Timing is Everything

This morning was another struggle to sleep in long enough. The floor here betrays my footsteps with a creaky protest, and the occasional thudding pop  as the time-worn floorboards move under their grandmotherly patina. My bed is shorter than I am. Time moves slowly in the morning when everyone else is asleep. I take mental stock of everything in the fridge and pantry which I tend to do often at home. Thinking of things I can make that my Pepita (homestay mom) would try without being too shocked. I decide its time to introduce an old Spanish grandma to the idea of a cooked breakfast.

Ingredients swim through my head, tastes, textures, nebulous concepts. I know I want to make something with eggs, since they suck at cooking eggs and I have quite a bit of practice making a perfect poached egg (the key is adding a bit of acid to the water, and making it spin like a tornado before you gently open the egg into it at water level, so it holds together). Anyways I decided to make little baguettes with panseared chorizo, poached egg, and aged gallecian cheese on top, I call it Eggs Santiago.

My creation: Eggs Santiago

As soon as I am finished making it, Pepita walks out the door to work. I guess she didn’t understand what I was doing. I tried to tell her I was cooking her breakfast. It sits there. I feel slightly sad. I made too much for myself to eat alone; I am alone.

I put a little note on it that says “please eat this, good morning” and hope that the girl who is staying here eats it when she finally awakes from her slumber.

(will post more soon, going out for some drinks)

near La Plaza Roja - Old Town, Santiago de Compostela. You can see the cathedral in the distance.

Ok justs got back from a night drinking Gulden Draak and gin and tonics… I forget what happened today. Doesn’t really matter, but I do remember that I wanted to tell you that people seem to store dishes in the dishwasher, instead of the cupboard, which seems odd to me. I have a picture of it.

I don’t know if my homestay mom is just super lazy or if that is the custom of the region; it seems kind of ineffective tho. They wash the dishes by hand and then put them in the dishwasher for storage.

Anyways, I am pretty drunk still, even tho I got lost getting home and walked for over 20 mins. Everyone here drinks a lot.