The wedding - the aftermath

Pear and Dulce de Leche Tart

The BIL and SIL recently declared themselves ¨Pareja de hecho¨ or a civil union after about 15 years together and 2 children. That required a celebration so we had them over for a paella to inaugurate grilling season. Where there´s a ¨wedding¨ it seemed to me there should be a ¨cake¨ so I decided to use a can of dulce de leche I had in the fridge.

I used the tart crust recipe here. It was a little dry, but that was my fault, since I left out an egg in doubling the recipe.

After baking the crust and spreading it with a layer of peach preserves to seal it, I spread the dulce de leche (I simmered a can of sweetened condensed milk for 2 hours covered) and arranged the sliced, peeled and cored pears tossed with a little ginger and cinnamon. Here, using slightly more ripe pears would have helped, but thinly sliced they were fine.

Baked again for 40 minutes at 200 C. Glazed with a bit more peach preserves for shine. Very tasty!

Semana Santa

From Hola.com

Easter is the time when Spain´s patron saints and virgins get dressed up and taken out for a walk around town. Andalucia seems to have the most massive turnout for these events, but they´re held all over. Unfortunately, processions were cancelled in Galicia because of rain yesterday. For more on Semana Santa in Galicia try Semana Santa en Galicia.

There are a lot of hard-working supporting groups for these processions to actually happen. From the costaleros who literally do the heavy lifting (see this video from Toledo where they have to exit and enter the church on their knees carrying the paso), the nazarenos who accompany the pasos, to the small crafts studios who produce the candles and finery.

I´ve been reading some blogs about the gorgeous embroidery used on the figures and pasos and thought I´d share. It can take up to 2 years to finalize the design and execute the embroidery. I´ve looked for courses on goldwork in Madrid, but again they seem to be in the south.

Jesus Gomez Jimenez´s blog El Arte del Bordado en Oro (in Spanish) is both stunning and informative, especially the videos.

This is a report from Seville Television including the lovely guy who´s been dressing the figure of the Virgin (La Macarena) for the last 50 years! If that´s not an Almodóvar movie character, I don´t know what is. You can see her in all her processional glory from about 3 minutes in.



Also Elloy Tellez has a great blog (in Spanish) where you can see the original design and then execution. And not just embroidery - crosses, banners, jewelry too!

Beer Soap

Trying to get the soap as dark as possible. Ingredients include dark beer (Mahou), molasses, dark chocolate. The soothing hops in the beer is the primary element that benefits your skin/hair. ¨Beer contains anti-bacterial polyphenols and skin softening amino acids.¨

Now aging. Looking forward to silky lather!

Design blogs

Taxes done. (Yes, US expats - you still are supposed to file taxes. See www.IRS.gov)1040EZ and 2555ez should start you off.


We´re putting together an inspiration file for the ruin. Mostly just looking at the pictures. Thought I´d share my finds.

In English:

http://frommoontomoon.blogspot.com/

http://acountryfarmhouse.blogspot.com/ (Cute Baby warning)

http://myfrenchcountryhome.blogspot.com/

And it´s antidote

http://real-france.blogspot.com/ (Brilliant - read everything)


In Spanish:

http://casadulcehogar.blogspot.com/

Have a swell weekend!

Luar na Lubre

Luar na Lubre is something of an institution in Galician music. They started off in 1986 and are still going strong.

I have a greatest hits CD that´s great accompaniment for the part of the trip where the dryish Province of Leon gives way to the lush green countryside of Galicia.

They´re currently on tour, unfortunately not to Madrid.

From Wikipedia in Spanish -

The music of Luar na Lubre relies heavily on the folklore of Galicia, but is also heavily influenced by the countries within the "Celtic" tradition as the area round the Atlantic has a particular way of making music, an aesthetic used and adapted by many Galician folk groups and, in many ways thanks to this, the music of Galicia has acquired a level of internationalization previously never thought possible. Still, there are certain "traditionalists" who criticize this movement.

