Pumpkin Recipe Extravaganza

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......

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Another Favorite

We've watched this video at least 3 times in the last two days... we love it!

OK Go - Do What You Want (Wallpaper Version) from OK Go on Vimeo.

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Halloween at the Batt Cave

Brian had a long weekend this weekend, but we decided to stick around, because our friends the Batts were having an epic halloween party.  We had a fantastic time, well, at least until the cops came and kicked us out, but it was a great night!  There were a lot more people there than I was able to get photos of - I was impressed with the creativity of the night.

Brian was a Chilean Miner, and I was his mistress... complete with our illegitimate child hanging onto me :)

Thanks Warren & Karen for hosting a great party!!

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Thoughts from Brian....Employee of the Month

So I've been putting in a lot of time at work lately.  Things are going well but there is just a lot of work coming my way.  By now I've gotten to know my coworkers pretty well and the office feels pretty much like it did back home with a longer lunch, a commute via bus/train and the whole talking in Spanish bit.

The test group that I work in consists of around a dozen guys, half engineers and half technicians, and every month one of the technicians elects an employee of the month.  Now this is sometimes legit, for someone that did really well on a project or that has been working hard.  Of course sometimes it's for the guy that made a fool out of himself or barely showed up to work that month, so it's anybody's game.

The October "Employee of the Month" was announced this week and frankly, with being caught up in everything I've been doing lately, I was even surprised at who was selected.

This is our announcements boards where you might find the monthly nominee.

And the winner is......

Kate???

Let me explain...Kate has been making a name for herself (surprised?).  As many of you know, Kate is fond of baking and sharing said baked goods and since I would double in size if I ate everything she makes, my coworkers are the lucky recipients of Kate's latest creations.  The goods get shuttled to work in some tupperware we brought from home with some very identifiable red tops and were at first met with suspicion or bewilderment.  You see, baking is very non-Spanish so the fact that Kate can produce cookies, brownies, fudge bars, muffins, puppy chow or banana bread with her bare hands and then would be willing to share them, is not a common occurrence around here.

 So now when the guys see me coming with some red-topped tupperware, the reaction is somewhere between cheering and applause.  There was talk at one point of getting all of their wives together for lessons and/or erecting a shrine.

Pumpkin bars are on deck for tomorrow, I'll let you know if "I" get a standing ovation.

Congrats Kate on being the "Employee" of the month.

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A quick hello!

Hey there long lost blog followers :)

It's been an incredible 6 weeks of travel and visitors, which hopefully explains my partial absence from my blog!  But, lucky you, there should be a wealth of posts that come out of these latest excursions.  It all started in Turkey on September 6, and this Brian and I said goodbye to our last visitors, his parents.

This is more for my remembrance than yours, but here's a quick chronology: 

September 6, leave Madrid for Turkey, spend 2 nights in Istanbul.

September 8, fly to Lynn's hometown for 2 weeks to help her get ready for the arrival of baby Amara!  

September 17, Rich & Kay arrive in Madrid for a one month touring extravaganza of Spain & Portugal

September 23, fly back to Istanbul and spend the night with some new amazing friends

September 24, fly back to Madrid

September 25, pick up Brad, Mollie & Kez at the airport and then head down south to Sevilla for 2 nights.  Meet back up with Rich & Kay for the long weekend all together

September 26, all 7 of us drive/train to Malaga to spend 3 nights at our rural farmhouse

September 27, go to Granada!

September 29, say Hasta Luego to Rich & Kay as they head north up the coast, and Brad, Mollie, Kez, Brian & I drive back to Madrid

October 1, visit Toledo

October 2, see my first bullfight in Madrid with our awesome guests

October 3, say a very sad goodbye to Brad, Mollie & Kez

October 8, Brian and I drive to Nazare, Portugal to meet Rich & Kay for a long weekend

October 10, the four of us head to the Douro Valley to stay 2 nights and visit lots of vineyards and try several varieties of Port

October 12, return to Madrid, and hang out and tour for the next couple of days

October 15, say a really sad goodbye to Rich & Kay

Wow!  I can't believe all that has happened in 6 weeks... and I can't express how incredibly blessed we feel to get to do these things, and get to do them with people we love.  We hit the six month mark of being here in Spain the day I left for Turkey, and getting to spend time with good friends was a much needed refreshment to our souls.

I'm looking forward to going through the photos and telling you about some of the awesome things we did!

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