Events & Travel

Travels in Spain and beyond, Family and Life Events

Pears poached in wine, Mama Ía blog

Pears poached in red wine, the link to the Spice Islands and Miami 2022

Pears poached in wine, Mama Ía blog

If there was a dessert that my mom made very often when I was a young girl, that was peras al vino, pears poached in red wine. And I know what you’re thinking, and yes, drinking age is lower in Spain that it is in the US, but no, these pears have essentially no alcohol because all of it is evaporated in the making. 

Phew! Now that we have cleared that up, let’s move forward.

Pears poached in red wine, Mama Ía blogJuan Sebastián Elcano in Miami, Mama Ía blogPears poached in red wine are one of the easiest desserts to make, and now that I mention it, maybe that’s why (more…)

Blackberry tiramisu, Mama Ía blog

Blackberry tiramisu to celebrate the publication of my novel “I Was the First”

Blackberry tiramisu, Mama Ía blogIf you follow Mama Ía blog you may have noticed I’ve been away from this space for a while, but this post hopefully explains why. It’s a good reason, but to make up for my absence, I’ll treat you to a really sweet, beautiful recipe: blackberry tiramisu.

I Was the First, Mama Ía blogAnd I know, too, that this is not a Spanish dessert. But I was looking for a beautiful dessert, not only sweet and tasty but pleasing to the eyes, and this one checked all the boxes—and my current taste buds.

As you probably know —because I’ve posted about it before and it shows in my blog—, I have a second gig (or is that the first?) as a writer. Sure, I write for this blog, but (more…)

Cod with asparagus, Mama Ía blog

Cod with asparagus and preserved lemons—and Valencia’s Maritime Holy Week

Cod with asparagus, Mama Ía blogThe recipe I’m sharing today, cod with asparagus and preserved lemons, is very appropriate for this time of year. Cod is a kind of fish long associated with Lent in Spain. Lent is now over, and you may not know that even though Easter Sunday has passed as well, we are still in the Easter season, which will last until the feast of the Pentecost, the Sunday about fifty days later.

Santa María del Mar, Mama Ía blog

Iglesia de Santa María del Mar, St Mary of the Sea Church, Valencia

Cod with asparagus, Mama Ía blog

Cod with asparagus, Mama Ía blogWhat you may know is that we are also in the season of asparagus, one of the first spring time vegetables, so cod with asparagus should be on the menu.

By now you also know that cod is (more…)

Chicken tagine, Mama Ía blog

Chicken tagine, and the Moroccan influence

Chicken tagine, Mama Ía blogThere are many recipes for chicken tagine, and this is one of them, the one I make most often at home, because it’s a crowdpleaser. Okay, I have to confess that some people in my family don’t like olives (go figure!) But they can easily set them aside on this dish. Other than that, If you are like my family, you’re going to love this dish, not only because it’s so satisfying, so nutritious, so balanced and so flavorful, but because it brightens up a table and brings the family and friends together.

La Mamounia, Marrakech, Mama Ía blog

Tagine is the ultimate Moroccan dish. There are probably as many tagine dishes as households in Morocco, with different kinds of meats, fish and vegetables. Tagine (more…)

Cod with roasted red peppers, Mama Ía blog

Cod with Roasted Red Peppers —and a Fall weekend in Miami

Cod with roasted red peppers, Mama Ía blogCod with roasted red peppers seemed like an appropriate recipe to share on today’s post: Miami makes me think of fish, if for no other reason that it’s a coastal city and delicious fresh fish is widely available.

Design District, Mama Ía blog

Cod, as you know, is one of my favorite varieties, and the ways to (more…)

Turrón ice cream, Mama Ía blog

Turrón ice cream —and Summer 2020 in Santa Barbara

Turrón ice cream, Mama Ía blog

It happens every year: Summer dwindles away and I hold onto it for dear life. It’s easy to think that way, when I look through my window and the sun is shining, and I go outside and sit on the patio and I don’t even need a light jacket. I scroll down through Instagram and all the beautiful, talented people I follow are praising the coming of fall and embracing it with open arms.

Santa Barbara Court House, Mama Ía blogTurrón ice cream, Mama Ía blogI, in the other hand, hope for the Indian summer, the “veranillo de San Miguel”,  as we call it in Spain. And for (more…)

Cucumber gazpacho, Mama ía blo

Cucumber Gazpacho —and a trip to Assisi

Cucumber gazpacho, Mama ía blogWe’re starting to see the fruits of our efforts, and with a bounty of vegetables from our garden, I‘ll be posting more recipes that use them. This post brings you a wonderful gazpacho that could be rightly called green gazpacho, a cucumber gazpacho that includes not only cucumber but also avocado and some other fruits of our garden: green pepper, jalapeño, basil and parsley. You see? A green gazpacho!

Assisi, Mama Ía blog

Cucumber gazpacho, Mama Ía blog (more…)

Almond cookies, amaretti, Mama Ía blog

Almond Cookies (amaretti-like), and a trip to Perugia

Almond cookies, amaretti, Mama Ía blogAlmond cookies, amaretti-like, to sweeten up this very odd situation. It’s hard to believe what’s happening right now in the world. When I remember the times, not that long ago, when we could travel, I can’t help but think that we are living in a dystopian movie, and that, like in the movies, it will have a happy ending.

Perugia, Mama Ía blog

Temple of Sant’Angelo

My flight to Spain this summer has been canceled by the airline due to the pandemic and the closing of borders in many parts of the world (certainly the borders of Spain). I can now only travel in (more…)

Beef stew with sherry sauce, Mama Ía blog

Beef Stew with Sherry Sauce, and Winter Days in Valencia

Beef stew with sherry sauce, Mama Ía blogBeef stew with sherry sauce is not the recipe I would have wanted to post/make, but climate made me. Where is Spring? We eagerly received it a month ago, soon after confinement was mandated, but the weather keeps telling us it’s not time for warm temperatures yet. In a way, it could be a good thing, as I would personally rather be watching a gray day outside than a sunny one, given the circumstances that keeps us indoors.

Beef stew with sherry sauce is a recipe I wanted to post last January, but for one reason or another I didn’t. These days we are seeing more and more people spending time in the kitchen, trying new recipes or simply (more…)

Cod in smooth pisto sauce, Mama Ía blog

Cod in Smooth Pisto Sauce —a confined kitchen at Lent

Cod in smooth pisto sauce, Mama Ía blogIt’s a weird sensation these days, isn’t it? We wake up every morning wondering what the new limitation will be for the day ahead —whether we’ll be able to go out freely for a walk in the neighborhood, whether we’ll be able to fly next week to see a loved one. COVID-19 has turned us upside down as in the most dystopian of stories.

Memphis, Mama Ía blogMemphis, Mama Ía blogRoutine tasks we used to do without giving them a second thought now become a highlight of the day – leave the house for a moment to pick up the mail; take the garbage to the curb. A trip to the grocery store (more…)