Their style has evolved considerably over the years, gradually becoming more sophisticated. In 1996 the British musician Mike Oldfield issued the Voyager album including an adaptation of O Son do Ar, and invited the group on his world tour, which gave Luar Na Lubre international fame. In 2003, the song ¨Memoria da noite¨ was composed, referring to the sinking of the Prestige oil tanker off the Galician coast.

In 2009, Luar Na Lubre celebrated it´s 25th anniversary, recording their first live album (Ao Vivo) at the Teatro Colon in La Coruña and inviting musicians like Luz Casal, Pedro Guerra and Diana Navarro to join them.

In November 2010 their latest work came out: "Solstice", a project that marks a new beginning for the group, a different direction in their trajectory that points to medieval music, the richness of medieval Galician-Portuguese lyrics, influences from the pilgrimmage route the Camiño de Santiago, and the introduction of different cultures expressed through music. Solstice is a mixture of religion and paganism, the acoustic and electrical sounds of the past and present, from that which is intrinsically Galician, from a Galicia looking at the world as an equal now and into the future.

They Live!

Wheeeeeeeee!

Bath Bombs

I must confess I don´t take baths. I´m a shower girl. I did take baths when I was in Grad school in Austin, Texas. I shared with 4 other women in a gorgeous ´20s limestone Italianate/Spanish style villa that had been the family home of a wealthy woman in Houston, built on a hillside overlooking Lamar Avenue with not one but 2 stone ponds and a wall fountain (non-functional). On the other hand, it also had fire ants and flying cockroaches. I´m sure it was torn down for tacky condos shortly after I moved out. But it also had a clawfoot tub. A full-length tub with a rolled edge that exactly fit the back of your neck.

So anyway, this whole bath thing is a little strange for me. My dear friend W likes baths though, so she´s going to be my guinea pig. They were fiddley to make, but that´s all part of the learning curve. The blue ones are lavendar scented (but not so much now, sadly) which have demonstrated definite fizz and the orange fishies are made with coco butter and scented with sweet orange, but I haven´t actually put them in water yet to see if they effervesce.

Raxo

Used to be that V only wanted pulpo when we went to Galicia. ¨Pulpo a feira¨ is boiled octopus and boiled potatoes, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with hot paprika and coarse salt. It´s a staple, and oddly enough, I think it tends to be better served inland than on the coast.

Now, I have tried on several occasions to make pulpo and failed every. single. time. This was expensive. Fortunately, MIL makes excellent pulpo so V has a local supply.

Lately, in La Coruña, V has discovered Raxo (pronounced RAH-sho)or chunks of pork loin sauteed with garlic and parsley, served piled over french fries. Sometimes they add roasted red peppers, of which I heartily approve.

I´m pleased to say that I have finally gotten the hang of raxo. The secret is the marinade.

So without further ado:

Cut pork loin into bite-sized pieces. I´d say about 6 oz. per serving. I have also used pork chops, removing the bone.

Marinate in 1 C dry white wine, 1/2 cup olive oil, with 1 garlic clove chopped small (we use more)and 1 tsp chopped parsley per serving. Mix and let stand for about an hour. I have marinated for longer than this, but don´t leave it too long or the wine will affect the texture of the pork.

Remove the pork from the marinade draining most of the liquid, but retaining the garlic, and sautee in a hot pan, adding the roasted red peppers just before the pork is browned and done and add salt and pepper to taste. I deglaze the pan with another 1/4 C white wine or so at the end. Serve hot over a pile of crispy french fries.

I think you could vary this in interesting ways - adding lime and exchanging cilantro for the parsley, or using sun dried tomatoes instead of the red peppers with fresh basil. But then in wouldn´t be raxo and V would be sad.

Cheap Flights

´Tis the season of Spring Break and our thoughts turn to cheap travel. (With the possible exception of my dear friend T who is a über-milage-Grand Poobah with AA. Air kisses!)

This does have naughty words. Although they´re Irish (Thanks Anne!)naughty words so they sound classy anyway. And it´s sub-titled for ´Muricans with language issues.