A Jeanne in the Kitchen

After visiting Sagrada Familia Back From Barcelona – Sagrada Familia we were out and about, taking in the sights before our next fun thing, which was a tour of the Gothic Area that included a fun night out on the town. More on that later. 🙂 We walked all over Barcelona just seeing what we could see. We enjoyed it all. For me, the beautiful and old buildings and artistically crafted sculptures, on everything, was just breath taking. Art and beautiful craftsmanship was on display everywhere.

The Spanish version of L’Arc de Triumphe or Arc de Triompfe. It was the gateway to the modern Barcelona of the late 19th century. The architect Josep Vilaseca designed the monument as an allegory of the respect that the city of Barcelona made for the nations and provinces that participated in the 1888 World’s Fair. 

Can you believe this artwork and attention to detail on these light posts and drinking fountains?

I have always been fascinated with architecture. I absolutely love all the old architecture and designs and craftsmanship and skill that go into the making of everything. I wish we still made things like this today. I love all the attention to detail. These old and beautiful designs are the results of 1000’s of years of history that comes from many different influences, both far and near, new and old.

Catholic and religious influences are all over the city too. This shrine was built high into a wall, overlooking the street, by someone’s apartment.

Beautiful mosaics are all over the place as well.

Even the sidewalks are artfully designed.

And the buoys are beautiflly created too.

Even some of the new and modern ideas were fun. Believe it or not, this is a thermometer on the side of a building.

This modern building looks like a taco to me, although it was probably built to represent a sail.

Art and beauty are all around. We just have to open our eyes and look for it.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

OK. I am finally getting to the Barcelona part of our trip. I shared our Mallorcan and Andorra parts of the trip, which were beautiful and amazing. Now it’s time for Barcelona. WOW! What a city. It is so rich with history and culture and PASSION!

We rented a car while in Mallorca, but while in Barcelona, we got around like everyone else does; by the Metro of course. It doesn’t take long to work out the schedules and we got some unlimited passes that allowed us to roam freely all over the place. And roam freely we did too. We saw pretty much ALL of Barcelona. We certainly hit all of the highlights and then some. We did take the Metro a lot, but we also walked a lot too. Larry and I disagree on the distances we walked. I am convinced, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we walked somewhere between 50-80 miles, at a minimum, whereas Larry doesn’t think we walked that far. Well, I still have the blisters on my feet to prove him wrong.

The first thing we did on our first day in Barcelona was head out to Sagrada Familia, or Sacred Family, the huge basilica that is still a work in progress, made famous by Antoni Gaudi. Sagrada Familia is located in the Gothic part of Barcelona. Gaudi devoted 43 years to Sagrada Familia, which was his passion. It has been a work in progress for over 100 years, and counting. It is still not complete, and who knows when, or if, it ever will be. It is something to see, and I am very glad we did see it and tour all around too, but it is not for everyone.

The construction of Sagrada Familia began on March 19, 1892, under the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, but in 1883 it was taken over by Antoni Gaudi, and he continued to work on it until his death, 43 years later. At first, Gaudi was working on other projects as well, such as the Cathedral de Santa Maria de Palma in Mallorca, Back From Barcelona – Mallorca #5 – The Palma Cathedral and his projects in Parc Quell. He experimented with ideas and concepts in Palma and then brought things over to Barcelona and Sagrada Familia.

It was to be Gaudí’s Expressionist vision of a 20th-century cathedral, where he would use visual symbolism to express the many mysteries of the Christian faith. He became increasingly pious while working on the church; after 1910 he abandoned virtually all other work, and he eventually secluded himself on its site and resided in its workshop. In addition to being devoted to Christianity, Gaudí was an important participant in the Renaixensa, (Renaissance) an artistic revival of the arts and crafts combined with a political revival in the form of fervent anti-Castilian “Catalanism.” Both revivals sought to reinvigorate the way of life in Catalonia that had long been suppressed by the Castilian-dominated and Madrid-centered government in Spain, and the Sagrada Família became the religious symbol of the Renaixensa in Barcelona.

