http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme A lover of Spain eats her heart out. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:33:00 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "Oceans cover seventy-five percent of the planet and yet we eat like there are only about 20 kinds of fish out there." That's Angel León again, talking at the French Culinary Institute in New York last month. He had a couple of mackerel in front of him--not an obscure "nameless" ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2010/02/17/more-andalusian-fish-tales-the-almadraba/ "I always wanted to eat plankton," said Angel León, beginning the story of one of his culinary affairs. He seemed too sweet to be a chef, especially one of Spain's most inventive ones. "When I was young," he went on, "I remember they told us all about how whales feast ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2010/01/27/in-pursuit-of-plankton-an-andalusian-love-story/ Some of you (especially readers around age two) may have felt drawn to the little guy peeking out from behind the pile of mantecados I wrote about last week. He's my favorite caganer, a traditional rendition of the Catalan shitting man. He takes his place in all Catalan nativity scenes (even the ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2009/12/23/the-caganer-thats-what-its-all-about/ Although "cookies" have recently appeared in a few modern-chic pastry shops in Barcelona and Madrid, there is not really any equivalent of the American Christmas cookie tradition in Spain. For one thing, let's face it: cookies are lumpy, loving-hands-from-home things and Spaniards are uptight about that kind of homeliness. They ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2009/12/08/mantecados-christmas-cookies/ I take back all those unflattering things I've said in the past about Bilbao. That stuff about how it's the "the Pittsburgh of Spain." Yes, it's an iron city. Yes, the Ría that runs through it is brown. And yes, it's annoying, if not panic-inducing, that the Guggenheim Bilbao is ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2009/10/26/307/ Forget about butter and jam on your morning toast (and maybe all that pre-dinner double-dipping of bread in olive oil, too). The Catalans have a better idea: pa amb tomàquet, bread with tomato.  Add a smidge of garlic, olive oil, and salt, plus a slice of protein -- sheep's milk ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2009/09/17/pa-amb-tomaquet-country-and-town/ It's August and I keep thinking about cold gazpacho.  I picture myself gulping it under the shade of a fig tree.  But I'm stuck in New York City right now, and, at least down here below penthouse level, we don't have many fig trees.  And what's worse this year:  we ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2009/08/25/whadda-we-got-that-spain-aint-got-borscht/ If you think the harried shop shopkeepers of Barcelona are ignoring you just because you’re a tourist, you would be wrong (oh, all right, you might be wrong). Maybe it’s just that you don’t know the seemingly disorganized, fabulously efficient, time-honored rules for waiting your turn in Spain. Queueing-related angst nearly ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2009/08/01/waiting-your-turn-the-spanish-way/ "Oh, no, not me.  I don't drink cocktails," I said, as Xesca mixed up a pitcher of rebujito, her favorite summer potion.  "And especially not cocktails made of wine," I added snootily to myself.  I mean, there's a reason spritzers are so 1970s, and that reason is wine.  Yet here ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2009/07/12/el-rebujito-cocktail-for-a-sunny-day/ As I pulled these creamy blocks out of my suitcase after my last trip to Spain, Ed was standing by as usual, salivating, and asking about how I had eluded the food-haters at U.S. Customs this time.  Then I broke it to him:  "It's not cheese, it's soap."  The stuff ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2009/06/08/make-your-own-pure-castille-soap/