Easter Greetings and Random Thoughts
April 11th, 2004 | Posted by Shannon
Well color me shocked. It is Easter and I thought that after all the Processions and Masses and Religious stuff on the streets and on TV Spain would be locked up tight today, but everything seems to be open. We even laid in a bunch of supplies just so we would have plenty to eat and drink. We are cooking at home tonight – a vegetable stew that I make that is sort of an arabic ratatouille served over rice, jamon and melon, lots of Rioja, a crazy Easter cake that we bought in Toledo, it is a serpent twirled up into a circle, with candied fruit on top. Interestingly enough our Granada apartment is not really set up for too much cooking, but I am pretty good at working with whatever tools are at hand.
One thing our apartment DOES have that I love, love, love is a TV with mega-channels. We have MTV with German subtitles that is showing the Osbornes all weekend, BBC Primetime, Arab weather girls, and much more. There are a few Spanish movie channels that show American movies dubbed in Spanish. I watched Almost Famous the other night, and a little bit of Steel Magnolias and Roxanne yesterday. They sure got the Dolly Parton and Steve Martin voices wrong. We also have a couple of Arab stations that show American movies and even soap operas in English, with Arab subtitles. The only bad thing is that I am missing out on alot of bad Spanish TV because this other stuff is better. Although, all the Spanish TV is 24/7 coverage of the Semana Santa processions.
On to my next thought – ham. The Spanish love of ham is beyond any love of a specific meat I have ever seen. They even have ham flavored Ruffle potato chips called “Jamon Jamon.” They are soooo good. The first bite is overwhelmingly hammy. So you could really have your Easter dinner this way, the ham and the potato in one little salty package. We are trying to figure out how to get some Jamon Jamon Ruffles home.
Granada is lovely. There are alot of hippies here and much smoking of hashish and drinking of quarts of Cruzcampo beer in the plazas. We went to the Alhambra the first night, it sort of sucked. It was pouring rain and the combo of mega flashbulbs and loud talking in the very crowded Palace did not work in our favor. I wanted to scream “Basta!” the whole time. I wanted to use a people evaporator. We went back yesterday and it was not nearly as crowded, though the Spanish seem to have a serious thing about photographing themselves. I am glad we are not staying up there. Our neighborhood is near the Carrera del Darro, a very busy riverside street with lots of bars and cafes and hippie shops. At first I thought I was smelling incense but then I realized, it was something else entirely….
We are off to the Cathedral, where Isabel and Ferdinand are buried. Then for a walk around the Albaicin…
April 25th, 2004 at 12:48 pm
Funny to hear someone else use tthe word “basta!” I say it all the time! Whether it’s to the cat who won’t get out of my face, or the bratty kids who skateboard just outside my open window.