Dinner a la Madrid

 So since I've been here, I've been meaning to get into the Madrileña eating schedule - breakfast, 2nd breakfast, tapas, lunch and so on. And that means late dinner. So far, I have had 2 really great, late dinners! For the first, my TEFL friend Brittany and I walked around the streets of Sol and picked a restaurante con terraza (an outside terrace) area at random. We enjoyed a glass of Rioja (the typical, Spanish house wine) and an appetizer of marinated olives while we waited for our food. I ordered to Cerdo Solmillo, which was pork tenderloin in a glaze sauce and Brittany went with some simple fajitas. And with all the walking we've been doing, we went ahead and splurged on the Brownie Especial - brownie with raspberry flavoring.

Pork tenderloins

marinated aceitunas (olives)

brownie especial

 The second dinner was at a restaurant call Los Marcianos. Yes, the Martians. Complete with alien-theme decor. But luckily, we didn't let the eccentric outlook throw us off; the food was delicious! We split a tapas platter, which was actually a series of tapas served as separate courses. First, was the tomato/cheese salad, similar to ensalada caprese.

Chicken cordon bleu with squash

 That was followed by boiled potatoes served with little bowls of mustard, a spicy tomato sauce, sour cream, and goat cheese. The tomato sauce is the same used for Patatas Bravas, and it has a really big kick. Third was a kind of like a breakfast dish - crumbled sausage (possibly chorizo) and fried potato strings were served with an over-easy egg on top. Very yummy!

sausage, fried potatoes, and eggs over-easy

 The final dish had small chicken cordon bleu (filled with the ever-present jamón) on a bed of squash.

JAMÓN.

 And for dessert, we were brought a small torta (we think it was a rum-based cake) with a huge dollop of helado on top!

torta con helado - we think it was rum cake.

Day trip: Toledo!

Day trip! Destination: Toledo, Spain. On the list: site seeing, el Museo de Antiguos Instrumentos de Tortura, oh, and LOTS of yummy treats!

MAGNUM w/Macadamia nuts

First, after a bit of strolling and taking some lovely pictures of the old building and winding hills of Toledo, I stopped by a small shop and got a Magnum Macadamia ice cream treat. So yummy!

Tapas!

Around lunch, I dropped my bag at an empty table outside a cafe (Entre las Calles, I think) and ordered tapa del día, or the tapa of the day. It turned out to be a Heineken and this yummy meat and pea stew-type dish with bread. Pleasant surprise!

Tapa del día

Back to more strolling and more picture taking, followed by a SECOND ice cream treat, this time helado from an ice cream shop. I went with the always delicious frutos del bosque (which means fruit from the forest, so typically berry-flavored).

Helado: Frutos del bosque

I'm just gonna keep telling myself that all the walking and site-seeing burned off all those ice cream and bread calories. And anyway, excursion days don't count. Everyone knows that. Or they should :)

"What about 2nd breakfast? He knows about that, right?"

Well, this is certainly something I could get used to!

good book + cafe con leche + sweet treat

The Spanish eating schedule, that is. Let me break it down for you: the day starts with a cup of coffee or something similar at home, around 8 am. That's followed by a 2nd breakfast on the way to work/school, usually at a cafe - coffee/hot chocolate and churros or a potato-quiche type dish. Then at lunchtime (12 or 1), it's off to a tapas bar for bocadillos and vino or cerveza. That tides you over til actual lunch, around 2 or 3 pm. Around 3 or 4 it's merienda, or tea time. So another round of snacks, followed by an evening siesta. Then a 2nd round of tapas around 6 or 7, just to tide you over until dinner, around 9 or 10 pm.

Y'all, the chocolate was practically oozing out.

Crazy, right?? That seems like SO MUCH EATING compared to the usual 3-square-meals a day thing we have going in the US. But I guess when you break it down, it's not too bad. It's more like small but frequent snacking throughout the day.

cafe con lecheeeee.

And let me just say, with all the walking I've been doing the past 3 days, I completely understand the need for constant food and a longggg afternoon siesta. Today was actually my first attempt to follow this new schedule, and as you can see from the pictures, I thoroughly enjoyed my 2nd breakfast this morning. Cafe con leche, a chocolate pastry, and a captivating book, for the low price of €2. Here's hoping I don't gain 15+ lbs these next 6 weeks!

Let them eat cake!

 Can I just take a minute to rave about the cake my mom made for my Dad's birthday? It was SOOO GOOOD!!

Green Monster Smoothies!

