Change of plans

I was supposed to go to Malaga this weekend but a few things changed so instead I will go to Rute to see nativity scenes made of CHOCOLATE! and then head to Cordoba on Sunday to support my friends who are running in a half marathon. Since it was thanksgiving and all this week I have a lot to tell you about and also a lot of pics to add to my albums. That is all going to happen later this weekend though. I need to get some rest to get up early...but soon enough I can tell you all about the amazing thanksgiving I had here in Spain...

I should be forbidden from Carrefour

The best slippers ever! (found Carrefour)

I don't know if I've mentioned Carrefour before but I just went there tonight. Its basically like Walmart, but with less deals... and I actually shop there (I'm boycotting Walmart in the states lol). I've only been there a few times but each time that I've gone its like I got crazy and want to buy everything. Maybe its just the fact that I have to go to different shops to buy my fruit/veggies, meat, and bread but when I walk into a place where I can find almost everything (just like in the states)...well, it becomes dangerous for me to be there, for my wallet's sake.

I mean I do make lists and everything but anytime I go to the store hungry or after 9pm...well that all goes to hell. Anyone who knows me, knows that we DO NOT go to the store after 9pm otherwise I'm walking out with half of their food. So guess what time we went to the store...8:45pm...and we stayed there until it closed (10pm) haha. What am I gonna do with myself?

So continuing talking about food, because it's one of my best friends, I cooked  A TON this weekend! I was trying out my recipes for Thanksgiving on thursday... so I made some mac-n-cheese and greens (which is some of the food I usually eat on the big day). Everything went fine with the cooking minus the fact I forgot that I dont own a can opener...and evaporated milk comes in a can. I ended up stabbing the can many times with my scissors to make 2 holes with which to pour out of...and I still have all my fingers!I think it's time to buy a can opener though...

Anyhow, I'm definitely going to make the mac but not sure about the greens...I will try mine and then see (I was full when they finished cooking so still haven't tried them yet). I'm also going to have my friend bring along some sweet potato/yams that she'll throw in the oven and then we can just mix together with some butter and brown sugar...I figure enough butter and brown sugar can make anything taste good, right? Luckily my friends are cooking the turkey so I won't have to worry about that and everyone else is bringing a dish as well. The dinner should be great! And we'll also be sharing our evening with a few native Spanish people so that we can show them how its done!

Well aside from the turkey day prep, which by the way the whole reason for going to Carrefour...which of course led to other purchases haha, I also made some other delicious dishes. I made pork tenderloin, cut into pieces, and cooked in a red sauce with tomatoes, onion and garlic- TASTY! Aside from that I made a salad of cod, oranges, onions and olive oil- also super yummy, easy and healthy! Pics are posted and I will get the recipe up soon. Oh and I've added some recipes on the "cooking" page so check it out! I think I'm going to have to somehow figure a way to divide the recipes by meal but I haven't figure it out so far so I may just end up having to make different pages for main dishes, sides, salad, desserts, etc. I will keep you updated with any changes made.

 Since all I had to do this weekend was cook a few hours, the rest of the time I was pretty bored. Everyone was pretty much gone plus it was all cloudy out and cold so I pretty much stayed inside, under covers since its super cold in my apartment. I ended up watching "Salt," "Get Him to the Greek" and "The Other Guys." They were all good but I really liked Salt a TON. If you haven't seen it yet and like action movies, go watch it! I have a few more on my computer to watch...but I'll do that in time. This week and next I need to focus on my trip to Italy- yay! If you have ANY ideas on Italy- Please share!!!

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves though...this weekend in Malaga! It should be great- MOSTLY because I'm going to go see the new Harry Potter- in English! I can't wait...

I need SUN in my life

It's a little later than I planned to write this but oh well, better late than never! This post is going to be a little bit picture-less but I will make sure to make it up to all of you!

