Tag Archives: cooking

my first fabada

13 Friday Jan 2012

Posted by in cooking, culture, spain

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I’ve had a kilo bag of alubias (white beans) in the cupboard for ages and finally decided it was time to do something with them. But what? Twitter foodie friends suggested a fabada, a stew from Asturias, so here it is. My first fabada.

As usual, when trying something new, I found a few different recipes on the internet and then did a sort of mash up while adding a twist or two of my own. I’ll try to write down my recipe and get it up on azahar’s kitchen this weekend. Meanwhile, any guesses as to what’s in it?

What’s the last new thing you tried cooking?

[update: recipe is up! Fabada Asturiana]

which comes first… the mortar or the pestle?

21 Monday Nov 2011

Posted by in cooking, culture, language

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This morning my friend WeeRascal asked on Twitter… Mortar and Pestle or Pestle and Mortar? and my answer was mortar and pestle as that was how I was brought up hearing it said. But my English friend Annie Bennett says she has always called it a pestle and mortar, while admitting that “we Brits have some strange habits as you know…”

I remember recently wincing when on a cooking programme – I think it was Jamie Oliver though it may have been Rick Stein – it was referred to as a pestle and mortar. It just sounded so… well, backwards!

Thinking about it logically, you first put your food item into the mortar before using the pestle; alphabetically the mortar wins out too.

What do you say?

rick stein’s spain

16 Tuesday Aug 2011

Posted by in cooking, culture, sevilla, spain, video

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Remember back in May when that rascally Del sent me a surprise package containing the DVD of Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes? Well, he did it again with the latest series that features Spain.

As it was recently shown on tv in the UK, I’d been hearing various opinions about it on Twitter and couldn’t wait to see it for myself. And then it arrived today, which also happens to be WeeRascal’s birthday, so after getting home from an amazing lunchtime gourmet tapas tour, I just had to sit down and watch some of it.

Against Del’s and Ian’s advice I went straight to the fourth (and final) episode, which featured Sevilla. I was told that this was the best of the four and that it would be better to watch them “in order”, but how could I resist seeing my Sevilla on film? And… hmmm. I liked it, and will watch it again, but my first impression was that it didn’t really capture Sevilla very well. Which made me wonder if everyone who sees their “home town” represented in series like these feels the same. But it’s still great fun to watch and I am now wanting to travel more around Spain, especially the north.

Who wants to come with me?

rick stein

11 Wednesday May 2011

Posted by in food & drink, friends, television, travel, video

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So there I was watching an episode of Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey the other night, and the Sri Lankan curries looked so amazing I just had to tweet about them, which started up a twitter conversation between myself, @WeeRascal and @Seville_Writer, both of whom have met Rick Stein and used words like passionate, honest, charming and genuine to describe him.

I had to admit that I’d never heard of Rick Stein before watching this series, which is a wonderful combination of glorious travelogue images and amazing food porn, along with lots of good information about  the local dishes, geography and history.

So imagine my complete surprise yesterday when the doorbell rang and I received an Amazon delivery of Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes, courtesy of that rascally friend of mine. I shall have to find a way of “getting him back” when he next visits (possibly in June) but meanwhile I have just finished watching the first segment of the first episode, which took place in Corsica. Next up … Sardinia. I am totally loving this!