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
Walking through the doors at Barrutia y El 9 feels special. It’s the kind of picturesque, old-school Spanish bar that’s becoming more and more difficult to find in Madrid. The walls are covered with ornate tiles and the bar itself, while small, features all of the basic necessities: cold beer and herbed olives waiting to … Continue reading Cross-Cultural Collaboration with Wesal: Syrian-Basque Fusion!
Amicis restaurant, tucked away in the maze of cobblestone streets near Plaza Mayor in the center of Madrid, was a welcoming refuge from the hot sun yesterday afternoon. Amicis is described as a place “to share food and drinks in a great environment with good friends,” and after spending only a few short minutes in … Continue reading Embracing Diversity at Amicis with Chef Noor
In the last few months, I've been getting involved with a fantastic organization here in Madrid called Madrid For Refugees (for more information on their work, check out this post on the first cooking class I took with them). MFR has a branch called Chefugee that works specifically with refugee chefs to help raise funds … Continue reading Guest Post for Madrid For Refugees!
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
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
What do you think about when you lie awake during sleepless nights? If you're me, you think about cheese pirates. For some reason I couldn't get this story out of my head last night. I remember reading about it a few months ago. The EU is cracking down on Mexican-made Manchego cheese, insisting that in … Continue reading Cheese Pirates!
One afternoon during my first month in Madrid, I was walking through my new neighborhood with my laptop in search of a café where I could get cozy, caffeinate, and bust out some work. I had a spot in mind, a café on the corner of the next street over from my apartment that seemed … Continue reading On Individualism, Work-Life Balance, and Coffee Culture in Madrid
