Aceitunas and more delicious things

We have discovered a HUGE Sunday market in our town. Six days a week there are huge open areas of concrete, and then one day a week, Sunday, this same area is filled with tons and tons of tents selling everything imaginable, from produce, candy and nuts to shoes, blankets, sunglasses...I could go on for hours. So every time Eric and I have the opportunity to go we buy aceitunas, also known as olives. We are a little obsessed. Here's what we bought, YUM:

We also found a great little store to buy produce and bread. I get my weekly fill of sweet potatoes there, among other things. We are finally starting to find our favorite places in this town and make it a home, at least for now. Below is the yummy bread we ate with dinner.

(I've been talking a lot about food this week, what is that about)

Aubergines = Eggplant

Last night, Friday, we went out to dinner at our favorite spot, Don Benito. If it were socially appropriate to take pictures of the amazing food at this small, very Spanish restaurant, believe me I would have. But since I don't have pictures I will have to try and describe the deliciousness. And if your lucky enough to visit you can try it for yourself.

The first dish we ordered was tomatoes with olive oil, sea salt, and a bit of vinegar. Its simple, fresh, salty, and a nice way to start off the meal. Next we ordered "Cazón en Adobo", which is basically marinated fried fish. This is a very typical dish and one that we have ordered in other restaurants, but it seems to be the best and most fresh here. It comes out of the kitchen hot and sizzling, and we just stare at it, ready to eat even at the cost of burning our mouths. It has the perfect combination of crunchy on the outside tender on the inside. And the taste is overwhelmingly limey and fresh. One after another we pop these little fried fish balls into our mouths. They taste even better with a nice, heavy Cruzcampo beer to wash them down and cleanse our palettes.

Since this was our third time at the restaurant, we decided to take the suggestion of our waiter and order the special of the night, "Berenjena con Gambas". We had no idea what this meant in Spanish, so in an effort to help us understand the dish our waiter tried to speak English and said "Prawn", "Aubergine". Aubergine is British English. We say eggplant. Thankfully I learned this word from the 4th grade class I teach, who at the time was studying nutrition and reviewed the names of fruits and vegetables in English. So now that we knew what aubergine meant we decided to order the dish. From the moment we laid eyes on this beautiful dish we knew we would be back for a fourth visit to this restaurant. The eggplant, thinly sliced, was lightly fried and curled around a hidden prawn. The sauce was drizzled on top, a sweet brown sugar and soy sauce concoction with salt sprinkled on. When you bite into this mixture you taste my favorite combination of salty and sweet. And the eggplant together with the prawn is delicious. After we scarfed this down we realized that we may never have the opportunity to taste this again. So what did we do? We ordered another round. And it was just as good, if not better, the second time.

We left the restaurant full and happy, and a little bit tispy. After waking up today my mouth is still watering thinking about that amazing meal.

What a day

Things I never thought I'd do:

1. Say the words "penis", "testicles", and "vagina" for pronunciation purposes to a classroom of Spanish 4th graders for over an hour straight. The phrase "kids being kids" has a new meaning when applied to kids repeating the "reproductive organs" over and over and over again.

2. Sing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" more than 10 times in one day, on more than one occasion.

3. Listen to the group "The Wiggles"sing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes".

All in a days work.

Picasso + Guernica = Amazing

Reina Sofia, Madrid

Tortilla Española

My señora was the first person to introduce me to this delicious food. She made the best tortilla I ever had, and luckily showed me how to make it in her secret style. Tortilla is one of my favorite Spanish dishes for a few reasons, but mostly because there's no meat involved and because its filling and easy to make.

Here is my beautiful attempt at making tortilla. I did a pretty good job. It passed the Eric taste test.

The tortilla cooking.

Me and Eric testing the tortilla, yum!