Searching for my Inner Chef

First off, let me state that I am not a fan of cooking of any sort.  My mom (sorry to throw you under the bus mom) didn't cook much when I was a kid and I'm perfectly content carrying on that tradition.  Add in that I'm a picky eater and well, not much creativity is happening in our kitchen.

Yet somehow I've got kids that will eat pretty much anything (maybe it's because they are starving and will eat anything just to survive).  However, at the same time they have been pretty happy with my repertoire of chicken nuggets (both frozen and homemade), grilled cheese, hot dogs, chicken wings (frozen of course), pasta and baked chicken.  Yup, that's about it.  Yet they have the most amazing (and expensive) palates... they must get that from Josh.

And for the most part this lack of cooking ability has gone fine.  I don't eat a huge variety of food and the primary foods that I eat are plentiful here in Barcelona.  Fruits and vegetables are as fresh as can be and aren't filled with the preservatives like our foods at home that have them lasting for weeks...no, if you don't eat the fruits and vegetables in a matter of days, they will spoil.  And while I'm still not great about making sure we eat said fruits and veggies before they spoil, I'm getting better about it.

While I'm at it, let me also note that I don't know how working parents in the past, or the present for that matter, are able to prepare full scale meals after a long work day.  By the end of my day, not only am I too tired to really put together a full meal, but the time it takes, in my opinion, to put together anything ornate (as in beyond baked chicken or spaghetti), is beyond me, especially with children who get home at 5, and some days 6PM, and are in bed by 8.

However, not everything is easily accessible here as far as ingredients.  And certainly there are very few ready made meals to choose from.  I've never been a fan of frozen meals and they really don't have them here anyways (except those chicken wings), but I've never turned my nose up at a pre-made meal at Stop n Shop or Hannafords that I can just warm up in the oven.  And here they are a rarity.  Everyone does this "from scratch" thing... I've vaguely heard about it.

As time goes on, I find myself not hating cooking quite as much as I used to.  If it means that I can have something of superior quality to items in the store or an item from home that's not accessible here, I'm willing to attempt it.  For instance, pizza dough.  The pizza dough here in the stores is crap.  After a year, I found an Italian kiosk in my mercado that sells pizza dough on Monday and Thursday afternoons for $2.50 per container and it's totally fresh.  However, as fresh as it is, they don't make the dough in August (when no one is working) and it doesn't come out as crispy as the dough I've made myself.  And since my kids still wanted pizza in August, I had no choice but to start regularly making it on my own.  Of course, the reason the dough is crispy is thanks to my friend Kelly who supplied me with Fleishmann's Pizza Dough Yeast.  I didn't think it made a difference at first but then I tried regular yeast and yup it does.  The kicker, they don't make it any more.  So anyone who has gone home to the States has had a mission of getting me yeast and Kelly, god love her, sent me some in a care package.  Even something as simple as pizza dough still requires me to go above and beyond what is available to me here in Barcelona.

There is, admittedly, a little satisfaction of making something myself from scratch.  It makes me feel like a better parent knowing my kids are getting something that I took the time to make from the best ingredients.  Ok, let's not take this too far... and let's be realistic, I'm not making all that much from scratch but I'm trying.  And at least it's no longer a love-hate relationship.  However, that's with cooking.  Let's get to baking.

Now baking, baking I enjoy... well to a point.  Again though, I'm not really a huge fan of baking from scratch.  It's a pain in the butt and quite honestly I think that the box mix comes out just as well as from scratch if not better.  But like I said, there aren't many mixes or premade types of food here.  There are a few just ok mixes but nothing to write home about.  My American store carries cake mixes - Duncan Hines and such which I'm constantly stocking up on.  But their cookie mix is eh....nothing great.  I prefer my mix from home and so I've been hoarding it... yes, hoarding it.  I'm down to about 20 packages of it but at one point this cabinet was completely full.  Don't worry, I have a friend sending me girl scout cookies and in the process, we're going to restock this cabinet as I won't be going home til August and there is no way these will last until then.

