I really enjoy dining at Gloria Estefan’s Cuban Cafe in Downtown Disney so I was very pleased to learn that she and her husband Emilio have released Estefan Kitchen

I had never tried making any Cuban recipes before but I have been really inspired by Gloria Estefan’s book. It includes some of the recipes found in her famous restaurants. If you have never tried Bongo’s Cuban Cafe in Downtown Disney you really should stop by one day. The cuisine and wonderful atmosphere make it one of my favorites. I know that Cuban cuisine isn’t always everyone’s first choice but really do give it a try! My favorites include plantain soup and the lobster bisque. The Cuban sandwhich is another favorite. It is great to see some interesting desserts on the menu too such as the traditional Cuban flan and the guava and cheese flan. And of course they serve some fabulous cocktails too. I seem to remember indulging in rather too many of those the last time I was there!

Bot now you don’t have to travel to one of Gloria Estefan’s restaurants to get enjoy great Cuban cooking. You really can create it at home. One of my great passions is cookery and I enjoy trying out new recipes. I have so many cook books that they are beginning to take over the house. So I was really excited to try out Estefan Kitchen. The book itself is very well set out with great photos and simple explanations of the recipes. The emphasis is on easy to create recipes. Gloria and Emilios enthusiasm for Cuban cuisine really stand out.

So even if you can’t make it to their Cuban Cafe in Downtown Disney or Miami you can now try out Cuban recipes at home.

Windsor Palms, Windsor Hills and Solana have facilities to rival many expensive hotels in the Orlando area. Vacation homes already make a lot of sense in offering value to families looking for a great place to stay. But when you also look at all the hidden extras which often appear on your hotel bill it makes Windsor Palms and Windsor Hills look like an even better option!

Hotels seem to have started more and more to ‘hide’ the fees that they charge. I am not sure why they think that we won’t notice when we check out that all of a sudden there is a long list of extras. Perhaps they know that by the time we check out it is too late to make other choices!

Recently I stayed in a great hotel in California. One of the best I have ever stayed in. But it came at a price! The room rate looked good. Well that is the ‘headline’ room rate. The one that you see before you start adding the tax, the ‘resort fee’, the wireless internet access fee, the extortionate phone charges…….

But the charge that made me most annoyed was the valet parking fee. $25 a day plus tips! Was there a choice? Not unless you were prepared to put your car in the parking lot across the busy street about a 10 minute walk away. Will I stay at that hotel again? Probably not as they just didn’t seem to be being honest with me about how much it was going to cost. Why aren’t they just upfront about it?

So an added bonus to staying in one of my vacation homes? The resort facilities are free. No charge for the Windsor Palms community pool, spa, tennis, gym,basketball, volleyball or even the movie theater! No charge for all the fabulous community facilities at Windsor Hills or Solana.

Many of the homes that I offer also have free wireless internet, game rooms (no need to feed the pool table with money) and free international phone calls.

Oh, and of course parking is always free. On your own private pool home drive.

So when you are working out the amount of money you save on an Orlando vacation home as compared with an hotel remember to think about all the ‘hidden’ hotel fees. You are not going to get a big shock at check out as everything is already covered. So just check in, relax and enjoy the benefits of your smart choice.