#I'm full of great Puerto Rican food

[dinosaurwithablog]

I made picadillo just like grandma used to make. I served it on a bed of white rice. It was delicious 😋 😍 my grandma was very poor so she learned to take the most humble ingredients and cook them to perfection. Puerto Rican peasant food is the best food I've ever tasted. I made my food using my grandma's spoon. That thing is older than I am. It's an amazing spoon because when I use it to cook, it channels my grandma, and the food comes out almost as great as my grandma's food did. She was the best cook in the world. She fed the masses because, as any good Puerto Rican would do, she made enough food to feed the neighborhood, and they all showed up as often as possible because they knew how good that food was. Now, I'm hungry. I love my grandma. She was a great cook and an even greater human being. 😍💜💜💜

[drethanramslay]

Perfect (Happy Birthday Bree!!)

Pairing: Ethan x MC (Leah Garcia)

Word count: 1500 words

MASTERLIST

Warning: None, this is just a load of fluff 

Author’s note: Happy birthday @jamespotterthefirst​, the most talented and amazing writer🎂🎂 Hope you have a great day and keep rocking babe❤

I have taken part in @wackydrabbles so the prompt will be in bold 

Title inspiration: Perfect by Ed Sheeran 

Forgive me if i make any mistakes 🥺

"Happy birthday, doctor!" A cheerful nurse greeted as Ethan stood at the nurses' station, signing charts at a break-neck speed.

"Hrm." He answered absent-mindedly, not even bothering to look up from the file and continued to look down at it as of it were the most interesting case but the fact is that Ethan did not care to celebrate his birthday.

But if Leah were to hear that, she would have him by his balls.

And Ethan wasn't one to go against a woman with a mission. She had said that they would do something in the evening and Ethan was low key looking forward to it, which is quite the growth from a year ago.

According to Ethan, birthdays were irrational. He couldn't figure out the entire hype to celebrate the day which is just a marker that you are one year closer to death. Sure it's a pessimistic way to see it but Ethan never promised to have a positive outlook on life.

No wonder Leah calls me the human equivalent of a robot.

The thought just whispered into his head which had him halting what he was doing and a small smile made its way on his lips.

Just her very name has his face splitting into a wide grin. Her very presence has this flux of endorphins in his system that he feels as if his heart is going to burst or a blush would sear through his cheeks.

She was his Kryptonite. Yes, Leah had taught him that reference when they watched that Super-boy movie.

Coming back to his birthday, Leah had wished him in the morning itself which comprises of affectionate kisses with a side of old man jokes.

Or you could say it was the other way around.

She then proceeded to give him a hand-knitted scarf which she made along with this gold plated bar set which he had been eyeing for a couple of months but never had the chance to buy it.

"I hope you like it?" She had asked in a tiny voice, watching his every expression.

"Leah, you are the best gift I could ever have. You didn't have to go all the way out for me."

And it was true. Leah just wishing him was the only thing that mattered to him. Nothing could compare to it. Just like the shine of glitters can't compare to the radiance of the sun. But Leah just pressed her lips in a soft kiss and said that he deserved the best of everything.

I am so lucky to have a partner like her.

He shut the file and submitted the last chart to the nurse. He lifted his left wrist to check the time and he noticed that there was only an hour of work left before he could head back to their home.

With a sudden burst of motivation, he turned down the hallway to visit his next patient.

It would be an understatement to say that Leah was nervous.

The pressure of this entire evening being perfect weighed down on her like a pile of bricks. She paced in the living room, digging tracks from her walking back and forth so that she could work off the nervous energy settling into the pit of her stomach. The posh, classical music did nothing to calm her racing heart down.

Will he like it? The doubt filtered through her head which had her gulping and smoothening the little black dress which Ethan liked a lot.

Jenner whined, sensing her distress. She trotted towards the stressed intern and nuzzled against her leg, stopping Leah in her tracks.

"Hey, girl... Guess I'm just overthinking huh?" Leah ran her fingers through Jenner's silky ears and scratched behind her ears which earned her a happy bark.

The sound of the door unlocking had the duo looking up. Jenner cocked her head before running to greet her dad. His familiar baritone voice echoed through the hallway leading to the living room. Leah ran her eyes around the apartment, just running a final check to see if anything was out of sight.

She had lit candles all around the house and turned the lights down low, to set the relaxed ambience of the place.

But that wasn't the main event.

She had come home early so that she could cook an entire extravagant meal for him. From butter garlic shrimps and stir fry vegetables as appetizers to Pastelon which is Puerto Rican version of traditional Italian lasagna as the entrée. She had used her grandma's recipe which has been passed down for generations on her Father's side of the family. Last but not the least, she had baked him a coffee cake which was the only flavour he liked.

