Volunteers. / Trabajo voluntario.

In Cuba the government for many years has made extra efforts in making Cubans attend to “volunteer jobs”. For a better understanding what happens is that we are assigned certain jobs and told that it is voluntary, but if you do not attend you can get in serious trouble in your job or school. This form of “volunteer” practice has made us feel apathy towards it.

I guess that we humans can show certain values only when they are coming from our inside convictions and not from an imposed model.

It is a thought that comes to the mind when I see the Brisbane people volunteering in masses for the clean up of their city after the flooding last week, helping each other like brothers and sisters with a common interest in their community.

My Cuban Paintings. / Mis Pinturas Cubanas.

Cuban Woman.

By Yudian.

 Oil on Canvas.

Price $ 1200

Dessert Dreaming.

By Yudian.

Oil on Canvas.

Price $ 1200

Framed.

Cuban Lady.

By Yudian.

Oil on Canvas.

Price $ 1200

Framed.

Cubana.

By Yudian.

Oil on Canvas.

Price $1200

Framed.

Snail Woman.

By Yudian.

Oil on Canvas.

Price $ 1200 

Framed.

A dance to the Sun.

                                                             By Yudian.

Oil on Canvas.

Price $1200

Framed.

Sugar Cane Woman.

By Yudian.

Oil on Paper.

Price $ 1200

Framed.

Feathers.

By Yudian.

Oil on Canvas.

Price $ 1200

 Framed.

Keep Walking.

By Yudian.

Oil on Paper.

Price $ 1200
Framed.
SOLD

 

Butterfly.

By Yudian.

Oil on Canvas.

Price $ 1200

Framed.

Icarus.

By Yudian.

Oil on Paper.

Price $ 1200

Framed.

Rock Woman.

By Yudian.

Oil on Canvas.

Price $ 1200

Framed.    

Festive treats.

Gorgeous mini Christmas puddins.

 


                                    
                                                                         Macaroons

Key lime pie.

The festive season gave me an opportunity to share some of my desserts; all of them were a big success. I feel very happy and proud when this happens. I enjoyed sharing the results of my cookery passion so it is not only me who enjoys my cooking.

         

                                

                                                       Christmas kitchen.

                                                   

Nigella Kitchen: Recipes from the Heart of the Home

Nigella Christmas: Food Family Friends Festivities

Christmas. / Navidades.

                                                 

                                              

                                                  Church in Cuba.

                                                  

We do not know how to celebrate Christmas in Cuba. Some people do go to the church that day but the rest of the population spend Christmas evening with the expectation of something to celebrate but they do not have an idea of what or how to celebrate it.

Our Christian commemorations lost their appeal long ago when the communist party members where advised not to display any interest in religion and in our schools we were never told anything about the existence of the Bible. It seemed pretty clear in our textbooks that people with religious beliefs were ignorant. Any celebration we were allowed to have was only to commemorate the Revolution and its heroes. However, the older people would always remember Easter (Pascuas y Semana Santa)

It feels sad for me now that I live in Australia to know all the celebrations we were forbidden to have in Cuba. The church in present times may not be so important for some, especially after so many sexual abuse scandals, but in some other countries it was one of the first choices people were denied.

Nowadays, years after the 1998 Pope John Paul II visit to Cuba we have a more open space for religion, more people are involved in the church and there is a proliferation of different religions groups with diversity of beliefs.

There has always been an important presence in Cuba of an African imported religion practice called Santeria. It  is a very common sight in The Havana streets to find mulatto girls walking by, all dressed up in white and showing distinctive Yoruba necklaces, a vision that adds certain charm to the city.

It has taken me years living abroad to embrace the Christmas spirit, years to learn the traditional recipes, colours, and symbols that represent such a beautiful festive season. I am grateful because I got such an opportunity.

Religion in Cuba

Mojito recipe.

                                     
                                                                            Mojito.


In summer I enjoy preparing this drink, it is the most refreshing drink for a hot day.



Several sprigs fresh mint
Juice of 1 lime
1 teaspoon sugar
½ cup crushed ice
2 ounces Bacardi light rum
Sparkling mineral water to taste

In a mortar, crush the mint leaves.

