Bloggers go all Tiki Tiki
3. A Year of Tiki Tiki Contributors

Who knew video blogging your crazy, silly and funny would be such a blast?

We love making videos with cuentos because we know Latinos — with all their color — just work better on video. We’re grateful too for the contributors who have let us put the Flip in their faces and offered up great stories for the Tiki Tiki.

As we celebrate a year of Tiki Tiki, here’s a look back at some of our favorites, but you can find them all on our YouTube page, where you can subscribe or join the Tiki Tiki group to add your own.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading a long with us this week as we celebrate our first year of mucho tiki tiki.

I Have a Latin Mother

Cucu and Yayo by Marta’s mom

What is Tiki Tiki?

Papi Plays by my father

Can I Call You Pepe? by Sylvia of Mama Latina Tips

Ed. Note: The Tiki Tiki Blog turned a year in May 2010. This week, we take a look back at the best of the Tiki Tiki. Please take a moment to comment and share these posts with your friends.

And, if you’re up for it, send us a photo of you with a “Happy Birthday, Tiki Tiki!” or some sort of birthday wish a tu sabor. We’ll run it this coming weekend. E-mail: info @ TikiTikiBlog.com

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. A Year of Tiki Tiki: A Week-Long Pachanga!
2. A Year of Tiki Tiki Contributors
3. A Year of Habla Habla

Please click the headline link to see Carrie pandering to Oprah Winfrey and her people.

So, Oprah Winfrey has put out a giant net and is casting for a talk  show host for her new network, OWN. Her site has had a place where you can submit video auditions. Well, I am late. Como siempre. The deadline has passed, but thanks to shamelessness and YouTube, (with tongue planted firmly in cheek) I am submitting my idea for Tiki Tiki Talk! to you, dear reader. And maybe the gods of Google Alerts and Twitter will send the message to La Oprah.

OK, so you’ll see the ideas in the video, but don’t you think America is ready for a talk show with segments such as:

• Dicho del Dia, to dissect and crack up over things like “sana, sana colita de rana” and “mango bajito.”
• Chancletaso of the Day, to point out los descarados in our culture and set them on the right path, Abuelita Style.
• Cooking with Dulce Leche (My TV kitchen would just have a deep fryer, Cuban bread and dulce leche. Only. Guests, like Salma, Pene, Javier, Juanes, Ricky! would be required to come up with creative uses for dulce leche…)
• Ask the Gringo Husband/Ask the Gringa Wife, a special segment by expert panelists who have survived and thrived in marriages to Latinos to help non-Latinos cope with the oddities and challenges of being married to one of us and out 17,000 relatives. (I have been trying to get my own husband to write this column for Tiki Tiki for a year!)

As I was putting this together, I remembered that at the beginning of my career in print journalism, one of my Tias kept telling me I was crazy to work for a newspaper, that I needed to be on TV…just like Giselle Fernandez . Well, Tia….your dream for me has kinda come true. And, imagine if Oprah really went for it? Ay!

So, enjoy my spoof and fantasy and consider adding your own TV show and segment ideas.

Dream big, gente. It’s the Web. Anything is possible.

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Charo, Shaki o Sofia as New Oprah? Oh, and Free Music Downloads for You
2. Tiki Tiki video: Mi Mama invento el Cappuccino
3. Vlogiando Week at the Tiki Tiki

Rick Najera. You know that name? Probably. If you don’t, you do know his work. Te lo prometo.

He wrote the popular Latinologues, which played long on Broadway and after 15 years still plays theater stages across the country. He also wrote for Mad TV, In Living Color and he wrote the movie Nothing Like the Holidays with John Leguizamo and Debra Messing. His credits for TV, stage and film are very long.

Najera’s latest work is called Daddy Diaries: Diary of a Dad Man. It is his take on fatherhood from the Mexican-American experience.

“My children are of Mexican and Irish heritage. I thought about them not being of pure Mexican heritage. I did think that. Mexicans are very proud of their heritage,” Najera said. “I wondered what they would learn. I started to examine it and it is about them being more, not being less.”

