Orange Polka Dot

Grocery Series: Salt

Salt section at Eroski. 

I have never seen so much salt in a grocery store as I have in Barcelona. By the looks of shelf space, the Catalans take their salt seriously. 

In this particular salt section at Eroski, I was able to find 15 different types of salt! 

• Sal Para Cocinar a la Horno y a la Plancha/ Salt for cooking in the oven or grill
• Sal Marina Fina
• Sal Marina Gruesa
• Sal Yodada/ iodized 
• Sal con Yodo y Flúor/ iodized and flouride
• Sal Hiposodica/ low sodium
• Sal Ligera/ 60% less sodium
• Sal Completa con yodo, magnesio, fósforo, flúor y calcio/ iodine, magnesium, phosphorus, floride and calcium
• Sal Maldon, sal de mar
• Sal Maldon Ahumada/ smoked
• Sal Rosa de Himalaya
• Sal Himalaya Estilo Asiático/ Asian style
• Toque Especial Flor de Sal Wasabi
• Toque Especial Flor de Sal Pimientas
• Toque Especial Flor de Sal Jalapenos

My absolute favorite salt, is what my kids call, "pink salt." Sal Rosa de Himalaya. I was quite surprised to see Himalayan salt easily available from mainstream grocery stores and affordable. Dr. Mercola has a great video interview and information about the health benefits and properties of Himalayan Salt. 

 

Curious about cooking in salt? Many Catalans bake fish generously covered in salt. We tried it once at home. The kids loved covering the fish in salt and cracking open the solidified salt when the fish was done cooking. The fish was very moist and quite tasty... the clean up of the salt on the other hand was not so fun. Here are some recipes for baking fish in salt, although you will soon realize that you hardly need a recipe to do it. 

• Dorado (Sea Bream) baked in salt with a Romesco sauce.
• Heidi at 101 Cookbooks' salt baking recipe using potatoes. 
• Gastronomical Three's Salt Baked Fish - great pictures showing the process. 

 

 
 
 

Lovely Libros: Diccionario Visual Bilingüe 2 en 1

  

Seriously, can you believe that the favorite book of late for both my children is a dictionary? The Diccionario Visual Bilingüe 2 en 1 recently became the second dictionary that my daughter and son spend so much time flipping through the pages. The DK Merriam-Webster Children's Dictionary was my daughter's first dictionary love. I also had a favorite children's dictionary as a child and I am so proud that my daughter has one as well. 

While not a children's dictionary, the visual aspects of the Diccionario Visual Bilingüe 2 en 1 by Larousse appeal strongly to children. Hundreds of ordinary objects and some not so ordinary are labelled in both Spanish and English. This equals to lots of little pictures (3,600 to be exact, along with 60,000 translations) for children to browse. A great learning tool for both child and parent. 

I love the precise, detailed drawings and the depth of categories covered in this dictionary. You'll find pictures and translations for everything from sporting equipment to auto parts to kitchen utensils to anatomy to the plant and animal kingdoms. Really, this dictionary covers it all! 

 

Open the usual bilingual Spanish-English dictionary and look up the word for "purse." You will probably find, "bolso." Well, we all know that there are many different types of purses (right, gals?). When you browse the aisles of El Corte Ingles for the perfect gift for your husband, you need to know how to say a "bolso de hombre" (a man's bag that is quite popular here in Barcelona). 

 

In addition to the pictures, the Diccionario Visual Bilingüe 2 en 1 has a traditional bilingual dictionary and verb conjugation tables (which I desperately need since I only speak Spanish in the present tense). 

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Barcelona Festivals: El Meu Primer Festival

 

This Saturday, the 21st of November 2009 marks the beginning of the El Meu Primer Festival, which means, "my first festival." In this case, your child's first film festival. Featuring films for children ages two to twelve, the festival runs from the 21st to the 29th of November 2009. 

Children and their parents will be able to view international films and animations, participate in workshops about animation and cartoon drawing and even watch a movies accompanied by a live pianist. Films range from silent Charlie Chaplin movies to animation appropriate for the littlest children from the Czech Republic and Japan and many award-winning films in-between. 

• Information about the festival in english: Kids in Barcelona 
• Official El Meu Primer Festival (catalan)

Screenings are at Cines Verdi Park in Gracia and Filmoteca de Catalunya. Tickets for films at Cines Verdi Park are 4€ for adults and 2€ for children. For films at the Filmoteca, tickets are 2.70€ for normal tickets and 2€ for reduced tickets. 

