In el pueblo...

We spent our last weekend in Spain relaxing in the campo with the family for the town's summer fiesta. The town fills with everyone who has moved to the city who came back for a weekend of visits, meals, and the mass for their local patron saint, the Virgen de los Dolores. With everything packed in Santiago we headed out to the starfilled cold nights and the bright sunny days in the mountians of Galicia.

 ps...a pound of fresh Galician bread...and the old wood burning oven that dinner was cooked in. 

Fresh

Hey snowbirds...hope the snowday in the states has been restful and warm and creative and productive inside your cozy homes. I've been working...but before lunch, since it was a beautiful day here, I took a walk through the Praza de Abastos to buy an avocado for lunch and dinner. The market was buzzing today, surprising to me as usually it's busy Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday mornings. The fish stalls were packed and everything looked so bright and fresh...and strangely enough I even caught myself thinking..."yummmm"!Anyway, I really wanted to finally share this funny milk machine. I guess getting the cow to the city is difficult, so instead, for 30 cents you can get a reusable class glass milk bottle to fill with a liter of fresh dairy milk for 1 euro. It was closed today...but I'm thinking maybe Friday we can take the night off and wake up early Saturday morning to try it out. Have you ever seen one of these?

Also, I know Mr. Groundhog Phil didn't see his shadow (good news for you blizzard folk) and supposedly winter will be shorter...and in Spain legend of the Candelaria holds that if it is sunny on Febeuary 2, winter will be longer (bad news for us and our electric bill). But I think the French get it better than all of us celebrating today with a crepe party! Now you know what to make for dinner!

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Hola guapas...espero que las de EEUU esteís pasando un día de nieve genial productivas creativas, tranquilas, y calientitas en casita. Yo trabajé todo el día, pero pasé por la Praza de Abastos antes de comer para aprovechar del solazo que hacía y comprar un aguacate. El mercado tenía bastante vida hoy, me sorprendió porque los días con más gente son los martes, jueves, y sábados. Los vendedores de pescado y mariscos tenían muchísimo producto y todo tan fresco y bonito que hasta me encontré a mi misma pensando en lo rico que se veía todo!

Pero, lo que realmente quería enseñaros es la graciosa máquina de leche. Me supongo que traer una vaca a la ciudad podría ser difícil, entonces pagando 30 centimos compras una botella de vidrio y por un euro la llenas con leche fresca de la máquina. Hoy estaba cerrada, pero igual podemos levantarnos para aprovechar el mercado el sábado. ¿Habíais visto una de estas máquinas alguna vez?

También, sé que Sr. Marmota Phil vio su sombra por lo cual significa que el invierno americano durará poco (suerte para vosotras!), y también otra leyenda español de la Candelaría dice que un día de sol el 2 de febrero es un invierno largo (malo para nosotros), pero lo mejor de todos en lo que celebran los franceses hoy...día de la crepe! Ya sabéis lo que hay que cenar hoy...

Drums, Chefs, Soldiers

Last week I was surprised by the annual Tamborrada in San Sebastian. Every January 20th the people of the city celebrate with a day and night full of beating drums. Parades fill the streets...and beating drums. It's not the first extremely noisy party I've heard about in Spain-Las Fallas in Valencia are said to drive you mad with the sounds of firecrakers going off all day for a week-but it is the first party where parades of people dressed like chefs fill the street! Basque country is famous for its food and La Tamborrada is a good opportunity to pay respect-from what I saw on the news if you're not beating drums on the street you're probably eating at the competitions that the many culinary clubs of the city host.

La Tamborrada. de san sebastien

Me sorprendió la semana pasada la fiesta de La Tamborrada que se celebran el 20 de enero todos los años en San Sebastián. Ese día los ciudadanos llenan las calles con el ruido del tambor para el día de San Sebastián-¡todos dando al tambor! No es la primera fiesta ruidosa de España-Las fallas en Valencia también tiene fama por el ruido incesante de petardos todo el día y toda la nocho durante una semana-pero La Tamborrada es la primera fiesta donde he visto desfiles de chefs llenando las calles. El país vasco es famoso por su cocina y la tamborrada es buena oportunidad para comprobarlo-si no estás con el tambor en la calle, probablemente estarás en una de las cenas de los concursos de sus sociedades gastronómicas.

World Heritage Gems

Flamenco, Cataluyan human towers (Castellets), and Mallorcan Christmas song (Canto de la Sibila) just made it into the books as cultural gems of World Heritage. We all know (and probably love-I know I do-flamenco), but check out the other two...impresionante!

(Notice that a little kid climbs all the way to the top! It makes me soooo nervous!!)

(The tradition dates back to the Middle Ages)

Tortilla de patatas

This weekend is October! Can you believe it? I'm thinking we should head up to Betanzos, a small town that will be celebrating the Fiesta de la Tortilla this weekend. What could be better than a party all about the Tortilla?? Betanzos is famous for their tortilla (above) made with very thin potatos and cooked just enough to get the shape and warm the egg. For the traditional Spanish Omelette, try this recipe.

Botafumeiro

Xacobeo in Santiago brings many tourists with sore legs and walking sticks, the king and queen of Spain and the Botafumeiro-a giant incense burner that swings back and forth in the cathedral naves. It was once used to fumigate smell of the faithful, but today is more a tourist attraction that anything else. Mom and I went to see it last week-impressive. Check out our video below.

LA FURIA!!

Ganamos!! Now to win the world cup!! Spain is in full force fiesta. Yesterday was the start of the fiestas de San Fermin-you know bull running in the street, red scarf and white clothes, Hemingway, Pamplona and seven straight days of party. I don't think I could survive it...ain't no party like a Spanish party cuz a Spanish party don't stop (just ask my sister or Laura). But, to make the summer party even sweeter SPAIN IS GOING TO THE WORLD CUP FINALS! They played amazingly yesterday against Germany and we are all eagerly awaiting Sunday evening to watch Casillas hoist the cup into the air. I'm so happy to be in Spain living such fun memories and see what its like when everyone on the street has a little extra pep in their step and a smile on thier face. VAMOS ESPAÑA!!

Medieval Revisited

The Feira Franca in Pontevedra was dedicated to Galician poems this year. We only met up with one guy who was passing around poems, but the streets were packed with people dressed up as medieval folk from the richest to the poorest and even some Moors-medieval Spain was greatly influenced by the moors, especially in Andalucia in the south. Last year I borrowed a friends costume, but this year I was on my own. Back in my high schools days I bought a gothic inspired dress, from where else but Hot Topic, I decided to bring it over for the party...and well...how did I look? A little more roman, renaissance, hippie...but whatever. We had fun, and thats what really counts.