Time for Tapas

Monday, February 22, 2010

FLASH Tapas

You know those articles you read from cooking blogs that tell you to keep certain things in your cupboards if you do not have time to cook but want something quick and easy? It is the same idea for tapas. If you have 4 to 6 non-perishable items on hand, you can make tapas very easily. So, that is why I called this post, FLASH Tapas.

From the three pictures below, you can see how I put together a series of tapas from bags, jars and cans. You may not have access to the stores that I do but I can find most of these products at Trader Joe’s, World Market and Meijers. The wine and beer I found at Trader Joe’s. Let me know where you found your products!

Chorizo, marinated artichoke salad, and chips

Mediterranean olives, roasted red peppers, and marinated garlic cloves

Green olives, artichoke hearts (with vinaigrette or sautéed in olive oil with bacon or pieces of ham), peanuts

SOMETHING HOT, SOMETHING QUICK AND EASY!!

Garlic shrimp for two. This recipe is from Cantabria, the north-central region of Spain.

Garlic shrimp for two.

Take ½ lb. of small shrimp, frozen or raw and rinse. Make sure the frozen shrimp are thawed out, which can be done by running cold water over them. After rinsing the shrimp, dry on paper towels.

Wash one red fresh chili pepper, cut in half, remove the seeds, and then cut into thin rings. If you are using dry chili peppers crush them.

Slice 3 garlic gloves.

Put 1/3 cup light olive oil into a skillet on medium high heat. Once the olive oil is heated and sizzling quickly put in shrimp and garlic. Do not let garlic burn and do not over cook the shrimp. It will probably take 3 minutes to cook the shrimp. Move shrimp around gently as they cook.

Once the shrimp is cooked turn heat off and put into a small dish.

Use a toothpick to eat with or your fingers.

WHEN EATING TAPAS ALWAYS HAVE NAPKINGS, A FORK, SMALL DISHES AND SLICED BAGUETTE BREAD, WHITE OR WHOLE WHEAT.

Enjoy any tapas with beer, or wine. Sangria is good too!!

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And as they say in Spain...

“True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island..to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.”

Baltasar Gracian

During our 5 years living in Madrid, Spain, I did not make many friends, but the ones I did were truly diverse and loyal. My first language exchange partner was a young student that had studied in Norway for a year under the Erasmus study program. Her English was quite good so I was a bit intimidated when trying to speak Spanish. She was very patient but at times would tell me my Spanish was "crappy", (my word), which when she said this the first time it shocked me, but then I thought she has not learned the American politeness of encouraging someone when they are trying but not using words like this if they do not see a lot of progress. However, some time did go by without meeting and when we finally did she saw how much I had improved so her remarks were much more positive. She was fun and in spite of the huge age difference, we managed to spend several hours together at each encounter and did not lack for conversation.

Another one of my friends was a Psychologist and at the beginning was bent on just doing English exercises that she would bring along from her online English course. That was fine but when it came to reading or conversation she expected me to only speak in Spanish and read these quite complicated articles in Spanish emphasizing that I did not speak loud enough like the Spanish. One day I told her I was “leading” the session and told her she was to speak to me only in English. She was always a good sport when I would turn the tables on her and did make an effort. Our encounters were quite creative. Sometimes we met at her hairdressers, or we would take walks in town where she would point out different stores and shops to me giving me their backgrounds. She once took me to the best, in her opinion, calamar sandwich place in Madrid. We both had a sandwich and sat down on a bench and had our snack and practiced, mostly Spanish. It seemed I had to speak more than she did. She was the most spiritual of my friends so we had some interesting conversations about Catholicism, saints, yoga, God and some kind of vibration and light meditation that she wanted me to learn in order to help my prayer life. This is where I drew the limits in what I was willing to try for a friend.

Almost a year went by once when we did not see each other and then one day out of the blue she called me and we picked up again where we had left off… true friendship.

My best friend is an artist, a hairdresser, a Spanish flamenco dancer and just one of the sweetest women I have ever known. She is gentle, patient, funny, and I learned so much from her about “no pasa nada”. She taught me that no mistake is too big to correct, nothing is too bad to forgive, and when we were together this past January during my visit to Madrid it was if we had never parted. I made a complete fool of myself in the cafeteria where we always met for language practice. In front of a whole room of people having coffee I tried carrying two very hot coffees from the bar to our table. My purse was hanging over my shoulder and as I walked towards the table, I felt the purse sliding down my arm and with the weight of it I knew the coffees were going to spill and spill they did. Coffee was running on the floor, over the chairs and table. With the grace of a true lady my friend had me at another table, calming me down, getting someone to clean up my mess, ordering two more coffees and before I knew it we were catching up as if nothing had ever happened.

These are just a few reasons why I loved Spain and Spanish people so much. They did not make fun of me, nor did they take themselves too seriously. When something goes wrong, “no pasa nada.”

----------------------------------

When we first went to Spain, I realized that many times when I was trying to communicate with older Spanish people they would throw a Spanish proverb at me.

I usually did not know what they were saying, but I did know it had something to do with what I was trying to say. I appreciated the fact that they felt the need to share some of their Spanish wisdom with me.

Today, I say, “Comiendo entra la gana”, which means, “Appetite comes with eating”.

I hope that in savoring these little cylinders of mashed potatoes with ham your appetite will be opened up to more of the little dishes of Spain.

Time for Tapas

Monday, February 22, 2010

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And as they say in Spain...

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