Martes y Miércoles y Viernes, el 22-23 y 25 de marzo

On Tuesday one of our “host mom’s” former dormers from 3 years ago came to visit with his friends, who coincidentally enough are friends of one of the girls staying here this semester. So to celebrate, Jaquelín prepared a huge pan of paella de mariscos (seafood), had 4 bottles of white wine, and a postre (dessert) of lemon flan. It was delicious and so much fun having a little party.

Then for dinner we had my favorite –tortilla de patatas and salami and cheese. And afterwards I went and played Phase 10 at a bar while sipping on beers and tintos de verano (red wine and sprite) with my new ISA friends and one of their intercambios.

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Wednesday was just as, if not even more, fun – discoteca! Casey, Yumi and I headed over to Granada 10 and had a blast. For 3 hours we drank tintos de verano, danced to fairly crappy music and met a bunch of new people…well, really only guys, but they were mostly nice and harmless. =p 

Yes, that IS a male gogo dancer...he had LOTS of fun with the girls who got up to dance with him...*shakes head* =p

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Viernes one of my ASU friends who is studying in Sevilla was here in Granada with her program so that night I took her around my beloved city for ice cream (from the infamous Los Italianos which I thought was good…but nothing extraordinarily special), various tapas (including Chinese tapas – really good!) and to see some of the more populated areas (where we helped a trio of foreigners from Valencia find their hostel).

Saturday, I met up with Rachel again for lunch where we dined on deliciously spicy Indian food (some chicken dish with onions and green chiles, saag paneer (spinach with cheese), basmati rice, and of course naan), strolled around searching for horchata (which was a failed mission =( ), and finally splitting ice cream in a chocolate cone and an ice cream cookie sandwich. All in all a good day and during such warm weather!!!

Helado!!

Taken by Rachel!

Saag paneer, some spicy chicken and onion dish, naan, and basmati rice!

One of the few times I've finished a meal without having a small mountain of crumbs and food bits on my place setting!

Rachel on the other hand, had one of the few times where there was rice all over her place setting. =p

Martes - nuestras aventuras en cocinando y horneando

Today my roommate Kat and I decided that we had an unsatiable sweet tooth and were going to make some desserts.

After a delicious lunch of lentil soup (lentajes) and fish sticks, croquetas and chicken nuggets, we went into the kitchen with a handy recipe off the internet for how to make Hasty Chocolate Pudding in the microwave. With just a few modifications, we popped it into the  microondas (micro) and after several intervals of stirring and heating we had ourselves a quite delicious chocolate pudding! We also introduced this delicious phenomenon to one of our Spanish roommates, Tana. She loved it just as much and tried it with some mandarin slices - actually quite delicious! Citrus and chocolate go well together (as does a few drops of fresh lemon juice in hot chocolate)!

Then, after a hearty dinner of roasted chicken and potatos, we ventured once more into the kitchen to make cookies. Earlier in the morning we had ransacked the nearest grocery store, SuperSol, to get our ingredients (flour, butter, eggs - not refridgerated in the stores!!!, two bars of dark chocolate; also, liquid vanilla extract does not exist here in Spain. Only powdered, but upon researching I discovered that powdered is an exact substitue and in some high temperature cases works better than the liquid version) that came to an astounding total of...4.50 euros. Upon setting our ingredients out, however, we discovered that we had accidentally bought breadcrumb flour instead of normal all-purpose flour. Though in our defense, Spain has a different type of flour for every kind of baking and frying need...it was hard to keep them all straight!

To continue with the adventure of baking in Spain without measuring tools, with the wrong flour and with several subbed ingredients, we mixed all of our eyeballed measurements into a bowl, took a small taste test - not bad we thought, crunchy but not bad - and set out to starting the gas oven (which we are technically not allowed to use...shhh! It'll be our little secret, hmm?). We had to have each of the Spanish girls help us figure it out, but eventually it warmed right up, we slid our cookies in and waited. In the meantime I expermented with cooking a cookie in the micro...Does  not work, btw. It just melts down into a layer of gloop...though it does cook, it does not retain it's form! And in just a few minutes our cookies were done! (A bit burned on the bottom and a bit mushy on the inside...but thoroughly cooked nonetheless.)