She had set the table out on the balcony because it was a wonderful weather and nothing beats a candlelit dinner under a starry night.

"Leah?" His voice called out and she turned to face him with an incandescent smile which beautifully complimented against the dancing shadows of the lit candles. She walked towards his open arms and embraced him.

Hugging Ethan was something she thoroughly enjoyed, The way this man was all hard and soft at the same time often blew her mind away. The way his arms would tighten around her waist and the way he would tuck her head under his chin was her personal heaven. His cologne mixed with his manly essence was intoxicating, which blanketed her senses, making her feel safe and at peace.

Placing a soft affectionate kiss on her forehead, they pulled back just enough to see each other's face.

"Hi."

"Hey yourself, E."

"So what is this surprise you have planned for me?"

Leah chuckled, her hands looping around his neck. Her fingers played with the short hairs on his nape as she looked at him adoringly. "Eager are we?"

"If it comes to you? Always." He pecked her lips.

"Good. Go get fresh and meet me at the balcony."

Ethan and Leah were having fun.

They had popped open the champagne bottle which Ethan had stored for a special occasion and poured copious amounts into the sparkly glasses. And the food was amazing.

The way Ethan devoured the food and gave compliments every now and then made Leah smile with pride.

"Sunshine, you have to feed me more Puerto Rican dishes because this is delicious," Ethan said as he sipped on his champagne.

"I am not as good as my dad. He can make so many more yummy dishes than me. He actually hosts a cookout Sunday for the boys working at his security firm. I have only been to a few but they are super fun."

"You have already met my dad so I think it is about time I have to meet yours."

A rosiness settled on her cheeks as she smiled back at him. "Of course. I know he will like you."

Giving a smile which has his eyes glimmering like the stars, they went back to their meal. After a while, with their stomachs full and plates wiped clean, Leah rose from her seat. Ethan shot her a questioning look but she just kissed his cheek.

"I baked a cake for you. Just getting it out so that we can cut it, old man."

Ethan groaned as Leah chuckled. "I am not that old, okay? I'm a millennial!"

"Whatever you say, gramps."

She went indoors to take the cake out of the fridge, where she had placed it after icing it. A sudden thunder resounded throughout the penthouse, which had her raising her eyebrow.

Rain? But the weather forecast said it won't...

She placed the cake on the counter and headed out only to find Ethan standing there, with his eyes closed and enjoying the raindrops washing his face. The water seeped through his black shirt, making it cling to the hard planes of his chest. A small smile played on his lips.

"Ethan? Come in, you will fall sick." She said as she stood at the threshold. To be honest, there was a reservation in her voice because it had been so long since she has seen him so peaceful.

"No, I will be fine. Come, join me." His eyes smoldered as they fell on Leah and it felt as if she was hypnotized by his brilliant blue eyes.

She walked towards him and instantly Ethan settled his hands on her waist. Placing her hands on his chest they just swayed to a rhythm of their own.

"Are we really dancing without music?" She whispered as she looked up at him.

"What can I say sunshine... you make me want to dance even when the music stops."

The cool raindrops fell on her flushed face while Ethan smiled down at her gently.

"I hope you liked your birthday, Ethan."

She wrapped her arms around him and placed her face on his chest, this heartbeat lulling her into her own safe haven.

"I won't forget this. Ever. This was by far the best so thank you, Leah. I love you so much."

"I love you too."

I would have attached pictures but a bitch is lazy 😔✊

Taglist: Tagging separately because that seems so effective

[thehooliganhangoutspot]

(Submission) ☝🏾Link to transcript of Bruno’s 60 minutes interview.

Bruno Mars on his artistry: “I’m working hard for this” He’s been broke, busted and nearly homeless. Now, as 60 Minutes’ Lara Logan reports, he’s on top of the music world

2016 Nov 20

The following script is from “Bruno Mars,” which aired on Nov. 20, 2016. Lara Logan is the correspondent. John Hamlin, producer.

Bruno Mars is one of the world’s biggest music stars and he’s one of the most driven people we’ve ever seen. Just 31, he’s the product of what he calls a “school of rock” education – a working class life of experiences that have taught him the music business. None of it came easily. He’s been broke, busted and nearly homeless. But this week, following the release of his first album in four years, he’s on top of the music world.

To show us how he got there, Bruno Mars did something he’s never done: he shared with us some of the toughest moments of his Hawaiian upbringing, and gave us the opportunity to witness his extraordinary skills as a songwriter and producer.

We begin with Bruno Mars, the entertainer.