The outside of the front of Sagrada Familia.

The park across the street as we were waiting to get in for our tour.

Cranes and construction are an everyday part of the basilica and have been since its not so humble beginnings.

Is Sagrada Familia considered a basilica or a cathedral? I always get confused if something is a cathedral or a basilica, but this definition helped me, and should help you too. A church where the bishop’s throne (cathedra) is located is called a cathedral, while basilica refers to a class of Roman public buildings predating Christianity, particularly those with royal association. A cathedral is any church that is the “seat” of a bishop. There is one cathedral per diocese. A basilica, Roman Catholic or Greek Orthodox, is any church named highly important by the pope based on its historical or cultural importance, its art or beauty, its significance in the liturgical life of the Church or a variety of these attributes. Basilica is the highest permanent designation for a church building, and once a church is named a basilica, it cannot lose its basilica status. Many basilicas also serve as the cathedral for their diocese, but not all basilicas are cathedrals. 

We took so many pictures of Sagrada Familia, and of course, the pictures don’t do the basilica justice. I won’t share ALL of the photos, but I will give you the highlights.

Gaudi was inspired by both nature and light and these influences are expressed in every detail of Sagrada Familia. All the stained glass windows are just absolutely amazing. They are designed to represent and capture the light from both sun rise and sunset.

There are 56 columns within the structure of the basilica. They represent every week of the year plus the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

These are the Eucharist Doors, and have only been opened once, when the Pope consecrated the basilica. On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the church and proclaimed it a minor basilica. They have The Lord’s Prayer on them in Catalan, while the rest of the door is filled with the phrase “Give us this day our daily bread” in fifty different languages. The letters AG (Antoni Gaudi) just happened to fall in the middle, where the handles are, and it is said that this was Antoni Gaudi’s autograph and signature for the basilica.

For the sprinkling of Holy Water.

We went up to the bell tower where we had an expansive view of all of Barcelona.

Inside the bell tower.

The spiral staircase to the bell tower is shaped like a conical shell of the Nautilus sea shell. It is over 400 steps, and the stairway is very narrow and very winding. I was getting dizzy on the way down, but fortunately we made it down without incident.

The Cross hangs from the ceiling in the center of the basilica for everyone to see. The huge organ is behind the Cross. They are both highlighted by the magnificent show of lights from the windows.

They still hold mass in the basilica on a regular basis, and we seriously thought about attending. But in order to do so, for a 9:00 AM mass, we would have had to be there no later than about 7:00 AM, and there was no guarantee we would have made it in. They only have seating for 900 people. Though Larry was raised Catholic, and my mother was Catholic, neither of us are Catholic, and there would be no guarantee we could get in to hear a service in Latin or Spanish that neither one of us would understand. We decided to sleep in a bit instead. But it’s the thought that counts, right?!

The outside from the back of the basilica. The back represented Christ’s Crucifixion and ascension into Heaven.

Gaudi’s workshop, where he later resided. The whole Basilica of Sagrada Familia is the story of Christ, from start to finish.

After touring through the basilica, we went into the museum that explained how everything was made and gave the history of Gaudi’s passionate project that he devoted his whole life to. The whole tour was very interesting. I highly recommend seeing Sagrada Familia at least once. It is truly a magnificent work of art, though as I mentioned above, it is not for everyone. Our pastor wanted something from Sagrada Familia, so we bought him a book. After looking through the book, even he said that Gaudi’s creations were like something from an alien planet. :0

I love this picture depicting God watching over Barcelona.

