Little Havana Food Tour in Miami

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During my vacation in Miami, I wanted to more than just your typical beach and party routine.  After seeking out some recommendations from my new friends from Sunrise, Florida, my friend and I decided to take a food tour with Miami Culinary Tours.  They had a few tour options, but decided the Little Havana Food tour, would give us a new cultural tour in addition to some yummy Cuban Food!

Stop 1 - El Pub Restaurant

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Stop 1 of the food tour was at El Pub restaurant, they are best known for their beef empanadas & coffee, which exactly what we had and a great way to start the tour!  For those of you who do not know, an empanada is basically dough filled with something, such as beef.  Variations of empanadas exist in many different cultures, such as calzones and dumplings.  I also learned about the "colada," which is a Cuban coffee that is mean to be shared (you should not have a full cup, but rather a small little shot, the size of a creamer).

 
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Stop 2 - Cuba Tobacco Cigar Co.

Next we headed to the Cuba Tobacco Cigar Factory, where we learned how cigars were made and got to see it first hand.  Fun Fact - The owner of this factory was actually imprisoned for 20 years prior to starting this factory and was sitting on the couch in the front of the store.

 
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Stop 3 - Domino Park

Domino Park is where all of the seniors go to play, you guessed it... dominos!  The park is a social club and the place to be during teh day for dominos and chess (but gambling is not allowed). Don’t forget to bring your ID, because they will card you!

 
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Stop 4 - Old's Havana

We then headed lunch at Old Havana, where we had a delicious Cuban sandwich & croquette.  A cuban sandwich consists of pernil (one of my favorites!), ham, pickle and cheese, croquettes are basically fried sticks of food, usually consisting of potato.

 
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Stop 5 - Ball & Chain

We migrated to some live Latin music at Ball & Chain for some refreshing mojitos!  Ball & Chain is definitely one of the most lively places in Little Havana, with a fantastic live band in the front of the restaurant and a pineapple theme!   They also have a nice little patio area in the back, this may have been my favorite spot on the tour - I will definitely be back next time I am in Little Havana!

 
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Stop 6 - Yisell Bakery

On to Yisell Bakery for some guava filled pastries (pastelitos).  This little hole in the wall bakery, looked kind of small and run down, but had some great pastries, bread and was very busy with locals. The bakery was crowded in the middle of the day while we were there, which says a lot about a place.

 

Stop 7 - Los Pinarenos Fruteria

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This fruit stand has a variety of fruits that you would not find at your local grocery store, here you can find giant avocados, green plantains, lady fingers (baby bananas), dragon fruit, star fruit and fresh mangos to name a few!  Here we had a very fresh mango smoothie, which you could tell was made right on the spot, I could definitely use another one in this heat! 

Fun Fact: this is one of the only open air fruit stands left standing AND was featured in some movies.

 
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Stop 8 - Azucar

Time for dessert!  For the final stop of the tour we headed to Azucar for some mantecado ICE CREAM topped with guava syrup! This shop was created by a local who saw the need to create a place for tourists to enjoy the local culture, thus Azucar was born!

 

Along the tour, we saw many roosters, both statues and real ones, very depicting of islands in general.   

Needless to say my friend and I were STUFFED by the end of this tour.  I would definitely recommend taking this tour if you want to learn about the culture, while stuffing your face!

Accidental Blind Date

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Never thought the words "accidental blind date" would come across my mouth, but at the same time, this would only happen to me... thank you online dating.  

Here's the rather amusing story:

I was meeting with my friend for dinner to catch up at Bea in Hell's Kitchen.  My friend had already arrived by the time I got there, so I told the hostess that I was meeting my friend Jayme, who had made a reservation.  She seems confused, but then points me in the direction of a random man, clearly not my female friend...

The man walks over and says "Patricia?"   I tell him, I am not her.  He continues, "You do not look like the woman in the pictures..."  Despite this, it definitely crossed his mind that I could have been his date for the night - LOL!

