I went to the fruitería yesterday and decided to take the backroad which I haven’t used once since the lockdown started. The road I look onto, paseo de los tristes, is so pretty and usually a more direct route but I decided to live on the wild side. It was so nice to turn right rather than left when I left home and wander along the streets of the Albaicín. I didn’t dawdle but the tiny, cobbled streets to my right were a welcome sight after so many weeks of not seeing them and I didn’t realise how much I had missed them.
After a quick hello to one of my classmates who is living in one of my language school’s apartments (him on his balcony and me down below, both of us full of excitement at seeing one another and me with some trepidation at being caught loitering) I loaded up on fruit, veg and… croissants (it’s become a habit every time I go outside but I tell myself I’m supporting a small business). Anyway I then made my way home and spent the day going between the kitchen (cooking but not eating) and then returning to my book. I find that whenever I go outside I’m always shattered afterwards which seems ridiculous because I’m not doing that much but I suppose I’ve grown used to less stimuli and it’s an overload when I venture out. And of course being aware of what I am or am not touching, making sure I’m not walking near anyone etc. In the kitchen I’m trying to spend a bit more time making slightly more interesting meals that take longer to prepare mostly because otherwise the only other place for me to be is on the sofa/seated position somewhere which has been wreaking havoc on my back. So, recipes welcome, please!
And today was the third Sunday that Lucía and I shared lunch together, all thanks to her being locked out of her flat (which remains the most eventful day of the quarantine). The quarantine is many, many things but a great positive that has come out of it is the friendship that we have struck up. Today she taught me how to make the famous tortilla española and then I made clafoutis aux pommes which I learnt to do when I was 11 and mum sent me off to baking classes with the wife of the director of the Alliance Française. Both were great successes and the dessert was even more fun to make as I posted the recipe to instagram and encouraged friends to make it too. It’s been really nice to have friends and family send their versions to me and imagine that we were all eating it at sort of the same time. My plan is to do a some sort of bake-a-long every week! And Lucía and I have already planned next week’s menu which will be celebratory as it will be a month of Sunday’s spent together. Spaniards don’t tend to drink in the morning but… if you have brunch, it’s a given and she’s keen. Apart from that… which isn’t much, I know, life continues. Un día más but without complaint.
Recipe for the clafoutis:
2 apples, 2 eggs, 120 grams melted butter (I browned mine), 10 tablespoons each of flour, sugar and milk.
-Preheat oven to 180C/350F
-Butter & flour a shallow baking dish (approx 11″ if possible)
-Thinly slice apples and set aside.
-Mix together flour, sugar, milk, eggs and melted butter. Either add the apples into the mixture or you can arrange them prettily in the baking dish.
-Bake for approx 40 mins until the batter has set and hopefully the top is golden. Eat while warm cos it’s delish orrr if you have restraint, leave and then sprinkle icing sugar on top.
*The original recipe calls for cherries but as cherries weren’t available in St. Kitts I learned with apples. You can substitute whatever fruit you like.
*My clafoutis is bigger than normal because Lucía’s baking dish was too big for the usual recipe so I adjusted it a bit (and it wouldn’t be able to fit in my teeeny toaster oven).
But Who You Be, Really? 