Cuban Culinary Success for Ruby!!!!

Cuba Night was a culinary success by almost all accounts! And I'm exhausted, so this should speak for itself...

My first ever attempt to roast a huge cut of meat (and I actually had two, so that added another level of complexity with timing) turned out great. The Mojo distributed equally, and the taste was great. My timing was perfect, too.

I ended up covering the salad too, and that turned out yummy.

The lime sorbet was a hit. We added a shot of tequila and a sprinkle of coarse salt when serving (as the sorbet author suggested) and it really did make all the difference. EVERYONE partook in that, even those who normally don't drink.

Mango sorbet okay. Banana yogurt didn't turn out because I had my ice cream maker on overdrive and it wasn't cold enough. Alas, it wasn't needed.

The jicama sticks, chicken skewers, and sauces were very tasty, too. I'm having left over jicama sticks with an abbreviated version of guac (what to do with 7 left over RIPE avocados??) today.

The yuca gratin turned out better than any of us expected. I mean, you can't go wrong with anything baked in cream, butter, salt, and garlic, but the yuca added an alternate taste to potatoes and I think this made the difference, too. The cold bean/corn side dish was great, given the extreme heat we have.

The one true disappointment (recognized by us all) was the missing Cuban Opera Cake. A new member signed up to bring this, and then "suddenly" fell ill. This member sent me a message claiming that the cake was done and he wanted to find a way to share it with us, but alas never responded to several messages from members offering to come pick it up. I suspect there was never a cake in the first place. The biggest regret is that Rachael (the group organizer) and I had several off-line discussions about this cake and she was preparing to make it but it was snagged by this new member right away. Clearly this new member does not realize that beyond the social connection, this group is all about EATING, so not having a dish is worse than a dish that doesn't turn out as expected.

I'm still wiped out, so recovering by the pool is my only objective today. I just swung by and it wasn't open yet...look, I'm slathered to my hairline in sunblock and I went through the agony of inserting my contacts today. They'd better open soon...