muffins made by nuns: nunffins

These very very yummy muffins are often made by nuns in Seville and can be purchased at many convents in the city (along with jams, candy, and other pastries.)  I fell in love with them last month and decided I'd try to make a batch of my own for my family (I'm back in NYC for the holidays.)

They don't taste like any muffins I've ever had before and I think that's because they're made with oil instead of butter.  This makes them very fluffy and light and not horrifically bad for you either.  They're great with cinnamon and without (according to my sister's boyfriend, the cinnamon ones taste like a cross between muffins and snickerdoodles)

I found a recipe on this website and made it yesterday ... they came out great!

http://recetas.mundorecetas.com/receta15577-Magdalenas-de-canela.html  

Here's the recipe in Spanish and English 

(depending on the size of your cupcake wrappers the recipe makes 15-20 muffins...i mean nunffins):

Ingredients:
3 huevos + 1 yema (3 eggs plus 1 yolk)
250 grs. azúcar (1 and a fourth cups of sugar)
250 grs. harina (a little under 2 cups of flour)
120 grs. aceite de oliva virgen extra (8 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil)
60 grs. de leche (a quarter cup of milk)
ralladura de 1/2 limón (zest of half a lemon)
zumo de 1/2 limón (juice of half a lemon)
1 cucharadita de canela molida (1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon)
10 grs. de levadura (2 teaspoons baking powder)
pizca de sal (pinch of salt)
24 cápsulas de papel (paper cupcake wrappers)
azúcar y canela para espolvorear (sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top)


Instructions:
En el cuenco de la batidora pongo los tres huevos y la yema, y bato a velocidad alta hasta que el batido quede espumoso, sin dejar de batir añado el azúcar.
Añado poco a poco la leche, el aceite, la ralladura del limón y el zumo, y lo dejo batir un poco más.Añado la canela, y la mezclo con una lengua, seguidamente incorporo la harina con la levadura y la sal previamente tamizada.
Y con movimientos envolventes para que el batido no se baje, lo mezclo hasta que esté bien integrada, voy rellenando la cápsulas hasta 3/4 parte, y la espolvoreo con azúcar y canela.
La dejo reposar 1 hora antes de meterlas en el horno a 170º calor arriba y abajo en la segunda ranura de 25 a 30 minutos.

whisk the eggs and yolk at high speed until it gets frothy and then keep beating while adding the sugar.
add the milk little by little, then the olive oil, the lemon zest and juice, and mix till combined well.
then mix in the cinnamon.
in a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt (sift them if possible).
mix together the dry and wet ingredients and combine well (but make sure the fluffiness doesnt disappear.)
fill the cupcake wrappers 3/4 of the way full and top with a good sprinkling of sugar and cinnamon.
let the filled cupcake wrappers sit for an hour.  
you don't need a cupcake tin...just sit the filled paper things on a cookie sheet and put it in the middle of the oven and cook at a little below 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

"villancico" = christmas carol

Ever want to hear a Spanish Christmas carol?

Some of the instruments are pretty interesting

Enjoy!

The "belén"

The nativity scene, or "belén," is a big deal here and they are everywhere this time of year.
Just look at this one I saw in the window of a military goods store:

Thanksgiving!

This Thanksgiving my American friend Aisha and I cooked a full Thanksgiving dinner for 7 hungry Spaniards (my language exchange partner Jonatán and his friends & roommates.)  Jonatán and his buddies had never celebrated Thanksgiving before and most of the dishes were completely new to them.  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I was so happy to be able to celebrate it with lovely people and all the traditional food I love so dearly.  Jonatán and his roommates spent hours decorating the dining room...everything was thoughtfully and beautifully decorated.

The food turned out great and everybody had a wonderful time eating, chatting, and listening to Christmas music.  I've been enjoying leftovers ever since! 

We cooked from 2:30 until 10:30 (we had a limited number of pots and pans and not much oven space)

 

"Nathan," the construction paper turkey centerpiece.

They even made a fruit cornucopia and a "tree" with fall leaves!

They printed out pictures of turkeys and taped them on top of their picture frames.

Each guest had a place card with their name, picture, and the menu in both Spanish and English.

Enjoying the fruits of our labor!

The turkey centerpiece enjoying some mashed potatoes.

 THE FOOOOOOD:

Salad and Green beans with shallots

My dad's mashed potatoes

Stuffing, sweet potatoes, and turkey

Aunt Gina's jam cookies!

Granada

The second weekend in November my whole program went to Granada.  It's a beautiful city with some fascinating history and it's only 3 hours away from Seville!  All but the last of these photos are from the Alhambra--the complex of palaces built at the end of the period of Moorish rule in Granada.  It was nearly voted one of the new 7 wonders of the world and certainly deserves recognition as such. 

My Spanish friend Jonatán and I in front of this beautiful view of Granada from the Alhambra.

That's the Sierra Nevada in the distance.

Entrance to the palace that contained the Muslim king's harem.

Water always plays an important aesthetic, acoustic and symbolic role in Moorish architecture.

Sunset in Granada

A view of the fortress portion of the Alhambra from the summer palace. 

