On Tuesday night we went to a cooking class conducted by Chef Luca Phillips in Alicante. We began the evening by having nice glass of red wine and an introduction to the delicious selection of mediterranean dishes we were going to prepare.

There were five dishes in total, caponata, sardines, marinated tomatoes, romesco sauce, and a shaved fennel, orange and rocket salad with lemon dressing.

We put on our cooking apron along with our name tag, washed our hands and awaited our tasks.  Each person taking part had their own work space. Chef Luca went through the preparation with us and demonstrated how to slice or cut the ingredients before we started.

The Chef then put us into small groups to prepare the food. Once we began preparing the ingredients Chef Luca would come around and ensure we were doing ok and answer any questions. Some of the preparations was more challenging than others. One group was required to de-boned the sardines and prepare them for the “sandwich”.

Shelley and I were both relived that we were  not picked for that particular job!

The chef did the majority of the stove cooking aspects which allowed us to observe and ask questions.

Once we were finished the preparation of ingredients, we combined them into the dishes. It was interesting to see how some ingredients interacted with others ingredients. The chef explained the importance of salt or acidic foods and how they worked in combination with other ingredients.

The group worked well together and the plates turned out nicely. We admired our handiwork on display prior to enjoying the fruit of our labour.

We then sampled the dishes and socialized for the next hour or so. We enjoyed the very tasty dishes and Ray even eat the sardine sandwich which was very good. Overall a very enjoyable event.

Adios y que tenga un gran día”

When we were in Valencia we decided to take a break and go watch a movie. We found a cinema which was about 1/2 hour walk from our hotel. We headed out and walked to the cinema. When we arrived there was a selection of movies playing and only one playing that was in english. We did not want to see that particular english movie and so we picked a spanish movie called “El Toro” which means the bull.

I went up and ordered the two tickets for El Toro and was proud at how well I spoke Spanish.  We got our tickets and headed for the cinema #16 for El Toro. As we approached the usher to take our tickets he looked at them and said something in Spanish and we looked at him confused. He must have thought wow these guys are going to a spanish movie and can’t even understand me!  He said in broken english to wait a few minutes until the cinema was available. Feeling a little dishearten at our Spanish ability we sat and waited for the cinema to open.

Shelley went and bought some popcorn and a drink while we waited and then we were able to go and get our seats.  When we got inside the cinema we were the only ones there. There was no one else in the entire cinema, we sat down and enjoyed the Spanish movie.

The movie was very good and we were able to follow along with our limited Spanish. Four months ago when we first arrived in Spain there was no way we could have watched a movie and understood it. Our Spanish is improving slowly everyday it is a difficult process at times but rewarding.

“adio y que tenga un gran días”

A few months ago we joined an organization called InterNations. They are an international organization and their mission is simply to “helps expats to feel at home abroad, meet people and find information about their new environment.” It was founded in 2007 and now has over 2.2 million members and they are present in 390 cities worldwide. Every month they hold an official event which we have attended. Last Friday we went to an official event at the Latxaska Restaurant in Alicante.

When we arrived we were greeted at the door and provided a name tag. Inside we mingled with other members and quickly made acquaintances with other Expats. The members are from all over the world. We met with people from the UK, USA, Spain, Haiti, and numerous other countries.

As part of the event the restaurant did a demonstration of how to make Spanish sangria. One of the restaurant employees made the Sangria and provided a free drink of Sangria for every member.

If you are interested in watching how he made the Spanish sangria check out the video.

https://youtu.be/kWvxLKWKBG0

There were assorted tapas being served and we enjoyed several tasty tapas.

There were some unique tapas, such as pigtail, ganache as well as two types of paella. The first paella we tried was called “arroz negro” which means black rice and is made with some unique ingredients. The paella contains, white rice, squid, garlic, olive oil and squid ink. The squid ink makes the rice dish black and enhances the seafood taste.

We decided to at least try the black paella without assuming we would not like it. We got a plate of the black paella with a dab of garlic paste and tried it.

We tried some of the black paella but it is an acquired taste and we enjoyed the yellow paella more.

We stayed for about three hours and mingled with some expats. We enjoyed a few drinks with friends and had a wonderful evening.

“Adios y que tenga un gran días”