Food & Wine

Travel in Northern Spain

Travel in Northern Spain

General

• Door Knobs and Handles in Spain
• Numbers with a Spanish Touch
• Making the Light Magic with Stained Glass: Spain’s Cathedrals
• To Read on the Road in Spain: Don Quixote
• How Not to Starve in Spain

Madrid (September 30th and October 1st)

• Neon Lights Beckoning Us in Madrid
• Staying Up Past Midnight, How Very Spanish of Us
• La Reina Sofia, Madrid’s Premier Modern Art Museum
• The Artworks in the Reina Sofia (Art Blog)
• The Architecture of the Reina Sofi (Art Blog)
• Buying a Sim Card in Madrid
• We’re in Madrid But Our Suitcases Aren’t
• ING and Lonely Planet’s Bucket List for Madrid
• Our Police Escort Out of Madrid

Santiago de Compostela and Around (October 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th)

• An Evening of Food and Drink in Santiago
• Is that Bagpipers I Hear?
• Achievement is Finishing El Camino de Santiago
• The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
• Walking Around Town & a Spanish Lunch
• The Spanish Diet: Meat and Potatoes and Bread
• A Special Spanish Salad Just for Me!
• Driving a Rental Car around the Back Roads of Northern Spain
• A Monastery/Parador on the Ribeira Sacra in Galicia, Spain
• The Chestnut Grove
• Exploring Around the Parador
• Introducing ‘El Menu del Dia’, a Spanish Extravaganza of Eating
• The Aftermath of ‘El Menu del Dia’
• Heading to the End of the Earth via Noia
• Scenery on the Coastal Route to Fisterra
• Eat Octopus. Drink Green Wine
• Looking Over the End of the Earth
• You know it rains a lot in Galicia, don’t you?

Off to the Costa Verde (October 6th, 7th and 8th)

• Mondoñedo, a Town on the Way to the Costa Verde of Spain
• Lunch at a Restaurant for Pilgrims on ‘El Camino’
• Ribadeo, Our Base on the North Coast of Galicia in Spain
• The Amazing Beach of Cathedrals in Northern Spain
• San Martiño de Mondoñedo, a Tiny Village in Galicia
• Cheap Lunch for Two in Foz, Spain
• Viviero and its Shrine Full of Body Parts
• Luarca with Its Seaside Walk on Spain’s Northern Coast
• Aviles, a Little Town Trying to Live Up to Its Big Art Reputation
• Ribadasella and Its Market
• Neolithic Art at the Cuevas Tito Bustillo in Northern Spain
• Grey & Green Monochromes from the Costa Verde (Green Coast)

Picos de Europa (October 9th and 10th)

An absolutely stunning part of Spain, with lots of trails for walking. We stayed in a fabulous inn in Potes for 45€ a night in October a couple of years ago and would definitely go back!

• Canga de Onis, Entrance to the Picos de Europa
• Church in the Early Morning Mist at Covadonga
• The Sanctuary at Covadonga
• The Lakes and High Country at Covadonga
• The Only Way to Get to Bulnes
• Brez, a Tiny Village High in the Picos de Europa
• The Tower of Mogrovejo and Its Guardian Geese!
• Barns in the Mountain Villages in the Picos de Europa
• Two Ways to Get Up the Mountain (One is the Teleférico)
• Walking the Peaky Part of the Picos de Europa
• Grandma’s Calluses for Lunch Anyone?
• Potes, a Perfect Stop in Los Picos

Bilbao and Basque Country

• The Street Party
• The Guggenheim, a Frank Gehry Architectural Masterpiece
• Bilbao’s Famous Bridge
• Pintxos, the FAMOUS Tapas of the Basque Country of Spain
• Late Summer Basque Soup of Tomatoes, Corn and Chorizo

La Rioja  

• Laguardia in La Rioja, It’s All About the Wine
• An Old Winery Combined with Gehry’s Architectural Vision in Elciego
• Nájera, an 11th Century Monastery
• Valvanera, an 11th Century Monastery in La Rioja (& the Journey There)
• Mansilla de la Sierra, a Drowned Village in La Rioja (& Lunch)
• Time Travelling in Spain, from Dinosaur Footprints to a Night in a Medieval Castle
• Necropolis de Revenga, an Early Christian Burial Site
• Clunia Roman Ruins
• Our Castle in Spain
• The Towns Along the Way on Our Drive from the Castillo de Curiel to Valladolid: La Horra, Gumiel de Izan, Olmedillo de Roa and Penafiel

Segovia & Valladolid

• Valladolid
• Cuellar Castle
• Around Segovia
• Segovia’s Fairy Tale Castle
• Roman Arches on the Aqueduct in Segovia

Madrid Otra Vez (Plus Toledo)

• Sunday in Madrid’s El Rastro Market & Retiro Park
• El Prado, the Premiere Art Museum in Madrid
• Mercado de San Miguel, Madrid’s Gastronomic Temple
• A Stroll Around the Centre
• A Side Trip to Toledo
• Toledo es El Greco, El Greco es Toledo

Food & Wine

Wines of Spain and Portugal

1. Sparkling Cava & the Whites
2. The Reds
3. Fortified Wines: Sherry, Port and Madeira
4. How to Make Sangría ¡Olé!
5. Sparkling Cava & Manchego Cheese for New Year’s

The Food of Spain

• How Not to Starve in Spain
• Spanish Food Words with Arabic Origins
• All about saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, featuring paella! (In Spanish)
• Autumn is Mushroom Season
• Spooky Sunflowers
• Note for the Galician Coast: Eat Octopus. Drink Green Wine.
• Pintxos, the FAMOUS Tapas of the Basque Country of Spain
• The Spanish Diet: Meat and Potatoes and Bread
• Introducing ‘El Menu del Dia’, a Spanish Extravaganza of Eating

Tapas

For our first cooking class in Spanish tapas we prepared paprika-spiced almonds, marinated olives, eggplant dip, a Spanish potato omelette known in Spain as a tortilla, fresh grilled tuna and two-bean salad, cheese and olive empanadas, rich chocolate cake accompanied by sangria to wash it all down with.

My favorite dish of our second tapa cooking class was pickled mackerel, (escabeche). We also prepared lamb meatballs (albondigas), chicken croquettes (croquetas de pollo), flat bread with vegetables and clams, roasted asparagus wrapped in ham, and sauteed garlic mushrooms, and for dessert, a most decadent rice pudding.

Our third cooking class in Spanish tapas consisted of Fried Manchego Cheese, Salad on Bread, Prawns Wrapped in Serrano Ham, Pork Brochettes, Chicken Livers in Sherry Glaze, Broiled Sardines and last but not least Almond Tart.