A culinary commentary

For Ruben's birthday earlier this month, he wanted to try a well-known restaurant that is situated in an old house built in 1955, close to Sardinero, called Deluz (www.deluz.es).

As is usual with places that have good ambience and ideal location, we weren't expecting a whole lot. We ordered different things for each course from the set menu to get a good sample of what they had to offer:

Wild mushrooms baked in a phyllo pastry with goat cheese on top

Risotto with squid

Steak wrapped around cheese....I think....forgot... :)

Hake topped with salsa of veggies

Dessert sampler of apple tart, brownie and cheesecake

The conclusion on the food a resounding "meh". Great presentation, very good service, but taste-wise, just average. In fact, a bit disappointing on some fronts. The phyllo was flaky and yum, but the risotto a bit liquidy and bland. The meat dish was tender and quite good, but the hake lacked flavour. It would've been much better with a stronger sauce. Dessert was small and not outstanding by any means...how sad for this sweet-tooth!

Service, however, was very good--friendly and efficient, the former of which can be lacking at times, and the latter usually expected. One waiter came back constantly to pour water for us, even though the bottle was already on the table. Pleasantries were exchanged, and that is a rare and unusual thing in this land of direct questions...

We really came to check out the ambience, and were not disappointed with this:

One section of the many dining areas

The lounge/library/study

Relaxing out on the porch

Building exterior

View of the neighbours from the gardens

Overall, it was something nice to try, if only just to say we have been there, even if it wasn't fantastically spectacular. :)

And now, more kitchen experiments: something old...

Another attempt at perfecting the crust....still not desirably crispy.... (suggestions??)

And something(s) new.....

Good-looking sushi by the rookie chef.... :)

Another attempt the following weekend for good measure--just as lovely though simpler

Inspired by our Parisienne journey, here we present cheese fondue...trial 1--looks great but a bit clumpy....trial 2 was more successful, though lacking in photographic evidence

Chocolate fondue, on the other hand, never fails....mmmmmm.........

Snowy days in yet another language...

After New Year's Day, I still had over a week of vacation, so Ruben and I had planned a vacation away, since he could take some days off work as well. So on Tuesday the 6th, we caught a flight down to Madrid from Santander, and spent a few hours wandering the streets. We weren't sure what was going on here, but there were all these soldiers standing around, with some folks watching them....we stayed to watch for a bit but they didn't do anything exciting. =P

Later that afternoon, we caught another flight and arrived around 6pm that night in the land of lights, cheese, croissants, crepes........Paris, of course! :) We stayed in the area near this famous neon landmark:

The famous lights of the Moulin Rouge

We had found a studio for rent and decided that it was a good option rather than a hotel or hostel for the 5 days we were in town. It was in Montmartre, but tucked in a little side street, away from the noise and traffic and hubbub of the big city. The area was quaint, picturesque and with great atmosphere, so we were very happy with the location!

The little passage that led to our apartment (entrance in photo below)--so cute and quiet!

Of course during our holiday, we had to sample all the culinary offerings of France, which included the following..........

Mmmmmm!! A fresh croissant each morning is a wonderful breakfast!

French crepes experience--a 3 course extravaganza!!

First fondue attempts--all the cheese you could ever dream of

Plus of course many different cheeses, baguettes fresh daily from the multitude of bakeries, and good menus with hot French onion soup (perfect for the weather) and yummy, filling main courses.

Between eating and drinking, we braved the cold snowy streets to check out the sights:

The famous Notre Dame

Inside the tall ceilings of the Notre Dame

Night along the Seine

Climbed the many steps up reenact Amelie at Sacre Coeur :)

My attempt at artistic renditions of the Eiffel tower:

View of the city from the 1st floor of the tower...not the best with the bars but the rest of the tower was too frozen and dangerous to access!

Looking down from the tower

The city landmark is brightly illuminated at night

The Pantheon--here lies Victor Hugo

And of course, we took time to aimlessly wander the streets to soak up the atmosphere, and discover more about everyday life in Paris.....

Look, some Parisienne knows about Canada!!!!!!!

