Day 35- Television Abroad

Since we have been laying low so to speak the last couple weeks we have been watching a bit more television. We have satellite television but mainly watch British channels. Sure there is CNN which we watched a lot during the school shooting but after a while it was more and more depressing so I won't even turn it on now. There is a channel that airs a few shows on what us Americans know as CBS, I can tell you that The Big Bang Theory is on almost all the time. I do love the commercials, especially the ones about drunk driving or rape. They are so in your face, they really make an impact. Leave it to the Brits to figure that out. There are a couple movie channels as well but they show the most random films. One day The Untouchables is on and right after it's Final Destination 3, then Die Hard followed by Jennifer's Body. It's like a game of movie roulette. Tonight Ghost.

Day 34- A quiet day in the neighborhood

It is December 26 the day after Christmas and from what I read about Spain since they celebrate their big holiday January 5th I assumed it would be business as usual. Not so much, there is more closed today than there has been the last two days. It is crazy how quiet it is on the streets and all those who are out and about are tourists. We did our semi-traditional Christmas eve dinner of calcots and romesco sauce, spicy chickpeas, salad and a black sausage and rice dish similar to paella but not really (same, same but different). Dinner overall turned out pretty good but we opted out of joining the people at the bars or attending midnight mass. Yesterday (Christmas Day) we stayed in most of the day, then headed out for dinner early evening. Again mainly tourists at the restaurant but we were happy places were open. Today I looked forward to hitting the shops, in true American fashion I thought maybe there would be some sales but I was wrong. I guess consumerism is not as popular here, taking a break and spending time with the family is. Strange concept.....

Day 33- La Noche Buena

The Good Night as the Spanish call it or Christmas Eve to us. The main Christmas meal in Spain in on December 24. The meal on the eve of the 24th is the most important meal in the Spanish calendar and is always held in the evening, many people won't even start until after midnight (after midnight mass) as the old saying goes, " Esta noche es Noche Buena, y no es de dormir" this night is the Good Night, and is not meant for sleeping" You can expect to see people out in bars drinking with family and friends before and sometimes after the big dinner. Another must do for a true Spanish Christmas is midnight mass which people go to either before or after the meal, depending on the time they eat. Christmas midnight mass in Spain is known as"La Misa del Gallo" or "Rooster Mass" because the rooster was the first to announce the birth of Christ. Once the meal and mass is over, people return home to exchange gifts. Children will often only receive a small gift as 'Papa Noel' is less popular than the Three Kings who arrive on 5th January with presents for all the children. The evening, or morning, usually ends in a bar or disco where whole families gather to party and celebrate once the family festivities are over. This year my plan was to cook a semi-traditional Spanish "La Noche Buena" dinner, but without an oven and minimal cooking tools my choices were limited. Not to mention I waited until fairly late yesterday and by the time I made it to the market most of the stalls were closed. I guess that is where I think like an American, the day before the day before Christmas everything is open and open late in some cases. Not in Spain. I will let you know what my menu consisted of after dinner........

Day 32- A week not being a tourist

So one week has passed and I didn't write, well that's not entirely true I wrote but just not on the blog. After Paris we decided to slow down a bit, to save money but mainly just to live like a local. I wrote a post a while back about being a tourist and for days in all the places we visited we were definitely tourists but this is where that difference between vacation and traveling comes into play. We quite a few things on our list to do and see in Barcelona and the surrounding areas which could keep us busy everyday but that is how you burn out on a trip. You know when people start using the term "I need a vacation from my vacation". We decided to stay in more, eat at home and save the small trips outside the city for next time. This is the key when you are traveling for more than a couple weeks. I keep a journal for everyday of the trip that budgets what we spend, I have done this for all our trips. When you start seeing a spike in your daily spending (Paris) then you know it is time to make up the average for the week by not spending for a few days. Simple math! I also jot down notes about what we packed that is not needed, stuff we can pick up along the way and stuff we also need because you can't find it anywhere. Hitting the grocery store for the week saves a lot of money, not to mention, dare I say it..... Sometimes you just get sick of going out to eat.

Day 25- Love Locks

So I am backtracking a bit but this was something I really wanted to mention. While in Paris we noticed something neither of us had never seen before, a bridge covered with pad locks. Our shuttle driver pointed some out as we drove to our hotel but we really didn't get the full affect until saw the bridge for ourselves. For those of you who haven’t heard of them, here's the story (according to bonjourparis.com). A couple writes their names on a padlock and locks it onto one of the bridges. They then throw the key into the Seine River as a symbol of their undying love. As BonjourParis reported last year, the locks on the Pont des Arts near the Louvre were cut off, reportedly by the government. But romance beats politics in Paris and the locks can now be seen on two Paris bridges: Pont des Arts and Pont de l'Archevêché. However, there is a difference on which bridge you pledge your love. Some say the only way to break the seal of love brought on by this love lock act is to find the key and unlock the padlock. Of course, that is nearly impossible, since the keys lie at the bottom of the river. This reality induces many brokenhearted individuals to return with bolt cutters to try to chop off the padlocks. So, on second thought, maybe it wasn’t the government after all. Eric and I thought it was pretty cool, ever though we did not partake in it we could appreciate the meaning behind it.

