Foods around the world.

[Beany]

I spoke to my Spanish friend this morning and she recommended tortas de alcazar and rosquillos. Tortas de alcazar are pancakey things, and I think rosquillos are some kind of biscuit.

I didn't mention tapas because tapas are just any small piece of food really. Quite often a couple of squid rings or some olives. It comes from a scheme to do with not being able to sell alcohol without food, so pubs started selling tiny dishes with each drink.

Also I really want churros now. I had them from the Cuban equivalent of a burger van when in Cuba (surprisingly ), and even those were delicious.

[bella]

Chex, did you make the Kroketten yourself?

I love Tapas, you have all these tiny little dishes and can try a lot of different things. Especially dates or prunes wrapped in bacon and baked, these are delicious.

[chex]

Yep, I made 'em myself. They came out a little heavier than I remembered them, but still very tasty.

For our Spanish weekend, I was going to do two days. Basque eggs (because FL said they looked really good) for breakfast and a tapas dinner one day, and fresh fruit and churros for breakfast (because I can, lol) and paella for dinner the next day. Paella is out though, because I'm not paying almost $20 for a jar of saffron. Fortunately, Cho is awesome, and I have lots of other things to check out. Gracias, Cho!

[LaLou]

You could use turmeric in stead of saffron. It will give you the same yellow color, the taste is a little different, but who cares.

[Wesley]

You can also get the little book of matches sized envelope of saffron for just a couple of bucks.

[chex]

I'll have to see if I can find it around here. Along with cheap seafood. I really want to make this one!

[chex]

Hey, looking online I found some little saffron packets at the grocery store near where I grew up, and I'm going out that way soon. Woohoo!

Seriously, how the smurf did I survive without internet?

[sizz]

When I last made paella, I didn't have anything so I just bought a sachet of 'paella seasoning' which contained saffron and a couple of spices. Cheating, but easy.

[chex]

I found escargot at my local Walmart! They were already prepared. I had to make the garlic butter sauce and stuff them back into their shells, but the rest was done for me. They were sooo good! Apple Jack loved them, and had almost half of them. Froot Loop barely let one touch her tongue before proclaiming it disgusting. Corn Pop ate one bite, but wouldn't eat the rest. I will definitely be buying those again!

The rest of the meal was pretty damn good too. I made chicken in white wine, braised tomatoes, and fried potatoes with garlic.

Taking next week off to go to my mom's house, then Spanish foods the week after that.

[chex]

Good call on the churros, Cho! We had them for breakfast, along with some mini bananas. I'm attempting paella for dinner tonight.

[chex]

Next week is Greece, and Froot Loop requested England after that. She's fascinated by the fries/chips thing.

[bella]

Gyros and Tzatziki! And some Feta cheese. That's my usual fast Greek dish. And you can always add fries to that, of course.

[chex]

Froot Loop originally wanted Chinese food next weekend, until I described the cool, fresh tzatziki complementing the savory meat in a gyro. She changed her mind. I'll probably try making baklava for dessert.

English food, I'm thinking fish and chips for a lunch. Dinner one day, I want to try making beef wellington. The other day will have to include yorkshire pudding. I'm not sure what to do along with it though.

[bella]

Peas with butter and some mashed potatoes? And some gravy. No need for mint sauce though.
You could also make high tea with cucumber sandwiches, scones, clotted cream and jam. For every kid what it prefers and some tea of their choice.

[Beany]

Yorkshire puddings go with roast beef generally, though any roast meat generally works.

Bella's idea of the tea's good. Often it's just scones, cream (clotted is best), jam and tea, but the posher ones start with sandwiches of varying flavours, then scones and cakes.

Fish and chips vary by region. To start with, supermarket fish and chips are not the same, but unless you own a deep fat fryer I doubt it's easy to create the same experience. Secondly, some areas (I want to say Manchester but I don't know why) put curry sauce on their chips, others gravy, whereas most people stick to vinegar and ketchup. Mushy peas are also a grey area.

Having said that, the fish and chips you get in a pub are nothing like chip shop ones. Beer-battered cod or haddock usually, with decent chips (as opposed to those pathetic excuses that I think are known as fries) and lemon.

Glad the churros went down well - did you make the sauce to go with them or was it just the churros themselves?

[chex]

Oh, I made the sauce as well. Then after breakfast, I let the rest of the chocolate sauce cool and ate it as pudding.

We just had paella. The rice didn't get very yellow. Maybe I didn't use enough saffron? It was tasty though. I couldn't find chorizo (because my local Walmart sucks) but we used shrimp and mussels. They all fought over the mussels.

I don't have a deep fryer, but I have a deep pan where I can use lots of oil.

I like the tea idea too. I'll have to see if I can make clotted cream, as I highly doubt my Walmart sells it.

[Beany]

Clotted cream... is not... a supermarket item... where you live??? How is this not a problem? And what do you put on your strawberries?

[LaLou]

I don't put anything on my strawberries.

[chex]

I MIGHT be able to find it in a specialty store for a shazam! ton of money, but I won't find it at Walmart or any place like that. I eat my strawberries plain too.

[bella]

We don't get clotted cream here either. The first time I tried it was in Ireland.