Rick Stein’s Food Paradise Spain 1/4 Reply

British chef, restaurant owner and culinary media star presents the best series we have seen on authentic Spanish food. It might have been called “Spanish food without liquid nitrogen.” It’s four insightful and delightful hour-long chapters, so you’d be advised to mix yourself a drink, put your feet up and enjoy it to the full. Here’s the first one:

Top-Notch Tapas: Seven Recipes Reply

Colleen Casey writes for the Wall Street Cheat Sheet.com, March 2, 2014–It is time to take your taste buds on a little culinary tour — to Spain. While you’re taking yourself on this faux-foodie trip, you might as well experience as many flavors as possible, and there is no better way to do that than with tapas. With tapas, some plates are bigger, and meant to be shared, while others are prepared in bite-sized portions. Either way, they are perfect for appetizers or components of a meal. You can make as many or as few as you’d like. To experience Spain without ever leaving home, here are seven tapas recipes.

Spanish Design for Arty Foodies Reply

DCbydesignblog.com, January 28,2014–Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that Spaniards are some of the world’s leading innovators when it comes to mixing high design with haute cuisine. Ferran Adria’s elBulli, after all, was a mecca for foodies everywhere. And our very own Jose Andres, who introduced DC to molecular gastronomy with minibar, has raised food (in the forms of shape, scent, smoke, foam—you name it) to a high art.

The Genius Behind El Bulli Sketches Out His Creative Process 1

Kristin Hohenadel writes on Slate.com, January 3, 2014–Ferran Adrià is one of the world’s most venerated culinary pioneers, a molecular gastronomist who used sophisticated cooking techniques and a multisensory approach to reinvent Spanish cuisine. His Michelin five-star restaurant elBulli became an international foodie destination that revolutionized the concept of eating with an avant-garde tasting menu of some 40 dishes.

Gold Medal in Birmingham Launches Spanish Cheese from Teruel Reply

Queso Artesanal de Teruel (Teruel Handcrafted Cheese) is a family firm founded in 2006 in the medieval town of Albarracín in the Aragonese province of Teruel in the northeast of Spain. The secret of their success is raising and milking their own sheep, thus controlling the cheese-making process from start to finish. “We thought that, with a great raw sheep’s milk, a proper elaboration, and perfect conditions for ageing it, we could make a good cheese,” says company director, Antonio Asensio.

He was not mistaken. Four years later, in 2010, Queso Artesanal de Teruel presented their cheese in the World Cheese Awards in Birmingham, UK, and were awarded the gold medal in the category of semi-cured sheep’s cheese. “That generated a spectacular rise in sales both here in Spain and internationally,” says Antonio Asensio.

Spain… On the Road Again–Part 5 Reply

Basking in Spanish Wine and Cuisine in the Basque Country

Gwyneth and Mario greet the day at the astonishing Marqués de Riscal Hotel with a behind the scenes vineyard tour which includes a sublime bottle of 1958 vintage wine opened by breaking the neck of the bottle with red hot tongs. Mark joins Gwyneth for some vine-side grilling of fresh Rioja vegetables where they learn a valuable barbecue tip: to revive the waning coals, sprinkle salt on them. Both Mario and Gwyneth head home for the weekend, and Mark and Claudia set out for San Sebastián with the glee of two school kids playing hooky.

WordPress Recognition for ¡Alegria! Raises Spirits Around Here Reply

Last week we received notification from Word Press.com–who provide the platform for publishing ¡Alegría! online–that they have featured us in their Theme Showcase as an example of best practices in the use of WordPress templates. They liked the way that ¡Alegría! had taken advantage of options in typography, column layout, headers, and widgets to achieve a clear, well-balanced presentation.

As you will see, it’s a small recognition, but we’re proud of it because they selected us from among 56,000,000 WordPress blogs. Fledgling publishing projects need all the morale boosts they can get, and we’re thankful for this one.

Follow this link to see WordPress‘s mention of ¡Alegria! The Joy of Spanish Living.