Sagrada Familia was just the first of many, many fabulous adventures we experienced while in Barcelona. Trust me, I have oh so much more to share. Don’t go anywhere or you’ll miss out.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

While we were dining at the Vietnamese restaurant in Andorra, A Day In Andorra we had a little bird who was so friendly and was posing for the camera. How could I resist? He was just begging for me to take some pictures of him. 🙂

Andorra is a tiny landlocked country in the Pyrenees mountain range between Spain and France. The population is less than 90,000 people. For more than 700 years Andorra was ruled jointly by the leader of France and the Spanish bishop of Urgell, but it gained its independence in 1993. It is one of the smallest countries in Europe, occupying approximately 468 square kilometers. Most people live in the capital city of Andorra La Vella, in one of the seven parishes of the city. The official language is Catalan, but many people speak English, French, Spanish and German as well. The main industry in Andorra is tourism, representing roughly 80% of its GDP. It is known for its skiing and hiking, and duty free shopping.

There are no planes or trains that go into Andorra, but you can take a bus from either France or Spain. We took a three hour bus ride from Barcelona and stayed for the day then returned home once again through the Pyrenees Mountains, the same way we came.

Andorra is a beautiful and clean little country. We enjoyed our visit. We saw and did a lot of walking and hiking while we were there.

The border between Spain and Andorra. Passports are a must to enter into Andorra. No passport = no entry. We saw this happen to someone who was sitting on the bus right in front of us. He did not have his proper paperwork and/or passport and was thrown off the bus and taken directly back to Barcelona.

Once we got off the bus, we walked all around the city of Andorra La Vella and enjoyed the sights.

The river runs through the city.

Here is a tribute to their past and some of their traditions. Even though Andorra is a Catalan country, with ties to both Spain and France, it is very Germanic in appearance.

Here is some of the town’s artwork proudly on display. I just love all the attention to detail. When we first arrived it was close to lunch time, so we bought some sandwiches and had a little picnic lunch in the park by the river.

Larry is very tall, but not quite as tall as this guy. 🙂

Even their gates and fences are artfully designed and decorated.

The residents who live in Andorra are primarily Roman Catholic and there are a few beautiful little churches dotting the tiny area.

After strolling around and meandering around through town, we took a little hike up through the mountains. Here is our mountain view of the area.

We were in Andorra for a full day. We knew we needed to eat before heading back onto the bus back to Barcelona, so we stopped at a little Vietnamese restaurant for an early dinner. Again, we split what we ordered and enjoyed it all.

This is a very creative way of recycling the plastic bottles.

We dined outside and enjoyed the sunshine and the view of the park once again. It was a gorgeous day.

We enjoyed our day in Andorra. Our newest family member Andorra, Dorrie for short, is named after this tiny, little country. She is a Great Pyrenees. We name all our fur babies based on their countries or places of origin.

And so another country, Andorra, gets entered into our ever-growing repertoire of countries visited. Yet another check in our passport. I think we have now been to almost 50 different countries, and 40 of our own 50 states. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

We saw a lot of gulls all over Mallorca and Barcelona. They are so big and were everywhere. They were also very bold. But I loved seeing them all. Some were white and some were brown.

Overlooking Barcelona.

On the Ramblas Plaza or Platja in Catalan.

Mine, mine, mine.

There was a lady feeding the gulls on the pier, even though she was not supposed to. But the gulls love her for it. I get the feeling she does this on a regular basis.

Gulls on the bridge.

I am still sharing my Spanish adventures, though this one is a Spanish adventure from my own kitchen yet again. I will get back to sharing the adventures of our trip shortly. But first, It is time for some gambas al ajillo.

Gambas al ajillo, or garlic shrimp, is one of my favorites. It’s loaded with shrimp and garlic. Could it be any better? Gambas al ajillo is a traditional Spanish tapas plate that is enjoyed just about everywhere. Both the Basque areas of Spain and the Canary and Balearic Islands are known for their seafood, so it could have originated in either one of those areas. All I know is that it is mui delicioso! It is also one of the dishes I made for our own tapas party last week. Visiting With Andrea As expected, this was yet another big hit.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures because I thought I had already shared this recipe with you. But alas, I was wrong. So I will recreate it and share it with you now. 🙂 As I was busy cooking and getting everything ready for our party, I put Elizabeth in charge of the camera.

Garlic Shrimp

Of course I did what I always do, and made this dish my own. That’s just what I do. I am like the classically trained artists who then break the mold to create their own art. My art is my food. I am like Picasso or Dali and my medium is food. I also doubled my recipe.

