Spicy roasted chickpeas - Garbanzos aliñados

Vuestras bolsas de picoteo hablan? Me refiero a las bolsas de cosas tipo Doritos, patatas fritas, cacahuetes... Lo pregunto porque o mi despensa en la que guardo las bolsas de esas cosas es el televisor de Poltergeist, o a mí me pasa que cada vez que abro una bolsa y la vuelvo a guardar sin haberme terminado el contenido, empiezan a salir unas voces de la despensa que ni que fuera yo  Carol Anne  la niña rubita de la película. Veeen, estamos aquí, las migas de patata fritaaaa, quítale la pinza de tender a la bolsaaaa, déjanos saliiir. En serio, preferiría  ir  hacia  la  luz  y acabar con todo de una vez por todas. Porque la alternativa es llamar a la medium de Poltergeist y creo que nada en este mundo me puede dar más miedo que ver a esa mujer en mi casa.

Do your snack bags speak to you? I am talking about the bags of Doritos, potato chips, peanuts... I am asking because either my pantry is a hot spot for Close Encounters of the Third Kind or something really weird is going on there. Everytime I open one of these bags and put it back in the pantry with leftovers in it, voices start coming out from there. As if I were Carol Anne, the little girl from Poltergeist. We're here... We're the chips crumbs... Let us go... Set us free... I am serious, I'd rather  go into  the  light  once and for all and not listen to those voices any more. Because the alternative would be to call the medium woman from the movie Poltergeist. Do you remember her? Yes. That one, that one woman whom I consider the scariest thing I can think of if I ever saw her standing in my living room. Conclusion: make your own snacks and you will never have leftovers. Not talking ones at least.

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Naan bread - Pan Naan

Tengo bastante claro en qué bando milito en lo referente a ser purista con las recetas. Opino que adaptarlas al gusto de cada uno o a la disponibilidad de ingredientes haciendo sustituciones y mezclas poco ortodoxas es súper divertido. Es decir, cuando veo que Jamie Oliver se ha convertido en un chef de fama y prestigio universal echando chorizo a la paella, escucho el rechinar de dientes que se oye desde Valencia pero yo soy feliz viendo que mis padres (que son del bando del chorizo en la paella de pollo) simplemente lo hacían a su manera porque al niño de la casa le gustaba así. Y ¿qué mejor motivo?

I believe in being as unorthodox as possible in everything related to cooking, recipes and ingredients. First because sometimes some ingredients are hard to find depending on where you live, second because you don't need to give up on a dish you may love just because there is one ingredient in it that you don't like or can't eat. And last, because experimenting in the kitchen is fun and can make you a worldwide-famous-rockstar-chef. At least that is what happened to Jamie Oliver, a guy that adds  chorizo  to the  paella  just because those two words seem to scream Spain... As a Spaniard I am totally ok with chorizo in the paella, but Spaniard-Paella-Purists could start a crusade against such abomination. I prefer to call it fusion cuisine.

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Pollo con miel y limón - Honey lemon chicken

Haber ido a casa de vacaciones estas pasadas fiestas ha sido estupendo. Hemos podido pasar tiempo con la familia que era lo que más nos apetecía. Hemos podido comer cosas ricas que era lo segundo que más nos apetecía y yo he podido darle un respiro a mi pelo que tanto sufre aquí (pero eso ya os lo contaré otro día). El caso es que todo ha sido estupendo, pero como casi siempre, hay otra cara de la moneda... Y es que ahora necesito otra temporada para que mis hijas se olviden de lo rico que se come en casa de los abuelos... Así que me dedico a prepararles cosas que no suelen preparar los abuelos para que no puedan comparar.

Having spent a few weeks back at home in Spain for the holidays was just wonderful. Family time was something we were looking forward to really badly. We have satisfied our Spanish food cravings which was our second priority right after family time. I was also able to give my hair a break from the suffering it gets here in Texas (but I'll tell you all about that in a different post). It all was perfect... but. There is always another side to the story... In this case I am going to need a few more months to get my kids to forget about how delicious granny's cooking is. So I have to prepare dishes that is unlikely my parents would ever cook so they will never be able to compare.

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X-mas tree brownies

Esto de la expatriación en EEUU es un poco como la toxoplasmosis cuando estás embarazada y te dicen que no la has pasado. El jamón y demás derivados de la bellota ni probarlos. En realidad es como la toxoplasmosis pero en mejor. Lo primero porque no hace falta pasar por un parto para liberarse y lo segundo y mejor, porque aquí el padre también sufre. Y ya se sabe, las putadas contrariedades compartidas se llevan mejor.

Being an Spaniard in the US is a little like toxoplasmosis when you're pregnant. No cured meats, only fully cooked stuff. One of the best foods in the world is Spnish Jamón de Bellota. If you have never tried it you are really missing something amazing. Forget about prosciutto, nothing to do with it. You must try it and you will be converted forever. The thing about it is that you are not allowed to eat it while pregnant if you have not been naturally immunized against a desease called toxoplasmosis which is totally benigne except if you catch it while pregnant because it can be dangerous for the fetus. For Spaniard pregnant women this can be a challenge. Not being able to eat this delicacy for 9 months can be hard. Especially if everybody around you is enjoying it. This product cannot be brought into the US so it's been 6 months now that I have not eaten it. And it reminds me about my two pregnancies and toxoplasmosis. The good side of this way of deprivation is that, in this case, the end of it does not involve going into labor, and the best of all, the father gets to suffer too.

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Brioche

Es muy importante conocer las propios limitaciones. Porque se evita uno situaciones en las que por-más-que-quiero-no-puedo. Por ejemplo, conocer los limitaciones, como la que tiene el espacio-tiempo de no poderse revertir nos evitaría ser testigos de  la crisis de los 40 que sufren muchas personas que de pronto empiezan a actuar como si estuvieran descumpliendo años en relación directamente proporcional a la velocidad a la que pierden pelo.

Self awareness of one's own limits is very important. So you will not keep on insisting on situations that are impossible for you to accomplish. A good example is to understand the limits of space-time. Space-time cannot be reversed so people turning 40 who start acting as if they were getting younger every year just don't get it.

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