We turn to the hostess, clearly not who we both had intended to meet with, and let her know.  After a few more minutes of awkwardly waiting, the hostess finally brought me to meet my friend.

As my friend and I are exiting the restaurant, I see the man with his date, who happens to be Asian, like myself :P  I will say it looked like they had hit it off, despite the mix up.  Congrats to him - lets hope he can spot her out in a crowd for their next date!

Thank you to the hostess for trying to to set me up on an accidental blind date!  

The Art of the Chinese New Year Lion Dance

This past weekend, Chinese New Year was celebrated in Chinatown. One of my favorite parts of the parade is all of the lion dances! 

Lion dances are fun to watch, but what do they symbolize?

What is the lion dance?

The lion dance is a traditional Chinese dance, in which performers wear a lion costume and perform a dance to mimic a lion's movements.  The dance is accompanied by soudns of Chinese cymbals and drums. The lion dance is typically performed around the Lunar New Year to chase away evil spirits away and bring good luck and fortune. 

You can typically find lions performing the lion dance for businesses days following New Years.  The lions will go down the street and stop to perform at any store that will have them.  As part of the traditional dance, the lions will reach for a head of lettuce place upon a pole and tied to a red envelope. The lion will then grab the head of lettuce and spit out the lettuce, the red envelope will be a reward for the performers as they are bringing luck with their dances. 

The lion is a symbol of power, courage, wisdom and good fortune.  The lion costume consists of two performers, one for the head and one behind.  This may seem easy to maneuver, however it is quite the opposite as it requires a lot of coordination. The dances have a lot of movement, dancing, jumping on stools and even on type ropes and pure acrobatics sometimes. 

This Chinese New Year, I was fortunate enough to see a full performance and even get to pet and take a photo with a lion!

Chinese New Year Lion

Chinese New Year Traditions

Happy Chinese New Year! 

Chinese New Year Desserts

2018 is the Year of the Dog!

Honest and loyal, those born in the year of the dogs are the truest friends and most reliable partner.  Dogs include those born in: 1946, 1958, 1970, 1982, 1994, 2006, 2018

Chinese New Year is always a fun holiday and filled with lots of celebrations, traditions and the food of course!

Here is a quick 101 on all you need to know about Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year Greetings

  • 新年快乐 - Happy New Year
  • 恭贺新禧 - Happiness & Prosperity
  • 身体健康 - Enjoy good health

    Traditions

    • Red Envelopes
      Red envelopes with "lucky money" are given to younger generations
    • End of Year Dinner
      While New Years Day is when the holiday technically begins, having a bountiful dinner the night before is just as important.  You should have leftovers to bring into the new year as a sign that you will not go hungry into the new year.
    • Tangerines & Oranges
      Tangerines and oranges are displayed everywhere and given to friends and family.  Tangerines represent wealth and oranges are a popular symbol of good luck
    • Kick off the year with something SWEET
      Y
      ou should have a piece of candy or something sweet to begin the new year, it will show you will have a sweet year
    • Hair Cut
      You should get your hair cute before the new year, but should absolutely NOT get your hair cut on the day of or during the 2 weeks following New Year Day
    • Showers
      Do not shower Chinese New Year Day, it is believed that you will wash away your luck. If you are really courageous, it is suggested you do not shower for 8 days (I will not be taking part in that part)

    Foods

    Sesame Ball Cookies

    There are a lot of traditional foods, here are some of the more traditional and my favorites

    • Fa Gao
      Cakes are supposed to bring you good fortune (it also looks like a fortune cookie)
    • Sesame Ball Cookies
      Cookies are supposed to bring you laughter into the new year and are symbols of family reunions
    • Nian Gao
      Cake will bring sweetness into your life, asthe cake is very sweet

    I could go on and on, but these are just a few of the traditions of Chinese New Year.  

    Let me know some of your traditions for the new year in the comments!