Spanish Seafood

Despite the fact that Madrid is in the middle of the country far from the ocean I still managed to find some pretty good seafood.  Mostly shell fish, octopus, sea urchin and squid...mmmmmm!

          

Happy Friday

Happy Friday...here is one of my favorite pictures I took this week. 

Madrid Cathedral

Churros con Chocolate.

Another typical Spanish breakfast....Churros and chocolate.  While San Gines may be a bit touristy its is an absolute must while in Madrid.  The chocolate dipping sauce is so rich and amazing, the Spanish actually drink it when they are done dipping (I didn't). Try going during the week to avoid the hoards of tourist.

Searching for Holy Cookies

I'm convinced this is one of the best kept secrets of Madrid.  There is a small church and convent behind San Miguel Market where there is a secret cookie operation going on, in El Convento de Corpus Christi.  When researching online there is very little information so all I knew was we had to ring a door bell and a nun would give us instructions on where to find the cookies.  When we got there it felt like an illegal drug deal...the door is basically an unmarked door in a small square and the deal is done via a lazy susan without seeing anyone. I don't want to give too much information because I wouldn't want to ruin the fun of the adventure...if you ever find yourself in Madrid make sure you seek out these cookies.

               

The Buzzer

          

The Menu

So Many Choices

                                  

Paying

THE COOKIES!!!!

Madrid Street Performers

One of my favorite things to do in this city is to walk around and find new street performers I haven't seen before. Here are some of the ones I found this weekend....

These ones are my favorites

CREEPY baby in carriage

Weird looking Hello Kitty...Mickey and Miney are scary too

Took me a while to figure out how they do this...

Balancing man

San Miguel Market

My favorite places to stroll around and eat between classes....

Dessert

Nuts

Paella

Olives

                                              

Croquette

Sausage

Sausage sandwiches

Squid

The Holidays According To My iPhone

The holidays were extra busy this year due to my TEFL course.  I spent Thanksgiving in Madrid one of my teachers made pumpkin pie (big deal in Spain since pumpkin is hard to come by) then one of my TEFL friends and I went to an American rib place for Thanksgiving dinner (no pictures of this because I had a horrible head cold and the pictures are awful) but here is a December wrap up which includes a lot of studying, wine, and family time...

.... the Christmas tree in Sol (x2), Studying at an outdoor cafe under heat lamps with some vino, study group at home with vino and snacks, my family's 3rd annual cookie exchange the solo cups are for voting purposes (back in NJ) and Christmas morning.

I HAVE A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT....

I know I have been an AWFUL blogger, but I swear I'm going to turn that around.  November 1st I'm moving to Madrid for a year to teach English and do some traveling around Europe so of course Espresso Cookie Ice Cream will be coming with  me.

Until then I will keep you all in the loop with the visa process, packing and the move...I know those don't seem like the most exciting posts but once I get there it will be posts about food, travel, teaching English and other adventures!

WISH ME LUCK!