Three Months of Spanish Cooking

I've been very lucky this winter because I have had the pleasure of experiencing three months of delicious Spanish food. One month we seemed to be eating paella every week. Each one was a different kind and cooked by different people. New Year's Eve Paco cooked a giant paella for more than 30 people. He borrowed a large, very large paella pan and built a very large fire in the back yard. He then cooked the paella outdoors. The resulting dish was very delicious. It was somewhat smoky from the fire, but not too much. The following week I visited another friend of the family and he cooked a shrimp and seafood paella on a kitchen paella burner. Then for the next two weeks Celia cooked paella several times. Once with mostly vegetables and the other time with chicken and seafood.

In the meantime, Paco has cooked tortilla Espanol several times and he also cooked albondigas twice. Celia cooked another version of the same dish. All last week we have been eating steamed mussels Spanish style. Every day our Spanish guest went shopping and came home with mussels that he then cooked for us. This is a very easy and Delicious dish to cook and to eat.

Florida 2011 two years later.

I can't believe that I last posted in this blog in 2009. That was was two years ago. I have been busy but I guess I have forgotten to write about my adventures. I am in Florida right now. I've been here since December and therefore, I have avoided winter in Chicago. I've been here during all the planning and work involved in Siempre Flamenco's 6th Annual Cante Festival but I have not contributed anything to it because it is not anything I can help with. The Festival was on Feb 18, 19 and 20 and was a huge success. It was an experience for me because I've never been to a Flamenco singing festival. The artists from Spain arrived last week and from that time on this household has been completely busy with preparations for the festival. The native tongue in this part of the world, Miami, is Spanish and since I don't speak Spanish, I have no idea what is going on around me most of the time. Everyone conducts all their conversation in Spanish and no one ever has the time to translate or even paraphrase the conversation so it is all a mystery to me. I did love the festival, however, even though I didn't understand any of the songs. Celia's dance was beautiful and the show was a great success.