Food, Gloria, food!

Gloria Estefan is tanned, rested and ready for her Hard Rock concert Friday night.

She and her family (husband Emilio and daughter Emily, 13) just returned home to Miami after being on her 90 millas European tour for two months.

''We mixed business and pleasure,'' said Gloria, from Vero Beach, where the power couple owns the Costa D'Este resort.

Though they made stops at cities like Madrid, London and Rotterdam, Italy was a definite high point. The trio checked out vineyards (no wine for Emily, though), ate out and celebrated Rachael Ray's third wedding anniversary in Tuscany.

Fabulous -- but fattening.

''I did a lot of resisting,'' said Estefan, 51. ``Although I did pasta-out one day and of course, the wine -- oh, the wine.''

Estefan, who owns Lario's and Bongos restaurants, isn't one of those fortunate few who can eat what they want and not gain.

''I really stay away from the carbs, unless they're vegetables, which give you fuel,'' she says.

Spain proved especially hard.

''We'd eat a heavy lunch before the show, then we wouldn't be done until 2 a.m.,'' she recounts. ``They would keep a super-nice restaurant open for us so we'd have a huge meal in the middle of the night.''

A favorite guilty pleasure: huevos con papas (french fries with a fried egg on top). ''Lethal!'' she says, ``like a cholesterol bomb.''

One thing that stayed off the menu: chorizo. ``I don't eat it. I think I had a bad corn dog when I was 5 and that was it.''

Fans can check out more of her favorite (Cuban) foods in Estefan Kitchen (Penguin Group, $27.95), scheduled for release next month.

Though ''researching'' has been fun, it's meant a lot more trips to the elliptical.

''All those [recipe] tastings, they were making me put on weight,'' she says. ``I finally had to put my foot down and send Emilio!''

Estefan ought to burn up some calories at her greatest-hits concert, in which she'll perform songs like Conga, Rhythm's Gonna Get You and Mi tierra.

''Those lights are hot,'' says Estefan. ``I tend to [sweat] a lot when I'm up there. Expect a lot of costume changes.''


From Miami Herald