One more quick post! After these past few weeks of delicious (but fatty) treats, I've been feeling sluggish and weighed down. So it's back to healthy foods and exercise for me! First off, the GREEN MONSTER SMOOTHIE. It's delicious, chocked full of healthy foods, and super easy and quick! I can throw all this stuff in a blender in the morning and drink it as I'm getting ready for work. Piece of cake! but not literally :)

See all those flecks of green? Yep, that's spinach!

Here's the recipe:

1 frozen slice banana

1 tbsp peanut butter

1/2 cup yogurt*

1 cup milk

4 cups baby spinach (more or less)

*I use plain Greek yogurt and add a dash of vanilla and Splenda for flavor!

North Carolina eats!

I haven't posted in so long! And trust me, it's not from lack of eating! I've been eating some amazing food lately, particularly on my 2 recent trips to North Carolina. Here's a quick review!

hushpuppies are my weakness.

On spring break, my sister, my best friend, and I stopped at this beachy restaurant in the middle of nowhere called Mulligan's. Seriously, there was pretty much nothing else around. But surprise! It was actually really good! I had grilled flounder with fries and hushpuppies, my friend Sam had a delicious looking crab cake burger, and my sister had a basket of shrimp and fried fish. Pure, beach bum yumminess!

Grilled brie and Tomato and an Open Faced Hummus sandwich.

Also, while out exploring one afternoon, we stopped for lunch at the Tipsy Teapot, a little hole-in-the-wall cafe/bookstore. There are shelves upon shelves of books and couches and armchairs strewn haphazardly all around the place. So fun! And the grilled brie and tomato sandwich was a completely new spin on a regular old grilled cheese. YUMMY!

Charlsey is like a wizard in the kitchen!

For a night in, my sister made this AMAZING taco-seasoned chili and mexican cornbread. It was the perfect balance of spicy and homey. Like southern comfort food mixed with modern tex-mex.

Green beer!

And of course, can't forget St. Patty's Day! Lots of green beer and traditional Irish nosh. I had a really yummy Shepherd's Pie, but I ended up scarfing it all down before I managed to get a picture!

Rip-tide! Green in honor of St Patty's Day!

And breakfast in NC was always a treat too! One morning my sister made us eggs baked in a sourdough loaf with green onions and LOTS of cheese. Even my little sister, who is one the pickiest eaters on the planet, loved this dish!

eggs baked in a bread loaf.

Oh, and Cookout is always worth a mention. They only have them in NC, and I'm so jealous because they're so good! They have tons of different flavors of milkshakes (and I mean good, authentic flavors, not chemicals), hushpuppies (!) and they're open to 4am. Come on people, bring Cookout to KY!

Sweet potato biscuit!

And last, but not least, this little drive thru diner at the end of my sister's road - Peaton's. They have all kinds of biscuits and breakfast foods, but I got a regular biscuit with egg and then a sweet potato biscuit with jelly. And oh my word! The sweet potato biscuits are TO DIE FOR. Literally, to die for. They're huge and oh so scrumptious. I'll tell you one thing, it's good I don't live in NC, with food like this I'd start packing on the pounds!

TURKEY KICKIN' IT!

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!! This year my Thanksgiving was literally a week-long celebration. My friends and I were FINALLY able to attend the annual Turkey Kick held in Bardstown! Turkey Kick is a huge bar crawl on Thanksgiving Eve and, let me tell ya, it was a blast! But of course, Thursday was the best day of the week because of all of the FOOD! Since our family dinner wasn't until 7 pm this year, we made lots of  hor'dourves to snack on to tide us over. I made these Crab Rangoon Bites from a pinterest recipe, and they might be better than regular crab rangoon!

pre-oven.

They were also super easy to make; all it takes is half of a pack of cream cheese, 1/3 cup of mayo, chopped green onions, a couple dashes of garlic powder and a tin of crab meat! You mix all that up and fill mini phillo shells and bake at 400° for about 20 minutes. So good!! 

freshly baked!

 My family is also a big fan of anything curry, so I made these Curried Sweet Potato Pancakes (pinterest!) Gahh, I could eat just these and nothing else.

soooo yummy!

 And of course, we always have both a ham and turkey so there's PLENTY to go around. And plenty to eat for the next week!

nomnomnom.

 Oh, and the morning after Turkey Kickin' it up in town, my friends and I came home to mom and dad preparing a FEAST of a breakfast. We had fresh fruit, strawberry and yogurt smoothies, pumpkin pancakes and EGG SCRAMBLES. 

Dad's pretty fruit arrangement!

Seriously, if your family's not making egg scrambles, you're missing out. My family likes to throw eggs, avocado, bacon, black beans, cilantro, cherry tomatoes, and basically any other veggie that's in season together in a skillet. I could eat eggs every day for the rest of my life as long as they looked this good.