It's New Year's Eve, there's snow on the ground, and Mimi Marquez is out for a walk with her new friend Paolo, being walked home after a lunch date so she can get ready for the party she doesn't know him quite well enough to invite him to, yet ( Read more... )

The NYU campus bookstore is practically empty when Mimi walks in to pick up her books - a combination of the holidays and the time of day. It's early morning, and she's just woken up from a full night of sleep at Milliways, so she's fully energized, unlike the people around her, most of whom are stumbling through like zombies looking for a brain to ( Read more... )

It's Christmas Day in New York City, and the Marquez household is the busiest it's been in a while.

There's a large pig on a spit roasting in the backyard, covered to prevent it from getting snowed on, and the house smells very strongly of very good food - tamales de carne de cerdo, Pavo Relleno con Moros, Fufú, Salsa de Arándano Agrio con Ron, ( Read more... )

Collins, Mimi, Faith and Lily have gathered in Mimi's room, Collins bringing with him the news of Benny's latest atrocity - the threat to evict Roger and Mark, and a lot of other people, to build that studio ( Read more... )

The Cat Scratch Club hasn't changed much in the months since Mimi quit working there. It's still noisy, it's still really crowded, and it still reeks of smoke ( Read more... )

A lot of Hispanic countries begin celebrating well before Christmas Day actually arrives. For this reason, the streets of Spanish Harlem are louder - and smell better - than usual this week, and the Marquez household is no exception.

Isabel Marquez is making coquito, homemade coconut eggnog, a traditional beverage in Puerto Rico ( Read more... )

The very last thing Mimi expected, when she ducked into the Life Cafe for a cup of coffee and a bowl of miso soup, was to run into Benny again ( Read more... )

A visit from her youngest daughter - she has seven, total - is always enough to put a smile on Isabel Marquez's face, even if Mimi was looking far too skinny.

This, then, is the reason she's singing as she putters around her kitchen, getting ready to make dinner.

Birria tonight. Beef birria.

The smells are very good.

Home is, as it always has been, a noisy, riotous affair, full of the squalling of babies, the ever-present smell of beans and rice, a steady parade of affectionate relatives coming in and out, small children clambering for hugs and attention ( Read more... )

Sobering up was, as usual, horrific ( Read more... )