August 2007
Monthly Archive
Siesta Life in Spain
Posted by julia on 31 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: hotels, restaurants
Where else in the world can you go to a restaurant have a couple of tapas then go off to a cozy room to take a siesta, I’ll tell you where, of course in Spain. Although the Spanish government has tried to abolish the siesta on several occasions, the Spanish are not letting go of this long earned tradition any time soon.
Well, it seems many hotel and restaurant owners have teamed up to offer special siesta packages which they have named “Iberian yoga”. Hotels such as Las Casas del Rey de Baeza in Seville offer exclusive deals so you can enjoy a great meal then relax for a couple of hours afterward then go on your marry way, no questions asked.
I love this country. Everyday I find more and more things that just make me say “Viva España”.
Source globorati
photo google
La Tomatina in Buñol
Posted by julia on 29 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: festivals
More than 40,000 persons will participate today August 29th in one of the most anticipated festivals of the year in Buñol, Spain called the Tomatina. This event consist of well, a bunch of tomatoes (about 117 tons of tomatoes trucked in from Navarra) then as you can see by the pciture, a food fight is created.
Not sure how this ritual came to be many suggest it started back in the 40´s when an annual parade of Gigantes and Cabezudos (enormous figures with big heads) were passing through the street and several kids knocked them over making the parade participants very upset and violent to which the kids responded by throwing tomatoes at them, the next year the kids returned with their own tomatoes to start the fight again, police tried to stop them but from that day on this tomato fight has been unstoppable and now thousands of tourist attend this yearly festival to join in the fun.
Source aluxurytravelblog
picture google
Stuffed Tomatoes
Posted by julia on 27 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Recipes
Ingredients
- 8 small tomatoes, or 3 large ones
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, cooled and peeled
- 6 tablespoons allioli or mayonnaise
- Salt & Pepper
- 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon white breadcrumbs, if using large tomatoes
Preparation
Skin the tomatoes, first by cutting out the core with a sharp knive and making a ‘+’ incision on the other end of the tomato. Then place in a pan of boiling water for 10 seconds, remove and plunge into a bowl of iced or very cold water (this latter step is to stop the tomatoes from cooking and going mushy).
Slice the tops off the tomatoes, and just enough of their bases to remove the rounded ends so that they will sit squarely on the plate. Keep the tops if using small tomatoes, but discard those large tomatoes. Remove the seeds and insides, either with a teaspoon or small, sharp knife.
Mash the eggs with the allioli -or the mayonnaise, if using- salt, pepper and parsley. Stuff the tomatoes, firmly pressing the filling down. With small tomatoes, replace the lids at a jaunty angle. If keeping to serve later, brush them with olive oil and black pepper ot prevent them from drying out. Cover with clingfilm and keep.
For large tomatoes, the filling must be firm enough to be sliced. If you make your own mayonnaise, thicken it by using more egg yolks. If you use shop-bought mayonnaise or allioli, add white breadcrumbs until the mixture reaches the consistency of mashed potatoes.
Season. Fill the tomatoes, pressing down firmly until level. Refrigerate for 1 hour, then slice with a sharp carving knife into rings. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.
recipe found in spain recipes
Two major contemporary art museums in Madrid and Barcelona.
Posted by Ferran on 20 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Spain
You talk about two of the most prestigious museums of contemporary art in Spain. One is located in Madrid and one in Barcelona, the main cities. You could take a weekend to make a low cost to Madrid, with companies that offer all year and come to enjoy it.
The Centro de Arte Reina Sofía collects one of the best collections of works of art also include various exhibitions of avant-garde artists of the moment. Becoming in this way in the projector of the current trends in the art world.Another low cost to Barcelona, you could offer an interesting view andalusia MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. The Catalan city is of great artistic tradition, with the spectacular development that has experienced over the last century.
Spanish Slang
Posted by julia on 17 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: spanish lessons
Slang is a common thing in any country you go to. One of the hardest things about learning a new language and trying to communicate with the natives is trying to decipher their slang words. Spanish people have many of these colloquial words they like to throw around with new ones being invented daily. Well, the Spanish Teaching Web site has decided to capture these little phrases and post them so that all of you no Spanish speakers could start to get a handle on this “en un pis pas” (right away) see, there you go…
Source spanish learning
photo google images
Spanish Morcilla
Posted by julia on 15 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Delicatessen
Spanish morcilla - black pudding - is the first sausage to be made from the freshly killed pig and is very popular throughout Spain. It is flavored with spices and herbs, usually including garlic and oregano, and has a wonderfully rich, spicy taste.
- Serves 4
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 8 oz morcilla , cut into 12 thick slices
- 12 slices of French bread
- 2 tablespoons fino sherry
- Sugar, to taste
- Salt and ground black pepper
- Chopped fresh oregano, to garnish
Preparation
Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the sliced onion, garlic, oregano and paprika for 7-8 minutes until the onion is softened and has turned golden brown.
Add the slices of black pudding, then increase the heat and cook them for 3 minutes, without stirring. Turn them over carefully with a spatula and cook for a further 3 minutes until crisp.
Arrange the rounds of bread on a large serving plate and to each with a slice of black pudding. Stir the sherry into the onions and add a little sugar to taste.
Heat, swirling the mixture around the pan until bubbling, then season with salt and black pepper.
Spoon a little of the onion mixture on top of each slice of black pudding. Scatter the oregano over, and serve.
Directly from spain recipes
photo google
How well do you know Spain
Posted by julia on 13 Aug 2007 | Tagged as: Spain, spanish lessons
So you say you love Spain, the beaches, monuments, cathedrals and of course the food but how well do you know Spain? I found a great little quiz in one of my favourite blogs that I thought was very interesting and informative.. I got almost all of them right.. there were some trick questions but it was a lot of fun..
Take the quiz here