Solomillo a la Pimienta

Lately, I’ve been missing Spain.  The best way to cope with nostalgia for another country, in my opinion, is go back!

Just joking, I don’t have the money for that.  So I turn to food instead.

Huevos Estrellados

Some days, you can just have so many things go slightly wrong that they pile up on you and the only option is to sit on the couch, have a beer, and let the day wash away, hoping that the tide will bring an easier, if not brighter tomorrow.  Those days which flicker with mild to moderate misfortune, like an aging florescent bulb.  This is a meal for one of those days.

 

 

Bye Bye Spain

I had a little post about roasted tomatoes in the works, but then I got lazy and didn’t finish it before taking off for Spain for my Master’s wrap up.  That’s all done with, and now I’m on my way back the the Pacific NW to try to cobble a new life together.  Again.  I’m actually sitting in the Madrid airport, trying to take advantage of the expensive little mobile modem I had to pick up.

A sick bitter orange tree was blooming out of season, allowing me to get one more whiff of azahar in October. My friend said it was Sevilla saying goodbye to me.

Clams! Again! But Spanish this time.

About two years ago, I wrote up my favorite recipe for clams. And it is still my favorite recipe.  But last Christmas Day, after my drunken Abandoned Americans in Sevilla party, I got adopted by a family that served me an equally wonderful set of clams.  And I’d like to share the idea.

Feria de Sevilla – Rebujitos

Well, still no cheese steaks.  But I have a good reason!  Feria sneaked up on me.

Thanksgiving in a foreign land…again

Well, here I am writing about my Thanksgiving while listening to Christmas music – and I have a stern rule about the order of my celebrations.  Yes, I finally made good on my warning that I’d be updating this blog rather sporadically this year.  My Master’s degree in translation and interpreting finally required me to show up for class and instantly all my free time converted into glossary building and research on free translation tools.  This weekend I get my last break, so I’m trying to take advantage of the gap and get everything done.  Including finally writing about Thanksgiving.  Just so you know?  The pictures have been moldering in draft status for three weeks.  So I’m only half lazy.

Tu cara me suena… El Pepito

Those of you who have poked around in the past entries may find this one to be hauntingly familiar.  But it was worth it to me, personally, to whip this together.

Meet the Pepito.  It is the Serranito‘s beef montadito cousin. For those who aren’t here in Spain or don’t recall the earlier posts, montadito’s are mini sandwiches for snacking and tapearing.

Spanish Food Parties

 

Volver = To return as well as a rather good movie.

Well, the academic year has kicked off, which means I’m back in Spain.  This year may be a little on the light side, blogwise, as I’m going to be doing a Master’s program as well as my teaching assistant job.  So to make up for it, I’m going to kick out a huge mega entry while I’m still on ‘vacation’ – I had to come back early in order to fix up my immigration status.  I do want to learn several things yet, like migas, lentils, and chocos, so I’ll do my best to carve out some time to cook and share.

Spanish food is trendy in magazines and in foodie circles but most people in the US have never had Spanish food or have a mental image limited to tortilla española and paella.  If they had indeed tasted some of the things Spain has to offer, then it was most assuredly not home cooked.  I decided to throw a Spanish food party as my own goodbye to everyone, that promptly grew into two separate food parties.  As you may have seen more than once before here on the blog, these may very well be the only types of parties I know how to put together.  I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or not.

Some of these recipes I’ve got here are dredged from the internet, but all of them have been altered or influenced by me and my friends here in Spain.  The rest have been jotted down in Spanglish (1 kilo tomato, 1 diente de ajo, trocito de bell pepper) directly from real live Spanish people.  So if it isn’t authentic enough for you…move to a tiny pueblo?

Churros

I love churros. I grew up with Costco churros, the giant sticks as long as a child’s arm covered in cinnamon sugar, hanging out with the over-sized soft pretzels.   They are a mass market interpretation of a Mexican churro, and the image that most Americans carry around in their heads when thinking about churros.  But now that I am a part time expat in Spain, I am learning that there are many types of churro out there, and they are just waiting to show me their particular tasty subtleties.

For those of you who don’t know exactly what a churro is, though you may be few in our globalized world, it’s a tube of fried dough – somewhat like a doughnut, somewhat like choux pastry.  What decorations or fillings or dipping substances then come next varies with mood and geography.

El Serranito

I have become one of those bloggers that I don’t entirely approve of – food bloggers who post pictures without a single recipe.  When I read multiple posts like that, I get resentful, as if they are flaunting their luck that I cannot share.  But really, that’s just jealousy.  When they tell me where I can find that food, it’s like having visual yellow pages and my heart warms with travel fantasies.

It’s worse when it’s a recipe of their own making and they  maliciously leave out an ingredient or step, like an ancient craftsman guarding a certain glaze or technique.  If you are going to have a public blog, why in the world are you not sharing the bounty of good food?  It just makes me tend back towards my old grudge against blogs – at best they are clever, informative, and entertaining.  At worst they are a socially acceptable form of public, emotional masturbation.  Yes, I understand this is hypocritical as I myself have a blog.  But I swear that if I have a recipe, I will hand it over. I want to share tasty bits, not use them as culinary ransom for company.

Stepping off soapbox.  In apology for recent posts about food you cannot eat, I offer something you can!  And it’s Spanish!  Double win!

El Serranito