Several of our roommates reservedly tasted our creation and agreed, much to their surprise, that they didn't taste bad at all! Weird because of the breadcrumbs...but tasted fine!

I forgot to take pictures of the process and the completed products, but I promise next time there will be photographic evidence to go with the testimonies.

Sábado, el 19 de marzo de 2011

After a long day of studying…and watching a Korean TV show, Secret Garden…the evening really starts to pick up. First I go have dinner with my roommate, Andrew, and his friends to celebrate his birthday. We had a wide variety of food and desserts, including a lettuce-less salad (think pico de gallo or salsa fresca), calamari (yum!), garlic soup, a oddly textured cheesecake (more like compacted ricotta than our creamy New York cheesecake), and a raspberry granola crumb tart thing.

Then afterwards, I met up with my new ISA friends from the night before to head over to a tetería or tea shop. Once there we head up the cute little spiral staircase to the second floor and make ourselves cozy in the corner. I’ve been to this particular tetería twice before, but it’s always been on a weeknight and fairly empty; tonight it was packed but it wasn’t overwhelmingly so despite the small rooms. The entire place was decked out in Arabic décor – the walls painted a rich blue, red sheer curtains hanging from the walls, brightly colored pottery, metal and glass tea sets and cachimbas, hookahs, lined up along the walls. Sugar pourers, half-melted candles on the small round tables surrounded half by a couch with colorful cushions lining the wall and half by stool-like chairs. And upon the ceiling a golden lamp-chandelier – straight out of the Arabian Nights. Tonight I end up trying the Fantasía china (I think you all can work that one out on your own), a floral green tea with jasmine and rose petals. We spend hours chatting and laughing, until we are the last ones there. Desending from the warmth we embark on our journeys home in the not-so-bitterly cold night. But not without first getting accosted by a group of rather drunk españolas (Spanish girls) in the plaza by the cathedral. They chat (and sing) with us in Spanish and English and Italian and they tell us all about themselves. So sweet and funny. But after a long evening, it’s time to retire so we decline on their party invite and continue on our ways.

Fiesta de la Primavera

Every year in Granada there is an unofficial celebration for the coming of Spring. This celebration is aptly named La fiesta de la primavera or Spring Party. The date is changeable, and I presume depends upon the weather; this year the perfectly sunny date of Friday, March 18th was chosen with a fantastic spring high of 65°F. Though my flat mates and I didn't officially start our celebration till 3:30pm, I heard tell of the hard core partiers who had been drinking their hearts out since 11am! Loaded with our supplies (aka, homemade Sangria - red wine, sugar, rum, and fruit chunks) and dressed in our spring clothing - woohoo sandals and short sleeves! - we headed over towards the Botellón, or in this case the Botellodromo (explanation: Botellón comes from Botella and means really big bottle. Adding the dromo makes it mean super huge gigantic bottle.) Upon entering the vicinity of the lot where the Botellón is, we were immediately affronted by hundreds of people flocking to the same destination. Some had even jacked a shopping cart to carry all their supplies. A few groups had thematically dressed up.

We wheedled and shoved and slithered our way into the midst of the crowd, found a nice spot and parked ourselves. The ambience was full on celebration – kids were chanting soccer themes and singing Spanish songs. We were lucky enough to be near one guy who had brought a boom box. In the next group over someone was playing with an animal skull they had brought with them.

