background and research

I had no idea I'd be doing this much research. Its really fun and I'm learning a lot but it certainly slows down the writing process. For instance.
I'm making one character, a detective half Cuban and half Jewish. Well, in order to do that I have to research Cuban and Jewish cultures. He likes to read Sherlock Holmes beginning any investigation to see if he can find sleuthing techniques that will help him, so I'm reading lots of Sherlock Holmes. And that's only part of one character and not even a main character!
To carry on with just this one character, I've decided it would be fun if he had to mediate arguments between his two grandmothers, one Jewish one Cuban of course. So Charlie suggests they could argue baseball, Sandy Koufax vs Jose Canseco. More research.
Then there are the food and holidays and all types of situations that can be funny but require I research first. Then I still need to find a way to make that humorous and interesting. Nothing to do with the plot, of course, but just to paint interesting characters that my readers, (please God let there be readers) would enjoy knowing.
So, did you know that after the revolution in 1959 it was the first time Cuba had been independent since 1511? I'm not using that in the book but I thought it was interesting and wanted to put it somewhere.