Recently, we’ve been touring Italy, and it is really beautiful. But with two families – eleven of us total – it’s definitely different. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Food
Simply Sweet
Italian food is incredible!! The pasta is heavenly and the pizza is delicious. However my favorite thing to eat that isn’t frozen are the pastries. They’re sweet or savory and always taste amazing!! Continue reading
Ham, Ham and More Ham!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Spain is famous for its cured ham: Iberico pork. We saw it at many places. There were legs hanging in all grocery stores, restaurants, gift shops and little eateries. My favorite place to watch ham being served was at the AMAZING market on the Rambla in Barcelona. You can even buy a ham backpack. Continue reading
?Who Invited Her?
OK – I admit it – I never actually received an invitation to join the Velascos on holiday – I more or less just showed up. Or, more 
accurately, my Christmas present to the family was to come to Spain and treat them to dinner at a Michelin star restaurant in Malaga. In my defence, the offer had some historical context. After Alethea was born, the Velascos and I started a tradition: I sleep over on Easter Eve and spend Easter Sunday with the family to enjoy the annual Easter egg hunt. As the girls have grown older, the focus has shifted to activities like making chocolate cheesecake, watching movies, playing games, and eating good food (always a favourite activity). In any case, it seemed like a great idea to join them for a week of theirthree month sabbatical. But was it?
accurately, my Christmas present to the family was to come to Spain and treat them to dinner at a Michelin star restaurant in Malaga. In my defence, the offer had some historical context. After Alethea was born, the Velascos and I started a tradition: I sleep over on Easter Eve and spend Easter Sunday with the family to enjoy the annual Easter egg hunt. As the girls have grown older, the focus has shifted to activities like making chocolate cheesecake, watching movies, playing games, and eating good food (always a favourite activity). In any case, it seemed like a great idea to join them for a week of theirthree month sabbatical. But was it?
The Arrival
We all arrived in Malaga on April 1 (no joke) – me by plane, the Velafamily by train. They waited for me in their VW minivan at the train station and off we went to Las Columnas – the beautiful Spanish colonial home overlooking the Mediterranean. It is a magical place. On the way to the house, stories of Velasco vacation adventures tumbled from everyone’s lips (sometimes all at the same time!) It is clear they have had a marvellous time so far. The girls and Veladad are all exquisitely tanned – Mom, not so much. They are all still friendly to one another – a good sign! So on to becoming a bad influence …
The bad influences
– trying to convince the girls that the swimming pool was, in fact, a heated pool and that their Dad ‘switched on’ the heat after their first cold plunge.
– successfully teaching the girls “I’m a pleasant mother pheasant plucker” and other potentially inappropriate tongue twisters
– whining about needing wine
And some not entirely bad influences:
– treating theVelafamily to a Michelin star restaurant meal (sea urchin with green apple foam, veal sweetbreads, curried stingray etc).Aly’s birthday cake
Interesting, but not something we feel compelled to repeat.
– shopping spree at El Corte Ingles, rounded out by refreshments – a good time was had by all!
How I was influenced– learned how to make cake ‘hard boiled’ eggs– able to join Aly’s 12th birthday celebration– helped girls make chocolate cheesecake– a visit to Alhambra– watched The Untold Story of a The Sound of Music with Velafamily– learned about Minecraft (pouring molten lava on unsuspecting virtual villagers, shearing green sheep)– learned to play Candyman– ate chicken piccata made with lemons from lemon tree in backyard– watched whipped cream get shot directly into eager mouths– spent some quality time with each Velasco and had some serious / some silly conversations– experienced the joy of watching the girls transforming into global citizens
– marvelled again at my good fortune for having these great people in my life.
Thank you Velafamily, for letting me crash your sabbatical!
Tapas, tapas, tapas!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hola,
On our first day in Seville, we went to a close by restaurant for lunch – we had just woken up. Because of the time change it, none of us had not adjusted to the time yet. It felt like it was two in the morning in Nicaragua, but local time it was noon. Plus, we had travelled for over 30hrs getting here.
The restaurant that we went to had most of the seating outside, and was fairly busy. Continue reading
Making chocolate in Grenada
As an early birthday present my parents took my sisters and I to the Chocolate Museo, to learn how to make chocolate. There are 3 main parts to making the chocolate; Continue reading
daily Market in Granada
Food exports of Costa Rica
On the drive back to Playa Hermosa from Monteverde we saw a gigantic rice field. I immediately wanted to see the field up close, harvest the rice, see what happens before we see the rice in stores. I knew we couldn’t stop to explore the field. On the drive we also saw a rice processing mill near the rice field. Continue reading
Just Some Things I Noticed
There are clearly some differences between Canada and Costa Rica, but besides the temperature, it’s the subtler things that make the differences beautiful. Affected by everything from the history to the climate, these contrasts let us peek into culture of the countries. I could list each variation, from public transportation to the brands they sell, but there are two I really noticed – about animals and food. Continue reading
The Farm 100 Feet From the Kitchen
Working on the farm in Arenal is really fun! There are black and white ducks, sheep and little lambs, 2-3 different types of chickens of which are mostly hens, and cows, along with 2 calves. One of which was newborn! It was really cute.