Pictures of our antics:

Around 6:30 the crowd was beginning to get to me and so I started forcing my way out (for some reason harder than getting in…) at least 20 minutes later I emerged from the main force and was able to breathe. I took respite in the apartment for a few hours before preparing myself to meet the force again, but this time with a new group of friends. I was to meet up, for the first time, with an intercambio – Nani – at a Dunkin Coffee (that’s Dunkin Donuts to us) at 9 pm. Venturing out there, newly refreshed and slightly hesitant at meeting new people at this particular event. But it all turned out marvelously! After ordering a chocolate filled donut and café con leche from one of my classmates from French class, I ran into a few other girls who were waiting to meet up with Nani - Casey, Anna, and Yumi. We seem to hit it off right away, and I’m feeling better about the night already. The girls are really nice, Americans and Yumi is Japanese (her family is alright), and we are talking in steady Spanish.

Still waiting for Nani, a bit of culture finds us on this night of surprises. We see a religious procession, including the bleeding Jesus on an altar, for Lent. A starkly contrasting solemnity on this city-wide party night.

Finally, I meet Nani, her brother and his girlfriend (neat fact: in Spanish your sibling’s significant other has relationship with you – cuñado/a. Literally it’s brother or sister-in-law, but it’s also now in use for any type of relationship.) We head back to the massive body of people, me fearing going into its depths once again. Thankfully we only stay on the outskirts…which tonight is the density of the everyday botellón. Gathering a few more Americans and a few more Spaniards as the night goes on, we have a grand ol’ time. I find out that the 4 American girls are actually ISA kids, and we reach a new level of bonding. Yumi gets more and more silly as the night and drink goes on…and all of our pictures get better and better.

Impromptu concert performed by Casey!

Around 11pm we finally start the movement for heading out to a new location. Which at 12:30ish becomes our respective homes. I actually enjoy my nighttime walk home. There are still some people strolling the streets, the lights are on, it isn’t chilly at all and I’ve made some new friends. All in all, ¡mi fiesta de la primavera es un éxito! (Success!)

Updated Foto del Día!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

El finde

This finde or weekend, was a good one, despite the fact I caught a tiny itty bitty cold. It was comprised of relaxation, old black and whites, and a coffee date (with an intercambio! Language exchange! SHE's learning English. =p )

Nothing terribly exciting, but not every weekend has to be. Besides, it's hard to do things when it's rainy and gloomy and windy outside.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend themselves! And enjoy your Spring Breaks!

Foto del día updates!!!! New pics!

El resumen de la semana

The end of another week, the beginning of new habits and cycles.

Two weeks into March, what have I done? After Carnaval, not much but walk 2 miles to the bus station partly for the heck of it and partly to save some money (extra charges while ordering online), start a new workout regime, eat several delicious pastries, and add a new class…

Thanks to my handy friend the internet, I’ve come across a Jillian workout and a belly dance workout that I am really enjoying. Neither more than 30 minutes, I can easily do this in my free mornings and be energized for the rest of the day. (And not feel guilty eating some extra pastries, ice cream, or chocolates…=p)

And, after much ado, I have finally achieved a class at the University of Granada, full of Spanish students, that will hopefully transfer to my home university. Though at first I found the professor slightly boring, after the second class I realized he yielded a very subtle sword of humour – very deadpan, without changing tone, he’ll make a comment and I’ll realize after several seconds that it was sarcastic or a joke. So far, my new Tourism class seems to have been the right choice (and in the afternoons versus the mornings too)!

For a bit of cultural exploration I went to one of the many free expositions hidden throughout Granada. This one was by Alejandro Hermann, an Austrian raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina who has lived all over Europe, and the exposition is called “Desde la esencia natural” (From the natural essence). Here are a few of my favorites:

And then the courtyard of the Centro Cultural de Gran Capitán where the exposition is located:

(And I just calculate via Google Maps that I walk at LEAST 2 miles every Mon-Wed-Friday...wow. Tuesdays and Thursdays I walk FOUR MILES!!! Add a new workout regime...I'm gonna be as fit as an athlete when this semester is over!)

Carnaval de Cádiz (el 5 de marzo)

Photos speak louder and clearer than words, so I’ll fill in any gaps or questions you might have with these: