The duchess is our 1986 Chevy truck. She’s had many incarnations, to be sure, but I’ve got that deep down feeling, that this is her best. She’s never been a Latin lady before, but it sure feels like it. I briefly named her “Amazon” because she’s big and bad-ass. But once her makeover was complete, that rumba dance scene painted on her ‘big side’ makes her look like she’s dancing herself. It made me think of my mom–forever in her spiked-heels, big hoop earrings and colorful dresses–who never stops shakin’ her hips.  When I remembered mom’s childhood nickname, “La Duques,” I laughed and thought, Who better to bring some spicy Cuban flavor to our Peninsula part of the world than “The Duchess”?

Two seafood mini-burgers