The Parental Invasion

 In honor of my Parents arrival and for my dad's "birthday," I decided to attempt a baking adventure and make a Boston Cream Pie. From my knowledge, it is my Dad's favorite cake (or he has just been telling us this and eating lots and lots of BCPs). I scanned and searched the internet for a good recipe and then baked, baked and baked.

When explaing what I was going to bake to my school, I realized that it is a very confusing name since it isnt a pie but a cake. History says that it is called a pie because in the 17th century pie tins were more common than cake tins... and many people in New England make it... thus it is Boston!

The cake was very tasty and even came with a fun little burn on my wrist. I made all my guests eat it: Ana (my mom's favorite daughter), Albert (her hubby) and my parents. Then I ate the rest for breakfast.

So after spending 2 hours in a car driving from Malaga to Almunecar (I still say it takes an hour to drive it!), my family arrived in Spain and we started our tapas tour.

Sadly, whenever we wanted to eat, the kitchens were closed because it was the wrong time or the owners decided to go on vacation. But we still ate well: churros, meat, queso, bread, mushroom stew, chocolate, and a great dinner at Mar del Plata in Almunecar.

Everyone took a day trip up to Granada to eat more and view the Cathedral and la Alhambra. My mom bought some funny genie pants for her girlfriends to drink coffee in, we navigated the crazy streets by car, wandered around the Generalife in la Alhambra and tried to stay dry.

Back in Almunecar, we celebrated the night (aka waited for the kitchen to open to eat dinner) by going to los Grifos. This is a type of bar that I think Minnesota would love. Each table has its own tap and keg, and a computer keeps track of how much you drink throughout the night. AND since it is Spain, you get free tapas. Tables can also race to see which is drinking the most by watching the TV screen near the door. My mom declared that this place had the best tapas and she got to practice her bartending skills.

The next day, we all returned to Malaga for one last hurrah at El Pimpi with Ana and Albert before they returned to Barcelona. Then the next day, my parents and I risked the bus system for a rainy day trip to Ronda. I definately need to return there this summer to go on some long walks and explore the gorge!


Sadly, this time had to end. I had to return to work and my pueblo, and my parents had to go back to cold, snowy Minnesota (perhaps with a souvenir from the hotel?). It was a great visit and it made me miss home a little bit more.

 

But I didnt have time to miss much, because when I returned to Almunecar, I had three couchsurfers, St Paddy's day and a trip to Las Fallas to distract me. I cant believe I only have two months left!

Exploring Baking: The Croissant

Yesterday, I had an urge to bake something sweet but also something I could use to eat all my Hurry Burger (my family's version of the Sloppy Joe via many Lutheran Churches since it uses a can of condensed soup) leftovers. Since my uber nice roommate gave me a cookbook filled with recipes in Spanish for baking for Christmas, I decided to use it as inspiration.

The pictures are beautiful and clean. They help you figure out what the next step is (good for me because my baking Spanish vocab is "interesting"). and lots of recipes for breads, pastries and sweets, and alot of them of Spanish origin. There are many things I will make in this book but I decided to honor my new blog name by attempting the croissant.

Result: Buttery bread rolls masquerading as croissants.

They taste good and are great hamburger buns, but I still need to figure out how to achieve that flaky, light interior with crisp skin. After a bit of research online, I discovered that the recipe in this book is a bit basic. It got the job done, but I think next time I have to roll the dough thinner, have colder butter and fold it more times. If only I had some French in my blood... maybe next I will make a Danish Donut.

Now I am off to Malaga to celebrate my friend's birthday! Next post will be about my last puente and road trip.