Day 24- Learning to Cook Spanish Style

Yes, I am a little behind but this week has been a little slow and I have been a bit under the weather, so I wanted to space it out a bit. So on Saturday I took a cooking class here in Barcelona, I have made it my goal now to take one whenever I travel. If we would have had more time in Paris I would have loved to take one there but I needed to save something for next time. My class consisted of 14 people, a couple from California, a couple from Wisconsin, a couple from New Zealand, a couple from Spain and Germany, a few other people who I am not totally sure where they are from except one of the women lived in Barcelona and knew all about paella (I think her cousin was visiting with a friend), a woman from England and a man from Australia who is a travel writer. Our teacher was named Ignacio, he was great! He took us to the market and showed us all the best people to buy from, he also taught us the 4 things to look for while buying fish, the smell, the scales, the eyes and the blood vessels (I assume) in the gills. That was something I never knew...... He also explained the prices of things and how local is more expensive, the different meats and what they are. The back leg of a black pig is the best; they eat acorns and grass only and "live outside for their entire lives, which is 5 months." Yes and for a mere $1149 you too can have your very own Jamon delivered right to your home from hamlovers.com. You think I'm joking, check out the website....

After the market we went back to the kitchen to begin our recipes. The menu consisted of Calcots (Sweet winter onions) and asparagus with Romesco Sauce (a nut & red pepper based sauce) followed by Trinxat de Cerdanya (potato and cabbage with smoked bacon)Ignacio made a variation of this which I liked but probably won't remember. Next was the main course, Paella de Marisco (seafood paella) the traditional paella although I prefer the meat paella. This was the tricky part, did you know they have a specific pan for the number of people you are making paella for? Basically it's even numbers only 2 and up, ours was 14 so you can imagine how big that pan is or Ben can demonstrate....

This is a very specific recipe, everything is about timing.... He also made sure we knew that we probably won't do it right the first time but keep practicing. I like realists. I also learned how to cut an onion properly which I am stoked about! Lastly was dessert, Minitarta de Moniato (Sweet potato minicake). Delicious! My recommendation if you ever visit Barcelona, Cook & Taste located at Paradis 3 or check out www.cookandtaste.net. My Class

Did I mention we drank a lot if wine????

Day 23- A Moment of Silence

On Friday, December 14 around 4:30pm (Spain time 6 hours ahead of the east coast) we returned from Paris back to our tiny apartment in Barcelona. Like any other afternoon, we went to grab some food and came back to our place so Eric could go out and shoot and I would write my blog and maybe even work on my script, it was like any other day. Until we looked at our computers, an array of news websites were overloaded with horrifying news about a school shooting in Connecticut. The story was still unfolding so we did not know the extent of it until we turned on CNN. I should add Eric is from Connecticut and his family still lives there, his sister and brother-in-law live 2 towns over from there. For the next 6-8 hours we were glued to the TV, sick to our stomachs and filled with disbelief. Especially since we have been discussing starting a family or our own. How could be someone do something like this? What could those sweet and innocent children and adults possibly done to deserve this? That lingering question of if everything happens for a reason, what god forsaken reason could this be? Not only for those children we lost but those who now have to live with this for the rest of their lives. The innocence of these children is gone, I sat up that night trying to remember the first time I learned of the terrible things the happen in the world. The first thing that came to mind was when the Challenger blew up, it was 1986 and I was 8 years old. We watched it in our class (3rd grade I believe)and as soon as it blew up, the teacher immediately turned the television off and our Principal made an announcement over the PA system. It was a terrible accident but not at the hands of someone else. How do you explain to your children that there are people out there that are capable of such things? Simply teaching them not to talk to strangers is not enough anymore. My best handle of this is actually teaching our kids that monsters do exist, not the ones living under their beds or in their closets but the ones that walk among us. The monsters you don't see coming. Maybe this way they will see them coming, they will know they exist and they will know the evil they can bring is real and if at all possible fight back. I don't know if that is the right thing to do but knowledge is powerful unfortunately so is violence. For now let's just take moment of silence to remember those lives lost and try to come together as a nation, as human beings to do the best we can to prevent something of this magnitude from ever happening again.