Blog No. 11 of 2025
I’ll have you know, this is my second attempt at writing this blog today. I had almost completely finished writing and neglected to hit save, closed the tab and poof, it was gone. So… I’ve just hit save and will start over again.
I’m sitting here, writing this as I suffer through another head cold but I’m hoping it’ll be short lived because my sister Ana and I have plans to attend the media preview of the latest play at the Arsht Center “MJ” the jukebox musical about the life of Michael Jackson coming up on Tuesday. And I’ve just hit save again.
Nick taking a shot. Although he only shot three pointers and made MOST of them, he did make the one that won them the second game and helped them advance to the next round.
The 3 on 3 team proudly displaying their first place ribbons, pictured with their coach Alland Guzman in the red shirt.
L-R: Ana, me, Mari and Elizabeth at Doral Legacy Park. Susy was running around chasing after her grandson Jojo so missed the pic unfortunately.
Last weekend kicked off with two straight days at Doral Legacy Park where on Friday we cheered on Nick and other Special Olympics athletes during the opening ceremonies of their games. Then on Saturday we all watched as Nick and his basketball teammates took first place in the 3 on 3 division. My sisters Susy, Ana and Mari came out to watch as did my great nephew Jojo and my daughter Elizabeth who was in town visiting a friend. Next stop for Nick and his teammates, Broward for the next round on April 6.
Saturday night Vance and I dined at Petit Gourmet Diner, a lovely little French spot in North Miami Beach in a nondescript strip mall on Biscayne Blvd. off 163 St. We had an amazing meal… I had the chopped steak with a side of broccoli and vegetable souffle and he ordered the chicken piccata special. For dessert I ordered the chocolate mousse cake. There was so much of the chopped steak leftover I used it over a salad, to make quesadillas and Vance even had a little bit with his leftover piccata.
Karen Peterson Dancers enjoying the Three G’s Catering spread this past Sunday during their post-workshop reception at Sandrell Rivers Theater.
Karen Peterson Dancers reception.
Sunday, I spent the day cooking up veggie pasta, turkey picadillo and rice, making a garden salad and yellow cake with chocolate frosting garnished with strawberries for a catering gig. Karen Peterson Dancers hosted their post workshop reception following their Forward Motion Festival and Karen hired me to cater it once again. It was held at the Sandrell Rivers Theater and Vance was super helpful unloading the car, helping to serve and clean up during the event. I’m happy to report the dancers and Karen were very happy with the food. So much so they went back for seconds!
It was a packed house so this was the best photo I could get of Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson from our seats in the back.
Monday night my sister Susy and I attended a talk/reading by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson at Miami-Dade College Wolfson Campus in Downtown. Brown Jackson read from and discussed her memoir/biography “Lovely One.” She was everything I’d expected, down to earth, humble, intelligent and wise. Definitely the smartest person in the room. It was a pleasure to learn her story from being a proud graduate of Miami’s own Palmetto Senior High School to manifesting becoming a Supreme Court Justice and someday being on Broadway (she did accomplish the latter, having a small speaking role written for her in the play “& Juliet” where she appeared for one night only!)
Tuesday, my sister Mari and I had a leisurely visit with our 99-year-old aunt Titi who lives in Hialeah. In the photo above she’s holding the Christmas card my niece Elena sent her with a pic of her son Jojo on it.
Pinecrest Gardens views
Cute turtles grabbing some afternoon sun at Pinecrest Gardens.
On Thursday, I spent a glorious morning at Pinecrest Gardens, an outing organized by the staff at Sandra DeLucca Developmental Center for the VIP Stars Parent Support Group. We meandered through the lush landscaping and then enjoyed a light lunch under the blue skies, laughing and sharing stories.
After that I had a few hours to kill before the Youth Fair opening day media event so I headed to Dos Croquetas in Westchester and grabbed a quick snack. I love this place and have mentioned it often in this blog. I ordered one each of the Mexican street corn and mac n cheese croquetas. They were delicious as always and two of my favorites, but I quickly regretted not ordering their March special… the yuca and picadillo croquetas. Guess I’ll just have to go back to try those.
Cute garden display at the Youth Fair.
Student display area at the Youth Fair.
Then I headed just 10 minutes away to opening day of the Miami-Dade County Youth Fair, an event I’ve been attending yearly since I was a kid. I enjoyed walking around the student exhibitions, watching the circus performers and taking in the ice skating show. This is always a great place to try tasty carnival fare and I decided to have a corn dog and sweet roasted pecans. They do however, have a bunch of new foods this year which you can see by clicking here. Warning, they’re not the healthiest (understatement of the century) but who goes to a carnival to eat healthy! They’ve also got good discounts on admission. Click here to read about all of those.
This weekend I plan to attend the opening reception for the latest exhibition at Bridge Red Studios and next week, as I mentioned above, I’m seeing “MJ” at the Arsht Center and attending George Neary’s blowout birthday celebration on Thursday.
And on a final note… by far the best e-mail to hit my inbox this week from actor Brian Golub with this incredible news about the profile I wrote on the stroke victim Carl W. from Actors’ Playhouse, a story I shared a few weeks back…
“Because of all that has been donated ($26,091 as of today) I have been able to buy a van in great condition for Carl! PLUS we will now have a surplus of nearly $8K that will go to insurance, medical needs, costs etc moving forward! This is going to change their current existence! I can’t thank you enough for being so generous! Over the last few weeks the donations have poured in!”
Have a great weekend all and see you right back here on Friday. Until then…
