Lecturas

Boris Izaguirre. A media butterfly who moves with ease between television, radio, and print. A Venezuelan expat to Spain who has become a household name in this country with his bubbly and sometimes frivlous personality (Spain is crazy for the celebrity gossip and frivolous debates about bull fighters and soccer players, cariño). He's written a few novels, and when I was in Barcelona I picked up one of the books, Villa Diamante, partly because the cover was cute (frivolous on my part, I admit), partly because he is Venezuelan and the book takes place in Caracas in the 1950's, and partly becuase the book was the runner up for the Premio Planeta, a prestigious book award given to a Spanish language book once a year. I was pleasantly surprised with the book. From the first page Izaguirre creates well written characters and settings that draw the reader into a new world that explores the recent political history of Venezuela, the oil boom, the new riches, the cut throat social circles, and the rise of a dictatorship. It's a story that lends to furthur examination of the state of Venezuela and Latin America today and in the recent past.

Now...when will it be published in English? I can translate it, Boris, if you need someone. ;)

El fin de!

Happy weekend! Happy Tzatziki!

Here's a recipe from myrecipes.com for Tzatziki-one of my favorite foods from our trip to Greece. You can eat it with anything, as a spread, dip, or sauce. I'm loving it on toast or in a turkey sandwich. Easy, summery, and delicious. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup grated seeded peeled cucumber
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint
2 teaspoons chopped fresh dill
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced

Preparation
Place cucumber on several layers of paper towels; sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt. Let stand 30 minutes.
Combine cucumber, yogurt, and remaining ingredients, stirring until well blended. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

Campeones, Campeones

Ole, ole, ole! Barcelona won the champions league Monday night! In case you don't know, that's one, if not the, biggest prize that a football (soccer) club can win...and Barcelona's win is spectacular because they have this season won all the major championships they have been in. Diego call's their games "poetry", this comes from a man whose heart belongs to the Sevilla Football club, but when the big Barcelona vs. Madrid games are one belongs to Madrid. Barcelona has been playing incredibly well (well, that's what I hear, I don't really know much about it-but living in Spain I'm learning sooo much-everyday after lunch its to the couch for mini siesta and channel Cuatro's Football* show where anything and everything sport related is turned into a montage with music and emotions and I get sucked in) and the celebration last night was fun to see and hear even here in Santiago, soo far from Barcelona where fireworks were going off and people were collected in the Plaza Roja to celebrate the victory.

For those of you who do love football here's a clip of one of the goals by Leo Messi...and for those of you who don't, watch it anyway because it's a pretty incredible...goooooooooooooooooool!

volcanic wine in greece

The most important crop that grows in Santorini is grapes...and they don't quite look like the vines you're imagining. Instead they make little wreaths out of old vines, and wrap the new vines on these, so they grow close to the ground protected from the harsh winds of the sea. The hills are spotted with little grape vine wreaths. The best wine I tasted was white, slightly sweet, but mostly dry and quite nice. We bought a bottle from a winery that opened in the 1800's by a family whose name has 18 letters in English and about 22 in Greek and has an underground wine museum with mechanical manequins showing you how wine has been made through the ages. I learned a lot but the manequins underground were a little creepy. Definantly not where you want to be alone late at night.

Lista de boda

A week before the wedding presents started showing up at the house. The tradition here is to send presents before the wedding. It was like Christmas! Little random surprises! We didn't register, (I didn't know you could, but you can, lista de boda, at Corte Ingles, Xara Home, and probably at Casa too, along with other indepentantly owned stores), and when we finally were tired of telling people, a duvet, a wok, towels, etc, time and time again, the week before the wedding Diego and I went to the Corte Ingles to set up a registry, hahah. Totally last minute, an yes, we were totally denied. At the Corte Ingles you have to set up the registry 3 months ahead of time and people dont buy the gifts, but give you credit on a card to use at the store. So, we had an hour blitz of running through the store and writing down ideas...it was fun, and while before I hadn't been super excied about gifts (we still aren't completely decided if we will be here or in the states in a year and electrical appliances here won't work there, glass is heavy and fragile to travel, and furniture is not the easiest move either) I suddenly caught the bug. Last week I opened a small registryat Target, via internet, of things that can be brought to Spain after the Michigan weddng. Not, much, but filling the house (or dreaming of it) with nice things to share is pretty nice. ;)

Cute kitchen towels from my mom! (an oven with temperature control would be a nice too!)

Yoli and Gorka

A few months ago I wrote a bit about Fisica y Quimica...and yes, Monday night guilty pleasure continues, I watch the show and Diego sits and reads a comic, making a comment every now and the about how the story line and the set is the same as Companeros, a high school series from 10 years ago, although the kids nowadays a disrespectful chulo monsters!

The other day while having dinner with friends suddenly someone started talking about Fisica y Quimica...the confession was made. We're all watching the show.

In any case, my favorite characters are Yoli and Gorka. Yoli is the poligonera, with a raspy voice and no filter on what comes out of her mouth. Gorka is the punk delinquent, who is always in the right place at the right time...or wrong place wrong time? He gets a lot of screen time, and this season helped one of the teachers give birth in her car. Classic episode.

Rabbits and roses

A few days before the wedding my mom, my sister, my best friend, and I spent a cool, rainy morning at the Praza de Abastos buying flowers. Old women sitting on wooden crates offered us cabbages, eggs, rabbits, and roses. The roses were fresh off the bushes in their gardens, and they only cost 2.50 euros. Needless to say I bought a bunch. And, I'm going to make the habit to buy a bunch at least once a month, a little luxury to remind Deigo and me of our special day.

Here's the first bunch. Next little luxery-fill the cake stand with delicous, inexpensive, sweets, maybe mini-palmeras. mmmm.

Ruins and sunsets

After our big fat Spanish wedding...we were off to Greece...Athens and Santorini. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beeeaaaauuuutiful.

A market in Athens

View of a temple in the Ancient Agora, Athens

Amazing light at sunset in Oia, Santorini.

Somos novios...

We're Married!!

2 years of long distance, 6 months of waiting on paperwork, 3 weeks wondering if the dress would arrive on time, 1 perfect sunny, warm day in Galicia, 2 surprise wedding cakes, 2 five course meals, 1 Galician boy and 1 American girl, and 2 Si, quero's. I do!!