For the most part I've been able to survive with my American smuggled mixes and the stuff I can buy (at an extremely expensive price) at the American store.  But there are moments when something comes up and I think, hmmmm, maybe, just maybe I can make that.  I had one of those moments today which was the inspiration for writing this blog entry.

I bought the kids this thing called Zoku - it's a quick popsicle maker, kind of like an ice cream maker where you have the outer sides that freeze in the freezer, you add ingredients into the popsicle mold and it freezes in minutes.  No longer needing to wait hours for something to freeze in the freezer.  The kids love it. Aidan had a yogurt, raspberry, granola pop this morning for breakfast and thinks it's just the coolest thing to have a "popsicle" for breakfast.  Liam's favorite lately has been either coffee or a cranberry/orange juice mixture.  Healthy and easy.

In our search for recipes, we came across one for creamsicles.  They look delicious.  But they require me to use vanilla pudding.  And in all my hoarding, believe it or not, I have NONE!  On a mission to make this creamsicle for Aidan, I googled "vanilla pudding recipe".  I found one on a website that looked reasonable and went to search for the ingredients.  Um, cornstarch...hmmmm... I'm hoping that the "harina de maiz" is the same thing - it did say it could be used for puddings.  So my fingers were crossed.

We made the pudding and it actually came out pretty good (though Josh tasted it after it had set and said the sugar crystals didn't melt enough and that it was a tiny bit crunchy, but hey, I like crunchy pudding) - actually Aidan told me it was the BEST PUDDING I'VE EVER HAD.  God, I love that boy!!  We added it in with our orange juice and voila, creamsicles!!!

Vanilla pudding from scratch!!!  

These are the challenges I'm presented with living here.  While the majority of the ingredients that are easily accessible are wholesome and healthy, there is not a lot of variety.  This recipe for creamsicles also calls for agave nectar.  Ha!!!  That's a joke right there.  Thankfully the 1 1/2 teaspoons didn't make that much difference in taste because I didn't notice it was missing.  Or to make a graham cracker crust...well, you'd have to have graham crackers and well, we don't.  I may try to chop up what look like could be graham cracker type cookies in my blender by my guess is they won't be the same.

In the end, not only has life abroad been a learning experience as far as culture and the language, but also in teaching me that if I want something bad enough, well, I'll just have to make it myself!  Now what to make for dinner....

Besos,
Julie

Our Third Spain-iversary!

Wow, seriously can it have already been three years?  This year truly flew by.  There were doubts amongst the masses as to whether I would be able to endure year one.  And yet, here we are, done with three full years, two and a half left to go.  We've been here longer than what we have left (again).

And speaking of being here longer, Liam is now the age Aidan was when we moved here, 5 1/2.  This was the year that Liam had officially lived in Spain longer than he lived in the United States.  A strange achievement in my mind, but cool nonetheless.  By the time we leave in 2 1/2 years, Liam will have been here twice as long than his time in the US and Aidan for half of his life.  The boys are now 5 1/2 and 8 1/2 - how much they've grown in 3 years!!

What does all this mean for us?  My hope is the longer we are here, the more impact it will have on all of us - that we will continue to learn and embrace new cultures and new adventures.  That over time, the language will no longer be a barrier to fully immersing ourselves into our lives here, something I try not to let get in the way, but inevitably does.  That the kids will learn that there is more to the world than our home in the US and that home is where we are as a family and location is less important as long as we are together.  To embrace people of different ethnicities and learn from their life experiences and to also recognize how important our own experiences are in shaping who we become.

Some of the the highlights from year number three?

