Category: Hallmark South Beach Love

NY Times and USA Today bestseller Caridad Pineiro shares news about her romance novels from Hallmark.

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Hurrah for the weekend, freebies, and a podcast!

OMG this Book Birthday week has just flown by! Thanks to all of you who have been celebrating the release of South Beach Love with me. It has been a blast spending time with you.

To celebrate the release of SOUTH BEACH LOVE, I’ve created this book of recipes and free reads from my various books. You can download the Recipes for the Romantic Soul e-book for free from Kindle Unlimited or get your copy at https://claims.prolificworks.com/free/JT72rhhr.

If you missed my live chat with Hallmark, you can watch the video below or at https://fb.watch/5MCGzh2CUl/.

Hallmark Podcast

Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend and don’t forget to remember those who have done so much for our freedoms! Take a moment to join in a Memorial Day celebration and thank a vet and active service military member for their sacrifices.
freebie friday

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#TravelTuesday – Miami and South Beach

I’ve got quite a number of books that are set in Miami and South Beach, including some new ones: SOUTH BEACH LOVE (May 2021) and EXILED HEARTS(Tentative title – Release Date TBD). One of the reasons why I’ve set stories there is to highlight are the interesting places in the area. Today I’m sharing some of my favorite places in case you’re able to visit one day.

La Carreta and Versailles Restaurants: Set on Miami’s Calle Ocho in the heart of Little Havana, these are two Cuban restaurants not to miss. La Carreta has a kitschy and very large sugar cart – la carreta – in front of the restaurant. Versailles is the place you’ll always see whenever anyone is reporting on happenings in Cuba. The press always goes there to get impressions from the Cuban exiles still living in Little Havana.

Vizcaya: Vizcaya is John Deering’s estate and an amazing estate right on the edges of Biscayne Bay. The home and gardens are gorgeous and speak to an era of opulence and elegance.

Jungle Island (formerly Parrot Jungle): The original Parrot Jungle was established in the 1930s and after it moved to Watson Island, was renovated after hurricane damage into an “eco-adventure” park. Still a fav place where you can roam and see an assortment of tropical plants and birds.

The Venetian Pool: Located in Coral Gables, this public pool was created from a coral rock quarry. It has a lovely Mediterranean-style ambiance and waterfalls for you to explore.

Miami Seaquarium: The Seaquarium holds a fond place in my heart. I remember sitting and watching “Flipper” do tricks in one of the large lagoons where portions of that television program were actually filmed. There are a number of different aquatic shows you can watch and a small walk along the edges of the bay.

South Beach: There is a lot to see in South Beach. The Art Deco hotels. Lummus Park. Lincoln Road. So much to see and do along Ocean Drive and the nearby streets. Lots to eat and drink as well since this is where a lot of the nightlife goes on. I’d recommend not going to this area at Spring Break times or on busy weekend nights to avoid the real party animals that can make it unpleasant.

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#ThrowbackThursday – A Visit to South Beach

It’s been a while since I visited South Beach, but it was always a fun place to go. Nice beach, great architecture, Lummus Park, Lincoln Road, and amazing restaurants. Plus we always made time for a trip to Little Havana for some great Cuban food. When I was a kid we used to go to Miami regularly to visit with family and friends, so it was always interesting to see how the neighborhood changed and how it stayed the same. I’ve shared some of those thoughts and memories with you in SOUTH BEACH LOVE. I’ve also included some Easter Eggs for people who’ve read my other books set in South Beach. We might even do a little contest around that when SOUTH BEACH LOVE comes out in June 2020. For now, here’s a photo of South Beach that I took during my last visit there.

You can order SOUTH BEACH LOVE at the following retailers:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2XUW8qZ
Apple Books: https://apple.co/2nMG3mh
B&N: Coming soon!
Kobo: Coming soon!

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Cuban Coffee How-To #TuesdayTip

I love Cuban coffee. It’s sweet and strong and I usually drink mine either with milk (cafe con leche) or with condensed milk (one of the variations of a cortadito). When my daughter asked me how to make “Cuban coffee” it turned out that I knew nothing about how to make it without milk. I especially didn’t know about the whole beating the coffee with sugar in order to get the forth that you find when you drink it straight. I guess I’m not a “real Cuban” that way. LOL! So today, a lesson on how to make “real Cuban coffee.” Thanks to SAVEUR Magazine for the video.

A Video How-To

How to make Cuban Coffee

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Guava Basted Spare Ribs #TuesdayTip

I love ribs! They are one of my favorite foods. I also love guava, usually as a jelly or paste. Not so much as a fresh fruit. This spare rib recipe calls for a dry rub the night before, a slow bake in the oven, and basting with the guava jelly once you’ve got the ribs on the grill. I hope you enjoy it.

Ingredients

For the Dry Rub
(FYI – This will make enough rub for more than one day depending on how many ribs you are making)

2 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup onion powder*
1/8 cup garlic powder*
1/8 cup chili powder
1/8 cup paprika
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper

*Please be sure you are using powder and not onion salt or garlic salt!

Whisk together all of the above.

