Paella is a classic Spanish dish, so if we were going to truly immerse, we needed to make it! The whole family got involved, and though we had to learn a few new cooking techniques, our taste buds were grateful for the effort.
First, we bought fresh seafood at the local market. Then we had to decapitate and de-intestinate (my made up word for take out the intestines) the shrimp. Eeew!!
I made some homemade bone broth from leftover roasted chicken.
Natalie was my chopper- she loved helping to chop all of the veggies!
Noah chopped the broad-beans.
Paul showed the children how to rip off the “beards” of the mussles, then to tap them to make sure they were still alive. If they didn’t close their shell, they were discarded.
It was a little harder to convince them to give up their beards than it looked!
Squid: we realized that we had no idea how to cut them up!
So, Paul watched youtube and figured it out… Calamari!
After simmering the broth, saffron threads, paprika, veggies and rice, we started adding the seafood to the top.
Mussels went in last to steam open.
Surrounded with lemon wedges to garnish, we were pretty proud of our Paella!
We even acheived the slightly burned rice at the bottom, which is said to be the best part. We may have been a little over-zealous on the burnt bottom rice, though.
Spain has so many wonderful qualities, but among the top is the food. It’s fresh, available, simple and delicious, and we have been thoroughly enjoying it…
We take almost daily trips to the local marketplace, which has smaller shops selling their specialties, as well as a big grocery store with a variety of everything. We have especially enjoyed fresh fruits and veggies, cheeses, meats, and seafood!
There are baskets with wheels that you pull along on the floor. Right now citrus is in season!
This is an olive bar- an amazing amount of choices!
We haven’t tried the smoked fish, yet, and are not sure what this variety is…
So many varieties of cheese, we have a hard time picking favorites.
An abundance of seafood. Fresh fish, mussles, shrimp, squid, and some we don’t know!
This has been our favorite so far… at 8 euro/kg we have bought an entire salmon so far! (They only sell them in halves, ha!)
We bought some shrimp for Christmas- the kids didn’t enjoy peeling and deveining, but they were delicious.
This is one of the many shops selling legs of ham for Christmas- see the rows of them hanging? Spain is famous for it’s jamón!
Our first grocery haul from the market.
Paul has been our water-man, carrying jugs of water home for us to drink. We can drink the tap water, but it smells strongly of chlorine…
Hauling home the groceries! It’s a little over a mile walk each way, so we are building up our strength, but enjoy the forced exercise.
Getting to eat our baked salmon, salad and fresh baguette outside on a sunny afternoon!
We have also enjoyed getting to visit some of the local restaurants that seem to pop up everywhere! We are still not sure how to know when each is open or closed, but the locals all seem to know, so I’m sure there’s a pattern somewhere… Also, it seems like most of the small places do it all- espresso in the mornings with baked items, tapas and drinks late into the night, and food and drinks in between!
Enjoying café con leche with Croissants, a typical Spanish breakfast, on a lovely Saturday morning at the restaurant down the street.
The kids enjoyed a leche manchada, milk with a dash of coffee. Noah was thrilled 😉
We enjoyed a nice dinner a few days into our time here. Down by the beach there are so many restaurants, so we picked one that seemed nice and were very happy with the choice. In Spain, the largest meal of the day is the mid-day meal, called “la comida”, which means “the food”, eaten around 2pm. Restaurants often offer a “Menú del día” (menu of the day), which includes a drink, an appetizer, 2 courses and dessert, all for a reasonable fixed price (usually about $15). So, Paul and I each ordered one and shared with the kids. What a great way to taste Spain!
Starting with olives and fresh bread.
We ordered extra water for the kids, which was almost as expensive as the meal! Tip, order tap water 😉
Red wine and Spanish beer.
Our meal! Calamari, Mussels, Lamb and Shrimp.
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A meal well eaten!
Catalan Creme Caramel (similar to Creme Brûlée), and Flan for dessert.
We have spent a bit of time looking up how to cook with the variety of ingredients we have gathered (anyone know how to properly fillet a squid? Just ask Paul!), and have already gone through 2 bottles of fresh olive oil. While we have had our challenges of being unfamiliar with ingredients and techniques, and a temptation to stick to what we know, it has been deliciously rewarding to enjoy the flavors of Spain!
Last Sunday we took the train to Barcelona for a day of worship and touring. We started and ended our day at two very different churches, and put in about 15 miles of walking in between!
It was hard to remember that we were in Spain!
