A Cuban Feast Finally Released

As some of you may recall, our house was photographed for a piece in Cottage Living magazine early last year and scheduled for release in January 2009. I posted a little about it back in April, so you can catch up here and here. In November, we heard the news that Cottage Living was being closed and December 2008 would be the last issue - one issue before ours! Dejected, I called the Food Editor, Kim Sunee, with whom I had originally proposed the entire idea and who came to our house for the two day shoot. At the time, Kim was uncertain as to what would happen with the piece, but she was optimistic that since it was already shot and produced, one of the sister publications would likely pick it up - but which publication and when were up in the air.

Then out of nowhere, one of our clients called two days ago congratulating us on the piece. Wow. That was fast. And so here it is in the March 2009 issue of Coastal Living magazine (you can click on the pictures to enlarge).

My original hope when I pitched the idea to Kim was to have our house as the main focal point since we had gone through a significant renovation of our 1926 bungalow. But Kim was the Food Editor, and while she thought our renovation sounded interesting, she needed something with a culinary twist. So I threw my uncle, the chef, in the fire. And hoped he'd play along.
My husband then encouraged Kim with the fact that my family is Cuban and wouldn't it be fun to come to Miami during the winter and have a big fat Cuban feast! Luckily, she was intrigued, it fit the culinary twist and we were on our way.
Luckily Chef Roly was on board and willing to re-create some of his favorite dishes and provide the recipes. The feature looks great and if you look carefully at the pictures you'll notice all the food is served and styled on our antique dishes. For example, the following picture has the fried calamari in a lavender colored transferware on faience dish from Creil et Montereau, circa 1870 (set available at Alhambra Antiques). Lower down is the calamari cocktail in a vintage shell (from a set of 12), and a pair of sterling silver antique forks. The dessert shot also has a great Sarreguemines majolica platter and a vermeil cake server. The last page has an entertaining shot of D. and me on a scooter. Kim had joked about how she imagined us riding around Coral Gables in a Vespa, and it became a reality thanks to a rental on South Beach. Now D. wants one for himself! Pretty soon, I may have to oblige.