Najera, a San Diego native, said he has thought a lot about how he was raised as he raises his own children, ages 7, 5 and 2. Their childhoods are very different than his own. His father worked five jobs, his mother worked two. Unlike his wife’s Irish-American family, his never took vacations.  And, while his family kept Mexican customs, his mother was raised in Boone, Iowa and traditional American customs and foods always were part of his life.

“I grew up on ham, corn on the cob and ambrosia salad — all wrapped up in a flour tortilla,” he said.

What Najera says he emphasizes with his children is the Spanish language. While learning Spanish was not as important to his own generation, he wants his children to speak Spanish and his oldest attends a Spanish immersion school.

“I look at my children and they are so light no one would necessarily identify them as Latino and I want to make a point that they would look like they were posessed by a Mexican for a second or navigate both cultures,” Najera said. “I sure don’t want some Mexican kid to call my kid a gringo.”

Daddy Diaries will be performed in October at the Covina Center in California. Video clip here.

In Latinologues, Najera has written about gang-bangers, Cuban prostitutes, janitors, pregnant “virgins,” traditional religious mamis and narcos. He captures the essence of people, and the funny in being Latino, so very well.

“Stereotypes do exist,” Najera said. “They are part of our culture, but I always turn it upside down and I give them a heart.”

“I think my characters are all very truthful,” Najera added. “At times even Latinos don’t like them.”

Najera says he appreciates how open people are with him in sharing their stories. He believes it is because everyone wants to be understood.

“That is why we try to keep culture alive,” he said. “We want our children to be able to relate too us too, we want them to have our shared history. Duality is very much a part of our lives.”

Look for Daddy Diaries, Latinologues and other Rick Najera projects in your city, or on TV. You also can watch two full episodes of Latinologues on YouTube. The characters are rich, touching, funny, and tragically truthful.

Here is Latinologues Vol. 1 and a link to Vol. 2. (Cubanos, be sure to watch la jinetera in Vol. 2)

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Latino Video Dichonary
2. Duality of Being Latino in the US: Open Thread
3. El Diario: Latino world domination and Esperanza Spalding

What exactly does “tiki tiki” mean?

I usually answer that question by putting my fingers and thumbs together in an “habla habla” motion. Regardless of language, culture and age, everybody gets that, si?

Last week, when Marta and I were in Miami for the relaunch of General Mills’ Que Rica Vida we were lucky enough to be in the company of Latina bloggers who also were flown in from around the country. (The lovely Jeannette Kaplun from TodoBebe.com, who you’ll see on the video, lives in Miami and joined us for a breakfast.)

Some of the bloggers we had met in person at events and conferences and some we read regularly. Some we have linked to on the Tiki Tiki Blogroll and others have contributed essays to the Tiki Tiki. Now, others are new friends.

We asked them to do a little “tiki tiki” for the camera and well, we got gold. Watch the video to see these smart, talented, funny and beautiful women in action.

A couple of years ago, most of these women were not blogging. How lucky we are that they now are.

They are sharing their lives, and breathing  energy into our culture as it is viewed online, by Latinos and non-Latinos. They are being read by both private citizens and the smart corporations who are seeking to reach Hispanics. I can imagine a non-Latino reading a Latina blog and saying something like “Yeah, me too! Maybe we’re not that different from each other, after all.”

The topics Latina bloggers write about range from budgeting to babywearing to bilingualism to bochinche…as varied as the culture that is Latino itself.

So, follow the link to our blogroll and get to know them better.

You’ll thank us.

By the way, you can watch the other Tiki Tiki-centric videos we did in Miami here and here. The second one is a must-see if you ever watched  ¿Qué Pasa, U.S.A.?

******* We want to know your story! Share your cuentos, videos and fotos about growing up, and living Latino, in the U.S.How to contribute to the Tiki Tiki.Come on, no seas penosa!

Un poquito mas:

1. Tiki Tiki video: Mi Mama invento el Cappuccino
2. Smart Latina vs. Sexy Latina
3. What is el Tiki Tiki?