Lemon marmalade, Spain eating habits and la merienda
Citrus marmalades are my favorite ones and since I already featured the recipe for orange marmalade (one of the blog’s most visited posts!), today is the turn for lemon marmalade.
If you like very sweet marmalades, I have to warn you, this one may not be the one for you. It is citrusy, therefore, more tangy, but obviously, also sweet – otherwise it wouldn’t be a marmalade, right?
And with this recipe, it’s time to address the beloved and most idiosyncratic meal in the Spanish culture: la merienda.
I could translate la merienda to something like the afternoon snack, the (more…)
At the same time, I am still enjoying orange season —and winter is orange season. The recipe I’m sharing today, mandarina stuffed salmon with thyme, takes 
With the higher temperatures, which seem to have come now to stay, lemonade is my drink of choice. I like to make mine, because I can control the amount of sugar I add. And I particularly like lavender lemonade, because lavender is one of my favorite aromas, and I like lemon on just about everything, so putting the two together seems very logical to me. The lavender comes from my garden; the lemons —I wish.
If there’s a dessert that prominently features in our menu during our summers in Spain, it is my sister Susana’s lemon ice cream. She makes an amazing one, everyone’s favorite, and for the most part, with lemons from the property. I’ve talked about El Taroncheral before (click 
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.