About a week ago, I experimented on my family in preparing a Cuban meal and having them test it out. I made everything from scratch including rice, black beans, palomilla steak, tres leches cake and mojito's. To start off the meal, I read an excerpt from a poem by José Martí, the beloved Cuban poet who died fighting for Cuba's independence from Spain. I also passed out "cubanismos," or Cuban slang, on note cards and placed them at each setting around the table, and had my very white family attempt to pronounce them. ;) It was quite enjoyable! We listened to light salsa music playing in the background, the very first salsa mix that Israel brought to Kansas in March.
