With the demise of the famed Hialeah racetrack, many people have forgotten this still vibrant Cuban community. For many Cubans, Hialeah is their American hometown, the place their lives began in the United States. With so many Cubans, you can be certain of one thing -- Cubans love to eat, so there has to be some great restaurants in Hialeah to feed them!
One restaurant in particular has been serving the hungry Cubans of Hialeah for more than 20 years. The Asturias restaurant is a Hialeah mainstay that serves some great Cuban and Spanish dishes. The restaurant is very compact, and during a busy lunch hour there may be a short wait for a table.
Named for the province in Spain, Asturias has a strong Spanish influence. The original owners were Spanish, not Cuban. They make an excellent Fabada Asturiana, the signature dish of the province. It's the Thursday special, and we were lucky enough to have lunch at Asturias on the Thursday before Labor day weekend.
The Fabada here is thick and flavorful, chock full of tender white beans and chunks of salty, smoky ham! If you knew how many maduros, fried sweet plantains, we have eaten over the years! Well, we know a good fried plantain when we see one... ... (more) 
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Nephew Neil Attracts a Crowd of Young Female Admirers
Why is that the young guys have all of the fun?
Saturday night we took a stroll through Tampa's Ybor City. We could only look on with a mixture of bewilderment and envy as a group of pretty young ladies surrounded our famous nephew.
Now that Neil is a Tampa resident, we guess he'll never have to worry about a date on Saturday night!
Gold and Enamel Spanish Ceramic Clock
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Known for its pink flamingos, Hialeah Park is a famous Miami landmark. Economic conditions forced it to close in 1995, but there are still glimmers of hope. The track is on the National Register of Historic Places and still sees some use for weddings and private parties.
Still, it's hard to look at this once great racing facility and not be nostalgic for its wonderful past.
In its heyday, all of the great horses raced here. Jockeys Eddie Arcaro and Willie Schumacher were frequent highlights on the daily racing card. At one time there was even an amusement park with a roller coaster and a dance hall.
Hialeah Park features a Renaissance Revival clubhouse and beautiful landscaped gardens full of native plants and trees. Several proposals are being considered, and hopefully someone will find a way to preserve the past and bring Hialeah Park back up to its former luster... (more photos)
In Cuba, many people used homemade traps to capture tropical songbirds. Most of these traps relied on a simple technique: a trap door would be baited with food and when the bird landed on the door, the weight of the bird would cause the door to drop open, capturing the bird in the cage. Some traps also had a center section where a female bird could be placed to attract male birds. In Cuba, you never had to go to the pet shop to add a colorful pet to your home!
One of the favorite birds caught in this way is the Tomeguín del Pinar, a type of Finch with a beautiful song.
The Tomeguín del Pinar is very common and easy to see throughout Cuba. After mating, the tomeguines become inseparable. It is said that when one dies, the other one will possibly die from sadness!
Habana, Cuba
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Celia Cruz gets together with the great Tito Puente, Johnny Pacheco, and La India in a 1999 tribute concert. If you never had the chance to experience the one and only Celia Cruz in person, this is the next best thing! (more)
- Tres Leches Cake
Tres Leches Cake is one of the most delicious cakes ever invented. It's really a Nicaraguan dessert, but it is served in just about every Cuban restaurant in Miami. Tres leches is a very rich and very filling cake. It gets its name from the "three milks" sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream, which are soaked into the cake, making it the most moist and delicious cake you've ever had. The cake is like one big giant sponge soaking up the delicious milk syrup. You can actually eat this one with a spoon! We also give you the recipe for a banana tres leches and the now popular cuatro leches cake... (more)
¡Camarones Para Una Boda Cubana!
This is a recipe for the best dish we ever had in an otherwise mediocre pseudo-Cuban restaurant. They called this recipe "Cuban Wedding Shrimp." The problem is, none of us has ever heard of Cuban Wedding shrimp. They never served any shrimp like this at any Cuban wedding we ever went to! In fact, they never served any shrimp, period!
We asked the waiter if we could get the recipe, but he said it was against restaurant policy. He did tell us that the dish was made with Cuban rum, and there is usually a lot of rum at a Cuban wedding!
So it was back to the Three Guys kitchens to try to duplicate what we have to admit is a very tasty appetizer.
Believe us, ours is a lot better -- even if it isn't any more authentic! Who knows, maybe we'll start a new traditional dish for Cuban weddings! (more)
Moros y Cristianos
The dark-skinned Moors invaded Spain in the eighth century and Cubans have been eating tons of this stuff ever since. There are as many recipes for black beans as there are Cuban cooks. Traditional black beans and rice (frijoles negros) is served with the prepared beans on top of cooked, white rice.
This dish is different because the rice and beans are cooked together. Please don't confuse this dish, as many do, with Congri, the traditional dish of Cuba Oriente, where it is made with red beans... (more)
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