Everything smells, sounds and looks beautiful in the Alhambra.  Even the hedges smell good!

This picture is from a neighborhood in Granada called the Albaicín.

Catching up...

Hello, readers!
Here's a catch-up post

University classes are going well. 
In my departments here (history & geography, philology and education) homework doesn't really exist. Neither do tests or essays.  Professors here will not quiz you to see if you've completed assigned readings or encourage you to come to every class by making attendance a portion of your final grade.  They do not expect every one of their students to pass the final exam at the end of the semester. 
This system puts the responsibility on the student...you really get out of the class what you put into it.  It has taken me a long time to acclimate but I think I've finally accepted it.  My entire academic life up until this year has been characterized by high expectations (set both externally and internally) and constant testing of acquired knowledge.  When it comes down to it, I prefer the American system, but I'm also happy to have a year of pressure-free learning.

I've started tutoring a 9 year old girl (Mercedes) and her 5 year old brother (Diego) in English. 
This past week Diego had a playdate, so my lesson plan was just for Mercedes.  I taught her winter and Thanksgiving-related vocabulary with pictures I drew of 8 words (Turkey, Gloves, Scarf, Coat, Leaves, Pie, Pumpkin, Fireplace) on sheets of paper.  Once she seemed to know more or less all of them, I spread the drawings out on the floor, pulled out my laptop, turned on the Elf soundtrack, and we danced around the pictures.  We took turns yelling out the new words and then both had to jump over to that picture and step on it.  It was ridiculously fun and we both looked crazy dancing to Louis Prima's "Pennies from Heaven."  Mercedes's favorite word was "pie."

I've learned some interesting things about the education system in Spain since I've started tutoring Mercedes and Diego.  For instance:
1) Around 4th grade every child in Andalucía is given their own little laptop by the regional government.  This is one example of the many reasons why public schools in Spain are usually better than the private ones.  The government takes good care of the schools it runs and from elementary school all the way through university, public schools are not only the norm but also the more respected of the two options.  As there is really no competition for acceptance to private schools or universities in Spain, they are even said to attract less intelligent students who are simply willing to pay for good grades.
2) The quality of foreign language education here is not very good.  It is impressive that public schools begin teaching English to their students at such a young age.  But the lack of native speakers working as full time teachers translates to young generations of Spaniards who have a general understanding of the language but a very difficult time when it comes to pronunciation. 


Random fact:
"How I Met Your Mother" is oddly popular in Spain.  Last week I met a guy from New Jersey who is living and working here.  He told me that he usually tells Spaniards he is from New York because, in his experience, many don't know where New Jersey is.  But recently Spaniards have been questioning him when he fibs about his hometown:  "are you really from New York or are you just from New Jersey?"  When he asked some of these unexpectedly insightful Spaniards why they would ask him this, they informed him there was an episode of "How I Met Your Mother" mocking those who say they're from New York City when they're really from New Jersey and suburban New York.
oh, cultural exportation.

old friends :-)

In other news, Maddie (my friend since lower school) came to visit Sevilla this week.  She told me all about her communist/conspiracy theorist German teacher (she's studying this semester in Berlin) and even brought me ginger bread from her recent trip to Dresden.
We walked around the gardens at the Alcázar and made friends with some peacocks:

BABY PEACOCKS!

Nerja Caves

Last Saturday I went on a day trip with some friends to Málaga to see the Picasso museum.  The museum has some truly awesome examples of the artist's work--many small sketches, but also paintings, sculpture and even pottery.  The museum also has a rotating exhibition space which currently houses an exhibit entitled "Toys of the Avant-Garde" which displays building blocks, books and puppets made by artists and toy companies from various countries in the 19th and 20th centuries.  The focus of the exhibit is the relationship between art, design, play, and education.

I really enjoyed the museum, but my favorite part of the day was our trip to nearby town Nerja which is home to an incredible cave system.  The caves were discovered by modern man by accident in 1959 but had been inhabited by early man from somewhere around 25,000 BC until the Bronze Age...archeologists have found skeletal remains, tools, and cave paintings from different moments in early human history. 
Today, apart from being a tourist attraction, the chamber we entered is a natural amphitheater and is home to a mini concert hall used for occasional performances.
Here are some pictures:

This picture depicts just how huge these caves are... my friend Aisha is standing with arms outstretched at the bottom of the frame--see how small she is??!!

Everywhere I looked reminded me of Fraggle Rock

The base of this column is 43 ft by 23 ft and it stands 105 ft high

There are crazy textures everywhere...it's hard to believe that this place isn't just a Hollywood set.

