Turkish dinner. Cena turca

Que noche tan estupenda la de ayer!! Nuestro compañero Taner, de Turquia, nos invito a cenar en su casa con motivo de haber aprobado un examen que le cualifica para continuar en su doctorado (qualifyer exam) y tambien con motivo del Ramadan. Al parecer, durante el mes del Ramadan se suele invitar a amigos a cenar y se preparan cosas tipicas. Eso si, se come una vez que se pone el sol. Pobre Taner, no se como aguanto todo el dia preparando comida y sin probar bocado!!

Habia muchisimas cosas, platos todos deliciosos, una especie de rollos fritos con carne dentro, pastelitos de queso, varias ensaladas, salsa de  yogur turco, pollo, ternera con especias, hojas de vid rellenas, pimientos rellenos de arroz, croquetas de lentejas blancas, en fin, una maravilla. Hubo risas, historias, fotos divertidas y una bonita explicacion de los platos preparados que podeis ver en un video al final del post :)

What a great night we had yesterday!! Our colleague Taner from Turquia invited us for dinner to celebrate he passed his qualifyer exam and also to celebrate Ramadan. Apparently, people normally invite friends for dinner during Ramadan, always starting the dinner after the sun sets. Poor Taner, he prepared so many things and he couldn't try anything until 8:21 p.m.!

There were all kind of delicious things, fried rolls with meat, cheese pastries, different kinds of salads, Turkish yogurt sauce, chicken, beef, grape leaves stuffed with veggies, stuffed peppers, small cakes made with lentils. It was great!! We laughed a lot, we told stories, we took funny pictures. A great night was had! At the end of the post there is a video of Taner explaining all the dishes he and his friend prepared :)

Taner finishing some preparations.

Taner terminando de preparar algunos platos.

Maravillosos platos turcos!!! Los primeros rollitos se llaman algo como "pachanga" :)

Wonderful Turkish dishes!!! The first rolls in the picture are called something like "pachanga" which means "fiesta" in Spanish!

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Mi plate. A bit of everything.

Mi plato con un poco de todo.

Te. Tea.

Taner preparando kunefe

Taner preparing kunefe

Postre! Dessert!! Baklava, kunefe and Thai pastries...uhhhhhmmmm

Baklava, kunefe y pastas tailandesas...uhmmmmmm

Tomando te turco. Drinking Turkish tea.

Baklava!!!

Turkish coffee. Cafe turco.

Foto de grupo. Group picture

Sorority picture. Foto de hermandad femenina americana

Foto de desafio a la gravedad y morros de pato. Duck face and increased gravity picture.

Girly picture of the boys :) Foto femenina de los machos de la manada :)

Tyson, Faifan and Yoshie

Jane, Roman and Adam

Madison and Mark

Jessica, Leonel and Thomas

Video of Taner explaining the dishes. Video de Taner explicando los platos que preparo.

La anecdota de la noche fue el quedarnos encerrados en el ascensor en la planta baja. Ibamos 11 personas montadas bajando del piso 16 al 1 y la puerta no se abria. Yo empece a sentir claustrofobia, fue horrible!! Menos mal que todo duro menos de 10 minutos. Finalmente Thomas forzo la puerta y pudimos salir, jeje! Que momento!!!!

The anecdote of the night was getting stuck in the elevator with 10 more people. We were going down from the 16th to the 1st floor and when we arrived downstairs the doors didn't open. I felt very claustrophobic!! I'm happy it was only 10 minutes. Finally Thomas forced the door and we could go out, uffff!!

What a moment!!

THANKS TANER FOR HAVING US FOR DINNER!!!!!

GRACIAS TANER POR INVITARNOS A CENAR!!!!

The taste of Chicago

Despues de estas semanas con problemas en el blog (no era capaz de subir fotos!!!) por fin he encontrado la solucion. He cambiado de browser, ha sido la unica solucion, pero bueno! El caso es que justo se estropeo el blog cuando tenia mas cosas que contar :) Hace dos domingos se celebro "The taste of Chicago". Una feria culinaria con comida tipica de aqui, jeje! La verdad es que despues de tres veranos aqui, tenia ganas de ir, aunque Thomas ya habia estado y me advirtio sobre el tipo de comida que era. Por supuesto, nada de exquisiteces, pero si mucha comida rapida. Claro! Lo tipico!