Cines Verdi Park 
C/ Torrijos, 49
map

Filmoteca de Catalunya 
Av. Sarrià, 33
map

Lovely Libros: Rooster Gallo

My mom found Rooster Gallo at Hicklebee's* amazing emporium of children's books in Willow Glen (San Jose), California. A bilingual book down to the last detail. Besides the story's text being written in both spanish and english, even the copyright and publisher information appears in both languages!

Rooster Gallo, written by Jorge Luján and published by Groundwood Books, is a simple and beautiful nine line poem about the transition from day to night and back to day again. The text is equally powerful and thoughtful in both spanish and english. 

Award-winning illustrator Manuel Monroy's artistic style perfectly matches that of the rooster. His pictures are folksy, without cliché, with a dash of whimsy. 

Rooster Gallo truly shows the beauty of night and day. I have a feeling that little ones that are scared of the night, may enjoy the imagery of the rooster eating the stars to clear the way for a new day. Curious? Read the book with your children to find out the rooster's important role in making our nights turn into days and days transform into nights. 

* Never heard of Hicklebee's? If you live anywhere near the San Francisco Bay Area, then a visit to Hicklebee's is time well spent. And definitely money well spent. Hicklebee's, an independent bookstore, has been a San Jose institution since 1979 helping children develop a love of literature. I have such fond memories of browsing Hikclebee's as a child. And now I get to relive the memories when I browse Hicklebee's with my children whenever we visit my parents in San Jose, California. For those of us that don't live near Hicklebee's, we are in luck. Hicklebee's offers online book ordering. You will appreciate their thoughtfully compiled book lists of "staff favorites" and my favorite, "worth the candle." The "worth the candle" list is a compilation of "vintage books that are too good to miss." Enticing isn't it!

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Grocery Series: Las Tres Brujas

Isn't product packaging and branding fun to check out while in foreign countries? Heck, it can be fun no matter where you live. 

I would love to know what was going through the minds of the marketing execs when they created Las Tres Brujas floor cleaner. Maybe someone can clue me into the history of this product and why witches were considered to be the best image and name association for something to clean and shine your granite, marble or tile floors? 

At first, I thought it was about the brooms. You know, flying broomsticks and the less adventurous ones we use everyday to sweep our floors. But this is a product that is applied with a mop... So, I am stumped. Any ideas? 

If you also like to ponder packaging design, you gotta check out these great blogs on the topic. 

Design Muse: Design inspiration for creative types.

Packaging Diva: Latest in packaging news. 

Off The Shelf: Japanese packaging design blog. 

LaCía.Blog: News and thoughts from a Spanish packaging and branding agency.

Lovely Package: Blog with a passion for package design. 

Packaging Of The World: Creative package design and archive gallery. 

Packaging Spain Blog: Covers packaging news in Spain. 

The Blog of Packaging: Latest news of packaging from two packaging engineers. 

Unwrapped Design: Creating awareness about packaging design. 

Lovely Libros: La Vaca Paca

We do a lot of cooking in our house, so it is no wonder the kids enjoy reading La Vaca Paca y las Cosas de la Cocina. Follow along Paca, the cooking cow, in this Spanish board book as she whips up breakfast and a tortilla de patatas (think a cross between an egg, potato quiche without the crust and more dense omelet).  

Although subtle, there are cultural clues that Paca is a Spanish cow. For example, her breakfast is toast with either a bowl of Nutella to spread on the toast or a cup of their famous hot chocolate that is so thick you can eat it with a spoon. 

• Recipe to make your own Spanish Tortilla de Patatas

 

I love that the last "cosa de la cocina" displayed is the kitchen sink with Paca washing the dishes. The concept of the sink as a utensil seems so Spanish too me - cleaning is an integral part of living in a house. Unlike my view that it is a unavoidable chore. 

Grocery Series: Trader Joe's in Spain

    


I am sorry to tease my fellow American friends living in Barcelona. There is no Trader Joe's here. If you look hard enough though, you may be able to find some Trader Joe's items or at least an overpriced TJ's shopping bag to tide you over until you next "stock up" trip back to the States. 

I finally went to check out Aldi at the urging of my German friend. Aldi is a deep discount, small to medium size German grocery store. Obviously, Aldi stocks a slew of German brands I don't know, but I was happy to find one brand that I hold close to my heart - Trader Joe's! 

