Recuerdos

My future sister-in-law and I have decided to take it upon ourselves to help perserve the Irala and Saelices families keepsakes, their recuerdos. Most of their pictures are in photo albums that are thirty-something years old and the pictures are falling out and there's no record of when they were taken nor of who is in each one.

We hope to surprise my future in-laws at Christmas with a wonderful, complete photo album and family tree. It also means we will have scanned and saved all of those pictures on a disk that can be treasured for years until technology comes up with a new format to save them on.

So far my fiance has not been very helpful at identifying people in the pictures. Which makes me all the more happy that I've taken this on now when his parents and grandparents are still around to help out if needed. My grandparents are all either gone or slipping away and all their memories and knowledge are lost forever. It would be a shame if that happened in this family too.

I couldn't tell you who is in each picture but I think each one is lovely and special.

Wedding attendants

Flamenco dresses

First communion

La vendimia

We've been in Villacañas at the vendimia picking grapes. This was my fifth year and as glamorous as it sounds, it has never been a walk in the clouds. It's hard work!

My fiance's family has vineyards and, in addition to pruning twice a year and other tasks, we have to go to the grape harvest. They usually go about 15 days in September and October although I usually only last about 4 days. I don't know where his parents get the energy to keep going.

We get up at 7 am, have breakfast and are out in the vineyard by 7:30 am. We pick, pick, pick all day long stopping for a snack, "cigarette break," lunch and nap, snack and another "cigarette" break before stopping around 8:30 pm.

We've always eaten a stew or rice dish cooked in a pot over burning vines out in the middle of the vineyard. We've always napped in the shade of the vines or tractor on the ground. On the rocks and soil together with the flies and heat. This year his parents had mercy on us and let us go back to the house to have lunch and take our nap! What a HUGE difference that made!

The family has been trellising the vines and by next year we hope to have finished most of their land. Then the grapes could be picked by machine. That would mean this year could possibly be my last vendimia. Honestly though, I don't think I'm going to miss it much. We'll always still have to go out to prune the vines twice a year.

Gazpacho

Being the end of August, my vegetable garden is overgrown and running out of steam. However I have no shortage of home-grown tomatoes and thought I'd take advantage to make my very first gazpacho. It's a traditional Spanish cold tomato soup. Which I know makes you think of V8 but seriously it is delicious and a fantastic way to get in your raw vegetable servings everyday during the summer. Make a more watery version and you can drink it like a shake. Make a thicker version and add vegetable chunks and eat it like a soup.


Just wash, peel, chop and de-seed tomatoes, cucumber, bell pepper, onion and garlic.

Blend and add olive oil, vinegar and salt.

Add and blend in day-old French bread (optional).

Guerras Cantabras

Two thousand years ago the north-central coast of Spain (Cantabria, Asturias and part of Leon) was inhabited by Celtic tribes. Roman troops were sent to conquer them in 29 BC and the war pursued until 19 BC when the barbarians finally surrendered.

Every August/September there is a reenactment of this war in Santander and surrounding Cantabrian and Asturian areas. They began last weekend with the disembarkment of "Roman" soldiers in Santander and a parade of different Roman regiments. Next weekend there will be another parade in Santander with Cantabrians too.

During the week in Los Corrales de Buelna there are Roman circuses, theater and other shows. A whole town is set up, half based on a Cantabrian town and the other half on a Roman town. People dress up according to whether they are Romans or Cantabrians for the week and spend their time socializing, eating and drinking. It really is a treat.

Two kinds of Torrijas

Every Easter every good Spanish housewife makes enough torrijas to feed an army. And they disappear in minutes, seconds, moments. And as beloved as they are, as much as each Spaniard thinks of them over the year... it seems my generation and the ones that have followed have no clue or desire to learn to make them for themselves. Mother's torrijas are the holiest thing about this week.

The closest thing to a torrija is French toast. Except it's sometimes soaked in brandy and it's always fried in oil and bathed in sugar. The unhealthiest thing in the world.

So in efforts to wing my boyfriend from his mommy dependency, we ventured to make our own.

Two kinds. One soaked in hot milk, cinnamon and lemon peel. The other soaked in melted sugar and brandy.

Both were bathed in eggs, fried in oil.

And then bathed in a sugar/cinnamon mix.

Farewell

In February I experienced my first "first" in a really long time. It was a hard, emotional and draining experience. The passing away of a loved one here in Spain.

My boyfriend's grandmother passed away at the age of 87. She was born in Villacañas where she got married, had three children and died. She's only left there a handful of times. She didn't have her first washing machine until she was given one by her son when she was already in her 80s. Even then she would fill it up with a bucket of water, hand wash her clothes in it and then wring her clothes out in the tub. She would help her children harvest grapes and olives until she was in her 80s. Used a wood stove to keep warm. Never went to the doctors until she had multiple-organ failure last year and slipped into a coma. And she's struggled ever since. Struggled with being lonely, with feeling useless and restless.

Her birthday was in January and we had got the whole family together to celebrate. She spent the day with her three children, six grandchildren and one great granddaughter and respective "others."