I've been having problems with the blog already for two weeks. I wasn't able of uploading pictures and finally I tried using a different browser. It works like this, so I'm happy! Actually, the blog crashed when I had a lot of things to share :)

Two weeks ago we went to the "Taste of Chicago". A gastronomic festival celebrated every summer in Chicago. They offer all kind of typical American food :) Thomas went there in 2010 and he asked me not to have too high expectations since there were not many delicate things to eat, only fast food :) Of course, typical!!

La feria se celebra en Grant Park y consta de puestos de comida, estilo casetas de feria :) La verdad es que hubo pocas cosas que me llamasen la atencion, pensaba que habria barbacoas americanas que son distintas a lo que estamos acostumbrados a ver y quiza, algun tipo de plato mas elaborado, pero no, a parte de salchichas, perritos, sandwiches, algo de comida oriental, tarta de queso frita y algo de comida mejicana, no habia nada mas. Lo bueno es que estaba a reventar y da gusto ir al centro de Chicago con esa animacion.

It is celebrated in Grant Park and there are tons of food tents. There were not too many things that caught my attention. I thought there would be more American bbqs for smoking or some more elaborated dishes, but it was not like that. Apart from sausages, dogs, sandwiches and cheese cake there was not a lot more to choose. The good thing was as always the crowd, nice environment in the city center :) However, it is surprising that everything had such a high fat content...

Como con todas las experiencias se aprende algo, nosotros por fin descubrimos lo que era un "corn dog". Yo pensaba que era un perrito caliente hecho con carne de ternera alimentada con maiz, como suele ser la carne aqui, pero no! Es una salchicha hecha de carne de procedencia desconocida, rebozada y pinchada en un palo :) Ole ahi, la explicacion!!

There is always something to learn from every experience and this time we discovered what a "corn dog" was. I thought it was a sausage processed from corn-fed animals, as it normally is here, but it wasn't!! It is a sausage which procedence is unknown, battered and placed on a stick!! Nice explanation!!

Probamos algunas cosas que nos gustaron, como las salchichas a la barbacoa brasileña, sanwich de "pulled pork", el famoso corn dog y por supuesto, un perrito caliente al estilo Chicago :) De postre, un platano helado bañado en chocolate, que para ser sinceros, no nos gusto demasiado.

We tried several things we liked as for example Brazilian bbq sausages, pulled pork sandwiches, corn dog and of course, Chicago style dog :) We had frozen banana covered with chocolate, but to be honest we didn't like it that much.

A parte de la comida, lo mejor es ver la mezcolanza de gente que hay por alli, digamos que la mayoria no eran los mas finos de Chicago, pero segun mi modo de ver las cosas es lo mejor, viva la gente!! Me encanta ver de todo y conocer todo, incluso en el "Taste of Chicago" :) A continuacion algunas fotos del evento, yo me lo pase bomba a pesar de los 40 grados que habia. Estoy deseando que haya alguna cosita como esta pronto!!!

Apart from the food I love the mix of people we found. Let's say most of them were not the most refined of Chicago, but I love that, viva la gente!! I love seeing all kind of people in all kind of places :)

Here you can see some pictures we took. I had a great time despite the 100 F...I'm looking forward to go to one of these events again :)



Panoramica del festival y la ciudad de fondo.

Panoramic picture of the festival and the city in the background.

Barbacoa americana para ahumar carne.

American bbq for smoking meat.

Intentando comerme la mitad del perrito con varias salsas, eso no hay quien lo coja...

Trying to eat the Chicago dog with several sauces, there's no way to bite it...

Puesto de tarta de queso. A la izquierda estoy con mi "platano cubierto de chocolate" jeje!

Cheese cake tent. To the left I'm holding my "chocolate covered banana", hehe!

Puesto de frutas cubiertas de chocolate.

Tent of chocolate covered fruit.

Thomas con las salchichas brasileña y yo con el "corn dog", una de mis fotos mas ridiculas :)

Thomas with the Brasilian sausages and me with the corn dog in one of my most ridiculous pictures :)

Puesto de perritos :)

Hot dogs tent

La multitud en busca de fast food!!!

The crowddddd!!!

