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Published: April 12th 2011
Yesterday was a great day. After I toured the Alcazar, I strolled through the Barrio Santa Cruz. This is where the streets are so narrow, winding and very interesting. The fun part of simply strolling is that I had nowhere to go, nothing to do. At one point I stopped and had the most delicious ice cream/gelato ever. I took a picture of it and wish it was either a scratch and sniff or lick and taste picture but unfortunately my camera isn´t capable of that. And here is a thought. If we have cell phone cameras that can access the internet, why don´t digital cameras have the ability to access the internet too? It would be so great to snap a picture and email it from the camera. Anyhow, back to the stroll. Since the streets wind and twist it is easy to get turned around, but not so much lost. I found if I just kept walking I would end up on a familiar street. One big part of traveling is having a good recall of details to get an orientation of where I am.
I had to meet the driver at the Bull Ring for my cooking
class. It was a nice and easy walk, although it is actually getting hot here. From what I hear, this is unseasonably warm weather for this time of year. It does make up for the chilly gray days of Morocco. Seville is packed with tourists. Preparations are underway for Easter and the parades it seems. Giant sections of bleachers are being built along the main street near the Cathedral so I presume that is what is going to happen there.
The cooking class was great. It was Chef Willy Moya and myself alone in the kitchen of his restaurant. One of my desires was to learn how to make a gazpacho that tasted like the ones I have eaten this trip. My gazpacho is too thick and honestly is like eating a big bowl of salsa. We made a wonderful gazpacho. Tomatoes, garlic, onion, cucumber and a green pepper that they call Italian pepper. To me it looked like an ancho chile, so I will have to do some research. They use a very small amount of garlic, onion and pepper compared to how much tomato. That is all run through a blender with salt, taste it to make
sure it is well seasoned, then old bread soaked in water and squeezed dry is added and blended with a good amount of extra virgin olive oil. At the very end, sherry vinegar is added. A quick strain and there it is. We dressed ours up with fresh prawns cooked, chopped, cooked, chopped, chopped and chopped again until they had the texture of cous cous. To this we added some Iberian ham and chives. Truly this was a wonderful gazpacho. We made a paella with Iberian pork shoulder, calamari and peppers. I didn't realize that one doesn't add onions to paella due to the fact that the onions will make the rice soft and paella should be a little crunchy. We also made a tomato dish that I can´t begin to spell, but it was so good. I should be receiving the recipes on my work email. As we ate the foods we prepared and snacked on delicious Iberian Ham we drank sherry. It was all so very civilized and something I don´t normally drink. The time I spent with Chef Moya was nice and relaxed. I learned some things that I am looking forward to taking back to work.
For me traveling is about seeing everything I can about other places and cultures. Whereas I enjoy museums, I prefer things like today where I am talking one on one with someone who lives here, finding out new things that aren't in tour guides, books or museums. This was a special adventure and I feel so lucky to be able to experience it.
I head back to the US tomorrow. It has been an amazing, incredible, sometimes very difficult trip; however, I wouldn't trade one minute of it. If things are perfect, clean and tied up with a ribbon it isn't really a trip. I would say that this was the adventure of a lifetime, but I think we all know that another Pamper Brendan Tour is around the corner and I am sure wherever it takes me, it will be as amazing as this one. Once I am home I will post my photos. I have taken over 2000 pictures, so will have lots of them to choose from. I thank you for joining me on this trip and hope that you have enjoyed it, learned some new things from it and will follow me on my next
Delicious
But not easy to spellone. Russia anyone? I hear it beckoning me.........
Adios,
Brendan
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Ted
non-member comment
Thanks
Hi B, Thanks for taking us along on vacation with you. Look forward to seeing the pictures when you get a chance to post them. Safe travels home, Ted