Cheap Ambiance

I love having dinner parties and inviting people over.  I enjoy making it special by decorating the table and creating ambiance.  With very little storage in our home and living on a tight budget, I don't have a lot of resources for this type of thing.

The jars on the table are upcycled sauce jars and yogurt containers washed out and soaked in bleach.  The blue vase was found in our apartment upon move-in (it used to hold sparkling water).

I really like the look of the tea lights flickering in glass on the table and it helps with the lighting as well.    (And saves money on my electric bill).

We served Mexican-style food recently for a party and had the condiments in glass jars.  The jar holding the cheese used to be an ikea candle and the jars in the background holding the onions, cilantro, and limes used to hold sauce.

I started saving my jars and using them for other useful things around the house.  They store my spices, sugar, rice, bullion cubes, popcorn kernels...etc.  If I am not sure if I will recognize what's inside, I write on the jar with a dry-erase marker.  I am also hoping this prevents bugs from entering my kitchen!


I'm off to decorate a friends table for New Years Eve dinner!

Soup and Bread

I love winter.  I love the foods that go along with the season and all the festiveness that comes between Thanksgiving and Valentine's Day.  I especially love the soup and the bread.  

I tried this lentil, leek, potato soup recently and it was delicious.  (And accidentally vegan). 

So I made these popovers to go with it (they weren't vegan).

And Jeff's favorite, Spicy Italian Sausage Soup! 

With Spain's traditional: pan con tomate.

And a picture of my Christmas Tree for added festiveness.  :)

One way to warm up on a crisp fall night.

A little of this

A couple of peppers, onion and garlic

Finally, sprinkle on some cheese and add a little avocado.

The twin chefs

The twins came to cook a few weeks ago and to be honest, I was a little anxious about sharing my kitchen.  Don't get me wrong, I love the idea of not having to work to prepare a meal...but I was wondering...

'what will I do?'

'Do I offer to help?'

'Do I sit back, relax, and actually let myself enjoy their generosity?'

Jeff's advice to me was: 'Stay out of the kitchen, let them just do their thing'.

...and so I did...and oh was I glad.

The results were amazing...

...and the company was even better.

To transform eating into a spiritual exercise is to cultivate the practical conditions and habits - attention, conversation, reflection, gratitude, honest accounting - in which food and the world can be perceived to have a face.

-Norman Wirzba

Autumn

Same as last year...missing the Fall.

It's a hot and muggy day in Barcelona and no smells of apples and cinnamon or pumpkin wafting into our windows.  No brightly colored leaves outside, just concrete.  No crisp air that kisses your cheeks and turns them pink, just thick, balmy air and the occasional sewer breeze.

Last year, on October 17th, I had the same musings and nigglings when I wrote this.  I got creative; I put a fan in the window (it was a cooler day outside), put on a sweatshirt and socks, lit a pumpkin scented candle, and made some of my own Fall decorations.  I knew last October, that I would be heading back to California for part of Fall and would get the tail end of delicious smells, and crispy leaves and air.

Not this year.

I did, however, get a taste of crisp mountain air and the smells of nature in October.  For my birthday last weekend, we went to the mountains.  The leaves were just starting to change and the fresh air was magical.

I got to touch a pinecone!

I am thankful to have had a relaxing and quiet weekend with my cute husband!  I am thankful for nature and creation and cold air and babbling brooks and pinecones and trees and stars in the sky.  And now that I am back home, I realize I am thankful for the hustle and bustle of city life and for getaways that help me to appreciate each world.


I do think it's time to bake an apple pie...and light that pumpkin candle.

just some random fun

...because we have been desperate for fun since losing our pup.

our first (semi-impromptu) movie night

my cheap popcorn 'bowls'

the spread

Manuela chowing down on a teeny gummy burger

Robin, me, and Manuela out for a late night stroll

All photos courtesy of Jeff.

a new season?

Okay, well it is still Summer, hot and everything, but we are brewing up new plans for the next season (both literally and figuratively).  This city changes so much with each season and with the exception of a couple months back in the states during the winter, we are coming up on a year of watching these seasons change. 

I love the Fall and will definitely miss things from California like Apple Hill and pumpkin scented candles and having a fireplace. Nevertheless, I am looking forward to what the next few months and year have in store for us.

I'm ready to make some soups and cuddle on the couch under a blanket.  Soon enough.  But for now, we are planning some fun and exciting new gatherings and are about to head off to Portugal to connect with other co-workers and get refreshed.  After we return, we'll be hosting our first in home cinema night.  What should we call it?  'Barcelona Film Society'? 'Barcelona Cinema Club'? 'BCN Movie Nights'?  Other ideas?  We are hoping to host monthly gatherings surrounding films and art.  Can't wait!