Combine the leaves and the remaining ingredients, except the mineral water.
Pour into a tall glass, and top with sparkling mineral water.
Garnish with sprig of mint leaves.

Makes 1 drink.

Memories of a Cuban Kitchen: More Than 200 Classic Recipes

Sugar, the former pride of Cuba.

                                          

                                                               Cuban rum.

                                                                    

Sugar cane is being transported to the sugar cane mill.

Cubans drink rum, they consume it neat from the bottle. They also enjoy the luxury of a cold beer rarely when they can afford it. The younger generation mixes their rum with cola soft drink.

My preference is the Mojito drink, a favorite of the American writer Hemingway, or rum and sugar cane juice, known as guarapo. Most Cubans do not know these drinks, which are very popular at the tourist hotels in Havana.

The most popular rum between Cuban locals is the white rum, its colour means how young it is, about 3 years old, the darker varieties are more expensive, a real luxury few Cubans have the opportunity to taste, this rum is called anejo because it is aged.

 

Rum is a product from sugar and Cuba was at one point one of the main sugar exporters in the world. Now all of that is former glory because we actually import sugar from Brazil as we produce very little now.

It is very sad now to see the sugar factories in ruins, where before there was so much life, joy and pride. I remember when I would go to my primary school where near by the sugar factory was the center of the community or batey. Those towns now are like ghost towns.

Some of my friends happened to be children of the sugar factory maestros, their parents were very important, intelligent, appreciated persons in the community. Then what you achieved with your effort and study was valued, and now these men are a heartbreaking testimony to the failure of Cuba’s economic model.



They had many Soviet books at home and they learnt some Russian words. Now they do not know what to do with their lives, some hide anger in their talk, because the difference between their former recognition and their forgotten present is very sharp.

Funeral

One thing I found very strange in Australian culture is the way they say their last goodbye to their loved ones.

To me it was shocking to find people celebrating with drinks, music of any type and jokes. The funeral is easy to attend here. It all seemed to be a party to me, compared to Cuban traditions, a celebration of something. And last how the body is left to rest forever in the same plot in the ground.

In Cuba I imagine it has to do with the centuries old Spanish tradition of long mourning and respect, together with the lack of religious beliefs (lost with socialisms push for lay beliefs in a vast number of the Cuban population and many hold the belief that death like in animals is the end for a person) this has shaped the traditions in Cuba to be that of suffering.

If it is possible you spend the night before the funeral trying to sleep as you can in a chair while you pay respects and guard the casket, which is a dreadful experience, and do not dare to play music for a month in your house.

I understand we do not have a reliable transport system in Cuba and it is important to wait for family members traveling long distances to get to say their last good byes. This could be the explanation for the long night around the casket in a room without air-conditioning or food the day before the funeral.

In Cuba some months or a year later the family will go back to the cemetery to take the remains and put them in a small box so someone else can use the plot. Lucky Australia is a big country and you do not need to recycle the cemetery.

I prefer the Australian way now, I understand they celebrate a life that we were lucky to share and it is possible the deceased is in a good place now, in a natural phase of life. It is an easier way to deal with a funeral.



Different cultures. / Diferentes culturas.

Remedios, Cuba.

Gold Coast, Australia.

                                                         

Australians travel the world, something that my husband and I enjoy too. In a recent trip we went to Miami, Florida hoping to meet some Cubans now living there.

I was surprised how different my way of thinking is with these Cubans. I thought they lived a relatively similar life to mine, living out of Cuba in America, a country very similar to Australia. But soon I noticed they have not assimilated to the new culture, they talk like they are still in Cuba, and they have not changed their way of thinking. It is hard to comprehend how they do not speak English, living and working in a English speaking nation.

It’s interesting, because my way of thinking has changed so much in Australia, I feel like a new person from what I was before, I feel a happier and more confident person that has left behind a world of low self-esteem and inferiority complex very often seen in Cuba. I have achieved this through reflection, reading and my willingness to be a better person.

I arrived very young to Australia and I had an identity crisis in a new place with new people, different traditions and interests. In order to survive I had to adapt to the new circumstances. It was hard and painful at first but I am very happy now when I see where would I be as a person if I did not change.