Readers, Welcome to my blog (formerly Birds, Blooms, Books, etc). I'm entering a new decade taking on the challenge of moving from Maryland after living there 46 years and learning about my new home here in New England in the Live Free or Die state - New Hampshire. Join me as a write this new chapter of my life.

Monday, September 25, 2023

"Looking Forward to" Revisited

 On September 15th I posted photos of food we had in Barcelona in 2019 and how I was looking forward to our Spain trip and the food.

In Priego de Cordoba we ate our big meals in early afternoon when siesta time started for all businesses except restaurants. 

Breakfast was in the apartment except for those times we went out for hot cocoa and churros - fried dough pastries. We especially liked Spanish omelets, one of which was in our refrigerator when we arrived along with OJ, milk, cheese, bread, ham slices, nectarines, lettuce and tomatoes. Untours did a good job stocking up with necessities so we didn't have to go shopping our first day there.

Evening meals we had at the apartment and went with light fare: olives, bread and olive oil, cheese, ham slices, or small salads. Restaurant dining in the evenings didn't start until 9 pm.  Too late for us.

Well, below is an assortment of photos of the food we had.  Some dishes were outstanding while other dishes were just ok.  

Of course blogger mixes these all up not paying to date at all!

Dan thought he was ordering salad with Russian dressing but it was potato salad.


Grilled chicken at another restaurant for me.


Carrot cake that was suberb.


Here is breakfast at apartment: slice of Spanish omelet, melon and toast.


Grilled tuna.  My first choice was salmon but they were out.  This was very good until I got to the thickest part and it was a little under done for me.


Calamari.  Did you think they were onion rings?


Dan's mixed salad which comes with tuna.  We had Caesar salads (no photos) that also had tuna on them.


This was a small local restaurant near the caves we visited. The menu was written on a chalkboard and you had a choice of a first course and second course.


My first choice was this garlic soup.  Very good. I had the calamari shown above as second course.  


Dan had the salad as first course and this "ham" burger as second course.  And it was ham not a beef burger as he expected.


A so so choice of fried chicken.


These prawns were too breaded.


One of the very best first courses was this plate of grilled vegetables: asparagus, peppers, eggplant and onions.


Another mixed salad we shared.


This was like a paella but more saucey.


The above and below was at a restaurant where the server just didn't want to understand what we were asking.  There were to be two courses but he only brought one each.  Mine below was tuna and tomatoes.


Below: The flamenquín is a traditional dish from Cordoba made with slices of jamón serrano wrapped in pieces of pork loin, coated breadcrumb batter, and deep-fried. It is often garnished with French fries and mayonnaise.
Jamon is ham!


A chicken breast grilled below.


Here is the hot cocoa and churro.  The cocoa was very thick so you dip the churro in it.


Our breakfast table.


Another delicious dessert.  Notice the coffee served in a glass.  That's typical there.


This is breaded eggplant served with a dark honey sauce.  Yum. It was my first course one day and I ate it all.  Well, Dan had some too.  We each had carbonara for our second course but I forgot to take a picture.


Another attempt at a hamburger but this time he got chicken.


A pudding dessert.


Potato chips, Lays brand, were often served when we sat down.  Sometimes we'd get olives.



Tinto de berano was a favorite cool drink for a warm day.  It's red wine and lemon seltzer with lots of ice. 


Not sure what Dan ordered but he got chicken on a baguette.


More photos to come.  I have so many that I'm trying to sort by subject.  Food photos were easiest to sort though I do have some from our cooking class that will be the subject of another post.




Thursday, September 21, 2023

Home Again.

 Just returned home from Spain today!

We left September 5th from Boston Logan Airport and flew to Lisbon, Portugal arriving on the 6th.  From there we changed to a flight to Malaga, Spain.  We picked up a rental car and drove north to Priego de Cordoba where we had an apartment until Wednesday September 20th.  Flight home was the reverse except once we arrived in Boston we spent the night at a local hotel before catching the bus to Lebanon, NH where our daughter picked us up.

Jet lag outgoing was a bit rough to adjust to.  Coming back a bit easier though I'm writing this with heavy eyelids.  Need a cup of tea and a nap.  The time difference was 6 hours.

Many pictures to share of our wonderful wanderings through Andalucia and specifically the historic small towns starting with Priego de Cordoba.



 

Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Welcome Autumn!

 


I repurposed this dried out Christmas wreath as an Autumn wreath for the house.

It still has a balsam fragrance to it even though it's two years old.

Leaves started changing colors in late August which is still a surprise for us because summer in Maryland where we used to live extended into October most of the time.

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Reading Material for Traveling

   I love to read so can't go anywhere without taking some books.  I also signed up for access to online books at Libby and Hoopla but really prefer actual books in hand not my phone.

For the trip to Spain I had to consider that books may weigh too much so when I stopped at the Free Library I found three paperback books of interest that once read I can leave behind for someone else to read.


I'm familiar with the authors Dick Francis and Linda Greenlaw but not Raffaella Barker.  I started the latter's book to see if I'd like it and I think it will do.  If I need more there may be books left in the apartment we have, at least that was the case when we traveled to Barcelona.  Then as a last resort there are the books online to find.

I'm ready!

Update: Oops! No I'm not.  After packing these books discovered my carryon was over the weight limit. Things had to come out like the water bottle and three books.  Instead I downloaded books on Libby and Hoopla.