For the Guava Basting Sauce

One 17 ounce jar Guava Jelly (look for it in the Ethnic/Spanish aisle)
2 shots Worcestershire sauce

If you’d like a little kick and smokiness in your baste, add a spoon of Korean Gochujang sauce (available at Korean/Asian markets) or a some more paprika with a shot of Tabasco.

Cooking Directions

Rub your ribs with the dry rub, both top and bottom. Let sit overnight preferably to allow those flavors to work into the meat.

In the morning, drain off all the juice from the night before and place the ribs in a baking pan. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 325 for about an hour.

While you are doing that, please guava jelly basting mix in pan and melt jelly at low heat.

Once you remove the ribs from the oven, place on a grill at low and baste with the guava jelly mixture. Start with basting the top, flip in about 10 minutes and baste the bottom. Continue flipping and basting for about another thirty minutes. Cut and serve the ribs! I usually love some cole slaw on the side for mine.


Image by RitaE on Pixabay

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Caldo Gallego aka Galician White Bean Soup #TuesdayTip

There is nothing more satisfying on a cold winter day than a nice bowl of hearty soup. One of my favorite soups is Caldo Gallego which is a dish from my grandparents’ native Galicia in Spain. Caldo Gallego is a mix of chorizo, ham, beans and greens in a tasty broth. Paired with a nice crusty loaf of bread and some wine and it’s a perfect winter meal. I hope you’ll try out my version which has some additions to the traditional recipe, mostly because I just love carrots! Also, I find turnips too strong in flavor and because of this and to cut carbs, I omit them. They are in the traditional recipe.

Ingredients

    32 oz Chicken Bone Broth
    1 Ham Hock
    1 lb. Ham steak cut into large chunks
    2 chorizo sausages cut into slices
    2 large carrots in large chunks
    1 large onion chopped
    3 medium potatoes in large chunks
    1 lb bag white navy beans (or 2 16 oz cans cannellini beans rinsed)
    4 cups chopped turnip greens/collard greens/Kale
    2 bay leaves

Directions

    Saute the onion in olive oil until soft.
    Add sliced chorizo and chopped ham and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
    Add ham hock, bone broth and bay leaves.
    Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a low boil. Cooking at too high a boil will make the broth even cloudier. FYI you can start this with just water or chicken/vegetable broth. I’ve started using bone broth as it contains more protein.
    Simmer for 45 minutes. If you’re using hard unsoaked navy beans, add them now and cook for another 45 minutes before adding the carrots. If you’re using soaked beans, add them when you add the carrots. Cook for 15 minutes and check the beans. If they are almost soft, add the potatoes. If not, cook for another 15 minutes or so, checking the beans to see if they are soft. Once soft, add the potatoes.
    Remove the ham hock and take the meat off the bone. Add the meat back to the pot. Once the potatoes are almost fork tender, add the canned beans and also the chopped greens. Cook until greens are just soft.
    Serve with warm bread, butter and wine!

Hope you enjoyed today’s Tuesday Tip!

Cuban Caldo Gallego – Galician White Bean Soup.
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Dulce de Leche #FoodieFriday

You see Dulce de Leche everywhere now from ice creams to other desserts. Even a limited edition Dulce de Leche Pop Tart. You know you’ve made it when you’re immortalized in a Pop Tart! LOL!

But for Latins, Dulce de Leche has been around forever. My mom and grandma used to make it all the time for us as kids.

What exactly is Dulce de Leche? Literally translated it means “milk candy” and it is basically a caramel kind of spread made by heating sweetened milk until it changes color and flavor. Technically, that process is known as a Maillard reaction, but forget that! All you need to know is that it’s really tasty.

Also, just to confuse things, Cubans have another dessert called dulce de leche which is made with curdled milk that is then sweetened, but that’s not what we’re going to make today.

Actually, for those who are kitchen-challenged, Dulce de Leche is much easier to find today in the ethnic food section. La Lechera has an assortment of Dulce de Leche products, including one in a squeeze bottle for drizzling onto desserts or straight into your mouth.

How do you make it? Well, it’s both simple and DANGEROUS. I have to repeat DANGEROUS, but that hasn’t stopped Latinos from making it this way for a very long time.

It all starts with . . . Can you guess? It’s that go to in Latin kitchens: Sweetened Condensed Milk.

Why a go to? Well, we weren’t well off and when you needed something sweet, a spoonful of dulce de leche or a cup filled with crumbled soda crackers and topped with condensed milk did the trick.

Plus, it’s a basic ingredient in flan, tres leches, bread pudding, you name it.

But back to making Dulce de Leche and the DANGER of it. The easiest, but DANGEROUS way is to full a large pot with water and drop in an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk.

Bring to boil and boil for about two to three hours. NEVER LET THE POT RUN DRY. If you do, the pressure will build inside the unopened can and it will EXPLODE.

Just ask my poor sister-in-law who ended up cleaning dulce de leche from her ceiling.

So that’s it. Drop and boil and then chill in the fridge. For a thicker darker dulce de leche, boil the can even longer. It will be as thick and dark as peanut butter, but oh so tasty!

Let me know if you try it and if you do, how you like it!

DulcedeLeche

Speaking of sweet, don’t forget these sweet deals going on right now!
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