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"1. You were taught that all smoking was bad for you, except cigars.&amp;amp;nbsp;At least that&amp;#039;s what your dad said. 2. You&amp;#039;d tell one cousin a secret and your tia&amp;#039;s tia&amp;amp;nbsp;knew the next day.&amp;amp;nbsp;Ay, chisme.  3. Cream cheese. Cream cheese. Cream cheese.&amp;amp;nbsp;On anything and everything. 4. There&amp;#039;s nothing better in empanadas or on anything than pasta de guayaba. 5. You were called gorda as a term of endearment.&amp;amp;nbsp;And it always secretly bothered you. 6. You had a Maltese, Pekingese, or Shih Tzu because that&amp;#039;s what your family had in Cuba.&amp;amp;nbsp;And its name was probably Chuchi, Papo,&amp;amp;nbsp;or Linda. 7. It&amp;#039;s not a meal without meat. According to your family, vegans don&amp;#039;t exist and vegetarianism is just a&amp;amp;nbsp;made-up concept.&amp;amp;nbsp; 8. At least one of your relatives has a Russian name, and you never realized that it was Russian.&amp;amp;nbsp;Yvette, Ivanka, Yamile \u2014 you realized when you got older that it had to do with old Cuban politics. 9. Ironbeer, Materva, and Jupi\u00F1a were always in your fridge.&amp;amp;nbsp;Cuban soda is the best. 10. At least once, you tried ironing your hair with an actual plancha.&amp;amp;nbsp;Don&amp;#039;t do it \u2014 it&amp;#039;s not safe! 11. If you don&amp;#039;t know a word in Spanish, you just use the English word with an accent and maybe add an &amp;quot;e&amp;quot; at the beginning.&amp;amp;nbsp;Sometimes it works: ecloset, estraw, espelling, etc. 12. Your entire freshman year of high school was spent at quinces. 13. If all else failed, you could turn to a Santeria ritual for life guidance or protection.&amp;amp;nbsp;Put a glass of water in a strange location and all will be well.&amp;amp;nbsp; 14. You ate bananas as a side dish.&amp;amp;nbsp;Arroz con picadillo with a banana on the side? Yes, please. 15. You drank coffee way before any doctor would advise.&amp;amp;nbsp;A little caf\u00E9 con leche as a 6-year-old never hurt anyone. 16. You grew up knowing Celia Cruz was the best human to ever walk this earth. Hands down. No one else even comes close.&amp;amp;nbsp; 17. Your family has a plan for the day Cuba really&amp;amp;nbsp;changes.&amp;amp;nbsp;Yes, after all these years, you might actually still go back. 18. Party attire is always guayabera or a guayabera dress.&amp;amp;nbsp;It&amp;#039;s the LBD of the Cuban wardrobe.  19. Forget the turkey on holidays \u2014 it&amp;#039;s all about lechon. Bring out the Caja China and get ready to spend all day staring at that big pig carcass. 20. Redbull, Monster, and 5-Hour Energy are nothing compared to a cortadito.&amp;amp;nbsp;If everyone knew about this Cuban espresso, all these companies would go out of business. 21. Every single baby smells like Agua de Violetas.  22. Your Spanish sounds a bit more like &amp;quot;mucha grasia, comosta, and buena noche.&amp;quot;&amp;amp;nbsp;What? You just forget the &amp;quot;s&amp;quot; sound sometimes. 23. You think the frita is better than the hamburger.&amp;amp;nbsp;Because a hamburger is always better with chorizo in the mix. 24. You were taught that &amp;quot;Cultivo una Rosa Blanca&amp;quot; is the best poem ever written.&amp;amp;nbsp;Written by war hero,&amp;amp;nbsp;poet,&amp;amp;nbsp;cigar mogul, and&amp;amp;nbsp;face of the Cuban dollar, Jos\u00E9 Mart\u00ED, the best poet to ever live. Period.  25. You knew how to play dominoes before Monopoly. 26. You had to wait at least 45 minutes after eating to go swimming.&amp;amp;nbsp;&amp;quot;Si no, te va dar una ambolia,&amp;quot; abuela warned.  27. This:     Follow Patricia on Twitter. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/a5561/signs-you-grew-up-cuban/>