Bruno Mars at Paradise Park, Hawaii AARON TOMLINSON/60 MINUTES This show in Connecticut last month was his first public concert of the year, and he used it as a tune-up for the release of his new album and world tour to follow. On every song and every note, from arenas to halftime of the Super Bowl, he and his band, The Hooligans, perform full throttle.

His standards are high because the legends of music set them.

Bruno Mars: I just really care about what people see. I want them to know that I’m working hard for this. The artists that I look up to like, you know, Michael, Prince, James Brown. You watch them and you understand that they’re paying attention to the details of their art. And they care so much about what they’re wearing, about how they’re moving, about how they’re making the audience feel. They’re not phoning it in. They’re going up there to murder anybody that performs after them or performs before them. That’s what I’ve watched my whole life and admired.

He is a throwback. You see it in the choreography on stage and hear it in the songs themselves. Descendants of the generations that came before him.

“I just really care about what people see. I want them to know that I’m working hard for this.” Bruno Mars Lara Logan: When I listen to your songs.

Bruno Mars: Uh-huh.

Lara Logan: You can hear all those people that you’ve listened to.

Bruno Mars: Yeah.

Lara Logan: Over the years.

Bruno Mars CBS NEWS Bruno Mars: A lot of people are really quick to say, “That song sounds like this.” Or you– “He’s tryin’ to sound like this.” And I’m always like, “You’re damn right I am. That’s how– that’s why we’re all here.” You know, we all grew up idolizing another musician. That’s how this works. That’s how music is created.

The musical education of Bruno Mars began in his hometown: Honolulu, Hawaii. He was born Peter Hernandez, to a Puerto Rican father and Filipino mother: parents who were professional musicians, performing together in the tourist showrooms of Waikiki Beach. Their act was called the “Love Notes” and when Bruno was four years old his parents included him in the family business. He played “Little Elvis” and it’s when he first learned he could steal the show.

The “Little Elvis” routine lasted six years. But the lessons of his parents’ Vegas-style Waikiki entertainment revue, have lasted a lifetime.

Bruno Mars: You know, it was, like, “School Of Rock” for me. And it was just this kind of razzle-dazzle lifestyle.

Lara Logan: That’s real showbiz.

Bruno Mars: Yeah, show business. You know?

Lara Logan: Right?

Bruno Mars: And if you wasn’t hitting those notes and the audience wasn’t freaking out, then you weren’t doing it right.

By the time he turned 12, his parents divorced and the family band broke up. Money was tight. His four sisters moved in with his mom. He and his brother lived with his dad…

Lara Logan: On top of this building?

Bruno Mars: On top of this building.

…anywhere they could.

Bruno Mars: My dad was just the king of finding these little spots for us to stay that we should never have been staying at.

Lara Logan: But you were, like, homeless people?

Bruno Mars: Yeah. No. Yeah, for sure. We was in a limousine at once. 1984 limousine.

Sleeping in the back of a car, on top of buildings, and this place…

Lara Logan: So this is where you lived?

…Paradise Park, a bird zoo where his dad took a job. This was the first time he’d been back here since. Even people who work with him haven’t heard this part of his story.

Bruno Mars: Where we were staying at first—

Lara Logan: Yeah.

Bruno Mars: –didn’t have a bathroom. So we’d have to walk across the park to this other spot that had a bathroom.

Lara Logan: Wow.

Bruno Mars: In the in–

Lara Logan: And sometimes in the middle of the night?

Bruno Mars: In the middle of the night.

When the park closed, they stayed, moving into this one-room building.

Lara Logan: This was your house?

Bruno Mars: Yeah.

They lived here for more than two years.

Bruno Mars: Just so people don’t think we’re crazy.

Lara Logan: Yeah.

Bruno Mars: It did not look like this.

Lara Logan: It had a roof?

Bruno Mars: It had a roof.

Lara Logan: It didn’t have plants growing inside.

Bruno Mars: It didn’t have plants growing inside. I don’t know what happened to the roof. But the bed would be right there in the middle.

Lara Logan: Yeah? And you’d all sleep in one bed?

Bruno Mars: We’d all sleep in one bed.

Lara Logan: Happy memories?

Bruno Mars: The best.

Lara Logan: That’s– is kind of amazing in that, what you remember about it is not the struggle or the things you didn’t have.

Bruno Mars: Nah—

Lara Logan: It’s all the things you had.

Bruno Mars: Yeah. We had it all, you know. We had each other and it never felt like it was the end of the world. “It’s alright we don’t got electric today. It’s alright. It’s temporary.” saying, “Well, we gonna figure this out.”Maybe that’s why I have this mentality when it comes to the music. ‘Cause I know I’m gonna figure– I’m gonna figure it out, just give me some time.

