WGN Morning News Blog

photos courtesy baseballdecuba.com 

(Chicago) You can almost lace up the skates at the "frozen confines" of Wrigley Field.  The turf is a hockey rink, this time of year.  So to get the blood circulating again, let's talk about "beisbol."               

For the better part of a century, the Cuban Winter League was the hot-spot of the baseball universe - south of the Florida Straits.  For Americans making the passage to Havana, the winter league was the place to get your baseball fix (along with a good "mojito") 

Colorful Cuban pitchers,  like Connie Marrero and Martin Dihigo brought their searing "heat" against the very best American players.  All-time greats like Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Satchel Paige played in the famous Cuban League.  And for baseball aficionados, lucky enough to witness these hotly-contested games, it was paradise on the diamond.   

Nobody knows more about Cuban baseball than Peter Bjarkman.   From "Smoke: The Romance & Love of Cuban Baseball," to "A History of Cuban Baseball," the Lafayette, Indiana author knows the amazing history of the island game, dating back 150 years.  He's chronicled the legendary contests between Negro League greats - against their talented Cuban counterparts.  The end result were games of amazing grace and ferocious intensity.  

Bjarkman, who's traveled to Cuba more than 50 times, very generously provided us with these rare pictures of the old Cuban Winter League.

If you want to read more about Cuban "beisbol," log on to this fascinating website: www.baseballdecuba.com/   You can watch LIVE webcasts of  modern-day  Cuban ballplayers (or "peloteros").  You can also visit my Oldhavanafoods.blogspot.com for a special feature on Cuba's super-fan (a legendary baseball "fanatico" we interviewed in Havana on a WGN-TV News assignment to Cuba).  Sadly, "El Tintorero" (the Dry Cleaner) passed away several years ago.  But the irrepressible Habanero will always be remembered for bringing so much passion to the game he loved - the one-of-a-kind game of Cuban 'beisbol.'    

Photos courtesy of: BaseballdeCuba.com    

On the northern end of New York's Avenue of the Americas, as you enter Central Park, you'll be greeted by a Cuban on horseback.  A towering equestrian statue pays tribute to the  "George Washington of Cuba" (as he's been called) and one of Latin America's greatest writers.  Dedicated in 1965, it's become a piece of Cuban history.

Born in 1853 to poor Havana immigrants, Jose Marti helped lead the fight for Cuban independence from Spain.  Like John Adams or Patrick Henry, Marti was a patrot - burning to break the shackles of colonialism.  His uncompromising opposition to Spanish rule led to arrest and exile from the island at age 17.  With passionate eloquence, the "Apostle of Freedom" inspired a generation of Cubans to to fight for independence.  And sadly, his unwavering courage eventually cost Marti his life on a Cuban battlefield in 1894.        

As much as he loved his country, traqgically. Marti spent most of his adult life in exile.  A talented writer and journalist, he spent years in New York as a foreign correspondent for South American newspapers. 

And he marveled at the Democratic freedoms of America.  "'I am, at last, in a country where everyone looks like his own master," he wrote for the newspaper, The Hour.  "One can breathe freely, freedom being here the foundation, the shield, the essence of life'".

Marti also admired the work ethic he saw in American society.  He wrote about his respect for this great nation of immigrants, with its' remarkable constitution and freedom of expression.  And Marti urged Latin America to adopt the same values. 

But like any great journalist, Marti called a spade a spade.  He criticized the excesses of capitalism, spending time in New York's ethnic slums.  The plight of the poor moved Marti, and made him yearn to help the less fortunate.    

This week, Cubans everywhere celebrate the birthday of this great man.  If you want to read more, we have a special story dedicated to Jose Marti in the "Cuban Culture" section of my Old Havana Foods Blog.  Learn more about this remarkable individual who loved freedom - a passion that's memorialized in New York's Central Park. 

It's the 100th birthday of a Chicago great - the one-and-only Eli Schulman.  In case you don't know the story, for decades, Schulman's Gold Coast steakhouse was THE place to see celebrities.  From Frank Sinatra to Sammy Davis Jr., Barbara Streisand and famous athletes, like hall-of-famer Gayle Sayers, "Eli's - The Place for Steaks" was a Windy City legend. 

You can read the fascinating story of how Eli started with his small deli, slowly building a steak and cheescake empire that's become a Chicago institution.  Just go to the Eli's Cheesecake Chicago website to see all the history.         