Poetic multilingual art

An old man navigates his way slowly along a snowy Parisienne street

After a few days of freezing my toes off, we headed back south via Madrid again. The excess eating and low temperatures got to me, and I got ill on Saturday night. So it was a time to rest and recover from the holiday, rather than check out a Madrileno weekend. On Sunday morning, we got up and had a typical Spanish breakfast of chocolate with churros (despite my still-weak stomach thinking it wasn't such a great idea...), and then flew back to Santander. Seems like not even northern Spain was exempt from the snowy cold weather:

Snowy mountains of Cantabria welcome us back to Spain...

Ringing in 2010--celebrations part 2

First, of course a random holiday photo that ain't so great but shows the lights and children playing pingpong in the street. Yes it's true and a bit odd, but nice. They also had other games such as ring-toss, Jacob's ladder etc scattered around for children to try....

And then for some funky tapas photos. Here is a typical snack which can turn into a meal if you have a few with a few drinks. Luckily the beers are small so it quenches thirst but doesn't make you slosh around or have to use the loo every half a glass. Different toppings adorn a small slice of bread, and they range from tortilla topped with ham and a pepper, or mixed tuna concoction (don't remember what it was exactly but it was yummy....)
to fancy prawn and cheese or curried chicken shishkebab. Mmmmm....the possibilities are endless and limited to your imagination, and oh so inspiring for this wanna-be tapas entrepreneur. :)

Who said tapas had to be conservative and boring?

Latest news from the experimental kitchen (yes, more food photos, haha):

First attempt ever at cannelloni: stuffed with spinach, feta, shrooms and walnuts and topped with bechamel with a twist--mixing things up! ;)

My contribution to NYE dinner--the classic, ever-popular and un-Spanish apple pie (their version of apple pie is open-faced and tart-like)! :)

New Year's Eve dinner

Late on Dec 31st, it was dinner time with the other side of Ruben's family. This time in attendance was aunts and uncles from his mom's side, and was a smaller affair. Still tons of food including prawns, ham, paté, foie gras, bread, wine, meat and desserts of more turrón and my apple pie (which was too small to have more than a tiny portion for everyone....oh well).

Fewer in attendance for this holiday feast with the other side of the family

After dinner, it was already getting pretty close to midnight (late Spanish mealtimes....plus a long social affair with lots of talking and slow savouring....) so the grapes were distributed in preparation for the big moment.

NYE tradition in this country calls for eating 12 grapes, in time the chimes of festivities of Madrid broadcast on tv. You have to eat pretty quickly to get them all in to the rhythm, and they aren't tiny grapes, but normal ones with seeds. Some people prepared their grapes by peeling and seeding them, but I figured it was my first time, so I should eat the whole thing authentic style. :) Before eating, you should make a wish and if you succeed in getting them all eaten to the chimes, then your wish will come true. I was too busy thinking about chewing fast that I forgot to make a wish! Oh well.....

Watch the video below for the actual goings-on in the house as we all watched tv and munched grapes (you will see me making funny faces as I try to film and eat simultaneously......) ;D

Watching the Madrid countdown and furiously chewing on grapes

Post-grapes activities involved toasting champagne (of course), hugs and kisses all around (including a very emotional aunt who was tearing up), doling out of presents (from that same aunt) and chitchat, accompanied by more sweets and drinks of various sorts.

Later on, we went to the flat of some of Ruben's friends and chatted and had some drinks for a while and then all caught a taxi into town. This took awhile since there was some issues getting one to arrive and when we did finally get one, of course it cost more than usual with the "holiday supplement". =P We spent more time talking in various bars (by this time, more listening than talking from my end) and then left to go home around........5:30am.....I was beat of course, but couldn't just run off....

New Year's Day began right before lunch, as of course there wasn't enough sleeping time before the meal, and we headed again to the same location, with the same attendees. The meal was lighter and prepared by Ruben's mom--a "regular" 3 course deal without doubt. :)

On Saturday the 2nd, I started off the new year having dinner with some students, as one of them has stepdaughters visiting from Australia (she's Argentinian but her husband is Spanish/Oz) who don't really speak Spanish. So what better way for her classmates to practise again? :) We went for a nice Italian dinner and stayed talking away in the restaurant till 1am--time flies when you're having fun eh? :)

Now that 2010 is well upon us, what are your resolutions? Post and share--if it's public, you are most likely to be motivated to keep them! ;D