So the ll’s are Silent

Posted on May 24, 2012 by dailydoseofeurope

English is the only language that I know.

Its not that I wouldn’t love to know another language, its just, with 2 kids, and about a bazillion other things I should be learning for my career, there really isn’t a whole lot of time to spend trying to learn another language just for “fun”.

When we were first threw out the idea of an extended trip to Europe, one of my first thoughts was to sign up for either French or Spanish lessons – both of which would come in handy for the trip. The idea of learning, and being able to speak another language while we were away was something I thought would be super fun (…..terrifying) and beneficial for all of us.

Well the months passed, and I just never got around to sourcing a language class. I even have a friend that just got her “official translator” designation (www.anythingandnothing.com). She speaks French, English, Spanish – AND she teaches lessons. Now the thought of having someone I KNOW try and teach me another language – well that was a scary thought in itself. You know…… not being able to hide behind some guy named Johnny, in a classroom, and getting grilled on how to say something in another language…. well that was obviously way too much to think about, let alone do!

So here I sit, 3 weeks away from our trip and only being able to speak English. I can read a bit of the written French language and muddle my way through, and have some common phrases down in French and Spanish, but my biggest fear (totally unfounded forsure) with a foreign language……. is saying the word incorrectly……

Last week we made Paella to continue on our culinary journey. While shopping for ingredients I would say Paella phonetically when people asked what I was making…… It wasn’t till a couple of days later, after enjoying the amazingly delicious seafood rice, while talking to a good friend of mine that she made the correction for me.

“You say Pae-yay-yah…. the ll’s are silent….. similar to Tort-i-yah”

Yup….. I feel silly….. probably even turned a shade or two of red!

Mike and I had no mojor language barriers 12 years ago travelling through France….. so hopefully there won’t be any this go around now that we have 2 kids in tow, and are hitting up Spain!

So the ll’s are silent…….good to know.

Damn I find languages frustrating….. I wonder if there is an app on my phone for this! 😉

Enjoy your Daily Dose

Xox

local BC seafood…. so sweet …. so yummy!

My precious!

Paella rice – grown in Spain, specifically for this dish

Rice MEP

Cooking on the BBQ grill for even heat – worked like a charm!

Another de-lish and inexpensive Spanish red

A Big Ol’ Bowl of Magic and a Half Marathon

Posted on May 9, 2012 by dailydoseofeurope

This past week saw the kiddies get hit hard by a virus. To say it has not been the best week in our house would be an understatement, but I think we have made our way through the worst of it….. well for the kiddies anyway!

I was unsure what to cook for our travels this week. With everyone either sick or on the verge of being sick, cooking a themed dinner was not high on my list of priorities. It never seems to fail that when you are really looking forward to (not to mention training really hard for) something, a virus or illness always seems to creep into the picture! It happened to Mike earlier this year when he was to run the “First-Half” Half Marathon, but became so ill he was unable to move. I don’t think he got out of bed for 3 days!! So this was my weekend, and it was an important one. I was to be running in one of my favourite races, the Vancouver Half Marathon……. I was not about to get sick!

As I was going through The Food of Spain cookbook, my initial thought was that a soup would be nice. Something warm, super easy, yummy. Everyone would feel better! There were a few different recipes for soup in the book, but the one I kept coming back to was Gazpacho. It’s not a warm soup, but a cold soup, and its best served really, REALLY, COLD! The thought of all the raw yummy veggies packed full of vitamins was enough to convince me that this is EXACTLY what our family needed! I wanted to keep with the Tapas style menu and decided to also make Tortilla….. aka Potato Omelette.

Now I have a Gazpacho recipe that I love. I have no idea where I got it from…… all I know is its on my computer, in my documents folder, and I LOVE it. With that said, I am trying to stay pretty authentic in my dinners, so I decided to use a recipe in my cookbook. The recipe in the book definitely has fewer vegetables than my recipe, (maybe my recipe is the V-8 version), but the one in the book also has the addition of soaked and puree’d bread. I was totally intrigued by this, and have since found that I REALLY like this little addition. The bread gives the soup a real nice texture and richness. The soup was a pretty delicious, but both the kiddies were uninterested (I think due to them both being sick). Brodie, managed a few big spoonfuls, while little Syd could only bring herself to try just one bite. I personally, had a second helping of the soup, and then managed to eat all the leftovers on Saturday.

Now…… I wish I could say yummy and good things about the Tortilla that I made. The recipe even states “such a simple dish, so difficult to perfect…… The Tortilla is the dish by which to judge a tapas bar.” Uuummmm ….. OK……so I LIKE things to be PERFECT! I really should have read that and decided to try a different recipe…. that was the red flag waving high in the air for all to see! Did I listen…. no… of course not!

Having made this dish, I honestly can’t wait to try this in an authentic Spanish Tapas Bar. It is the one dish I thought was sooooooo BORING! I didn’t like how it looked, and I didn’t like how it tasted. Maybe I didn’t add enough salt, maybe the potatoes were cut to thick…. maybe I just didn’t have a clue what I was doing….. I’m still at a bit of a loss on this one, but in no hurry to make it again! Mike however, seemed to REALLY enjoy it, (eating 2 whole pieces). Brodie had a few bites….. and little Syd, well she had none! You can bet that this topic it will pop up again on the blog during our travels through Spain!

