Here I am googling "how to cook meat" and "how to cut scallions" when tomorrow I have a solid 5 hours of cooking from scratch for my host family. On the menu: chive potstickers, scallion pancakes, and tapioca dessert soup! Can't wait to update regardless of how things turn out! (I also owe everybody the details of my trip to Andalucia)
On another note, this is my shameful obsession of the week. Boy, I had resisted Miss Lips for a LONG TIME.
"Blue Jeans" (Lana del Rey, 2012)
UPDATE:
I wasn't kidding when I said 5 hours! Wish I had made the pancakes and dumpling skins a little thinner, but the tapioca dessert was surprisingly legit. And no, I don't have pictures so you'll have to take my word for it, and that's because it was too crazy in the kitchen and everyone was in a rush to get lunch going (woops, the food wasn't ready until 3:40pm). I'm feeling pretty good about cooking next year and if worst comes to worst I'll have my favorite: baby carrots with peanut butter!
After much puente goodness I am back in Madrid! I am really glad I went to Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca because I learned that not all of Spain is gloomy and Castillian and inefficient. I'm sorry that I have developed a bad attitude towards Madrid but I am without a doubt more in sync with people the more northerly I travel. Barcelona is great and creative and I dare say it's in the vein of Paris and New York. Palma reminded me of Long Island: you go because there might be a few interesting things to see but really you go to get some sun. Madrid is, oh god, I've been studying abroad in the Newark of Europe for four months...
Roof of La Pedrera
Model of La Pedrera
Detail of the Sagrada Familia
Casa Battlo
Barcelona was very colorful and wacky. The bicycle-friendly streets and diversity of people, among other things, signaled the first Spanish city I've been to that had real international/European leanings. I guess I needed to get away from the Madrid I think I know, which is insular and artificially modern. Do you remember my going on and on in January about loving the punks and the fashion in Madrid? I forget if I've written about this but sometime ago I've realized that everyone dresses the same and the punks are no more than 13-year-olds in 20-year-old bodies who organize dance parties aka protests with their friends because that's what the other cool kids are doing.
The Catalans should be proud, despite what my Madrilena host family tries to tell me. I'm not saying I know from 3 days of tourism that I know Barcelona and its people, but I appreciate the openness (cultural, creative, spatial) that lends itself to the advancement and intrigue of a city. Here's another reason why I love Barcelona so much: I left my purse on the street. Yes, an open street, where I was sitting on some steps (my feet had been dying from some bad shoes bought in Madrid, of course). An hour later, realizing I was feeling a little lighter than usual, I returned and asked a nearby cafe if they had seen my purse. And but of course they say oh yes and give it back to me with camera and cash still inside and the man who returned it gave me a little wave and life was back to normal. It's a miracle that I am able to upload my pictures right now.
Cala Mayor
Palma is a vacation island. It is filled with English tourists and Spanish retirees. This means that I spoke a lot of English and went to the beach and rode bikes along the coast and ate great Indian food and lots of ice cream. And life can't be anything short of incredible when you do things like that for three days. The Palma experience was topped off with a nice upgrade in my flight back to Madrid (a sign of better days to come?), with my 3-hour layover in Barcelona replaced by a direct flight to Madrid in business class! Thanks again Air Europa.
Coast of Palma
I would write more but I am very quickly sinking in my university work hole. So hasta luego! x
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