A tortilla ISN'T for burritos???

This semester, I've quite frequently heard from my family and friends, "Oh my gosh, do you love the food?!?!"  Clearly none of these people have spent extended periods of time in Spain.  I will say that the food is good, and my host mom is a wonderful and healthy cook (unlike most of the host families in our program), so I've definitely enjoyed the food and have not been starving.  My only reservation is that the cuisine here is extremely repetitive, so I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to the US where I can enjoy a wider variety of food!

All that being said, there are a few foods I'm going to miss when I leave Spain:

1.  Paella - VERY traditional Spanish dish, made in a special pan with rice, saffron, and pretty much anything else you feel like adding...veggies, seafood, and Spanish sausage are all common

2.  Tortilla española - NO.  This is not what you use to make burritos.  It's a delicious, quiche-like dish made with potatoes, onions, and egg.  That's it!  Unpretentious, cheap and amazingggg.

3.  Croquetas - A fried ball consisting of milk, flour, egg, onion and (most traditionally) jamón ibérico, though many people all make them with bacalao (cod fish), tuna, chicken, or a number of other things.  They're unbelievable, but also unbelievably bad if done incorrectly. (my host mom makes them from scratch :) tehehe)

4. JAMÓN Ibérico - This one gets all caps.  Why?  Because a) I can't bring it back with me...some law US Customs has. Ughhh US Customs I hate you, and b) I don't think I can buy it in the US...although I'm having my brother-who-works-at-a-butcher-shop investigate a little for me.  What does all this mean?  That I have no hopes of having jamón again until I save enough money to come back to Spain.  I know what you're thinking: "Um, you can buy ham in the US."  Nope.  The ham here is unique in that it has been cured for 1-2 years.  American ham just can't even hold a candle to it.

So, what am I going to do about this?  Well, I'm going to learn how to make it all myself! (Minus the jamón ibérico, of course)

I'll be uploading photos as I go!!  Wish me luck!!

Thanksgiving in Paris

I'll suffice to say that I did Thanksgiving the right way...and in Paris with my brother and sister-in-law!  (Along with a friend of mine and two friends of theirs...and of course the cat!)  What more could you ask for?

I even made my other sister-in-law's (/Jiffy's) corn souffle, which was a huge hit!!  Might I add that I had to make creamed corn and corn bread mix for it because of course you can't buy things like that in France.  I also made a pumpkin pie...completely from scratch, because again, why in the world would Paris carry canned pumpkin puree?  Oh Europe.  But it was my first pumpkin pie and after stressing out over all the very different recipes I was seeing online, I finally just wrote my own, and it got rave reviews!!  I think everyone had an amazing time, and we were all in massive food comas by the end of the meal.  But now, let's just see the pictures!

To start, we had two rounds of appetizers and martinis...first round: Cosmos with carrots and this delicious balsamic goat cheese dip.  Second round: clementine martinis with lox and cream cheese!

Chuck carving the bird: NOMMMM

Addictive sweet potatoes, stuffing, roasted vegetables, gravy, turkey, and mashed potatoes...

Oh right and more turkey, more stuffing, and corn souffle:

Oh wait...I forgot to mention the apple crisp AND pumpkin pie (I made them both...proud of it!!)  Chuck said it was possibly the best pumpkin pie he's ever had.  Not bad for my first time :)

A walk in the park!...

...on the way to Arc de Triomphe...

...on the way to the riverside to drink champagne!!!!

So yeah...just a casual and beautiful day in Paris!!!!

Oh, and if you weren't aware, in France and Spain (and probably lots of other European countries), instead of putting a lengthy surgeon general's warning on tobacco products, they just stick to something a little more direct...like this:

(I still haven't quite figured out why it's in English...found it on the streets of Paris!)

So yeah...this method seems to be working REALLY well in Europe...jokes.

ANYWHO, I had an amazing time spending Thanksgiving with my brother and sister-in-law!!  I could not have asked for a more delicious meal or better company.  I love them so much and it's been so amazing to see so much of them this semester!  I sure am going to miss it.

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving celebrations were as heart warming and delicious as mine was!  I know I have so much to be thankful for.

P.S. 16 days until I'm HOME!!