I am happy to report that both the kiddies and Mike are on the road to recovery. It is always tough when the kiddies are sick. Very often, you wish it was you, and that they didn’t have to go through it…… however…… that was not my thought until Sunday at 10:30am. Race weekend was pretty important and I managed to stay healthy enough to have a pretty decent half marathon finishing in 2:14:54. It was a beautiful new course, in one FABULOUS city! You really should do it if you haven’t… an amazing run…..you won’t be disappointed!

I have no doubt that my determination in not getting sick played a big part in keeping the virus at bay till after race day, however I also think the Gazpacho played an even bigger part with all the freshly pureed vitamins and minerals! Well it looks like I now need to make another big batch of Gazpacho….. I am getting pretty hard hit with the same thing the kiddies and Mike had…. time for that big ol’ bowl to work her magic!

Enjoy your Daily Dose.

Xox

Fresh Roma Tomatoes blanched and ready to be peeled.

Soup Garnish

A touch of EVOO and a little S&P to mix it all together

Hello Big Ol’ Bowl of Magic

Not my favourite dish…..

For me…. So yummy!

For MIke…..

One of the worlds most beautiful half marathon courses…. on your “bucket list” it should be!

2:14:54 So FUN!

The Little Red Tin of Awesomeness

Posted on May 3, 2012 by dailydoseofeurope

Well here she is folks: The Little Red Tin of Awesomeness!

(and I will come back to her importance in a bit!)

This past week, we started our culinary journey just over the border from France and into Spain. Since I thoughoghly and 100% enjoyed cooking from The Food of France cookbook, I decided to pick up The Food of Spain cookbook. If you are looking for an uncomplicated, tasty, and authentic meals, these are definitely the books you should check out….. they are pretty great!

When we travel to Spain in July 2012, we will be hitting both the west coast (staying in San Sebastian) as well as the east coast (staying in Barcelona) of Spain. This past week, for our dining adventure, I decided we would be having a couple of different “tapas” (small Spanish savoury dishes), a chicken dish, as well as a seafood dish.

The nights menu consisted of :

Tortillitas de Gambas con Salsa Romesco

Pollo en salsa de Ajo

aka:

Prawn Fritters with Romesco Sauce

Chicken in Garlic Sauce

Sooooooo……. the kids have NOT been exposed a lot of seafood in their short little lives (I know…..weird…..we live on the west coast of Canada). So with this thought in mind, I thought it was best to “disguise” the shrimp (now this might be a bit of a “no-no” in the book I’m reading – French Kids Eat Everything {and Yours Can Too}), but I haven’t gotten that far in the book, so…….. I made “Tortillias De Gambas”. I chopped up the shrimp and make a “prawn pancake”, (yes I even called it a “pancake” for Brodie sake) served with a romesco sauce for dipping.

Now cooking these dinners has been a bit of a challenge for me. The “Chef” in me has really been holding back on my natural impulses for changing recipes. It has all been for the sake of creating “authentic” national dishes that I have not acted on these impulses. With that said, and the recipes I chose this past weekend, I really thought that the Prawn Fritters was the one dish, that, so far, could have used a bit of livening up (a hit of lemon zest, some cilantro….. ). It totally would have brought the dish to life…… but then, maybe not so “Spanish”?!? RIGHT?!?)).

The Romesco sauce was nothing short of AMAZING! My first I thought was that I had made way too much sauce, but it turns out, it was just the right amount since we couldn’t get enough of the stuff, and ate it like it was going out of style!

The Chicken in Garlic Sauce was as close to “unbelievable” as you can imagine. WOW, it was soooooo good! My total favourite of the night,and maybe even since I stared writing this whole blog thingy. The caption for the recipe even states…..

“……in a way that is so impressive the dish will soon enter your repertoire of everyday meals”.

To say I was a bit sceptical as I was preparing the dish was a bit of an understatement, but this dish took me by total surprise…. happily, 150% by surprise! It was so AMAZING…. it really was not something I was expecting from reading the recipe when deciding to put it on our evening menu. Really, the only reason I picked it, was because it was chicken, and the kids like chicken!

I am happy to say that Brodie LOVED it …. although at one point he stated “my lips are burning a bit”…… yes little man…… it will take some time to get used to the Smoked Sweet Paprika (aka the Little Red Tin of Awesomeness)! Little Syd (being the tough nut she is…) was not such a fan. I think she is gonna be a hard one to convert (too all types of food) no matter what. Unless of course we are going to Japan…. then I know that girl would EAT! But since we are not……..

Well that brings me back to “The Little Red Tin of Awesomeness”,

aka… Sweet Smoked Paprika!

I have used this little gem in my Turkey Chilli for a number of years (though, not much else aside from this), and it is the one addition that everyone asks about when they inquire about my chilli.

Now there are a couple of things I learned about whlle making this dinner

1. Sweet Smoked Paprika is in 2 of 3 recipes, so I need to have it on hand.

2. I now need to go and replenish my supply of Sweet Smoked Paprika before Friday and our next “inspired” meal, since it was all used up this past weekend, and you can almost bet its gonna be in at least one of the dishes I decide to make this coming weekend!

If you don’t already have this “Little Red Tin of Awesomeness” in your pantry….. make your way to the grocery store to get some …… she is a delight to have in your cupboard. You will be happy to have it on hand and to add to just about any of your recipes, especially if you ever intend on cooking traditional Spanish meals!

Enjoy your Daily Dose.

Xox