"Take me to Spain!"

About a week ago, I had a random desire to go back to my glory travel days and make a typical Spanish meal.  As it got later, I was losing my desire to cook and just wanted to heat up some soup (I was starving), but Ryan said, "Awww c'mon Lauren, take me to Spain!"  I smiled, thankful for Ryan and his endless amount of enthusiasm and energy, and with a new motivation started pulling out ingredients.

While in Spain, I had such a fun opportunity to take a cooking class as part of my studies at the Universidad de la Rioja!  Every week we would meet at a downtown hotel to be taught for 3 hours by Paco, a famous Chef in the northern area of Spain.  Paco...the name just added another element to that surreal experience.  I am in Spain, taking classes in Spanish, being taught by a Chef named Paco...really??  We made all sorts of things in class (luckily I still have all the recipes) so I decided to make a typical meal we ate weekly with my spanish family, the Marañones.  It includes:

- Tortilla de Patata (eggs, potatos and onions in a quiche/omelette)
- Pimientos rojos (roasted red peppers)
- Mediterranean Salad (served on a plate: lettuce, green olives, tomatoes and olive oil, sardines if you are brave!)
- A loaf of bread 

I am losing my Spanish, but it is entirely my fault.  It is one thing to live with a family, in spain, no english spoken, constant practice....and quite another to live in Provo, go to school with hardly any Spanish speakers and have limited opportunities to practice.  So since most of my recipes are in Spanish and I don't remember which word meant "Tablespoon" or "just a dash", I am grateful the tortilla still turned out well :)

We are hoping to continue this "International Night" with our family.  Every Wednesday or every other, we will make a typical meal from another country to hopefully 1. light a fire of curiosity in our kids, 2. encourage them to try new and different things and 3. change things up!