A long, narrow driveway leads straight into fields of freshly tilled soil. At the end, there's an enormous lemon-yellow house with green trim. Two giant, all-white sheepdogs fall over themselves to greet you. There's a friendly donkey named Lola who roams around the backyard garden full of flowers, a fountain with goldfish, and fruit trees … Continue reading Family, Tradition, and Modena’s Black Gold: Everything You Didn’t Know You Wanted to Know About Balsamic Vinegar
This is my first dispatch from a summer-long stint of living out of my backpack! I moved out of my apartment in Madrid last week and I’ve been exploring Spain with my family ever since. I’m writing this from the common space of a cozy hostel in Barcelona, gearing up for a month and a … Continue reading Andando por Andalusía: Guadix and Granada
“He loves talking to people about his food,” another MFR volunteer told me as I arrived to Saturday’s brunch event at Restaurante Elektra. “He has a story for every different type of arepa.” Chef José Valentín was standing behind the buffet table on Elektra’s shady terrace, serving a wide variety of his favorite dishes: a … Continue reading Hecho en Venezuela: Storytelling with Chef Valentín
Representation As an American newly living in Europe, there was nothing more enchanting to me during my first few months in Spain than doner kebab (this might be a slight exaggeration but not really). I’d seen these little shops all over the place while traveling throughout Spain, Bulgaria, and Ireland and found the sheer number … Continue reading Representation, Integration, Kebabization: Unpacking Europe’s “Favourite Drunk Food”
What do you do when you find a flight to Paris for 36 Euros? You buy it, obviously, and figure the rest out later. Never in a million years did I ever think that this would be my life someday, but here we are. My time living in Europe is quickly (too quickly) coming to … Continue reading Planning for Paris
It’s graduation season and these last few days I’ve found myself reflecting on my college experience (and how I’ve used my degree since graduating…). I spent four incredible years at Smith College in Western Massachusetts, and I owe so much of who I am to that time, that place, and those people. Smith was where … Continue reading On Bread, Idealism, and Paradise
I arrived in Madrid for the first time jet-lagged and frantic and sweaty, toting a backpack more than half my size. It only took about 20 minutes of riding the bus from the airport for me to fall in love with the city. The architecture was unlike anything I’d seen before, old and ornate and … Continue reading Learning from the Best: A Cooking Class with Chefugee
San Sebastián (or Donostia) is located in the Bay of Biscay on the northern coast of Spain, about 20 km from the border with France. It’s one of the major cities of Basque Country, an autonomous community similar to Catalunya in the sense that it has its own language and distinct cultural heritage that’s different … Continue reading Weird and Wonderful Bites of San Sebastián
Part 1: My Story The Beauty of Wine I never enjoyed red wine until I visited Spain for the first time. I was exploring new places, discovering new ways of life, and tasting new things. My first sip of Ribera del Duero wine during my first night in Madrid on my first ever trip to … Continue reading On Women and Wine
For someone who loves eating, thinking about, and talking about food as much as I do, I’m admittedly not much of a cook. I’m not terrible per se. I’ve never set anything on fire and my meals turn out at least mostly edible. But I certainly don’t possess a natural skill for it. It’s not … Continue reading Tortilla de Patatas