As soon as he graduated high school, he left the Waikiki showrooms and Hawaii altogether.

Lara Logan: You could’ve stayed here, right—

Bruno Mars: And be—

Lara Logan: –and you could—

Bruno Mars: –very happy.

Lara Logan: Yeah? And made a good living, and done what your dad did and been a big star in Hawaii?

Bruno Mars: I wanted to go for it.

Lara Logan: You wanted more?

Bruno Mars: I wanted more. And my family pushed me. And this island pushed me.

Lara Logan: How?

Bruno Mars: These are my people, and this is my culture, and I want to represent them. I want people to think of Hawaii and think of palm trees and magical islands and Bruno Mars.

So he headed for Los Angeles where he was quickly signed by Motown Records. Gone was his given name of Peter Hernandez, branding himself Bruno Mars instead.

“Bruno,” his childhood nickname, “Mars” shooting for the stars. The name stuck but the record contract didn’t. Motown dropped him.

Bruno Mars: I don’t blame Motown. I don’t– I– I was sim– it’s simply I wasn’t ready yet. I think everybody don’t know what color I am. It’s like, “He’s not black enough. He’s not white enough. He’s got a Latin last name but he doesn’t have– he doesn’t speak Spanish. Who are we selling this to? Are you making urban music? Are you making pop music? What kind of music are you making?”

With no hit songs of his own and dead broke, he started over, writing and producing songs for other artists with friends Ari Levine and Philip Lawrence. They were starving musicians. Inspired by the hustle just to pay for food, they came up with this song.

[Music from “Billionaire”]

It led to another record deal of his own. His career as a songwriter and performer was finally on track. About that time though, he was arrested for possession of two-and-a-half grams of cocaine.

Lara Logan: From the outside you really seem to keep it together and to be very professional and, you know, very committed but you nearly threw it all away.

Bruno Mars: I did something very stupid. I’m in Las Vegas, Lara. I’m 24 years old. I’m, you know, drinking way more than I’m supposed to be drinking and it was so early in my career and I always say that I think it had to happen. That was the reality check I needed and I’m– I promised myself that that, you know, you ain’t never gonna read about that again.

Headlines for hits, not drug busts have been his narrative ever since capped by two Super Bowl halftime performances in three years and three Grammys including “record of the year” for his collaboration with producer Mark Ronson, “Uptown Funk.” It’s the biggest hit in a career full of them.

Lara Logan: How difficult is it to write a song that’s great?

Bruno Mars: “Uptown Funk” took us almost a year to write. And there’s songs that taken– that’s taken us two hours to write. And we throw ‘em away. “Uptown Funk” was in the trashcan about 10 times.

Lara Logan: Really?

Bruno Mars: Yeah.

Lara Logan: Why?

Bruno Mars: ‘Cause we made a lot of, you know, you can make a left turn and all of a sudden this song is something terrible. Embarrassing almost. But you have this one thing that keeps you going. This one part of the song that feels so good and it makes you want to keep going. And it makes you want– “Ah, we should just try again. Let’s try again, let’s try again.”

He told us the conception of much of his music begins, in this California recording studio.

Bruno Mars: This is it, Lara.

Over the last two years he has been on lock down here trying to answer the challenge created from his run of big hits. Especially his last one.

Bruno Mars: This album, it was daunting, because coming off of “Uptown Funk” was like the biggest song I’ve ever been a part of. And then you’re like, alright, now what are you gonna do?

This is what he came up with. His new album, “24K Magic.” The title song, out just six weeks, is already another massive hit. He showed us how they built the song from the drums up.

“I was built for this…It’s dedicating yourself to your craft.” Bruno Mars Bruno Mars: That’s how it starts.

Lara Logan: And then?

Bruno Mars: Well come on, come on!

Bruno Mars: And then we could put some sparkle on it. Like put a little magic dust on it. Hear that?

Bruno Mars: Drums and base is locking, right?

Lara Logan: Yes.

Bruno Mars: Feel good yet?

Lara Logan: Yes!

Bruno Mars: Then you add the sauce, the secret sauce. You ready?

Bruno Mars: That’s it.

Bruno Mars: 24 Karat Magic!

Bruno Mars: Showtime! Guess who’s back again?

It’s easy to see that Bruno Mars loves the only job he’s ever wanted and that he’s still driven, to get it right.

Bruno Mars: I was built for this Lara. It’s dedicating yourself to your craft. Spending thousands of hours in a studio learning how to write a song, learning how to play different chords, training yourself to sing. You know, to get better and better.

Lara Logan: Are you there?

Bruno Mars: No. I’m not even close.

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