I have been living in Barcelona for two and a half months.  (It seems much longer, but in a good way.)  I am becoming more and more comfortable with and accustomed to the art of shopping at a 'mercat'.  We have also recently joined a co-op which has a very limited selection, but amazing produce, eggs, and bread.  While still trying to 'find myself' here in Barcelona and navigate cultural transition, I am working to keep creative and busy in a healthy way.  For me, that requires cooking.




I've been exploring new recipes with the ingredients that Spain has to offer.  It's wonderful learning about the Mediterranean cuisine and being so close to the sea.  Yesterday we headed to the market in the morning to pick up some whitefish to try to make ceviche and ended up buying 3 different types of fish, a bagful of fresh vegetables and fruits, and plenty of fresh cilantro!






Fridays are our 'date nights' and consist of trying new restaurants in our neighborhood, or cooking at home together.  Last night, we chose the latter.  We had a great time cooking together and ended up stuffed on blackened whitefish tacos with homemade tortillas and salsa.








We also tried our hand at ceviche and ate that for lunch today.







On another note, we have house guests coming in to town next week and it gave me a great excuse to make some granola (in bulk) to have around for breakfast and snacking.

-xoxo,
daughter

multi-function attire

Thanks mom for teaching me to sew!

I bet you didn't know that this skirt had more than one use!

-xoxo, 

daughter

my new cookbook

A couple of years ago I heard about a site called tastebook where you can store your recipes online and share them with friends.  I loved the idea and signed right up.  I've been uploading recipes ever since and now especially with an overseas move, it's making life easier.  In the past, I've lost recipe cards, stained pages of cookbooks...etc.  Now I just need a laptop or my iPod touch to complete a dish!  My photo-taking husband has been jumping in with his fancy camera so I can even upload pictures of my dishes to my site.

The best thing about tastebook is that if I could get 10 friends to sign up with them, they'd print out an actual cookbook of 50 recipes of my choice and send it to me.  I recently hit the 10 mark and they made good on their promise and in just a few days, I should  be receiving my very own tastebook book!  Here are just a few sneak peaks at my recipes:

-xoxo,
daughter

missing fall

Spain is great...don't get me wrong, but...I miss Fall!  I miss the smells of fires in fireplaces, pumpkin, cinnamon, I miss Apple Hill, Crock-pot meals, flannel sheets, leaves everywhere, comfy couches, chilly evenings...you get the picture.  And while I know it's only mid October and there still may be some of that here in Barcelona, I just know it won't be the same.  And so today, I got a wild hair and lit my 2 candles from back home: Pumpkin and Apple Spice, turned on a fan to make it chilly, bundled up in sweats, and got to work!

And here is the final project!  (Mind you, I had nothing to work with.  Just some colored pencils I snagged from my husband and some white paper)

Thanks to Jeff for making the tree and helping to cut everything out!

Oh, and then I toasted a piece of my homemade bread and buttered it, sprinkled sea salt, and ATE IT!

-xoxo,
daughter

Gotta have...

S'mores- sometimes I just get a craving.  But campfires aren't always convenient.  And I didn't want to start the barbecue for one marshmallow.  So I decided to give a votive candle a try.  I think I better keep on searching for another way.

Dessert- and what better place to have it than at Rick's.  We had the chocolate cheesecake the other night and it was delicious.  We actually walked from Paesano's to Ricks.  It was a perfect night for walking in downtown Sacramento.

Fresh from the garden tomato's.  Within a couple days of your move we picked several of the tomato's from our garden.  The yellow ones are my favorite.  They have a wonderful sweet flavor.  All three variety are heirlooms.  I am hoping I can find the labels so I can be sure and plant them next year.  We made a caprese salad with them one night, cappellini another and sliced on a bagel with melted cheese for breakfast.  I have actually eaten a couple just like an apple for a snack.  So delicious.
By the way, I am trying to figure out how to get rid of the tomato worms.  They are a real problem right now!  Next year I will try planting dill next to them.

Piadines!

Jeff and I learned about Piadines when visiting the Bay Area one year for my birthday.  We came home and immediately started looking for a recipe online.  We loved the idea of a salad on a flatbread. 

Really you can put anything you want on these: veggies, cheese, dressing, lettuce, spinach, chicken, hard boiled eggs, fruit...the list goes on and on.  My favorite?  Olive oil, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella.  It's always fun to eat a meal you get to create yourself!

Two weeks from today!

I know the next two weeks will sail by!
    This blog started out as a fun idea a couple of months ago-as a way of staying connected through our cooking, dining and eating experiences when you move to Barcelona.  But one thing led to another, I mean who can have a blog about cooking without having shiny new aprons?  And who wants to take the easy way out by buying a couple of aprons (me).  I am so thankful you wouldn't settle for easy!  So in the course of a couple weeks we have two new aprons, a purse and two skirts!  It has been fun getting lost in the fabric store looking at patterns and fabric.  It is especially fun for me to see that you have caught the bug!  I forgot how much I enjoy sewing, the smell of new fabric and getting lost in the project.  Thanks for getting me excited again about creating something besides food!
     Speaking of food, I made a delicious recipe tonight (sorry you weren't around to enjoy it).  It is a pasta dish made with bacon.  The end.

Alright, there were a few other things in it, garlic, onion, corn, grape tomatoes, zucchini, basil and shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.  It is by far our favorite summer dish (this year).