It´s only been a little over 2 months since we got back from our trip to New York, although so much has happened between then and now that it feels like it was an eternity ago.  Nevertheless, we ate incredibly well (you see, this was before we started travelling in backpacker mode), and made pilgrimmages to almost all the places on my list that I had been reading about, and dreaming about, months before.  Like any big city, New York is a place where you can eat fabulously well as long as you have some good advice up your sleeve.  Many thanks to all those friends (and fellow bloggers) who helped with the research leading up to this trip. 

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In my last few days in Madrid, not only did I go around saying goodbye to my favourite vendors and visiting my favourite tapas bars, I also finally got around to visiting places and trying specialties that had been on my “to do” list for months, even years.  There were a few standouts, which I will share in the hope that those friends still in Madrid can continue enjoying them for me.

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Saying goodbye is never easy.  So much has changed since I arrived in Madrid a little over 3 years ago, not speaking a word of Spanish and feeling like a complete outsider in this strange and exciting city.

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Is there anybody out there?  It´s been so long since my last post that I wouldn´t be surprised if you´ve all given up on me.  I once read somewhere that about 90% of all food bloggers give up after their first year blogging.  It´s a depressing statistic, and one I don´t want to be part of.

So no, I haven´t given up at all, I´ve just been somewhat distracted.  In the last 2 months, I have:
• Quit my job
• Bought a round the world ticket (!)
• Moved out of my flat and given away most of my worldly possessions
• Eaten my way around New York and Kentucky
• Eaten my way around most of Madrid´s Michelin starred restaurants.
• Found myself in the middle of the biggest street party I´ve ever witnessed, when Spain won the world cup
• Said goodbye to my adopted city, and to all my dear friends there.

It´s been exhausting!  But also hugely exciting.  The good news is that I am now officially unemployed, with 6 or 7 months of travel planned around Mexico, Central and South America, Australia and Asia, before we return to oz for good.  I have a brand new netbook and canon G11, plenty of time on my hands, and so much I want to write about and share with you.  I guess this blog is going to change a little – instead of telling you what I´m cooking in my Spanish kitchen I will instead be sharing with you the strange and wonderful things I find myself eating during my travels (hopefully no guinea pigs, though), my adventures exploring south american produce markets and enjoying the local street food.

So, thank you for waiting. I´ve missed blogging and I´ve missed you.  I can´t wait to share the coming months with you. 

We leave for Mexico City in the morning – hasta luego!

We recently spent 11 days in Sicily, and we literally ate our way around the island (no surprises there).

What did surprise me, however, was how different the food was from what one finds on the mainland.  The island has a rich tapestry of cultures, due to the many empires which have come and gone over the centuries, always leaving their mark on the local cuisine.  It seems almost everyone has come to Sicily - the Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Normans, Spanish and Moors.

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Granada is a stunning city, and a place which I feel I can return to again and again – I always discover something new – a new tapas bar, a new barrio to get lost in, a hidden spot in the Albayzin from which to watch the sun set over the Alhambra palace. 

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It’s been almost a year since I last wrote about my favourite places to eat in Madrid, and since then I’ve made a number of exciting discoveries.  Here is a selection of my current favourites:
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Making desserts does not come naturally to me.

I blame this on my lack of a sweet tooth.  And also on my dodgy oven, which has a tendency to grill rather than bake, making cake-baking difficult and often disappointing (even tantrum inducing).

And so my dessert repertoire is limited at best, and a little predictable: in summer, I make campari and pink grapefruit granita, and in winter I make these heavenly-scented, vanilla baked pears.

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When I started to eat meat a few years ago, there are some things that I swore I would never, ever eat.  Morcilla (black pudding, ie sausage made from pig’s blood) was one of those things.  That is, until I found myself seated at Bar Pinotxo early one Saturday morning.

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An empanada is a flat Galician pie, best made by abuelas (grandmothers) in the north-west of Spain.  The fillings vary, but almost always will include a sofrito of slow cooked onions and peppers, and then some type of meat (the recipe below uses fresh chorizo sausages) or good quality tinned seafood (tuna, sardines, clams, etc).  I love a good empanada, but in Madrid they are frustratingly hard to find, and are often dry and stale, or soggy and oily.  And so, inspired by this post, I set out to make my own.  And it was a definite success, very rewarding, and far easier than I anticipated.  The saffron olive oil pastry is particularly good, moist and a little flaky, and with a heady, yeasty fragrance from the sherry.

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