Uno for me, Uno for you: Liquid Gold Giveaway!

*A winner has been chosen. Gracias to everyone for your comments!*


Olive oil, aceite de oliva, it's not just an ingredient in España, it's a dietary staple and a source of national pride. Any mention of olive oil and you're bound to hear these fun facts: More olive oil is produced here than any other country. Italy imports olive oil from Spain. Spanish olive oil is the best in the world.

Olive trees for miles kilometers...

Aceite is used at every meal, from drizzling it on toasted bread for breakfast to cooking shrimp in a dish of it for dinner. If you order a salad, it will arrive at your table with bottles of olive oil and vinegar, it is used for frying, and in some desserts. Olive oil is sold in every store, even the corner frutería, in small bottles and giant tins and jugs. It is ubiquitous. And delicious.

Typical breakfast of toast, olive oil, and pureed tomato.

I started cooking almost exclusively with olive oil several years ago, when we were still living in the States, because of the health benefits. I would buy a small overpriced bottle from the grocery store and use it sparingly. Now, we buy it in 5 liter tins, and use it for everything. The aceite here is much better quality and cheaper than what I could get before. 

Our tin of olive oil ran out just before we left for our weekend in Benaojan, so we picked up another 5 liters when we were in Ronda. I especially like this brand, Oro Natura*, and keep it in our kitchen because it's extra virgin, mechanically pressed, and extracted from organic Lechín olives that are grown in the Sierra de Cádiz. Basically, it's the best - natural, local, and flavorful. 

So, I just couldn't resist getting an extra half-liter bottle of my favorite to give away! One for me, one for you!

I love this smaller bottle, because it also comes with a pour spout and you can reuse it. I have the same one on my kitchen counter that I refill from our larger tin.

Now, I wish I could buy gifts for everyone, but I just can't. So rather than play favorites, I figured I would leave this up to chance. 

Here's all you have to do to win:

-Comment directly (not via facebook or email, although I love those comments, too!) on this post. It can be about olive oil or whatever you like. 

-Have a US address where I can send it. I know, I live in Spain, but I still use the US mail system. If you're in Spain (without a US or FPO address) get your own olive oil! Also, I'd be more than happy to send it to a friend or family member of yours in the States. Share the love!

-I'll use random.org to determine the winner and will announce who the lucky person is on Monday, April 29th.

¡Buena suerte!

*Oro Natura has no clue who I am. I just like their product and am feeling generous. 

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Pancakes and giving something up...

Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday - in the States most people think of New Orleans, parades, beads, and drunken debauchery. Here in southern España, it's Carnaval time. Many towns have their own celebrations, with Cadiz hosting the biggest and most well-known, attracting revelers from all over Europe for a 10-day party. I'll have a whole post on that craziness soon.

Where I'm from Fat Tuesday is Pancake Tuesday. Churches host pancake dinners or people make breakfast for dinner (brinner!) at their house. The tradition comes from emptying your pantry of sugar, eggs, and other fatty deliciousness before Lent begins. For us non-religious folks, it's a good excuse to have a big midweek brinner, and so we invited some friends over to the casa on Tuesday night.

Scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, pancakes, dessert pancakes. Yes, dessert pancakes - chocolate chip silver dollars, served with nutella, peanut butter, and strawberries. A friend brought pastries. More friends brought bottles of cava. To keep it light, we also had a fruit tray. And there were mimosas, of course!

It was a delightful feast with friends and a fun way to share a tradition. There was lots of good conversation and the question about who was giving something up for Lent (and what) was thrown about. 

I'm not Catholic, neither is Graham, or really any particular religion, but I like the challenge of giving something up for 40 days, sometimes it's good to test your willpower. So for the last few years, I've given something up. It also makes it easy if you get asked about why you're not eating/drinking/doing something you normally do - it's Lent. In the past, I've always given up eating meat. At this point, I hardly eat any meat at all (not never, I consider myself "flexitarian", still eat seafood often and meat rarely).

Last year, even though Graham said it was too easy, I gave up meat again, but I knew that really wasn't enough of a challenge this year. After thinking for a bit, I knew what a true test of willpower would be

Our Christmas

from Meghann:

This was our second Christmas in España and the second year in a row that we celebrated with just the two of us and no other family (well, besides Chloe and Cora, of course). We still miss our families, the big dinners, opening gifts together, but we've gotten used to and learned to appreciate our simpler, more relaxed holidays. And we know how lucky we are to be able to spend Christmas together, when so many others cannot. Our family might be small (and 50% four-legged) but we can still be festive!

 Our Christmas was filled with food - some traditional dishes, along with some Spanish favorites. For both of us, food helps us feel closer to home, especially during the holidays. So there was plenty of cooking, baking, canning, eating, and drinking.

We canned homemade cranberry sauce on Christmas Eve.

And I used it to make cranberry coffee cake, which we ate on Christmas morning.

Another lovely thing about Christmas in Spain - the weather was gorgeous. Christmas Eve was sunny and warm.

You can see some people in the water in the background (for the record, we didn't think it was that warm, but people come down from the North over the holidays, so maybe it was warm to them...?).

There was a lovely Spanish sunset...

Thirsty Jueves: Dark & Stormy edition

One of Graham's favorite drinks (and one of the only rum cocktails that Meghann likes) is the Dark & Stormy. There are only a few ingredients - black rum, ginger beer, and a lime wedge. But the most traditional rum, Gosling's, and the star ingredient, ginger beer, are impossible to find aqui. 

We drank "a few" of these sailor drinks when we were holed up during Superstorm Sandy in DC with friends (the area was so lucky and we didn't even lose power where we were staying). And the rainy weather that is typical in Spain during the Fall has us thinking about them again. Unfortunately, there is only a little bit of our stash left. So, if you can get your hands on the ingredients, make some and think of us.

Dark & Stormy

In a tumbler with ice, add

-2 ounces of black rum (more or less)

-fill with ginger beer (not to be confused with ginger ale)

-lime wedge (not just for looks)

A Dark & Stormy is a great way to brighten up a day when you're stuck indoors and is just as good on a sunny deck or beach. Something we are really missing right now... 

Not-so-Dark & Stormy at Pusser's in sunny Annapolis, MD in July.

Feria season snaps

Feria season, when towns in España celebrate with week-long fairs, came to our area in between our honeymoon and our trip to Dublin (more on that soon!). All of that travel, combined with some unusually cold and rainy weather, meant that we weren't able to go as much as we had planned. The noche before we left for Dublin, the weather cleared and we were able to go to the Rota Feria de Primavera (spring). We stayed until almost 3 in the morning, but many of the casetas, which are fair tents with food, drinks, and music, were still going strong.