For our first Sunday in Spain, we wanted to attend a church service, and had been told to find an international church to attend. We found one in central Barcelona, and looked forward to attending worship with a blend of cultures, interested to see how God is uniquely worshipped in other areas of the world. As we stepped up to the front door, we were greeted by an enthusiastic blond american girl and ushered into the front door where kids were checked in via CCB to the left, the Welcome Center was to the right, and the coffee was served before the front door. It felt like we were walking into little USA, and the feeling continued. The band was lively, singing english contemporary songs with spanish translations below on the large, center screen. All cultures of people surrounded us, but as the kids came up to sing the song ours had sung a couple of years ago, I realized there was nothing different. The sermon was true, the people were very friendly, and we even had an invite to a weekly small group, but I came away a little disappointed that it was just the same as what we had experienced back home. There was nothing wrong with it, it had all of the elements that every church strives for, it was just the same when I was looking for different.
We were surprised to see Santa dancing down the street…
followed by a drumline!
The Castle of the Three Dragons
We pulled out our phones to find the next destination: the Gothic quarter, a beautiful area of Barcelona with old, Romanesque architecture showing elaborate stonework and ironwork, narrow streets and little shops. We enjoyed pointing out the impressive buildings, watching the many people passing by, and walking the stone paths. There were lights hung from balconies and a large Christmas tree to remind us of the holidays.
We stopped to enjoy a spanish specialty- Empanadas, a treat also famous in South America, then made our trek north to see the Arc de Triomf, which was built for the 1888 World’s Fair in Barcelona. This was the kids’ favorite place, since it also had a walkway filled with street entertainers, and so many, many dogs!
We had planned to walk up to Park Güell, a beautiful space designed by renowned architect Antoni Gaudí. However, our aching legs were not used to the miles and miles we had already logged the past week, and 15 miles was about our limit that day. Instead we found a cute little sidewalk cafe to enjoy some mediocre pizza and paella- neither homemade or the real thing, but a nice rest (we didn’t judge food here based on this experience, since Barcelona is known for it’s delicacies). We then walked a short distance longer to find our finale of the day- La Sagrada Familia.
Any search of Barcelona will reveal one of it’s most famous structures, a church built by aforementioned Antoni Gaudí called La Sagrada Familia- a gorgeous church a hundred years in the making and still in progress. It has almost a Dr. Seuss type quality, but with such strong and graceful curves that it creates a stunning structure for the glow of colors through the stained glass windows and elaborate sculptures. We were in awe of the beauty and thought behind each detailed element, showing symbolism for the gospel story and depicting biblical ideas that caused us to ponder and explore, maybe even more than the service that began our day.
Dark settled onto Barcelona as we walked through twinkly light lined streets towards our train station to go home. We had only experienced a tiny part of the city, but we enjoyed getting to know this part of Spain a little bit better. We experienced worship on this Sabbath in unexpected ways, and will continue to explore what it looks like to see God from other perspectives.
Tucked down an hour below Barcelona on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, Calafell (pronounced kah-lah-fay in Catalan) is a beautiful town with about 25,000 people, a population that swells for the summertime beach. Calafell is everything to hope for in a northern Spanish town. Winding narrow streets, clay tiled roofs, a small plaza next to a bell-topped church, surprising little bakeries and shops where they are least expected, flowers in the windows, and locals eating among the many little restaurants with outside tables.
We chose Calafell because it had the right Airbnb- good price, available, needed size and amenities. We didn’t really know much about this town, but have grown to love it in the long week we’ve been here so far. The people are so helpful and kind- many of them do not know English, but try to help as much as possible. A jumble of Catalan, Spanish and English usually get across what we need. Noah and Natalie like to say “hola” to everyone they see and will usually get a smile and an “hola” in return.
Little park behind our apartment
Such a pretty little home.
The streets are very clean here, most of them paved with bricks, and people are generally polite and respectful. And there are children everywhere! I have never seen a community with ever-present children like I’ve seen here. The teenagers usually stay with each other, but there are so many dads, moms and younger kids around that I have always felt very safe walking wherever I need to go. From what I have read, children rule in Spain, and what I’ve seen matches that well. It’s not a domineering rule, rather just that adults delight in children, so they are always welcome anywhere, and their antics are usually enjoyed rather than seen as annoying.
Walking to get groceries.
Outside of our apartment.
Down the main lane, I’m sure the trees are beautiful in summer!
Calafell is dressed up for Christmas!
Although we still get a little nervous to go out and do new tasks, it has become easier and more reassuring with each day. We are so glad to be in Calafell, and look forward to continuing to explore this beautiful town.