1 lb large shrimp, peel and deveined

6 TBSP olive oil

2-3 TBSP lemon olive oil, optional

1-2 tsp red pepper flakes

1-2 tsp fried garlic in chili oil, optional

1 heaping TBSP garlic

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup dry white wine

1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

Get a large skillet very hot, then add the oil(s), garlic and peppers. Saute for about 1-2 minutes, or until they become nice and fragrant. Add the shrimp, wine and salt and pepper and cook for about 3-5 minutes, or until the shrimp is completely pink and thoroughly cooked. Stir frequently.

Add the parsley right at the end and mix in, then top again with a bit more parsley. Traditionally this dish is served with a hard crusted bread too so you can dip the bread in the sauce. Trust me, you don’t want to let any of this delicious sauce go to waste. 🙂

We had a vast array of delicious foods at our tapas party, so needless to say I had some leftovers. You all know how much I love to recreate from my leftovers, so that I did too, but I didn’t have enough of any one thing to make a meal for three people. I invited the “Queen” over, and she and I did what we do best, and recreated something by combining what was left to make it into a Spanish pasta.

I had some of my vegetable salad left, as well as a few shrimp and some of the smoked pork loin. With a wave or two of my magic wooden spoon, I tossed them all together, added some more salt & pepper and heavy whipping cream and served it all over fettuccine. !Delicioso! Andrea raved about it, and was so impressed with how I recreated from my leftovers. She had no idea I could recreate like this from leftovers. As I always say, play with your food. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

Mother Nature must know that Fall is my absolute favorite season. Before we left for Spain, the fall colors were beginning to come out, but they weren’t particularly spectacular. We’ve been home 2 weeks now, and everyday since we’ve been home, the colors just pop out more and more, and have become more and more vibrant everyday. They are absolutely gorgeous! These are the fall colors I saw today. We have bright, vibrant greens, yellows, gold, orange and reds and everything in between.

This big tree is in our front yard.

That’s the back of my house peeping through the trees.

It seems even our other “local” residents are enjoying the fall colors too.

Thank you Mother Nature, for yet another spectacular Fall season. 🙂

I promise I am coming back to my Spanish adventures series, but first I am going to share my “Spanish adventures” from my own kitchen. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post Visiting With Andrea, one of the things we did while my dear friend Andrea was here was host a tapas and wine tasting party.

We eat tapas on a fairly regular basis anyway, but having just come back from Spain, tapas were a definite must. One of the tapas dishes I made were some Spanish meat pies. I had seen them in one of my cookbooks I just brought back from our trip, but I really made up my own recipe. That’s one of the main reasons I like cookbooks with pictures. The pictures inspire me, but I can figure out the rest out on my own.

My meat pies are featured on the two-tiered stand in the center. I was not the one taking pictures, and I thought I had a better picture of just the meat pies, but I do not, so you will just have to savor all the dishes a bit more. These were delicious and were also a huge hit. Surprisingly, they all disappeared very quickly too. 🙂

Spanish Meat Pies

I started off with my basic go-to dough. The Empanada Party – Part 1 – Beef Empanadas These meat pockets are basically empanadas, just in a different shape. I also used my mixed olive tapenade in the filling as well, but chopped mixed olives with a little lemon juice will work just fine too. Olive Tapenade I mixed the tapenade together with about 2 lbs of ground beef and about 1 lb of beef chorizo, along with 1-2 TBSP garlic, 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes, and 1 onion, diced fine. I also threw in about 3 TBSP of flour towards the end to help thicken the filling up a bit.

Cook everything together until everything is thoroughly cooked. Drain the excess grease and let cool until you are ready to fill the dough cups.

Preheat the oven to 375* F or 191*C.

Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

After letting the dough set in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes or so, roll it out very thin and cut it into rounds, then press them into the prepared muffin tins.

Add about 2 TBSP of filling to each cup then top with another dough round. Press firmly into place and crimp with the edge of a fork. Slice a couple of slits on the top of each pie to allow the gases to escape while cooking.

