form and function find their junction: November 2010

BUSY

>> Wednesday, November 24, 2010 – Life in Madrid, Travel

Hello!

So, it's been a really insane couple of weeks, and it doesn't look like it's going to be letting up anytime soon! I'm thankful to be busy, but it's felt a little overwhelming at times. I'll give you the quick rundown of what's been going on, and what's up ahead for us!

So, 2 weeks ago we booked our tickets for the states (Hooray!!), but there is a lot of preparation to do before we go! I'm going to be in the US of A for about a month - and Brian for slightly shorter than that (and some of those weeks he'll be working, back home & in the south, running some tests) The big thing on my plate right now is the AREs. The Architectural Registration Exams. I'm still in the process of getting licensed in the states, and though I'm not currently working in a firm, it's really important for me to finish out this process that I started back in 2002 when I marked "Architecture" as my major at ISU. I'm hopefully going to take a couple of exams while I'm home, but it's been hard to study!

The night before Brian left for the states, we had a chili cook-off at our house with some of our good friends here. It was so much fun, but the next morning, we realized a night of eating chili before you're on a flight for 8 hours isn't really the best idea :) Though, we had a great time eating & hanging out!

This weekend, we had the JOY of having Lynn, Dan & Amara come visit us! It was so wonderful to get to spend time with them, and especially wonderful to get to hang out with Amara. When I went to Turkey a few months ago, I had hoped to help welcome her into the world, but she made her grand entrance 5 days after I left. I got to have lots of baby snuggles, and I was so happy to cuddle this little gal! Plus, I'll take any time that I can get with my best friend!

Baby's first trip to the bar (you do most things at a bar here, eat breakfast, get coffee, eat lunch, dinner, have drinks. It's part of the culture here, and we took Lynn & Dan to one of our favorites, Alhambra)

Baby's first churros

Baby's first trip to Ikea

We also did a little photo shoot with the family in Retiro, which was great fun.

This coming weekend, we're going to be hosting Thanksgiving for our church at our house - right now, we're expecting between 30-50 people at our apartment. It's going to be crazy! And fun. I'm so thankful that we have a home that we can use to host people, and help make them feel welcome in a strange city. I love to cook, and this is going to stretch my capabilities in a good way!

Can I fit 50 people in here??? We'll let you know next week :)

Also, in December Brian has a long weekend because of a Spanish holiday. We're heading up north to visit a new city, and then hopefully going to the Pyrenees to do some skiing - but there isn't any snow yet, so our plans may change! I'd love it if we could get to do some skiing though - we missed out on it last year with all the moving, and so I'm itching to get going downhill so I can fall over and make a fool of myself (right Kay?)

Then shortly after that, I'm headed back to the states! It's going to be an amazing 4 weeks at home, and I'm already making my lists of things I have to do, and bring back from home. I'm excited to see family & friends, and get to celebrate the holidays with the ones I love most. Bring on the eggnog!

But, before that, Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating it this weekend! Eat some pie for me :)

So very excited...

...for family time,
snow laden trees,
mom's delicious cooking,
seeing amazing friends,
big hugs,
Target,
eggnog,
Christmas trees,
familiarity,
New Years celebrations,
Caribou Coffee,
English,
holiday music,
traditions,
Holidazzle,
ugly sweater parties (?!),
Christmas lights,
seasonal beer,
our 3rd anniversary,
and
COMING HOME!
b+k will be home for the holidays :)

Surprise!

>> Monday, November 15, 2010 – Family + Friends

Brian has a project in Louisiana that he had to go check up on this week, but he was able to swing a couple of day layover through Chicago. Tanner, our awesome godson, was getting baptized, and Brian was able to surprise everyone by showing up for it in CF! We kept the trip a secret from everyone but Mike, Brian's brother, and what a surprise it was, as the family walked into the church to see Brian there. I wish I could have been there to see everyone's reactions, but I heard that they were good ones.

The family called me later in the day to say hello - check out this good looking bunch! I miss you guys, but I'm so glad that Brian got to hang out with all of you!

Pumpkin Recipe Extravaganza

>> Sunday, November 07, 2010 – Food + Wine, Life in Madrid

It's a lovely fall day in Madrid, and I decided today to be ambitious about making new food creations. First, let me say that it's actually impossible to find many of the things here (in terms of cooking/baking) that we would just assume to have at any local grocery store. For example, I love fall. I love the leaves, the decorations, and especially the fall food. I also really love anything with pumpkin around this time of the year. Unfortunately, Libby's premade pumpkin in a can is not available here.... so I get creative. I had been on the lookout for pumpkins for a while, but didn't see any until we went to Portugal with Brian's parents. So, I proceeded to buy 3 huge pumpkins at a little market we found in the sleepy beach town of Nazare.

(market visit with Rich & Kay about a month ago)

I proceeded to use the pumpkins as decoration in my front entrance for the last month or so, because I was waiting until the perfect time to begin my pumpkin adventures.

I have a really sweet friend who offered to bring me some pumpkin puree, but I really wanted to try making some on my own. Lynn did it last year, and told me it wasn't too difficult. And she was right! Here's an easy recipe with photos on how to make the puree, but the gist of it is this: Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Put the pumpkin, cut side down on a cookie sheet with raised edges. Cook in the oven for 90-120 minutes at 350 degrees, until pumpkin collapses, or is really soft to a fork poke. Peel away the skin, and use a food processor to blend it up. Voila! Homemade pumpkin puree. :) I've cooked up 2 pumpkins now, and have about 6 cups of frozen puree to use for the rest of the season. Plus those other two pumpkins (currently on display) for future baking adventures.

So, in the last week, I've made 3 - 9x12 pans of pumpkin bars with homemade cream cheese frosting, and they have been dangerous and delicious. It's what earned me the employee of the week last week as well. I gave this recipe to my friend Tep, and she brought it to her work. Later that week she told me "i think i have now coined the term "foodgasm" based on the responses."

But today, I thought I'd try a new pumpkin food adventure.

There was a road race this morning through Madrid that our friend Karen was running, and since it ended in Retiro, we sent her an impromptu text message invitation to our house for coffee after she finished the race. Lucky for us, she came over!

I thought about making pumpkin cinnamon rolls after seeing Sheryl's post, but the 3 hour time frame scared me away. So, I found an amazing spiced pumpkin pancake recipe on epicurious.com instead.

Because we don't have maple syrup here (we do have authentic canadian syrup you can get at El Corte Ingles, but it's about 40 Euros for a bottle) we usually use honey on our pancakes, which has been a delicious change for us. But, I threw out the last of the bottle last week and didn't remember that I didn't have any syrup until I was well into my pancake creating. Thankfully, I ALSO had a recipe for maple syrup from Lynn as well, and I quickly whipped that up as well. I'm glad I asked for my mom to send over the maple extract to have on hand!

The pumpkin recipe turned out really fantastically, and I couldn't be more pleased with the syrup as well. Brian & Karen said it was delicious, so I guess I get a gold star for the day :)

Syrup Recipe

Combine in a saucepan:

1 3/4 c. White sugar

1/4 c. brown sugar

1 c. water

Bring to boil, cover and cook 1 minute. Cool slightly.

Add:

1/2 t. vanilla

1/2 t. maple flavoring

Cover saucepan for a few minutes as syrup cooks to melt down crystals; helps prevent syrup

from crystallizing later in storage. (From More with Less)

A commemorative photo of the day, with my pancakes, homemade syrup, and a shout out to the Cyclones for their great playing last night! We watched the game with some new friends from Nebraska, and it almost felt like we were back home watching it. We really miss football!!!

Now, where can I get me a pumpkin spice latte......