• Well, the big one... We made the decision to stay here in Barcelona for 2 more years in addition to our already 3 1/2 year contract (we had extended our original 2 years last year).  So as of now we are heading back to the US in the summer of 2015.  This decision was a relief for all of us, and especially myself, who constantly felt in limbo about what our plan for the future was.  Knowing that we had 3 1/2 years from our decision date gave me a feeling of security that I could feel like this truly is home for now.
• Life is better with a car.  Yes, I got my drivers license.  It was a challenge but I'm really glad that I took it on because it just feels so good to have the freedom of getting into my little car and just... GO!  
• Josh went to a real calcotada with some people for work down in Tarragona, an experience I have yet to have but hoping for year 4!
•  A bigger apartment can make all the difference in the world, even more so than the car.  We moved in June to an apartment double the size of our old one, still in the same neighborhood but a better location and with bigger space plus a garage, we couldn't be happier!  
• Aidan and I lost a lot of our friends to moves this past year.  But we aren't letting it keep us down and while it was a tough transition for us, we are looking at the positive aspects of now having friends in different parts of the world!!  We're learning that this is a part of ex-pat life and while it's not our favorite part, it's a part of life we need to adjust to.  And in the meantime, we also made some great new friends this year who have become a big part of our lives.
• I hired a Spanish tutor in order to expedite my fluency - this will never truly feel like home until the language piece becomes easier.  The kids are both doing advanced Spanish in their classes.  Josh, well, Josh relies on the rest of us for this one... 
• Travel makes time fly.  Having trips to look forward to has really made our time here go by quickly, perhaps a little too quickly!  It will be interesting to see how time moves when we go back home and don't have as much on our itinerary.
• The boys turned 5 and 8 this year.  They are no longer the "babies" they were when we moved here 3 years ago.  They are street-smart, travel-saavy, worldly kids that make me proud everyday.  They both have had challenges in the last year and continue to persevere to come out on top!
• Josh has finally joined me in my fitness craziness - he's running 3 to 4 times a week and I'm so proud of what he's accomplished!  He was running 5k regularly by the end of the year and as of this writing within days of the new year, he hit 6k.  He's down more than 20 lbs and working really hard!  Go Josh!!
• This year was our best visit home yet - we are learning from previous years' mistakes and not overscheduling.  We had quality time with those we wanted to spend our time with rather than spreading ourselves too thin as we had done in years past.  We also did some "quality" shopping while we were home, to the tune of THREE extra suitcases of goodies to bring back (this in addition to the 2 extra I had brought back with me from the US when I was there in May for my brother's wedding).
• Josh finally joined the iphone craze and kicked the crackberry habit...
• On the flip side of a good time at home in the US was August in Barcelona.  This is a BAD idea and one we won't repeat again in future years.  As a matter of fact, I've already booked our flight home for this coming summer for August.  August here is dead, hot and just plain miserable.  Lesson learned.
• The holidays can be tough for an ex-pat, but when you can create your own "family" not only do we feel less far away, but it's amazing how wonderful the holidays can really be.  We celebrated Thanksgiving with 14 friends and their significant others.  And Josh's parents were here for Christmas which made the holidays feel a little more like home.  

As with the last two years, this year was also jam packed with travel.  Not all of it was together as a family though most of it was, however, Josh and I also took trips together and individually.  Breaking down the year we went to:

• January - We went skiing as a family in the French Pyrenees; Josh went home to the US for work.
• February - Josh did some travel for work including Amsterdam
• March - My cousin Meghan came to visit; I went to Andalusia (Cordoba, Sevilla and Cadiz) with some friends, and Josh did some more travel for work.
• April - We hit the Amalfi Coast in Italy as a family which also included a trip to Pompeii and the island of Capri and I went to Scotland with some friends for a few days.
• May -  I made a trip to the US to see my little brother get married!  
• June - The kids and I went home for a few weeks at the end of June / early July.  Josh actually overlapped us on this trip and it was the first time since we moved that we were all on US soil at the same time.  
• July - The kids and I were home til mid way through the month.  Then they were in camp for a few weeks here in Barcelona.
• August - We did a family trip to Menorca, an island off the coast of Spain.  This was an amazing family trip and I'd say top trip of the year.  
• September - Josh's long term dream of Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany finally came true.  Friends, Kyle and Kelly, came to Germany to meet up with us for a fun filled long weekend!
• October - This was a crazy month!!  We went to England to go Legoland and the Cotswolds as a family, then Josh left the following day for the US only to come back for off site meetings and then he went to London to go to the Patriots game!  
• November - The crazy travel continues.  Josh returned from London only to have us head off as a family to Belgium a few days later.  A day and a half after our return I did a girls trip to London.  A week of rest and then Josh and I were off to Budapest where we met up with a college friend of ours.  And yes, one more trip, I went to Madrid with a friend at the very end of the month.  Whew!!!  
• December - Madrid actually overlapped Nov/Dec so it kind of counts as Dec travel ;).  We did a quick day trip to France with Josh's parents to attempt some Christmas markets and Josh and I did a 3 night escape to Andorra.  Travel for the year, done!!!  Now on to planning for 2013!!! 

