My brother-in-law Jorge is an animal lover. And if he has a weakness for an animal in particular, that would be the cow. And the bull. Jorge is a veterinarian by trade, and after years of working as the purchasing director of the meat department of one of Spain’s largest supermarket chains —traveling to many parts of Spain as well as (more…)
Have you noticed how, more often than not, the end of something good only means the beginning of something better? It happens to me everytime I bake: the end of a good dessert brings me inspiration for the next. But most often, it’s the ingredients, or rather, what’s left, the scraps and by-products, that are the spark (more…)
As promised in the Velvety Lemon Tart post, this week I’m also sharing the recipe for Strawberry Tartlets. The recipe for the crust is the same as the one for the lemon tart —no wonder, you’ll say, considering that I used the leftover dough from the lemon tart! However, because the strawberry tartlets will be smaller, the time in (more…)
I grew up surrounded by orange trees. Almost literally! The name of the place was El Taroncheral, and the property, an expansive orange tree grove that included a large stucco dwelling and a circular basin where rain and well water for irrigation were collected. Eventually, three houses where built: I grew up in one of the houses.
Taroncheral, by the way, (more…)
After having shared the recipe for allioli in my previous post, it was only fitting that I would share the recipe for seafood paella, which is what I mentioned I would be accompanying the allioli with. Matthew, the most paella-loving of my children, left yesterday for his second semester in college, which means I might not make paella for (more…)
I can’t believe today is the feast of the Epiphany, Three Kings Day, and I am making allioli while watching the Three Kings Parade on Spanish television. But these are Matthew’s last few days at home before he returns to college, and he wants to have homey, special dishes before he leaves, like the seafood paella I’ll be (more…)
It looks like the twenty five days of Christmas movies marathon is over on television. In fact, it was over the day after Christmas. It always makes me smile. Many Christmas trees will be recycled one day or two after Christmas Day. And yet, Christmas season starts on Christmas Day, and goes on for twelve days, until (more…)
To many reading this post, the pictures might be a bit shocking. I’m sorry you had to wake up to a fish staring at you! This, for me, is nothing new, or should I say, would be nothing new if I were in Spain. Growing up on the Mediterranean, that’s the way I was used to seeing fish on a regular basis, whether straight out of the sea or (more…)
I might have mentioned before somewhere in the blog that I warmed up to soups later in life (I think it was on the lentil soup post). I don’t know exactly what the reason was, why I didn’t like soups very much. Maybe it was the fact that, living in a warm country, hot soups didn’t really appeal to me. I totally identified with (more…)
Two events mark the beginning of the Christmas season at our house. The first is the set up of the Nativity Scene. In true Spanish tradition, our Nativity Scene includes the main characters, namely Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the manger, and the Three Kings making their way to Bethlehem. But our Nativity Scene also (more…)