Cave slime!

university life

Classes started last monday and things are going pretty well so far.  I am taking the following classes:
Theoretical Linguistics
I'm really enjoying this class.  My professor seems very relaxed and funny.  Today we discussed the history of linguistics ... starting with Socrates and his thoughts on the relationship between words and meaning. 
History and Fiction in Latin America
This class is about Latin American literature and how different works reflect different periods of the region's history.  Last week we read sections of a book from the early 17th century that contains the first reference to the Bermuda Triangle as a place where people disappear.  Today Peruvian author Eduardo González Viaña lectured in our class about immigration in the US (the topic of most of his books).
Literature and Society in Spain
This class is about Bohemian literature in Spain at the end of the 19th c and the beginning of the 20th.  It's an interesting genre to study because few of the authors are particularly famous anymore and many wrote books, plays, and poetry of somewhat questionable quality.  But this community of authors and their works say a lot about society in Spain during their time.  Madrid, the center not only of politics but also of art and culture in Spain, attracted young artists from all over the county.  These creative types found solidarity with one another in their shared poverty, youth, struggle for recognition, and pride in their own marginality (they are the first to write artists as protagonists.)  They modeled their lives around the ideal of french Bohemianism (La Boheme served as a manual for dress, behavior, etc).  The only thing I don't like about this class is the number of foreign students.  There are, inexplicably, around 20 Germans taking this class with me.
Anthropology of Gender
I am very excited about this class.  Not only do we have something similar to a syllabus (in my other classes I just have a huge list of books to read and no indication of when I should read them) but it is incredibly interesting.  We will learn about the evolution of Anthropology from a field that was predominantly interested in the men of a given society to a field that studies men, women, and their interactions.  My professor mentioned as an example of the man-centric attitudes of early Anthropology a line from an pre-1970s anthropological study...it went something like this:  The town was left empty, the only ones remaining were me, the women and the children.
General Sociology
This class seems a bit boring.  It's a first year class for students in the education department and it's going to be pretty basic.  On the plus side, all but one of my classmates are Spanish and, since they are mostly first years, they are more eager to make friends (even with a silly American).

people watching at la puerta de jerez

street performer

are you a musician? do you want to make money on the streets of Seville? then i suggest you follow this man's business model -- he gets more donations and attracts more of a crowd than any flamenco or classical guitarist i've seen playing in my neighborhood.
the moral of this story:  if you want to make money off of tourists, forget about offering them a cultural cliche...instead, remind them of home (or at the very least, of True Blood...which by the way is very popular here in Spain)

February 23rd, 1981

In my social history class this week we discussed the attempted coup d'etat of 1981.  It's a pretty fascinating story:

In 1975 Franco finally dies and Spain starts moving toward democracy.  By 1978 there's a constitution (which gets rid of the death penalty), political parties are legalized (including the communist party...had Franco been alive he would have died again over that news), moderate politicians are vastly popular, and things generally seem to be going pretty well.
But some radical members of the army are not pleased with the transition to democracy and decide something needs to be done.
So on February 23rd 1981 a coup d'etat is attempted...and the crazy awesome part?  you can watch it on youtube!  (some of the camera guys in congress secretly kept their cameras running.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pcc0_8i0CYs&feature=related

So here's what you'll see if you watch the video:
The first image is of president Suarez (young with brown hair) and his military adviser Gutierrez Mellado (the old bald guy)...these two, along with every important elected official, are sitting in congress. 
Members of the military break in.  The brains of the operation, Antonio Tejero (wearing the hat), demands silence.  Everybody hides under their seats except for president Suarez and General Mellado. 
Mellado immediately gets up and walks over to Tejero ordering him to stop (remember that Mellado is Tejero's superior in military terms).  Warning shots are fired into the ceiling but Mellado refuses to sit down.  Tejero tries and fails to push the old man back into his seat (what a loser)
The next part of the video shows part of the King's televised speech announcing that he has ordered the military and police to do everything they can to uphold the constitution and stop the coup.  This speech was key to the coup's failure as many military members involved in the coup nation-wide had been told the King supported them. 
Also key were civilian demonstrations and rallies that condemned the coup and called for continued democracy.

By the next morning the coup had ended...unsuccessfully.  What happened afterward? Those responsible were prosecuted and Spain remained a democratic country.  In fact, in 1982 the socialist party won the general elections...take that, Franco.

Some interesting things you won't see in the video 
--> many of the politicians held hostage in congress ate their black books page by page while they hid under their seats so that, if the coup stuck, the names and addresses of their friends and families wouldn't fall into dangerous hands. 
--> the bullet holes in the ceiling of congress are still there as a reminder of the event.
--> the king is said to have been wearing his pajamas under his military uniform when he gave his televised speech.

Aracena

This past weekend the advanced liberal arts group went to Aracena (a town nestled in the hilly area between Seville and Portugal)  10 Spanish students were invited and we were encouraged to only speak in Spanish.  The experience was fantastic and the views from the hotel incredible, but I came back with a very exhausted brain.  I also learned that I draw out the letter "o" longer than I ought to...something to work on!
I hope to return to Aracena in October for their yearly ham festival (yummmm jamon iberico)
Here are some pictures from my weekend:

Torre de Oro

The Torre Del Oro has been around since Seville was the capital of muslim Spain (12th c)...a defense tower next to the port area of the river, it served a military purpose for centuries.  Today it's a museum and a good place to get pictures of the city from above:

The tower in the distance is the Giralda, one of the only parts of the Cathedral that originally belonged to the Mosque.

This bridge is called Triana (as is the neighborhood to the left of the picture.)  The bridge was the first permanent bridge to be constructed in Seville (before it, bridges sat on boats...the river needed to be tamed before a permanent bridge could be constructed)