April 5, 2014
Do you cook mostly with recipes? I tend to make things up as I go and often improvise with whatever I have on hand that day. I usually start with one ingredient and then build the dish around it. I have had quinoa on my mind for a few days now and finally it got its turn in the kitchen. Quinoa cooks quickly and easily into a nice and fluffy pile of little grains that... View Article
April 3, 2014
My culinary “must do” list while traveling in Spain included a visit to a cava bodega in Penedes. Penedes is the Spanish Cava region in Catalunya, located just outside beautiful Barcelona, easily accessible by car or by train. Cava, a.k.a. Spanish Champagne, has been produced in this region since 1872 when a local wine maker produced the first sparkling wine made in the traditional champagne method. The wine was called Spanish champagne until fairly recently when... View Article
March 30, 2014
One of the foods on my “culinary must do” list while in Spain was eggplant fritters with honey. It is seemingly an unusual dish, I have never had it before and never really thought of serving a savoury eggplant with honey but it did sound good. I imagined it crispy on the outside, soft inside, a little savoury with a sweet honey drizzle, surely it would be delish. According to Claudia Roden (the Julia Child... View Article
March 20, 2014
When we travel I watch for and try to learn about local customs, especially in food and culture. One of the customs I noticed here in Spain is that the locals stop at a bar for a glass of vermut (vermouth) on tap as an aperitivo before lunch or dinner. Bars here by the way are not just for drinks. It’s a general term for places where you can stop by for coffee, lunch or dinner,... View Article
February 27, 2014
Generally speaking I don’t line up for anything, even if it’s good. I have no patience I guess. I’ll get it another time or not at all. And even if I find myself in the inevitable short line now and then I want it to move fast. Let’s move it people. But in Paris it’s different. I noticed that Parisians do line up for things they consider worthwhile, and do so patiently and agreeably. Food... View Article
February 26, 2014
I haven’t been posting many recipes lately so I thought I’d offer this simple one to go with my last post since we drove through date palm groves on the way up from Marbella to Barcelona. Here is a simple but delicious way to make a different kind of “tapa” that I have seen served here and sold in food stores. You can serve it as part of a tapas offering or with a cheese... View Article
February 26, 2014
It was hard to leave Andalucia. The blue Mediterranean, olive groves, white villages, fragrance of orange blossoms and unique sense of culture lure you with their beauty, enticing you to stay. We loved our few weeks in Andalucia, travelling to many cities and towns along the coast and farther inland, exploring the history, culture and food. Many of these places I haven’t yet written about but will in upcoming posts. We explored Andalucian cuisine, both at... View Article
February 24, 2014
I hate to tell this to my Canadian friends who are experiencing minus 20℃ temperatures right now but we just came back from spending a balmy plus 20℃ degree day on the beautiful Costa del Sol on the southern Mediterranean coast of Spain. Life sometimes is not fair:). We are staying in Puerto Bañus, the flamboyant community on the west side of Marbella (moving to Marbella tomorrow) and travelling up and down the Costa del... View Article
February 16, 2014
The Costa del Sol consists of several towns built from the beach to the hilltops above. There is hardly a break between towns and you can drive from one to the next without really noticing you left one and entered another. It’s a major tourists destination and there are probably hundreds of thousands of hotel rooms in the various resorts as well as apartments and homes as far as the eye can see. One interesting... View Article
February 12, 2014
Picture this. You arrive at Marbella’s harbour on your super yacht. You are whisked away by the on-board helicopter to your hilltop sprawling estate (it covers the entire top of the hill). Your chauffeur is polishing your Bentley at the end of the driveway and your personal assistant is putting together the list of social invitations for the week for you to choose from. Yes, this is life. Not my life, but somebody’s. ... View Article
February 11, 2014
We left beautiful Sevilla on a Saturday, driving down to our next destination Marbella on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain. It’s a beautiful drive through rolling hills , agricultural landscape and picturesque white villages cascading down the hillsides along the way. The independent community of Andalucia (one of 17 such communities under the Spanish constitution) has 8 provinces within it and we were driving from the province of Seville through the Province of... View Article
February 6, 2014
I am adapting my cooking here to Spanish tapas style. We are touring and exploring so there is not a lot of time to spend in the kitchen but I love trying to reproduce foods we have eaten out or that I think would be nice to serve as tapas. This potatoes and roasted peppers is one such dish. As with most tapas you can serve it as part of a selection of small plates... View Article
