Spanish dining experience

We recently went out for an authentic Spanish dinner with a couple of families we've gotten to know since moving to Spain. My husband had been to this restaurant before, with a crowd of fellow military folks, but the boys and I had not previously dined at this particular establishment, therefore we had no idea what to expect. I'd been told the food was good, but that was it.

Driving to the restaurant was interesting. First of all, we drove away from town, seemingly headed toward nowhere. We finally reached the turn-off, although I don't know how one would know it was a turn-off. It's so dark on the roads here! Anyway, we ended up on this dirt road with LOTS of deep holes. Good thing we drove our SUV rather than our car, or else we might have buried the car to the axle. It had rained and the holes were filled with water, and of course the dirt road was really quite muddy. Lovely!

We found the restaurant... Las Tinajas (pronounced "lahs tin-ah-hahs") and this is what it looked like from the outside... Yes, you KNOW I took my camera!


This is one section of the first room we entered, but they didn't seat us in here.

Instead, they seated us in the adjoining room...


You know me... I was intrigued by the table decor.


The flowers in the vases appeared to be made of burlap. Interesting!


There weren't any candles inside these decorative "thingies" on the tables, but I assumed that was their intended purpose.


At the front of the room was a huge meat case. I've seen meat cases in grocery stores and delis, but never out in the open in a full-fledged restaurant. I didn't linger at the meat counter as it's wasn't a particulary appetizing sight for me. Sorry.


Here's one view of the kitchen area behind the meat counter.


We could watch our food being grilled.


We sampled a myriad of appetizers, which could have actually served as my meal. No Spanish dining experience is complete unless you've had olives. They're an appetizer on every table in every eating establishment. No kidding.


Ham (Jamón) is another very popular appetizer here in Spain. This has the appearance of uncooked bacon, doesn't it? It's fairly tasty, although I'm more fond of the next appetizer I'm going to show you.


I LOVED the garlic shrimp (ajo camarón)! I could have eaten the whole bowl, but we were sharing, so I minded my manners. Note to self: Order MORE garlic shrimp next time!


These are fried calamari and they were very good too.


I almost forgot about these delicious little pieces of heaven. These are potatoes (patatas) with some sort of creamy sauce on top and they were FAN-tabulous! Bring on the carbs! Can you feel your arteries hardening just looking at these foods?


This is what I had for the main entree, as if I needed anything else to eat. It's skewered chicken (brocheta de pollo), prepared on the grill with pieces of peppers and onions. Mmmm!


Potatoes were served with my meal. That's just what I needed too... MORE carbs because I hadn't already had enough. Hey, I'm not complaining though. They were tasty!


Here's our whole gang, enjoying the night out to dinner together.


We were served these tiny drinks along with the lollipops. I'm not sure if this is typical at this restaurant. The lollipops must have been put on the tray for the benefit of the kids. The tiny drinks, which looked like shots, were a VERY sweet peach-tasting drink. I don't think it was peach schnapps though because I couldn't taste any alcohol. It remains a mystery to me as I never found out for sure. Maybe next time...

I'm so proud!

If you know me very well at all, you're aware of the fact that I love basketball, and in particular, I love Kentucky Wildcat basketball. I suppose I've been a fan all my life, like most folks who come from my neck of the woods in Kentucky. We're all about the 'Cats!

And I'm not a fair weather fan... one of those people who root for a team only when they're winning. Nope. Nossiree. Not me. I bleed blue, no matter if UK is winning or losing. Kentucky's basketball team has struggled a bit over the last couple of seasons, but I'm seeing some promise of greatness once again. Case in point...

This, my bloggie buddies, is JODIE MEEKS. He plays basketball for the University of Kentucky. He's a WILDCAT and he's got game. He's got some serious skills on the court!

A couple of nights ago Jodie Meeks led my beloved Kentucky Wildcats to a win over the Tennessee Volunteers, which is always reason for celebration. (No offense to my Tennessee friends. Y'all love it when you beat us too!) Jodie brought it, baby! (Can you hear Dick Vitale right about now?) Read on...

"He was AJC Player of the Year. He averaged 23 plus points as a senior in high school. He was 2007 All-SEC Freshman Team and All-America Freshman Team. And he's only 21. But yet, he just broke the record for most three pointers made, and most points in a single game, by a player in the University of Kentucky history." ~ Posted Jan 13th 2009 11:15PM by Will Brinson in NCAA FanHouse

"Let’s break down what Jodie Meeks did tonight:
54 Points (Career High and Team Record for points in a game) - Prior was 53 points by Dan Issel.
10 out of 15 from 3-point land (Sets single game record for 3-pointers in a game for the Wildcats) - Prior was 9 held by Jodie Meeks and Tony Delk.

