SPAIN, PART II

We have relocated to Sierra Nevada for the last leg of our trip, high in the mountains above Granada. It is quite lovely here, in this little European ski town. First, let it be known that I am not much of a skier. I have tried it a handful of times, and, to be honest, skiing and being afraid of heights don't go hand in hand. It's funny, it is truly a beautiful location, but for someone not attending conference workshops or skiing, well, I am doing an awful lot of relaxing--and I'm not complaining one bit about it! Today I walked around, checking out the views, souvenir and trinket shops, grocery stores (my favorite thing to do in other countries!), and people watching. I read a bit of the historical fiction novel that I brought (Mademoiselle Boleyn, about Ann Boleyn's time in the as French Court as a child and young woman), took a lovely nap, walked around a bit more, checked out the local gym and spa--with sauna and Turkish bath included (tomorrow's adventure!), and now to check email and write this post...Raf has been a busy bee, but took some time to walk around with me this afternoon, and just stopped by a bit ago for a hello.

The mountains just after sun rise, with the clouds rolling in.

Mid-afternoon (from the window in our hotel room).

At sunset.

On my last night in Granada, I had the pleasure of visiting the local Hammam, which is a Turkish bath house, located in a 13th century building, where you partake in a hot bath, medium bath, and freezing cold (!) bath, steam room, and traditional tea, all before getting a massage. The place was beautiful, almost entirely lit by candles, in a very cave-like, Arabic tiled building, with the most incredible soaking pools. It was very grotto-like. There was Arabic music playing softly the entire time, and people moved from pool to pool to steam room to tea room, to heated marble slabs. It was extremely meditative and I felt so cozy and sleepy when I got back to my hotel room. My only complaint was not having Raf share it with me. Most of his talks and poster sessions went all day until midnight, so he wasn't able to come with. :( Also, I wasn't able to take pictures, unfortunately, because, well, people were bathing, and the heat and water and steam of the place would have killed my camera. Speaking of, I apologize for the rough images (especially the night shots), as my camera is not fantastic. Sad story is, the last time Raf and I were in Spain (almost 2 years ago) my very nice DSLR got stolen on our very last night there! Pick-pocketed! The nerve...

Christmas lights right outside our hotel.

The alleyway to get to the Hammam. This neighborhood had such a mood to it, especially at night, which probably had something to do with the lighting, narrow, cobbled streets,and 13th century buildings.

Last night, on our way to the mountains, we got a private tour of the Alhambra. It is a is a palace and fortress that was constructed during the mid 14th century by Moorish rulers and later lived in by the Catholic Monarchs. It has incredible Islamic architecture and amazing gardens (although we didn't get to tour them). It was really pretty cool to see where the Sultans and royals lived.

The palaces at sunset.

Looking out of the palace windows.

Some of the finely detailed plaster work. Arabic writing and incredibly detailed shapes and symbols.

Oh, and Iberia Airlines is having a pilot strike starting on the morning of our flight out of Granada! So, we have to catch a bus at 2 am to make it to Madrid on time to catch our flight back to the US. We are going to be a couple of sleepy kittens...

SPAIN!

We are in Granada, Spain right now. Raf is presenting a paper (with the other author) at a conference, and since we were traveling to the east coast anyway for the holidays, I tagged along...yay! This is our second Spanish adventure together. We visited Madrid and a few surrounding cities in 2010. I was able to see and stay with some old Spanish pals on that trip, so we were really given the most amazing, authentic tours from locals--which is the best way to travel, in my opinion.

Here in Granada, I am exploring a lot on my own, as Raf is doing the conference thing during the day. My Spanish is pretty rusty, but I am remembering words and phrases more and more. It really has been fairly easy to communicate. Granada is really quite breathtaking, as it has a lot of old world Spanish architecture (and Moorish), narrow, cobbled streets, and an incredible view of the Sierra Nevada mountains. The only bad thing I have noticed is that there is a TON of dog poop on the streets. I have seen a lot of stray dogs rambling around the city, and up in the more residential areas where it is quieter, there are plenty of dog owners, and plenty of dog poop. Everywhere. I am being serious, I have never seen so much... Enough about that though, sorry. Sheesh.


It is lovely to be here during the holiday season as there are beautiful lights everywhere and people are hustling and bustling around buying Christmas presents. There are traditional Christmas sweets everywhere too--and they are so good! One funny observation is that most of the stores play American Christmas songs (think Maria Carey, Elvis, Bing Crosby, etc.) in English, and most of the stores I have been in are playing American music in general. I saw some store employees rocking out/singing along to a hip hop song, but she wasn't able to speak with me when I asked her a question in Spanglish. :) More soon!

Cool grafitti.

Cool new buddy John.
Cool view.

The Alhambra behind us (which we will be getting a tour of on Thursday!).

