I went to Melbourne this past weekend, where I attended the STAR meeting and got to listen to Kristen Lamb talk about social media. Awesome talk. Lots of great tips. Didn’t know I was doing so much wrong. But there it is. I just downloaded her latest book The Rise of the Machines. So far, pretty interesting.

Now, on to my topic. After the meeting, my sister, Carmen, myself and my parents went out to celebrate my dad’s upcoming 81st birthday at the Cuban Island Restaurant located on the beach (next to Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church).  Doesn’t Papi look great? My parents are about to embark on a 2 week train trip through northern Spain, which promises to be absolutely fabulous, so we had lots to cheer about. Here’s a picture of the four us drinking down sangria.

We sit down to order our food, and our waiter (awesome guy, just came to the states from Cuba about 4 years ago) takes our order. I order the ropa vieja which is my staple order whenever I eat Cuban out.  He then asks me if I want white or yellow rice with my frijoles negros. Yes, you heard right.  I think the collective gasp could be heard all the way back to Havana because this question is a mere affront to all Cubans everywhere. You absolutely do NOT EAT frijoles negros with yellow rice. NO NO NO NO. When he saw our reaction, he laughed and explained. “A lot of people like the yellow rice with the black beans.” He then shrugged apologetically because of course, we are not a lot of people. We know how to eat Cuban food, caramba!

Do you eat marina sauce over white rice? Of course, not. You eat it over pasta. And you eat black beans over white rice. Enough said!