Food Fetish

I have had a serious learning curve when it comes to buying food. Everything in the grocer is in Catalan and sometimes Spanish. I thought I had figured out cornmeal; in Spanish it is harina de maíz. I buy this from the store, it turns out to be corn starch. Oh well, scratch the fried green tomatoes. Well with another try I have found espesante. I think this is the right stuff. I will find out tonight.

There are just lots of foods that I have taken for granted, that I just can not buy here. You can not buy pancake mix, but you can buy crepe mix. I think this is a suitable substitute. You can not buy pancake syrup...not in any flavor. The nearest thing I could find was a burnt sugar syrup (caramelo líquido). The kids hated it. This did bring about a culinary experiment that Ron and I thought turned out great. Blue cheese, sugar and pears all cooked together in a gooey mess. Try this sometime. It is AWESOME! I guess the kids will have to stick with jelly (mermelada). The eggs here are fresh. This is nice, but I mean really fresh. They still have some feathers and poo stuck to them every-now-and-then. They are extremely rich and I have to put 3 yolks to 7 eggs just so the kids (and Ron) will eat them. I can not find spices here. It seems that in Spanish cooking you use parsley, cilantro (fresh), basil, and thyme. This is the end of what I can find. Ron has been given the mission of retrieving my entire collection of spices from Seattle. I have nightmares of them being confiscated in Spanish customs. Let us all hope for their safe transport to me (I need them).

Things from the sea are in abundance. I am just not sure what to do with some of it. Octopus (pulpo) is very popular here and you can buy it whole; frozen or fresh. They also sell these tiny little fish that look a bit like eel. According to the picture on the packaging, you just eat them like a bowl of noodles. I can not remember what they are called , but sooner or later I will have to try them. Yogurt is very good here. I guess the Spanish do not like fruit pieces in their yogurt because all yogurt is smooth. This is great for the kids, they hated pieces. There are not a lot of flavors. I miss Yoplait and all there wonderful dessert flavors. I used to like to pretend I was being healthy and somehow better-than-thou when I was eating all that strawberry cheesecake yogurt. Well that is gone now. I guess I will climb off that horse.

Missing home food has caused many hours spent on the internet looking for someway to buy the things I miss most. The search has paid off a little. There are several British stores here in Barcelona that sell some American type food but with a British spin. That is ok...I will take what I can get. I also found a restaurant that serves American food from 10am-4pm every Sunday. I have heard a rumor; I can buy maple pancake syrup from the imported foods section of  El Corte Inglés. Ron and I tried to go there on Saturday, but the store was so crowded you could hardly move. I never found the imported food section. Who knows, this may be a pipe dream. On a positive note, I found a tiny jar of peanut butter today. I have not tried it and I have not told the kids. I do not want them to be disappointed if it turns out to be a bust. Adrianna and Antonio have got so used to food being different, they asked me if the banana was a "Spain banana or American banana". It took a while to convince them that the fruit would taste the same. The kids love the orange juice here. They are scheming ways to have the same orange juice when we get back to Seattle. What is not to love...it taste just like an orange...a really good orange. I could go on forever about the food (this is my obsession of the week) but I will not.

Sorry, no new pic. Ron is gone with the camera.