Eats, Works and Reads
I took some time this morning to re-read my handwritten journal and thought I´d share just a few tidbits from certain aspects of my travels over the past few weeks:
EATS
I know that family and friends who are familiar with my sometimes odd and picky eating habits are wondering what the heck I´ve been dining on the past few weeks. Here is a random sampling, some of this was delicious home cooked food made fresh at the two bed and breakfasts I visited, other items are just things I picked up or dined on along the way, all of it fantastic and filling: berbigao (shell fish in Portugal cooked in lemon), Iberian pork, bachalo dorada (golden colored salted cod), tortilla de camarones (fried omlette with baby shrimp tapas), pisto manchengo (salsa-like vegetable tapas), pasta with spinach and salmon cooked on a huge paella pan (at the Granada hostel), lentil soup, chicken kebab take-out, tinto verde (red wine with lemonade), sangria, chicken liver pate, almonds roasted in cumin, Cruzcampo beer, curry chili over rice, cheese scones and tea, warm apple crumbler with vanilla ice cream, rice pudding with fresh strawberries, homemade brownies and chocolate tart. For the record, there are days when I get by on fresh fruit, mixed nuts and a crossaint with a cafe con leche. But mixed in between the budget backbacker diet have been some fantastic foodie moments, some free, made by my gracious hosts, and others simply great cheap finds, like the tapas in Seville — an excellent bargain, and the atmosphere at the Bodega de Santa Cruz was the icing on the cake. Finally, I did a little baking too, and took a stab at making my homemade biscotti for the Finca Buenvino crew. We subsituted anise seed for extract and baking chocolate for chocolate chips, it didn´t taste exactly the same but had almost the same consistancy.
WORKS
I just spent four night and three days working at the Cortijo del Ingles http://www.cortijo-ingles.com/Cortijo/cortijo.html outside of Cadiar in the Alpujarras region of southern Spain. (Sorry links not working properly) I´ve never really lived among snow-capped mountains before, but even just three days in the shadow of the magnificent Sierra Nevadas was enough to convince this warm-weather person that snow still is a very beautiful thing. Especially in the background of the fabulous spring almond blossom that I caught in full glory this weekend. I worked on this small farm nestled in the mountains for three days, feeding the 15 chickens and turkey (!) each morning and collecting their eggs. Then it was off to the peaceful hilly fields where I pruned the fig saplings and knocked any remaining almonds off the trees. I worked with another WWoofer http://www.wwoof.org/ for two of the days, and we also cleared out the weeds around the fresh mountain spring. Our host Elaine treated us to excellent home cooked meals each day and I especially enjoyed playing with her wonderful Spanish hunting dogs. Working on the land absolutely makes me appreciate the labor that goes into growing and collecting the food I eat each day. And I´ve learned lots about olive, walnut, fig and almonds, how they are grown and when they are harvested.
READS
I didn´t read much during my first two weeks on the road, so I was excited to finally get into some books. I started Driving Over Lemons while in Aracena, and finished it in Cadiar, as both B&B´s I stayed at had copies of it. It is the true account of former Genesis band member Chris Stewart´s move to the Alpujarras and was fun to read while traveling to and staying in the region he writes about. I´m now half way through South from Granada, by Gerald Brennan, which I had hoped to finish this weekend, but those days working with the fig trees really wore me out and I had little energy for reading at night. The book is fairly well known, and the cortijo I just stayed at is actually mentioned in Chapter 11 (Unfortunately, it is mentioned for a murder that occured there, but it surely didn´t put a damper on my visit.) Anyway, both these books have keep me busy learning more about the region I´m traveling through. I bought two more books for the coming week, a Hemingway and one by Simon Winchester, so I´m all set with reading material for the time being.
And I´m now officially done with my latest internet fix. I´m off to enjoy the Granada sunshine for a bit before heading to the train station to catch my six hour ride to Madrid!
Tags: andalucia, Europe 2006, Spain, Tag Index
Kel
March 7th, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Kelly, Great entry! You know I love the details. Sounds like you’re doing alright when it comes to eating. I can’t wait to hear more about the work on the farm.
I thought I’d let you know that there is a typo in “Works” section; you wrote ” I especially enjoyed playing with her wonderful Spanish hunting dogs”. Did you mean to write “logs” or even “hogs” or maybe “clogs”? No, I know, it was probably supposed to be “blogs”. Well, I guess people do change. If you were willing to eat all those new and different foods, than it shouldn’t be hard for me to believe that my sister might enjoy playing with dogs.
Love,
MAA
March 7th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
The array of foods sounds fantastic especially the pasta with spinage and salmon. The desserts sound awesome too- but I am surprised by the chicken liver pate!! Laughed at Michael’s observation that you enjoyed playing with the hunting dog- but I was wondering if I read correctly that you fed chickens and a turkey and then gathered their eggs. I really would have loved to see you doing that chore:)
I am enjoying your posts and want to learn more about EVERYTHING, but I will start by checking out the books you mentioned. Thank you for sharing all your adventures. Looking forward to the next update……
March 8th, 2006 at 5:22 am
Ha! Mike, that is funny, no– you read correctly, I enjoyed playing with DOGS! and took some photos of them too. Yeah, big sis is finally growing up. And yes, Mom, bonding with all sorts of animals too – dogs, chickens, and I even saw the footprints of the wild boar as I worked in the fields, but didn´t get to meet him firsthand (thankfully!)
March 10th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
Girl, this trip was worth the food alone! I’m so proud of you 🙂 what about ketchup and other such condiments??! hahaha just kidding. um, can u send me some chocolate? maybe it will get here by the time Lent is over and I can actually eat some 😉
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