Foto divertida. Toda la hilera de servicios portatiles con los rascacielos de fondo :)

Funny pic. The array of portable toilets with the skyline in the background :)

Despues del festival de comida, nunca mejor dicho, nos paramos a beber algo tranquilitos y sentaditos. Por lo visto, mi chiqui tenia hambre todavia y se pidio un trozo de tarta de queso con proporciones americanas :)

After the food festival we stopped by Benningans to get some drinks and apparently, Thomasito was still hungry. He ordered a piece of cheese cake with American proportions :)

Thomasito y su "trocito de tarta de queso". Thomasito and his "small piece of cheese cake".

Volviendo a casa con la tripa llena!! Going back home with super full belly!!

En casa por vacaciones y "La Roja". Home for holidays and "La Roja"

Por supuesto que tambien hemos estado en Ciudad Real durante nuestras vacaciones!! :) Aunque no hemos podido salir mucho por algunas circunstancias familiares, he podido disfrutar igualmente. Lo mejor de todo, ver a la familia, amigos y ver los partidos de la seleccion española en casa :) No es lo mismo verlos en Chicago, no es el mismo ambiente, jeje!

Solo hice algunas fotos en la Plaza Mayor, con el ayuntamiento de fondo y el reloj de Don Quijote :) y por supuesto, tomando una horchata, jeje!

We also went to Ciudad Real during our holidays, of course! :) We didn't do many things with my family, we just had familiar dinners at home, but I enjoyed it the same way. The best of all if being with the family and friends and also...watching the games of the Spanish team, "La Roja" :) It is a lot better than watching the games in Chicago, the environment is not the same, hehe!

I didn't take too many pictures only a couple at the main square of Ciudad real at the city hall and with the Don Quijote clock and of course, drinking horchata, the authentic!!

Thomasito bebiendo horchata

Thomasito drinking horchata

Plaza Mayor de Ciudad Real

Ciudad Real's Plaza Mayor

Reloj de Don Quijote

Don Quijote clock

Por fin pude ver a mi abuela, pense que no llegaba a verla con lo malita que estaba...

I could see my grandma finally! I thought I wouldn't see her because she was very sick before...

El dia de la final decidimos hacer una pequeña barbacoa en casa :) todo muy familiar. Nunca he sido muy fanatica de las barbacoas, pero esta merecia la pena. Ese dia si que hice fotos y lo mejor es tenerlas de recuerdo de gran noche! Lo pasamos genial, comimos en familia, lo pasamos genial viendo el partido y hubo incluso brindis. Una pena que pasase tan rapido...
The day of the final we made a bbq at home :) everything very familiar. I've never been a big fan of bbq but that one was special and I took many pictures to have them as a memory of a great day. We had a lot of fun eating and watching the game. We even toasted for the Spanish victory :) The worse part was that it went by too fast...

Preparacion de la barbacoa :)

Preparing the bbq :)

Brindando por la victoria :)

Toast on Spanish victory :)

This is what my mother does when other teams are threatening Spain :)

Esto es lo que hace mi madre cuando algun equipo amenaza la porteria de Iker :)

Con mi hermano y Elena antes del partido

With my brother and Elena before the game

Brindis familiar

Family toast

Por vosotros!!

Cheers!!

El Brillante

No hay vez que estemos en Atocha con mas de 15 minutos de tiempo y que no paremos en "El Brillante", un bar que me encanta, a pesar de su olor a fritanga, su grasilla, sus papeles por el suelo y las voces de los camareros. Todo eso no me importa, adoro sentarme en la terraza al lado del museo Reina Sofia, en frent del conservatorio. Un sitio estupendo donde parar a tomarse una cervecita, unos calamares o unos churros. El sitio ideal para conocer un bar muy "castizo". Eso si, si lo que buscais es un sitio "cool" y moderno, este no es el sitio, pero para disfrutar de algo tradicional y un poco cañi, debeis ir :) Yo lo recomiendo!

Every time we are in Atocha for more than 15 minutes we stop by "El Brillante", a place I love. Probably, you foreigners won't understand the philosophy of the place, but if it happens you are in the neighborhood, please visit! The bar smells like reused oil and grease, there are papers on the floor and the waiters scream all the orders. I don't care about everything I mentioned before, I just love sit at the terrace next to the Reina Sofia museum in front of the conservatory in Madrid. It is a nice place to stop for a beer, calamares or churros. It is a good place to know the deepest Madrid. If you are looking for a cool and modern place this is not the best one, but if you are looking for something traditional and get the real sense of the deepest parts of Spain, then you should go. I highly recommend it! :)