I arrived in Madrid last month and will be spending the next couple of weeks here. From day 1 I experienced a culture shock and after day 6, my body is slowly getting used to the rhythm here. My body should indeed be smiling all over, as this seems to be a culture where eating and eating and snacking and well…. primary activity. Work is a mere distraction from all of the eating and snacking it seems to me.

I certainly have no problem what-so-ever with this. However,  the late dinner hours does take time for me to get used to. Normal dinner hours are around 9 or 10 lasting way up until who knows. But, I figure how best to get to know a culture. So, when in Spain, I shall do as the Spaniards do.

According to tradition, it seems that most people head to work around 9am, eat a breakfast…that is breakfast number one….work a bit, then take a 2nd breakfast before working a bit more and then heading out for lunch!!!

Simply fantastic!!!

Out of the breads, I always opted for one which was toasted with a thin tomato sauce on it, called very matter of factly…pan con Tomate. It is really like Bruchetta, but instead of visible pieces of tomato, it sports as thin layer of tomato sauce.

Oh, I forgot to mention the Torrijas, which are what I knew only as French Toast. A piece of not too-fresh-bread dipped into a batter of eggs and milk and pan fried. It is usually served with either a dab of honey or a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar. when they are made freshly, they can be absolutely delicious, light, moist inside with a slight crunch on the outside, drizzled with honey.

Then of course, there are the Churros. I had actually never had one before, as I was always maintained a snobby attitude towards them, deeming them nothing more than unhealthy globs of flour and water deep fried in bad oil. Well, in fact, they are just that. But this time around, I decided that I should at least taste one before casting judgement. After having taken my first bite, I decided that, well when heavily dipped into the accompanying think chocolate sauce, they are actually not that bad!

The accompanying chocolate was more than a delight. Although I will more than likely not eat any of them for a while, the thing that most intrigued me was the combination of the chocolate with the Churros. For my taste, Churros is nothing much without the chocolate. It is really what gives it its allure, its excitement, taste, and well…everything, as far as I am concerned.

Honestly, the warm velvety texture of the sauce combined with the crisp, yet tender consistency of the Churros made me just smile!!!

After going to countless churrerias to get an idea of what they really should taste like,  I headed home and made my own batch…here is the recipe:

CHURROS

• Vegetable or Olive Oil for frying
• 1 cup water
1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

To make the churros dough, place the water in a saucepan and add the butter and salt and cook this mixture until it boils. As soon as it starts to boil, stir in the flour. turn down the heat to low and keep on starring the flour in the mixture until it forms a ball. Remove this mixture from the heat and let this sit for a couple of minutes to cool off. Now beat the 3 eggs and add them to the flour mixture. Stir the eggs in until you have a consistent dough.

Now, spoon this dough mixture into a churros tube or any cake decorator tube with a star top.

Prepare the oil by filling a frying pan with about 1cm. or 2 inches of oil. heat oil to about 360 degrees F or 180 degrees C. Now, add the churros dough by squeezing about 3 or 4 inches of the dough out at a time for one churros. You can squeeze out enough dough to fry about four churros in one batch.

Fry them for about 2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown. Take out the fried churros place them on paper towels to drain off some of the oil. Now, roll the churros into the powdered sugar and they are now ready to be eaten with the chocolate sauce!!!!!

for the Chocolate Sauce

• 1/2 cup (or about 115 grams) of high quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 2 cups of milk, divided equally into 2 cups
• 1 tbsp of cornstarch
• 3 tbsp sugar

Place the chocolate and one cup of the milk in a sauce pan and heat under medium heat until the chocolate is melted. Now mix the cornstarch in the remaining cup of milk until the cornstarch is dissolved.

Add this mixture into the chocolate mixture and then add the sugar. Cook this mixture on low heat, stirring until the mixture begins to thicken. Cook for about 5 minutes until it has reached the desired consistency. Should the mixture not be think enough, you can always add a small bit of cornstarch. Remove from heat and give it a last stir until it is smooth. Now pour into cups and you are ready to dip and dunk!

This is utterly ridiculous! This is unheard of! This is NOT the way I planned to live my life!!!

I began this blog earlier this year as a means of finally devoting some time to the things I enjoy most-I began writing on a regular basis and photographing just about every thing I ate-

Much to the dismay and often disapproval of those who were eating with me. The meal would not begin unless a series of photos were taken.

It is funny how life is-or at least how my life life, and then again funny is not the word-more sad than funny!

I promised myself that I would continue working on this blog as long as I ate, as long as I continued to cook and bake. So much for promises!!! My last entry was June-this is 6 months ago!!! 6months-and I cannot really tell you why, nor what has really happened within that rather long space of time!

I certainly did not stop eating, and I well-did not really stop cooking and baking. Perhaps not to the extent at which I would have liked, but at least I have not stopped completely. I have just writing about it!

It s terribly saddening for me to realise how easily I can become swamped by work and how easily I am able to let go of those things which really matter to me. What in heavens’ name have I done with the time-what have I become?

Do you guys ever feel this way-or is it just me???!!!

I do recall saying to myself-back in July when I realised that a month had gone by without an entry , that I must take sometime and write an entry into my blog-and these moments became days, and then weeks and then months and now half a year!

I am writing this entry at 01:46am, after an all-nighter the night before, and I really should be in bed. I was actually in bed already but called my brother across the Atlantic to say hello. I told him about the pumpkin seed pesto that I had made recently (and tonight again) and the wonderful raw food restaurant at which I ate last week in London (a truly culinary highlight!!!). He asked me if I had put these experiences into my blog because his girlfriend was looking for things I mentioned having made recently and was not able to find them.

I paused when he mentioned this to me. I was not even aware that his girlfriend knew that I had a blog, and that she even had an interest to take any time to even look through it!! This completely dazzled me.

It dazzled me enough to climb right out of my nicely warmed up bed (which took forever to warm up), and finally, after 6 long months I am ignoring my “sleepiness”-from the night before-ignoring that fact that I have umpteen things on my work agenda for tomorrow -ignoring everything else and I shall now forget all space and time and delve into my passion-that is of course-food. Why?

Because life is simply too short not to take time out to enjoy the things one enjoys most!!!!

Thank you Liz!!!