What do we have planned as we head into our FOURTH year here in Barcelona?  Well, of course we'll do more travel.  We haven't booked anything as of yet, but tentatively we are thinking Morocco, Prague, Istanbul, Vienna, London and hopefully the Nordics (Sweden, Copenhagen and Norway).  I'm also planning to hike the Cotswolds Way this spring, a 120 mile trail hike.  And we'll head home for a few weeks in August (Josh is actually heading back in February for work and I'm sure will be back at least one or two more times before the kids and I go this summer).

Though being a bit spoiled through travel, we also still try to keep things as normal as possible for the boys.  The kids will continue to play tennis weekly as they have the last few years.  It would be nice if this spring Aidan could add another sport but it all depends on what the school has to offer.  In addition to sports, with the freedom of the car, we are making a more concerted effort to do playdates with them outside the city as well as class parties that are often held on the outskirts of Barcelona, something we were a bit more reluctant to do before without the car.

With the additional playdates and parties, our hope is that we will take the time to get to know more of our children's friends' families.  We know a few of the close ones but really haven't spent much time with the adults so it would be nice this year to put forth the effort on our end to change that.

Josh and I will keep focused on our fitness goals.  I'm debating some running races for this year, though racing isn't usually up my alley, but it would give me some goals to work towards.  Josh, having just started running again for the first time in 15 years back in August, has some goals of his own that he's working towards and I'm so proud of him - and I have no doubt he will keep up the good work.  

Perhaps in addition to this, and I say perhaps, I shall learn to cook better so that we can help meet these fitness goals.  I'm not the best of cooks but I'm willing to make a go of it for us to be healthier.

In addition to fitness goals, I'm trying to also add some new goals for work.  I will be the first to admit that the last 2 years I have slacked a little bit when it's come to my work and this year it's time to put my nose to the grindstone and get to it.  I'm hoping to make it a really good year but also to make sure that my work does not take over my time with Josh and the kids or my ability to enjoy our time abroad while we have it.

No matter where life takes us this year, we will continue to embrace the adventures and the lifestyle and  to remember that we are incredibly lucky to have embarked on this opportunity three years ago that have changed who we are and who we have become, forever.

Besos,
Julie

Quick Escape to Andorra

Since Josh's parents have been here, they were kind enough to offer to watch the kids for a few days so we could enjoy an adult getaway.  After much debate as to where to go, we decided on Andorra.  We went to Soldeu last year for our anniversary for a night and it was beautiful.  And after so much travel in the last 3 months, neither of us really wanted to get on a plane again.  Just a 2 1/2 hour drive away, Andorra seemed the perfect solution, though this time we would go to Escaldes-Engordany and Andorra La Vella, the shopping center of Andorra.

Andorra is a tiny country, probably the size of Rhode Island, if not smaller, that is centered between Spain and France.  The official language there is Catalan, as in Catalunya here where we live.  But they also speak French and Spanish.  So it didn't feel all that much like we were away from "home" and yet was still a nice getaway.

One of the things Andorra is known for, aside from skiing, is tax free shopping.  We walked along the streets of La Vella checking out the wears in the multitude of shops.  Unfortunately for me, there wasn't much that I saw that I couldn't get from the States (Josh is going in Feb) for cheaper.

Josh in his handsome new jacket near our hotel

Walking along the streets of La Vella

Monument to Dali

Cool dune buggy

Surrounded by beautiful mountains

In the States we have light up deer at Christmas time, here they have cows ...