Bread

I've been reading a new book called Food and Faith; a Theology of Eating.  It is encouraging more thoughtful eating which in turn creates more thankful eating.

'Thoughtful eating reminds us that there is no human fellowship without a table, no table without a kitchen, no kitchen without a garden, no garden without viable ecosystems, no ecosystems without the forces productive of life, and no life without its source in God.'


The section on bread really got me thinking:

'the visible, aromatic, and tactile presence of a warm loaf invites sharing and companionship (a "companion" - from the Latin com: "with" + panis: "bread" - is "one who shares bread").  In addition to providing nourishment, bread communicates home, hospitality, and fellowship, the sharing of our life together.'

This book has also given more meaning to eating with friends, and especially hosting dinner parties:


'Eating together should be an occasion in which people learn to become more attentive and present to the world and each other.'

Hot and Sweaty Italian Night

 Friday night we had a dinner party.  

It was an Italian theme,

and it was hot and sweaty.  

It is ludicrous to turn on your oven in August in Barcelona, and we knew it, so that's what the invite said.  But the sweating was all worth it.  Jeff made a DELICIOUS lasagna.  From scratch.  The sauce cooked all day long and the smell was torturous, but in the good way.  And I contributed meatballs (mostly because I wanted to eat them). 

Ben made the salad, and it was so scrumptious!

For like the 3rd time ever since living in Barcelona, I was full.

There were 10 of us in all and it was such fun to have a big table full of friends.  We laughed and joked and talked until the wee hours of the morning.  We began with a toast to express our gratitude for food, friends, and community (and to congratulate Ben on his new job).

the crew

I already can't wait until the next one!

Thanks to Ben, Brad, and Jeff for the photos.  Sorry we stuck you guys at the 'kids table'.

Dinner Party

What better time to try out new recipes than for a big group of friends?  We recently invited our new friends over for a dinner party.  I wrote and rewrote the menu at least 5 times througout the week and only came to a final decision while standing in front of the butcher at the market.  I'm not sure what came over me, but I asked for lamb to slow cook.  I explained to the butcher (in Castellano, of course) that we were having 9+ people for dinner and he directed me on how much to purchase and he even cut it up for me.

I came up with this recipe after looking at various ways to season and cook lamb.

It was a hit!  Easy because it cooked all day and I only had to do about 20 minutes of prep work.  I also threw together a Caprese salad and greek cous cous. 

The food was great, but the company was even better!

I'm planning my next get together now...any suggestions?

We went to our friends house for dinner last night and had a wonderful time!  The food was delicious and the company was even better.  We talked about lots of things but one of the topics was Entertaining.  I love hosting a party and preparing for it.  Each home we have lived in has been very different from the last and yet, we have had a great time with friends and family and I have enjoyed finding new ways of decorating and entertaining.

I was thinking back to when we lived in an itsy bitsy studio apartment and had my cousins over for dinner.

I didn't have much to work with as far as decor so I took an old jar and some asparagus from the farmers market and pretended they were flowers.  We had a folding table and chairs that fit just perfectly in this little nook between the kitchen, 'living room' and 'bedroom' (which was all one in the same, really).

Since this was a colorful table, and I had my asparagus bunch, I got out my orange water pitcher for beverages and my measuring cup from Anthropologie to serve the manchego cheese in.  It was before we moved to Spain and we had a 'tapas' night to celebrate our upcoming move.  This was a wonderful night and so fun to get ready for!

i love entertaining!

Monday night dinner

Monday nights have changed without you here.  The cooking team has gotten smaller.  We went from 5 to 4 and now 2.  But last night we carried on the tradition, just the two of us.  On Saturday we went to the Farmers market and picked up loads of veggies including some brussel sprouts we found at the last booth.  We made grilled chicken, loads of grilled veggies and...our first solo attempt at "the brussel sprout salad"!  The veggies included onions, green, yellow and red peppers, mushrooms,zucchini and eggplant.  They were perfect.  Dad grilled the chicken, prepped and grilled the veggies and made the croutons.  I made the brussel sprout salad.  My thumbs still hurt from peeling the brussel sprouts!  That is a lot of work.  And although we ate every bit of the salad, it was not nearly as yummy as when you two make it.   And of course, Monday night prep would not be complete without an apron selection.  This week I chose the "Jan S" apron.