After the pies were prepared, I wasn’t ready to bake them, so I let them set in the refrigerator overnight, and baked them right before our party, so they were hot and they were fresh. Whether you bake them right away or let them set for awhile, brush them with an egg wash before placing them in the oven to help them brown. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Let them set for about 5 minutes or so before eating and enjoying them, and enjoy them you will too. 🙂

Recipes are just guidelines, or suggestions. If you are comfortable creating your own versions, by all means, I highly recommend it. As I always say, play with your food and be creative.

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

OK. As far as I know, I am back. There is nothing on the books for any more trips at the moment, and to the best of my knowledge, I am able to write about our fun adventures, both in and out of the kitchen, once again. 🙂

My friend Andrea was out visiting for a few days, and she just left this morning. We have known each other and been best friends since our junior high days. We had a great visit and we did all kinds of fun things. I already miss my best bestie. Our friend Priscilla joined us for our party as well. All three of us have known each other since we were kids.

As soon as I picked Andrea up from the airport, I put her to work. We were hosting a wine tasting and tapas party. This was not designed to be a big party, but rather a smaller, more intimate gathering.

I made the Spanish meat pies, which I will share with you all later, smoked pork loin with a roasted red pepper and herb coulis, a roasted vegetable salad The Empanada Party – Part 3 – Una Gran Ensalada Latina and Gambones d’ajo (or Spanish Garlic Shrimp, which I thought I had already shared with you, but I just learned I haven’t yet, so more on that later too. Janet, Bob and their new exchange student Luke, brought patatas bravas Patatas Bravas. Lauren brought some mini lamb gyros, and her friend Mo came as well and she brought some Caprese skewers and Greek skewers, and K-Lee brought some brie, pecan and cranberry cups. !Everything was mui delicioso!

Aside from a lot of delicious food, we also sampled some very good wines. Last year, when Larry and I renewed our membership to InVINtions A Toast to InVINtions! they gave us a blind wine tasting kit. Larry, a non-wine drinker, was the only one who knew what wines were were sampling until we did our big reveals later. It was a fun afternoon. We all had a real good time with lots of laughs and lots of good foods and good wine.

We took Andrea up to the Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP), to the Bear Lake area, the next day. We had never been there before either, and again we had a great time, and saw a lot. The lake was gorgeous.

We saw beautiful birds, like The American Dipper and the gorgeous Steller’s Jay.

I have been trying to get a good shot of this elusive Steller’s Jay for quite some time, and finally got lucky.

We saw white tailed mule deer.

We saw lots of elk. The big bull was down below his haram, in the ravine. He was watching closely, but we couldn’t get any pictures of him.

We even saw a moose, but we couldn’t get a picture of him either. I tried, but it just didn’t happen.

And we passed my favorite little mountain church on the way home.

On Andrea’s last full day, she and I toured around the Denver area, stopping first at the Hammond Candy Factory, Touring Denver – Part 1 – Hammond’s Candy Factory, then Balistreri Vineyards, Touring Denver – Part 2 – Balistreri Vineyards, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (where Larry and I used to work for 8 years, as well as where we met 23 years ago) and then back home once again. It was a very full, very fun, jam-packed 3 days.

Good friends make life so much better, especially friends who are really more family than friends. Te amo mucho Chica.

Have a great day and make everyday great, especially when you are with good friends. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.

I know, I just got home, and have been busy sharing my trip to Spain with you. And I will continue with that series, and so much more in a few days. I am off to the airport to pick up my friend who is flying in from California. She will be out visiting for a few days, and we have a full itinerary planned. Tonight we are continuing with our own tapas party too, which of course, you will hear all about too. We came home last week and literally hit the ground running, but things should calm down again by the end of this week. I just wanted to let you know, I have so much good stuff left to share. So, don’t touch that dial. I’ll be back again sooner than you know. 🙂

Have a great day and make everyday great. Stay safe and stay well. ‘Til next time.