She was staying with my boyfriend's parents and we had spent the weekend with her. Sunday afternoon we said goodbye before leaving to come back home. We didn't suspect anything. But as we parked our car outside our house a little over an hour later, we received a call. She had started seizing, vomiting for about 15 minutes. And that was it. She died.

Although it shouldn't have been, it was a real shock. We had just spent the weekend with her and in one short hour she was gone.

In Spain, when someone dies, they are immediately taken to the mortuary. They didn't perform an autopsy on her, no need. She was dressed in her wedding dress which was black. She had it fitted years ago and had bought her coffin too in preparation.

Her body was layed out on a table behind a glass for the whole of the night. She was holding a bible and rosary. The family stayed there and received visitors for almost 24 hours. Local women came and chanted and prayed for her soul.

She was then taken to the church for a short service. Afterwards she was placed in a hearse that drove slowly to the cemetary. The men followed on foot and helped lower her in her grave. In Villacañas, people are not buried undergrown. Instead they are placed in cement tombs above ground. She was to be placed in the same tomb as her husband and other relatives and in order to fit that many bodies in there, the bones of the others were placed in burlap sacks and sat on top of her coffin.

You will be missed Melitona.

Lifestyle choices

So today's post is going to be a rant. And that rant is directed at the Spanish population. However that's mostly just because that is who surrounds me everyday, and if I lived anywhere else, I'd probably rant about that population too.

I love to eat healthily and to exercise and just to lead a natural, good life (except for a pesky diet coke addiction). But organic, semi-vegetarian diets are not common in today's society. Girls going mountain biking (especially here in antiquated, chauvinistic Spain) is a rare sight. And no one seems to know what to think about it. No one has ever encouraged me to eat better here in Spain. Only a handful of friends don't look down on me for exercising.

They know they enjoy their oily, greasy fried foods. How much they love to sit around chatting. And they want you to partake in what they love. If they're going to "sin", they want you to do it with them. And they want you to enjoy doing it with them so they don't feel bad about enjoying it too.

Every time I turn down a third or forth helping of food, every time I mention that I went for a run, when I say I want fruit instead of pudding for desert... I get the most negative feedback ever. It's amazing. They want to know why someone as thin as I am would want to do exercise. Duh! As if me being thin has nothing to do with working out! They think eating right is being on a diet. Something temporary that you would only do if you were obese. Why would I ever want to be on a diet?

Grrr. It's not like I run a marathon every day or am wasting away from hunger. I would just like to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and I'd like people to take a positive interest in it.

Platos de cuchara

So the traditional Spanish diet is in essence the Mediterranean diet. Lots of ham, lots of seafood, olive oil, garlic and parsley. In a nut shell.

So the other day my boyfriend prepared a traditional dish that falls into the category of platos de cuchara because they are all eaten with a spoon. They are all basically stews prepared by throwing into a pressure cooker: pork parts & bones, dried beans, vegetables and olive oil. They're easy to make, super healthy and quite cheap.

This is the lentil stew he made:

Lentils (since they cook so quickly, we just do this in a regular pot) with water

Potatoes, carrots, onion, garlic (halved) and bay leaves

Chorizo (which is nothing like it's Mexican counter-part; it's actually more like pepperoni)

Throw it all in together with salt and olive oil

And enjoy! (Usually with a piece of bread in one hand to mop up the broth)

I know I didn't include any measurements, but Spaniards tend to measure everything in "handfuls" or "pinches" and I don't know how to translate that into the English system ;)

New Year, New Resolutions

To my delight Spain has started the year off with a post-worthy resolution that has got me all excited. Spain has finally summoned the willpower to ban smoking in public places. And I'm just thrilled :) Bravo man, it's about time.

European countries have been slowly taking action since the turn of the century and many countries (Ireland, Italy, England, etc.) have already been enjoying fresh air for years. Spain first banned smoking in January 2006 in hospitals, airports and workplaces. Restaurants, cafes and bars could choose whether to do so but if a restaurant was larger or smaller than a certain m2, then they could close off an area for those wanting to smoke. The law turned out to be quite confusing and not really enforced. In the end only about 10% of the bars and restaurants chose not to allow smoking. None of those 10% were here in Alcalá.

It has been estimated that a third of the population in Spain smokes, which I think should be taken with a grain of salt. I have many friends who claim to not be smokers but to enjoy "just one cigarette every now and then." As I have observed, those friends have up to five cigarettes every time they go out drinking or for a coffee. And if they go out several times a week... well you can do the math.

Now smoking has been banned in all restaurants, cafes and bars. Around all parks and schools. Only 30% of hotel rooms are reserved for smokers and hotel employees are not allowed to enter them while they are occupied.

And the truly amazing thing is that it is being enforced. I haven't seen a single person disobey the law. Bars and restaurants have set out little tables on the streets (in the winter!) so their clients feel less alienated at the thought of standing outside to smoke. I have encountered long lines at each place I've gone to and as far as I can tell, people are going out and consuming more than ever.

Victory is ours! The right to breathe smoke-free air is ours! Let's go out and enjoy it as much as possible and to support local businesses as they go through this transition.

My personal new year resolutions... to get out from in front of the TV and start doing again. Start reading and running and enjoying life again. Take up photography (with the great camera my bf gave me) and finally take up German again. And I could care less whether I do them frequent or well enough, just as long as I do them.