View from the gypsy hill. This is where serious gypsy folk live in these cave/houses that are built into the hillside. John read about it and apparently most tour books recommend you DON'T visit this part of town, but we were very curious and it was very interesting...

One of the cave/houses.

This gigantic wall surrounds the hillside of the city. We were speculating that it was for protection at one point in time. This was a view down the thin walkway between the two parts of the wall.

Just a couple of dudes on a gypsy hill near a big wall.

Flamenco joint. Flamenco happens mostly up near the gypsy village.

Pretty old houses and walls.

There are a number of vendors selling bulk spices and teas and dried fruit on the old cobbled streets of the city. The sun was perfect that day. I just couldn't get enough of how beautiful it all looked...

Okay--going out to enjoy more Granada! xo.

CURRIED CASHEWS

I used to buy curried cashews at my old co-op in Ithaca, NY. They were something like $4 for a tiny bag (like super, super tiny), so I didn't buy them often, and I would eat them very slowly when I did. :) So, this has been the year of figuring out how to make (in larger quantities) the foods that I like to eat, but don't like to buy (I am working on a Larabar-ish recipe, amongst others)... So, I played around and made a couple of batches of curried cashews, and came up with a seasoning ratio that compares to my old fave. This is the simplest of recipes. It has four ingredients, and takes about 12 minutes. Oh, and they are DELICIOUS! Make them, already! Sheesh...


Curried Cashews
3 cups of raw cashews (raw and unsalted--very important! Trader Joe's is my source of choice)
5 tsp of coconut oil, warmed until liquid (coconut oil gives them the best flavor (again Trader Joe's), but you can sub another oil)
3 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp sea salt (you can add more or less to taste)

Preheat oven to 350. Put cashews into a bowl. Mix coconut oil, curry powder, and salt into a smaller dish, and mix until blended very well. Pour over cashews and mix with your hands until the cashews are completely coated. Spread into a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, then take them out and toss the cashews around on the pan so that they cook evenly. Bake for another 4-5 minutes. Cook until they are lightly browned (not too long, burnt cashews don't taste nice!). Let cool completely before eating and storing. Yum!

CHINESE HERBS.

Raf has been struggling with sinus headaches for a while, and has tried many routes for relief. He finally decided to just go as natural as possible, and has been going to acupuncture 1-2 times a week at the Berkeley Acupuncture Project. This place is really wonderful, as it is a community-based practice. This means that everyone is treated in the same room, with multiple acupuncturists doing their work to multiple patients, where everyone is there, healing together. The setting is serene; folks lounging in reclining chairs, soft Chinese music in the background, dim lights, and the sound of water flowing from little fountains around the room. We go to see Julia, and she is as sweet as can be, and very present with you during your treatment. She is terrific! (Oh, did I forget to mention that I have been going every once in a while too?) They also operate on a sliding scale basis, you pay what you can afford, from $15-$45 a treatment. This is great as it allows students, people without health insurance coverage or folks on a lower income to seek multiple treatments without breaking the bank.

Anyway, back to the title of this post...Julia suggested Raf go see an Oakland legend, a man named Henry who operates an herb shop in Chinatown. He has been doing his thing at his shop, Draline Tong Herbs for 33 years! So, we recently went, hoping to have Henry add herbs to complement Julia's treatments. It was pretty cool, and definitely old school. The shop is in the heart of Oakland's Chinatown, and Henry was standing outside of the entryway (just as someone said on Yelp!) and he greets you and welcomes you in. The place has a very strong herbal scent that smacks you in the face upon entering. It looks like an old fashioned apothecary, with beautiful antique wooden drawers that house myriad bulk/loose herbal concoctions, and floor to ceiling prepackaged herbs and teas and various Chinese products. Henry asked what we were looking for and took us back into his office for a consultation. He pulled out his pen and a piece of paper that says "Henry's Herb" and began frantically writing in beautiful Chinese characters as Raf described how he has been feeling.

After the consultation, we went out into the main room with all of the drawers and Henry's assistant appears out of nowhere. These two old boys really must know one another, because they barely speak as they pull handfuls of herbs from this drawer or that that drawer and lay them into piles on squares of white butcher paper, every once in a while consulting with Henry's notes. Once they finish, they wrap the little bundles and secure them with rubber bands.


Henry then gave us the following instructions: Boil one entire packet with 4 cups of water until it reduces to 1 cup of water. Strain and drink. Set aside the left over herbs and reuse in the same way the next day. Each packet is 2 days worth of tea. Repeat this for 6 days until the tea is gone. Well, folks, he drank all of it. According to Raf it tastes like you are drinking the forest floor. And he figured out pretty quickly that an almond milk chaser was necessary.




We aren't sure what the effect of doing it once was, and he is interested and willing to go back for another round. It was certainly quite an experience. I really believe in the power of herbs and acupuncture and Chinese medicine in general, so fingers crossed...