Interesting Christmas tree

Pretty church by our hotel

We had dinner, not once, but twice at this amazing restaurant off the beaten path called Versailles.  It's focus was on French food rather than Catalan food.  Given that we have Catalan food here in Barcelona, it was a nice treat to have a traditional French meal... oh and a fabulous steak :)  With homemade French onion soup, steak wrapped in bacon and topped with homemade foie gras, you just couldn't lose.  And topping it off with a chocolate molten cake... well, let's just say it's a good thing that we are now into the new year and a new diet because for certain my waistline expanded on this trip!

We also spent some time at the spa - Caldea is a famous spa in this area and we spent some time on Friday morning relaxing in the thermal baths, getting massages and just enjoying some kid-free time.  Turns out they also have kid massages here - I think Aidan would have loved that, something to think about the next time we go to Andorra.

My new camera takes great night shots!!!

The famous Caldea spa

Small river that runs through this part of Andorra

View from Caldea

On our last full day we took a walk through the historical area of La Vella.  It's interesting that it's such a small area. The majority of the "city" feels pretty modern with some stone buildings here and there but then the stone is indigenous to the area so even the new buildings are made with it.  This could also be because of the huge amount of growth in the country of Andorra as a whole, not just this one city - the population of Andorra has grown from 5000 people to 82,000 in the last century, explaining why there is not a huge historic area.  The small, windy roads reminded me of the old parts of Barcelona and we very pretty to walk along.  The country has a long history dating back before 1000AD.
 

Church in the historic area

Historic old town

View of the mountains and you can even see some fog down low over the town

Another view of Andorra la Vella

This is actually the area where Parliament meets (ok, this is right next to it, but it's a secure area because of it and also very pretty!)

All in all, it was a relaxing 3 1/2 days filled with relaxation, catching up on life (without interruption), great food, a lot of walking along with some sightseeing.  We also tossed around idea on places to go for 2013 - as of right now we have nothing booked believe it or not!  But thinking possibly Morocco for February vacation, we shall see!!  Once the kids go back to school next week I can refocus and get into 2013 travel mode.  Til then, we are coming up on our 3 year Spain-iversary believe it or not so keep an eye out for that entry soon!!

Besos,
Julie

Christmas 2012

As much as I love life in Barcelona, I have no problem saying that Christmas here is nothing like that at home.  Not even close.  It's one of those holidays that makes me ache for the comfort of my house, my Christmas lights, ornaments, stockings hung by the fireplace, an actual fire in said fireplace (though of course not when the stockings are there!) and time with our family and friends.

I miss the luminaries in our neighborhood and Chinese food on Christmas eve with our neighbor friends.  By comparison, our holidays in Barcelona are pretty tame.  There are lights up on the streets but they don't have a very Christmassy feel to them.  They are purples and blues and other hues - not golds, blues, whites, greens and reds like we would have at home.  Very few people decorate their apartment balconies and the storefronts just do the bare basics it seems.  

The last few years, it has just been Josh, the kids and I on Christmas.  In a sense, this has been nice.  There has been no distraction - just the four of us.  The kids open their gifts and they can play all day long and not have to worry about going anywhere.  They like it and so have we - it's mellow and low key.  But it's been missing something...

Ah yes, family and friends... because the holidays in my mind are not just about presents, not by any stretch, it's about celebrating with those close to us.  And they've been half a world away.  But not this year.  This year we were lucky enough to have Josh's parents visiting us for the holidays and it really helped to make things feel a little bit more like home.  Normally on Christmas Day we go to their house after we open gifts at our house with my dad.  So it was nice to have some traditions back, even here in Spain.

In the past, Christmas Eve has always been a big deal in our house.  Making Christmas cookies with our neighbor friends, making reindeer food, eating Chinese food and a small kid gift exchange.  And in the last few years, we've added in a Catalan tradition, the caga tio (for our first entry on our Catalan friend - http://megustatuzapatos.blogspot.com.es/2010/12/our-new-catalan-christmas-traditions.html).  Since it's my responsibility to ensure that the present is under the caga tio's blanket before the kids whack it with a stick, it's easier to do our beat down in the morning so I can sneak the gift under the blanket the night before.  This year's magic "poop" were Angry Bird stuffed animals, a huge hit!

