My dad used to swear by the medicinal properties of garlic.
“Garlic,” he would always say, “is a natural antibiotic.” He usually made this pronouncement as he was pouring olive oil over toasted Cuban bread …

She was twenty-five when she got married.
She was twenty-six when she became a mother.
She was forty-one when she gave birth to me, the youngest of her six children.
She was forty-seven when she found …

So there I was, cooking Cuban food and minding my own business, when I received an email from the lovely folks at Kikkoman. Yes, you know them best as the Japanese soy sauce people.
They were …

(Inspired by The Simple Woman’s Daybook.)
I usually do this every six months or so, just to kind of “take the temperature” of where my life is at the time. I encourage you to do …

My mother is descended from a race of people who are compulsive clean-freaks.
The stories of my great aunts who each had their own personal broom and dustpan are legendary.
These people cleaned things. Every. …

(Editor’s Note: Click on the post headline to view video.)
I have four children. (Well, technically, two are adults and two are teenagers, but that’s not important right now.)
All four, even though they were born here …

(Ed. Note: Click the headline link to see the video)
My mom, Luz, as most of you already know, is 96-years-old. She reads a lot and is still very sharp for her advanced age. She has …

Yesterday here in Southern California we had an earthquake. They happen here randomly and without any advance notice. Still, I’m not used to them at all.
In fact, to be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever …

I tried to explain the following to an American friend, who kind of stared and blinked at me as I shared the following. You Latinas out there…..Can you back me up on this?
Madrina is the …

We have lived in our current home for nine years now. Before that we were bottom-dwelling-month-to-month renters. (Not to disparage the month-to-month thing, but it was such a grand and glorious feeling to …