Cooking for Sagrario and Visiting Andalucia

When I found out that my assignment for this week was to cook a meal for Sagrario my first reaction was that it was unfair. Sagrario has taken such good care of me while I’ve been here and I didn’t think that she should have to eat anything that I’ve had a hand in making. As the daughter of the owner of a cooking and food preparation business (Hi Mom!) it’s slightly ironic that I have zero cooking skills. When I explained the situation to my mom over skype her first reaction was, “Oh poor Sagrario,” and then of course she emailed me some fail proof recipes. Then when I explained the assignment to Sagrario she suggested that she choose what I made so that I could learn how to cook a Spanish dish. I thought this was an excellent idea and within minutes I was cooking Tortilla Española. Tortilla Española is made by first cooking peeled potatoes and chopped onions together and then adding beaten eggs to the pan and flipping and cooking both sides until the eggs hold the onions and potatoes together like a tortilla. With Sagrario supervising, my first task was to peel the potatoes. Within seconds of attempting to peel potatoes Sagrario deemed that I was working too slowly and grabbed the peeler and potato from me saying, in Spanish of course, “No faster like this!” And within seconds Sagrario had the first potato all peeled. After the demonstration I started peeling the second one and Sagrario just started laughing and making jokes. She said that I couldn’t possibly be Irish if I couldn’t peel a potato in less than 30 seconds and how she thought that peeling potatoes was and an inherited skill to Irish people.

The rest of the cooking process was very similar to this. I would attempt something, Sagrario would laugh at me, take the utensils away from me and show me the right, faster, way to do it. However by the end, she was confident enough that I knew what to do and actually left the kitchen. I was proud that I managed not to burn anything while she was away. I was also very happy when Sagrario liked the Tortilla Española and asked for seconds.

Sagrario was satisfied or this picture is staged.

On Thursday I went on the cursos excursion to Andalucia. It was absolutely amazing. Our first stop was Sevilla and there we visited a cathedral and the old palace gardens. I believe that our tour guide said that the cathedral was the third largest in the Spain. We were able to climb up the tower to where the bells are. The view of Sevilla was pretty amazing from there. The next day we travelled two hours to Granada. Once there we visited yet another cathedral, this one had the tombs of King Carlos and Queen Isabella so that was really interesting. That night I went to a flamenco show with some friends. Since flamenco originated in Granada I was very excited to see an authentic show. I can’t even image how much the dancers feet and hands hurt after ward from stomping and clapping so much. It was a small theater so every seat was a good seat, or so we thought. We were originally jealous of the people in the first row because they were so close but then in the second half of the show, a male dancer with long hair came out. Dancing under the hot lights he got sweaty very quickly and every time he jerked or swung his head, sweat would fly on to the audience members sitting in the first row. After seeing that we were very happy we had not shown up earlier.

Later that night we went to a discoteca that overlooked the Alhambra. It was a gorgeous view because the Alhambra is illuminated at night. Most of the group stayed out all night to watch the sun rise over the Alhambra, but I was too tired was at 5 am I called it a night and took a cab home with a few other friends. Five hours later we were back at the Alhambra on a tour. The Alhambra was a definite highlight of the trip because it’s just so impressive that they were able to make such beautiful buildings with only manual labor. Unfortunately my camera died before we got there so I have no pictures to share from it.

I have been in Spain for nearly a month now and everyday I find myself surprised by all the new cultural experiences that it offers. Before I leave Salamanca, in two weeks, I plan on visiting the cathedrals and museums here in Salamanca and taking a day trip to Madrid.

Cathedral in Sevilla

View of Sevilla from the Bell Tower