I found a box of Trader Joe's Nueces De California (walnuts). It doesn't get much better than having Trader Joe's and California in the same phrase when you are wandering the aisles of a German grocery store in Spain! 

Could this be counterfeit or a Trader Joe's knock off brand of walnuts I wondered? And a little research dug this up... Aldi's parent company, Albrecht Discounts, actually owns Trader Joe's!!! Maybe I was the last one to know this, but it came as quite a surprise. Makes sense once you realize the key strategies of Aldi's and Trader Joe's are very similar - fierce cost control and stock nearly all house brands. Business Week had it right back in 2004 - Trader Joe's is Aldi's trendy American cousin. 

And this summer, while strolling an artisan fair in Sant Cugat, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Trader Joe's reusable grocery bags for sale on a table filled with funky handmade jewelry. My eyes popped even more, when I saw the price, 8 Euros! With the current exchange rate, that would be about 12 bucks. 

Lovely Libros: Manuelita La Tortuga

No children's library of Spanish language books would be complete without the poetry and stories of Maria Elena Walsh, a famous Argentine author and musician. Growing up my husband sang her silly songs in school and read her books with his mother. So ingrained in popular culture are her poems and stories, Walsh should be the Latin American Mother Goose.  

During our daughter's first trip to Buenos Aires we loaded our suitcase with many of Walsh's books. And with my broken Spanish (although improving daily), I am able to actually read a few of them. The chapter books such as Dailan Kifki and Tutú Marambá are reserved for Papi bedtime stories.  

Manuelita La Tortuga is a short compilation of several of Walsh's poems/songs for children. First off, is the well-known story of Manuelita the turtle that leaves her home to go to Paris to be polished, pressed and dressed all for the love of another turtle. 

When she returns, her wrinkles have resurfaced due to the long boat trip. Her love is waiting for her regardless and drinking a maté nonetheless (because what else would an Argentine turtle do while waiting for so long!). 

The people of Pehuajó, the birthplace of Manuelita and from where she begins her journey, even erected a statue in Manuelita's honor. 

Photo from Claudio Elias at wikicommons. 

Manuelita La Tortuga also contains the fun poems of "Juancito Volador," "La Mona Jacinta," and another one of my favorites, "Cancion Tonta." While reading "Cancion Tonta" (probably the most simple poem in the book for a learning Spanish speaker) you may notice some similarities between it and "Hey Diddle, Diddle." And you would be correct! A spanish translation that stays in line with the silliness of "Hey Diddle, Diddle," and adds a few twists. 

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Grocery Series: Pannellets

Photo: VidaSana

On Saturday the lines were out the door at bakeries throughout Barcelona. Everyone was buying "pannellets" and bottles of Moscatel to bring to their La Castanyada celebration.  We've been nibbling on pannellets for the past week, trying to find the best pannellets in our neighborhood. My children made pannellets at school and we are getting together with Catalan friends to make pannellets this week. 

Bakeries' display cases are packed with various pannellets. The most traditional pannellets are "pinyons" (pine nuts), "d' ametlles" (almond) and "coco" (cocunut). It seems that each bakery may have their special pannellet version. Pannellets are basically made with almond flour, sugar, water and a little egg white. A regular or sweet potato may be added. From there you may add special ingredients such as chocolate, lemon or cinnamon. Traditional pannellets use the basic dough recipe rolled into little balls. The balls are dipped into either chopped almonds, pine nuts or grated coconut.

Pannellets ingredient and recipe display at Carrefour. 

So far, I don't have the impression that Catalans are baking many breads, pasteries, cookies or other baked desserts in their own kitchen. At least that I what I am told and confirmed by the miniscule baking section of grocery stores. With so many amazing patisseries and bakeries on every corner, why would they? 

Pannellets are the exemption! All the stores had special displays with all the ingredients necessary to make pannellets. During lunch at work, my husband listened to his colleagues reminsince about baking pannellets as children. 

Pannellets ingredients and Moscatel display at Caprabo. 

::Pannellets Recipes::

Try making your own pannellets. They are super easy baking activity to do with young children. 

Spanish Recipes Pannellets Recipe: My favorite Spanish food blog, with a focus on Catalan cuisine. Nuria's recipe does not use potatoes. 

Pannellet Recipe Slideshow by sthilari on scrapblog. 

GarfieldGuide's neighbor provides this pannellet version that uses a potato (sweet or regular). 

Lisa & Tony of About.com's Spanish food page provide another recipe that uses potatoes.