Caga tios are ready for Aidan and Liam when they wake up Christmas Eve morning...

All excited to start beating their caga tios

(video of them hitting the caga tios - http://youtu.be/Jxb2dOtkLPM)

Aidan showing Papa all his Angry Bird plushes (he just added to his collection thanks to the caga tio)

On the flip side, when it came to actually getting ready for Santa's visit, things are changing.  This year it saddened me that Aidan just wasn't that into it.  He's starting to lose the magic of Santa and while I've loved how much he's grown this past year, this is one instance where I wish he could stay little forever.  He had no interest in making cookies and so for the most part it was just Liam and I with a sporadic appearance by Aidan.

Rolling out the sugar cookie dough (gingerbread dough is currently stuck in customs)

Cutting out the cookies

A momentary appearance by Aidan

The two sides of Liam... pleased to be covered in flour and then very unhappy when I have banned him from leaving the kitchen til he can be cleaned up!

Decorating time

Decorating with Granny

Very focused

Josh and his mom made us a wonderful tenderloin with all the fixings for dinner on Christmas Eve.  We figured Christmas Day should be a nice low key day with no stress about cooking, so our big meal was on the evening before.  And it was delicious!!

After dinner we made some reindeer food and brought it up to the roof for Santa's reindeer.  I'm sure the pigeons of Barcelona have been feasting ever since as there was A LOT of reindeer food (for those not in the know, it's oats mixed with glitter) up there!

Liam starting his reindeer food

Getting a little help from Papa and Granny

My camera is really crapping out lately - all the pics are blurry... 

Spreading the food on our rooftop

The kids were in bed early and the adults not that much later.  This was probably a good thing because while the magic of Santa was semi-lost on Aidan during Christmas Eve, he made up for it by being up at midnight (when he was sent straight back to bed) and then again at 5:45 (when we just sucked it up and had him come into our bed for the rest of the night stating that Granny and Papa could not be woken before 6:30).  Thankfully he fell back asleep in our bed only to have Liam join us around 6:45.  By 7:30 everyone was up and ready to open their presents.

Liam writing his letter to Santa

He had an entire story he was telling us, somehow summed up in about 6 "words" that he wrote on his paper but I proud of him for trying his best, sounding out the "words" and not asking someone else to write it for him.

Cookies and note for Santa

Apple crisp with some whipped cream...though I see no apple crisp in front of Liam...

Aidan's favorite part of dessert...

Liam reading the Night Before Christmas with Papa (Aidan finally let me read it to him as well)

And it took about 2.3 minutes before everything before us was opened.  The biggest winners for this year were Skylanders Giants for the DS (it's a game that also involves action figures - way beyond my understanding but Aidan was into it in less than a millisecond!), Legos and some plushes.  Josh got me the running watch that I wanted (and have already used a few times since) as well as a new camera and I got him some new running clothes (for the new athletic Joshy) and a new jacket.  We also exchanged gifts with his family.  Unfortunately, my family's gifts are officially stuck in customs.  The good news on that is that we'll have another mini Christmas when they finally arrive.

Santa has been here!

Aidan opening the first gifts

Liam is pretty excited... Aidan is trying to see thru a tear in the paper

Happy kids!

A HUGE Lego Ninjago set (that I then had to build - god forbid he do it)

My new running watch

Running clothes

Helping Papa open his present from all of us

The look of surprise... you're going to Rome!!!

Skylanders

Liam helping Josh to unwrap his gift

Poor Jakey ... not feeling the love today

And the stockings

Josh's mom made her famous potato pancakes that I, personally, have missed so much the last few years.  And they were just as delicious as they were back in the States.  We spent the entire day in our pj's just relaxing and enjoying our gifts and time with each other.

It's sad to see another holiday season come and go but it reminds me of how much closer we are to have Christmas again at home.  I remember that first Christmas season here in Spain a few years ago and feeling so far away from everyone and everything to the point where my heart just ached.  And seeing how far we've come that while we certainly miss being home, we've found a way to make the holidays special here in Spain too.

Besos,
Julie