Food is Culture

I have been blessed with some real great friends here in Spain. I have been taken under the wings of a wonderful family, whom I spend a lot of time with every week. Their family has a small piece of land with olive trees and a barbecue. Here the large extended family spends HOURS upon hours talking and eating.  

I am absolutely loving this eighty degree weather!

We started off with many tapas of course... including some grilled prawns. These ones weren't too big but another day we grilled some large sweet ones.

It is so funny the priorities but there is no bathroom or anything on this land but there is a small shack like building with a refrigerator and area to set up to eat. 

You cannot really tell the true size of this rice dish, but it is huge. Before we added the rice we had to cut and prepare the vegetables and rabbit.

My niña María setting up the table!

At the beginning the asked me if I wanted a plate or to eat from the pan. I looked confused and they decided I must eat from the pan. Here is the before picture.

This is them eating towards my part. I guess I am not practiced because I was a slow eater and could not finish. No worries the boys cleaned up nicely!

Now you can see a better comparison of the size of this pan. Tomorrow I am going shopping to buy one of my own, the largest size possible for my suitcase. That means Dad, Aunt Patti, and Grandma Phyllis if you are reading this... plan on having some true Spanish rice dishes soon!

Also, my friend is quite the cook herself and she has been teaching me different typical dishes so I can practice. Above are galletas fritas. These cookies are sandwiched with pudding and then fried in olive oil and covered in cinnamon and sugar... healthy I know, but delicious!

I tried to make my first homemade olive oil mayonnaise but it proved to be quite the task. I must continue to practice. If you know me a bit you should know I HATE mayonnaise and think it is like slathering fat onto a sandwich but this Spanish stuff is the real deal! Above is ensaladilla rusa and I think Mom and Dad will really enjoy this take on a potato salad.

Lastly, I have been eating a lot of snails lately since it is Spring and I am trying to up my iron levels. They have little sad faces on them, no joke, but they are tasty. This is not what this picture is but rather pig´s face. This is the before picture. In the end it is really crispy and dark and reminds me of pork rinds. The ear tips are the best. I had a couple of pieces of course. I stick to a strict you must try everything at least twice rule... it shall get interesting when I start traveling to places like Thailand. Hope you enjoyed my bit of food culture here in Andalucía, Spain. Oh and tomorrow is European Union day. Not only can I name all the 27 countries in the Union in English and Spanish but I can locate them on a map... the things you learn as an elementary school teacher :)