Festivities and food--these are a few of my favourite things!

Another long hiatus from publishing means another potpourri of photos and events. Here are a few, in chronological order. Short little blurbs included as well for your reading pleasure. :)

1. A local celebration

Some parade (perhaps for spring?) in Astillero....we heard music and looked out to see floats, so we ran down to the other part of town to catch what was going on... :)

This dragon machine approached me directly, barking and hissing until the "tamers" calmed it down... :)

The Oscars have arrived, along with Spaniards in afros! ;D

Crowds line the streets waiting for the parade to pass

A Goofy-looking float (haha)

Local bagpipers--not only in Scotland, since northern Spain has Celtic ties too!

Cool clogs on stilts, village-style

He did pretty well dodging the crowds that weren't held back by barriers.....

Fireworks streamed out of their instruments!

2. A religious affair

Now I don't know anything about religion, so I couldn't tell you which day was the actual official holiday, but from Apr. 1-4 were the public holidays for Semana Santa (Easter). The weeks before, they had set up a tent with effigies (is that what they are called??) to display to the public and allow people to see the figures. Then on various evenings, they had groups practise out in the streets, marching to the rhythm, lifting these huge things around. The outfits are a shock for lots of foreigners, since they often include pointy-hats that are reminiscent of a certain group. There are various colours which symbolize things like love, purity, innocence etc....I'm sure Wikipedia has a better explanation of this than me.....

The procession involves a whole bunch of strong people hoisting these figures upon their shoulders and marching in time....

I don't know what to call them...marching band, no.....musicians, no....

3. Cooking experiments continue

A while ago, we were in Bilbao and ate some yummy bacalao pil-pil (cod in a special sauce that is a typical dish of the Basque country). So we decided to give it a try with recipes I found online. You take salted cod filets (don't know why but they don't use the fresh cod, always the salted ones...) and cook them with olive oil (there exists no other form of cooking here other than e.v.o.o.--healthy and yummy!) and garlic. Sounds simple? The trick is jiggling around the pan and allowing the fish to hit the sides in order to draw out the fat and allow the sauce to thicken. I don't know the exact term or process, but the fat from the fish mixes with the oil to thicken into almost like an emulsification....I think...... ;) At first we weren't having any luck so Ruben called his mom to ask and they just happened to be in town, and came up to show us some techniques. We really needed a bigger pan to slosh the fish around, but we made do and you can see the results of quite a lot of patience and work!

The chef demonstrates proper technique

The final product, homemade bacalao pil-pil

4. Dining out

One of our colleagues has just changed jobs, after a few years at the school, so a bunch of us went out for dinner. The place was very nice and we ordered a bunch of rations (plates of meats, cheeses or other nibbly things) to pick at and share, along with jugs of Sangria (as you can see), then went out for some drinks and more chitchat.

Group dinner to wish Paloma luck at her new job!