Wiser With Age

Tag: salsa

  • A cookbook author’s recipe for a good life – travel, salsa, and no fear

    A cookbook author’s recipe for a good life – travel, salsa, and no fear


    A woman with headphones on sitting in front of a microphone.
    Kathy Diaz, co-host of “Canto Tropical” radio show in Los Angeles, Calif. (Courtesy

    As a girl growing up in San Bernadino, California, Kathy Díaz, says she wasn’t one of those kids who knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. Instead, she says, too many subjects interested her and she had trouble focusing on just one.

    After majoring in Latin American studies at UCLA, she says she “stumbled into†journalism. She spent most of her career as an editor for national publications, including Hispanic and Mexico Events and Destinations magazines. Today, now 61, Díaz has been co-hosting a salsa radio show in Los Angeles, every Saturday since 1986, and recently, she co-authored her first cookbook called Sabores Yucatecos: A Culinary Tour of the Yucatan.

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  • From growing up in the South Bronx to leading the Grammy-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra

    From growing up in the South Bronx to leading the Grammy-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra


    A man playing the piano in front of an audience.
    Grammy-winning musician Oscar Hernandez (Photo/AB McNeely)

    Oscar Hernandez says he isn’t conscious of when he first knew he wanted to be a musician – it just happened. What he does recall, however, is hearing salsa from as young as he can remember.

    “In the ‘70’s, in the South Bronx, you heard music coming from every other window and door,†he says – mentioning the sounds and voices of Machito, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Ray Barretto, Tito Rodriguez, and Eddie Palmieri – which enveloped him since youth. “It was very much the part of the Latino culture that was developing in the city of New York.â€

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