So I told you all I would tell you about Thursday night... That night I went to Batuka (remember- the dance/exercise class) and went home to get un-sweaty lol. I was getting ready because I had told Paul (my friend who works at the language school here) that I would drop by to talk with his class. He teaches English so it’s good practice for them to speak to as many native people as possible...plus its good for them to hear different accents. Since most people here have a British accent, if they speak English, to most people my accent is very strange/different. Anyhow, after his class we went out for a few beers. I wasn't planning on staying out late since I had gone out the night before, but I should have know, I was hanging out with Paul! haha Everytime I hang out with him we always talk for HOURS and have a great time, meaning I don't get home until LATE. Well we stopped at a few bars and had some tapas and ended the night around 2am lol It was a great night and I love hanging out with good people...but it meant that the next morning instead of going to spinning...I turned off my alarm clock about 10 times so that I could sleep in hahaha. It was great...I had belly dancing that night anyways...

Well on Friday, like I said, I slept in. Eventually I got out of bed and got ready to head over to Teresa's house for lunch. I usually go over earlier to learn how to make what she cooks but I got a little sidetracked and arrive late this time...meaning we all were STARVING by the time I got there! The food was great and I ate way too much, as always. Let me try to remember what we ate… we had a potato salad type dish, toast with a blue cheese spread, a salad with pieces of orange and cod (which I loved! I’m going to make it this weekend too!), THEN a really savory meat dish with like pieces of very tender steak, veggies and sauce (mostly olive oil). And of course to top it off, we each had a piece of fruit.

After dinner, a tea and a nap I learned how to make chocolate truffles…the easy way. OMG I’m in trouble lol! I’ve never attempted truffles before in my life because all the recipes I’ve ever seen look, well, very challenging to say the least. Luckily, I’m in luck here and my amazing friend Teresa, who loves chocolate just as much as I do, has a great and easy recipe. I will get some pics up soon (my camera was dead so we used hers). I will post the exact measurements on my “cooking” page but to give you the gist of it…you take some dark chocolate, white chocolate, butter, and condensed milk. Throw it in a bowl together and then put it in the microwave for a few min until it’s melted but not burnt. Mix together and then let it set in the fridge. Once relatively set form into balls and roll in chocolate sprinkles- voila! I was amazing at the ease of this- and they taste SO GOOD! We also put some in pastry dough to heat up in the over- also very easy and delicious. I don’t know why but everyone I know is such amazing cooks- I love it…

Basically after the chocolate-fest lol we got ready to head to belly dancing. I went for two hours this time since I won’t be here next week. Actually I won’t be here the next 3 Fridays so I will just have to practice on my own…in ITALY! I will tell you about that as it gets closer though…just know that I’m going.

Today is gross and cloudy out so it’s been a bit of an off day for me. I did do some food shopping so I can cook tomorrow and possibly today…although so far I haven’t moved very far from my bed since getting back home haha. So anyways I went to a store that’s supposed to have most everything…well except for the “American food” that I need for thanksgiving! Of course. I had to improvise with a few items so we’ll see how it turns out. I’m doing a test run the weekend of the food for Thursday. For those of you that don’t know- this next Thursday, Nov. 25^th, is Thanksgiving. Some of my friends and I are having a dinner…probably the only thanksgiving dinner in Lucena…or Spain for that matter lol. It should be great! I will make sure to take lots of pics!

I'm falling asleep...

Well there hasn't been too much excitement here especially since I was sick earlier this week. On Monday I went to work as normal, came home, ate, took a nap...then woke up and got ready for pilates. I got to pilates and started feeling a bit ill (nauseous) but I stayed and afterward met up with my spanish mom, Elena, and just continued to fill sick. I couldn't even eat anything...which is VERY odd for me! Eventually I went home and went to bed. I got up, ate a small breakfast and then randomly started getting dizzy. So I pretty much ended up staying in bed all day Saturday just trying to eat some food and not fall over when I got up.

Needless to say I didn't make it to my latin dance classes :( so I will just have to catch up next week. Yesterday was also pretty mellow. Since its late right now and I'm half awake I will just catch you all up on last night and today, tomorrow. So look forward to another posting tomorrow!