Tapas For Thanksgiving

Hi, again. Forgive me for not being very thorough lately, but many things have been going on recently. First of all, I just want to say that I have some amazing colleagues. Last thursday for Thanksgiving they put together a small pot-luck Thanksgiving celebration just for me! I was kind of surprised when they told me that they were planning it because I didn´t think they´d go out of their way to bring a dish to school with all the craziness that´s been going on in regards to extended hours and pay cuts (more about this later). Seriously, it was incredibly thoughtful of them to do that. I guess they became inspired after I talked about how amazing Thanksgiving is and that it was a shame that I would miss it. Anyhow, one of the teachers put up a list and then everyone started writing their names and what they would bring. I wanted to bring a turkey so badly, but after I spoke with my mom I said forget about it. Its toooooo much work and besides bringing it on the bus would have been too much of a hassle. I ended up bringing a pumpkin pie that I made the previous night. I went the easy way out and used Libby´s canned pumpkin from an American store that I happened to stumble upon by chance......the thing is I was walking in a very uppity looking neighborhood on my way to a workshop for Madrid Science Week when all of a sudden I see a small convenience store overshadowed by a huge apartment building -its neon green sign having been what caught my eye. The name: A Taste of America. It felt a little bit like home; there was pancake mix, Aunt Jemima´s pancake syrup, Reeses pieces, JIF peanut butter -all the unhealthy stuff- cranberry sauce, stuffing mix (they were prepared for Turkey day except they didn´t have any turkeys), and French´s mustard (this really made me excited because the mustard tastes horrible here!!) So on thursday the teachers and I enjoyed some delicious pumpkin pie. Really. It tasted pretty damn good although the dough could have been cooked a little more. They don´t sell aluminum baking pans with pie crusts already on them here so what I did was buy already-made dough for empanadas and placed it over an aluminum pan. So, next time I know what to do. At the get-together there was so many varieties of tapas (Spanish finger food/appetizers) I could barely contain myself. And it seemed that each teacher was eager for me to try his or her speciality. After saying some words of deep gratitude, we dug in. It was a crash-course in Spanish tapa tasting and I passed with flying colors. Tuna empanadas, jamón serrano (parma ham), patés and crackers, cream cheese covered with sweetened bell-peppers, olives, potatoe salad, Spanish omlette, Rioja wine, coffe-flavored flan, etc.

Now tapas are one aspect of Madrid culture that I absolutely love. In fact, when you order some drinks at a bar or a restaurant they usually come with free tapas! The popular drink of choice is called a caña de cerveza. Originally, caña means sugarcane, so I took this phrase to mean sugarcane beer. I was very wrong. Caña in this context means a small glass of beer, usually of the brand, Mahou. Anyways, with an order of a caña de cerveza comes tapas of main kinds depending on the establishment. And who can deny free food?

In the end, I was able to have an authentic Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Cooper´s apartment that following Saturday. He, too, is an auxiliar at a local high school. There were about eight of us, Americans and Spaniards, who savored in the turkey and sides dishes that he cooked. It was pretty impressive and nostalgic at the same time. I wished I could have teleported back for just a few hours to be with my family. But at the same time, I was thankful for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live in Spain.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too. Hasta luego.