His son, Marc Schulman, went on to create Eli's Cheesecake & the Eli's Cheescake World on Forest Preserve Drive.  At a time when factories are closing down and moving overseas, Marc employes hundreds of Chicagoans.  And he does great work in the community through Wright College and other city community colleges and Chicago Public  high schools, to train and mentor young Chicagoans to work in the food industry.

He's been a great support and resource for small entrepreneur's like me, with my fledgling family business, Old Havana Foods.  Marc's always there to give a word of advice or make a crucial connection.  And I'm so grateful for his help.   

So on the day when Marc celebrate's the 100th birthday of his late father, I salute the Schulman family and the great Eli Schulman - a Chicago original!     

Grapes and the first day of January go hand in-hand, when you're talking about an authentic Cuban New Year celebration.  It's a centuries-old tradition believed to bring good luck.  Typically, party goers eat twelve grapes - one for each month of the new year - to bring good fortune.    

At the Crews household, we've got a truckload of grapes and plenty of delicious Cuban food on the menu.  We're marking the one-year anniversary of my fledgling specialty-food company, Old Havana Foods.  Thanks again to everyone for your words of support and unwavering encouragement. 

As you might expect, our main course is tantanlizing roast pork (scroll down on this page to see my family's authentic Cuban recipe in the Julian Crews: Bean Quest archive).  We're also serving up savory Cuban black beans & rice  (and lots o' grapes for dessert).    

Another Old Havana tradition involves water.  When the clock strikes 12 midnight, Cubanos throw a bucket of water out the front door.  The ritual symbolizes a fresh start.  Out with the old and stale!  In with the new!  

Of course, with last night's sub-zero windchill in Chicago, my front porch is awfully slippery this morning.  The water 's frozen solid!  And so are my grapes!

Have a happy new year everybody.  Best wishes for a "grape" 2010!"               

He was known for his legendary Cuban black beans & rice.   But great-grandfather, Julio, had a flavorful way with words, too.  Like many Habaneros,  fueled by rum, café Cubano and ever-present tobacco, Julio had a knack for inventing colorful & crazy sayings, unique to the island.  Strangely wonderful Cuban sayings occupy a special place in the world-wide lexicon of the Spanish language.  And there's often a double-meaning behind these famous phrases.  Here are some of my favorites (with translations to English and the actual meaning in red )

Hay un frio que chilfla el mono!  (it's so cold the monkey is whistling!)

Esta pasando el Niagara en bicicleta (he's going over Niagara Falls by bicycle)

Actual meaning:  "he's having an impossibly difficult time"

Esta tocao del queso   (his cheese has been "touched" or tampered with) 

Actual meaning:  "he's out of his mind"

Se esta comiendo un cable  (he's eating a [steel] cable)

Actual meaning:  "he's in desperate straits"

Tiene un coco con Elena  (he has a "coconut" with Elena)

Actual meaning:  "he has a crush on Elena"

El horno no esta para galleticas! (the oven isn't ready for cookies)

Actual meaning:   "don't bother me.  I'm in a foul mood!"

Feliz ano nuevo everybody!

(Chicago) The Fraser Fir isn't native to Cuba, and neither is the Scottish Pine.  The evergreen trees we're used to are hard to find in the tropics.  But for decades, Habaneros found a way to get their hands on real North American Christmas trees - thanks in large part to my great-grandfather, Thomas D. Crews.

I'm not talking about my maternal great-grandfather (the man behind my famous frijoles negros and the face of Old Havana Foods).  This is the one-of-a-kind story of my paternal great-grandpa, who was born and raised in Georgia.   

As an American expatriate living in Havana, Crews was the first to import evergreens from the United States, when Christmas trees became fashionable in Cuba during the 1940's.  Relatives say he'd harvest evergreens from the upper Midwest and bring them down by railroad car to ship across to Havana.      

But exactly how he came to live in Cuba is a story all by itself.  And it's an interesting piece of history.  Born in Stockton, Georgia, Thomas D. Crews had a sense of adventure.  Which probably helps explain how his life took a dramatic turn in 1898.  He met a charming young Cuban woman in Jacksonville, Florida, just before the start of the Spanish-American war.  Her name was Sophia Carrera.  Carrera was in Florida with mother and brother, a prominent doctor who treated Cuban insurrectionists (drawing the wrath of the Spanish army).  Fearing for his safety, the family found temporary refuge in Florida.  