Meeks’ game was so superb and spread out tonight. He went 15 for 22 from the field with 10 of 15 from 3-pointers. He was 14 for 14 from the free throw line. He had 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal with only 1 turnover for the game." ~ Posted by Kentucky Wildcats Basketball, Big Blue Nation Fan Site - Cats News, Scores, & Sports Talk

Did I tell you Jodie Meeks has skills? I believe I did. Congratulations, Jodie! And... GO BIG BLUE!

Valentine's Day is NEXT MONTH!

Te amo! That's Spanish for "I love you."

No, I don't love YOU! I love my husband! I might love you... I don't know. Depends on who's reading this post. I digress.

Why all this talk about love anyway? Well... Valentine's Day is quickly approaching. It's basically a month away. Are you ready? I need to seriously be thinking about what to do for my valentine. I like to do things I know he won't be expecting, but that challenges me greatly because I'm not particularly creative.





I came across "Smilebox" a while back, but hadn't checked it out until yesterday. It's fairly user-friendly, only I wish they offered a larger music selection by the original artists. Oh well...

Are you familiar with Smilebox already? If not, check it out. Make sure you turn off the music playing on my blog before you click on the arrow below to see (and hear) how it works, or else you're just going to hear a lot of NOISE. And yes, you guessed correctly... all the photos below are of my valentine and me.

So leave me a comment and let me know what you plan on doing for the significant other in your life. Inquiring minds wanna know!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Three Kings Parade

Christmas in Spain... we've discussed it pretty thoroughly, I know, but I mostly shared our overall experience here, and didn't tell you much about the Spanish custom of Three Kings Day (Fiesta de Los Reyes) or show you photos from the Three Kings Parade we saw. So let's talk about Christmas just a little bit longer.

Here's a quick cultural lesson on Three Kings Day, which I "borrowed" from my friend Liesl's blog. (Liesl, I decided you'd explained things better than I could have, and why do it myself when you'd done such a great job already?)

"Most Spanish families wait until January 6th for the traditional visit of the Three Kings to exchange gifts. Instead of writing letters to Santa Claus, the children write a letter to the Holy Postman who gives the letter to the Three Kings.

On the Eve of Epiphany, January 5th, children leave their shoes near their bed or window on the night of January 5, often filling them with hay for the camels and horses that the Three Kings rode on. The next morning, when the children wake up, the hay is gone and the shoes are full of presents. (We did not observe this tradition, but friends of ours did this for their kids.)

During the night, the Three Kings, known as Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, leave gifts in and around the shoes. January 6th, Epiphany, is heralded with parades in various cities where candy and cakes are distributed to thousands of children lining the streets."

Okay, so you have the basic info on Three Kings Day, and know that it is preceded by parades. We went to one such parade in the city of Rota. Here are a few scenes from that event...

Here's the crew my youngest son and I went with to view the parade. Unfortunately, my husband and I had to divide and conquer with the kids since the oldest had flag football practice at the same time the parade was going on. Don't feel too badly for them though, because the parade lasted a very long time, and it wound through the streets and made its way back to an area where they were able to see it too.


The kids were very excited to know that candy and toys would be thrown to parade viewers. We were lucky enough to be personally escorted by the very nice Spanish woman in the tan coat, and she kindly brought bags in which the kids could stash their parade loot.


We had been told that the parade scene can be rather chaotic and aggressive. The street we were standing on went from this...
to this...... in no time flat! Obviously this is quite a well attended event.


My son was very anxious for the parade to start. Hey, if candy and toys are in the picture, he's there!


Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Look! It's starting!


No respectable parade is complete without a band. Let's get a closer view of these musicians, shall we?


Ooh! Aah!


Get ready, guys! She's gonna toss candy our way!


Hey, here comes the zoo!


Love the colorful hot air balloons!


Are you noticing a theme here?


OVER HERE! Throw the candy over here!


Aren't the kids cute? I'm sure it's a very big deal to be riding in the parade.





These girls really do look like little angels, don't they?


Yep... I'm seeing Disney characters too!


Beautiful young ladies in beautiful costumes!


There were more floats that I had anticipated, and I was fairly impressed by how colorful and elaborate they were.


¡Más dulces, por favor! (More candy, please!)


We actually knew some of the folks on this float as they're neighbors of ours. Evidently, the city of Rota invites someone from the base to be the Royal Postman, and it just so happens that one of our neighbors was the "chosen one." His kids and another neighborhood kid were then eligible to ride on the float.

Here's one of the Three Kings... in case you couldn't tell!


This king is tossing out candy left and right. Notice the hands reaching for candy in the lower portion of the photo.


Here comes King #3! Let's get a closer view of him...


It's over... I'm really glad we got the opportunity to see our first Spanish parade. Thanks for coming along for the replay.