María del Pilar Almeida González (Havana, 1949). Holds a degree in Primary Education. In 1997, she left teaching to take care of her mother, who was ill. Since then, she has been a housewife. She lives in Alamar.

I use recipes from cookbooks that I have at home. But most of the time, I make changes and do things my way. When I don’t have a particular ingredient, I try something else, and most of the time I get good results. I taught myself to cook by reading and watching others. I’ve always been a good cook, and in the Special Period I did especially well, because back then you really had to be creative! With the gift of cooking, it just flows. If you don’t love what you’re doing and you don’t have that gift, even if you use all the right ingredients, it will never come out right.

Pumpkin FLAN

Ingredients
1 ½ cups of pumpkin
¾ cup of milk
5 tablespoons of white sugar
4 eggs
½ teaspoon of cinnamon or vanilla

Preparation
Boil pumpkin until soft. Mix all ingredients in blender and then pour into a mold that has been previously coated with caramel. Cover the top of the mold with brown paper or a dishcloth. Cook in a double-boiler for an hour. Insert a knife to see if it’s done; if the knife comes out clean, your crème caramel is ready. Allow to cool before removing from mold.