and I’m boiling the bones of a Turkey skeleton. My roomate made one for “Thanksgiving” dinner and Cole and I are attempting to make a DIY consumé. Tomorrow we’ll go to the butcher and find “the shin of a cow” plus some vegetables and then we’re going to make some “stock” for ourselves in preparation for a fancy risotto.
Teaching myself to cook, in my new kitchen, in this new country, with a partner, and with the Escoffier cookbook, is truly opening my world. I notice things about myself, my intuition, and my style as I move about in this space. Cole knows more than I do about chefs, Michelin restaurants and knives. But I’m comfortable with food, with pots and pans, gas stoves, and chopping onions. Cooking with Cole is one of the more pleasant experiences, too, because we have different sets of skills. We balance each other well and successfully leave our egos out of the kitchen
Cooking in España is another story.
How lucky am I to have fresh ingredients for cheap, but what the hell are they? To learn the name of every fruit, vegetable, meat, etc. in not just Spanish but Catalán… it’s difficult. Today I had an itch for pinenuts, and had no idea how to ask for them. So I ran into the aisle of sauces, found some pesto, and went through every ingredient with the produce lady. piñones! haha, so we cooked them with escarole.
We also made homeade sauce and meatballs for macaroni, which will cook overnight and be perfect tomorrow.
The meatballs needed breadcrumbs so we made some!
Now we’re just sitting, waiting, drinking beer, translating recipes into Spanish so we know how to buy the proper ingredients… does anybody know how to say “shin of cow” in Castellano?!
Love Pascale