That's when my great-grandfather met Carrera and fell in love, courting the young woman during her stay in the U.S.  It wasn't long before he made the decision to follow her back to the island. 

But first, in an impressive display of devotion, my great-grandfather enlisted in the U.S. Army to help win Cuba's freedom from Spain.  He served as a military telegraph operator, stationed mostly in Puerto Rico, until the war was over.  Afterwards, Crews landed in Cuba to marry his fiancé and begin a new life.    

Thomas D. Crews and Sophia Carrera were soon married and had three children (one of them, my paternal grandfather, Joseph Crews).  He fathered my Cuban-born dad, Julio Crews, a talented abstract painter (see JulioCrews.com) who now lives in Houston, Texas. 

And that brings me to the end of the story.  Here in Chicago, people always ask me about my last name.  Knowing that I'm fluent in Spanish and of Latino descent, they wonder why I don't spell my last name, "Cruz?"  Some wonder if my family anglicized our last name after emigrating to the United States in 1961. 

For those demanding to know the true story, I tell them about my fearless "red-neck" great-grandfather from Georgia, who fell in love with a Cuban woman and followed his heart to  Havana. 

And along the way, he earned a curious foot note to history, as the man who helped bring the Christmas tree to Cuba.   

You're not going to believe it.  But just in time for the holiday season comes easy-to-follow recipes from Abraham Lincoln.   That's right!  "Free Range" Abe, as he was known in culinary circles, is just the latest celebrity to cash in on the lucrative cookbook circuit.   

O.K., maybe the president himself didn't have time to roll up his sleeves in the kitchen.  But he's likely to have sampled some of the authentic period recipes contained in, "A. Lincoln Cookbook: A Cookbook of Epic Proportions."  Among the 623 frontier recipes you'll find some of Mary Todd's favorites.  Other authentic recipes come from staffers at the Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum.  

You can get a copy of the book and whip up genuine Abe Lincoln favorites for your little "Railsplitters" - like Brown Chicken Fricassee and Caramel Ice Cream.  

The unusual cookbook's already up for a national book award - a finalist in the Morris Cookbook Company's Annual Community Cookbook Contest.  It sells for $40, at the Lincoln Library and Museum Gift Shop in Springfield, or you can buy it on line at www.presidentlincoln.org   Proceeds from the book go to pay for volunteer programs at the not-for-profit museum.  

Geez, Louise!  Makes me think I'd better get to work right away on my Old Havana cookbook!  You think Honest Abe would like black beans and rice?    

There's no shortage of recipes for this Cuban holiday favorite - savory roast pork!  But this one is my favorite because it's so easy-to-prepare.  It comes from my family's cookbook of centuries-old Cuban recipes.  Together with my famous black beans and rice, it's a fun new way to celebrate the holidays!  

Roast Pork with Magic "Mojo" Seasoning (recipe for 1 pound boneless pork loin)

Step 1 - Find your "Mojo"

Marinade (Mojo) Ingredients:

1/3 cup fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

10 finely minced garlic cloves

2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon sea salt
4 bay leaves
 

Directions: In a small bowl, combine all marinade (mojo) ingredients stirring until salt is dissolved. Cover sauce and refrigerate at least 1 hour and no longer than 24 hours.

Step 2 - Marinating 

Trim fat from pork loin.  In a re-sealable plastic bag, combine pork and mojo seasoning.  Seal bag, pressing out excess air. Marinate pork in refrigerator a minimum of 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

Step 3 - Roasting  

Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Remove pork from marinade, reserving mojo in refrigerator. Pat pork dry with paper towels. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the pork, 4 to 5 minutes total, until lightly golden brown on all sides. Transfer to roasting pan. Roast the pork approximately 30 to 40 minutes, or until a meat thermometer inserted in center registers 160 deg F. Transfer pork to a cutting board and allow to rest 10 minutes before carving. Meanwhile pour reserved mojo into small sauce pan.  Bring mojo to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Cut pork into thin slices and drizzle with magic mojo seasoning.

Step 4 - Serve and watch your guests turn into carnivorous pirahnas! 

For more authentic Cuban recipes, history, music and art, visit Oldhavanafoods.blogspot.com    Feliz Navidad everybody!