No fumar!

This is a photo I took of an actual pack of cigarettes in Spain. "Smoking shortens your life." The no smoking ban in Spain took place at the beginning of this year and it is WONDERFUL!  If Spain can make this law work, any country, anybody can quit!

Madrid bar # 3,460

When I grow up, I want to visit every single bar in Madrid and sample the house specials. I will write about each place and rate it on a 5 point scale. I will get paid a Gazillion Euros and live in a huge house on Gran Via.

More bang for your buck!

At this bar you can purchase a mixed drink for the bargain price of 5 Euros. Mixed with hot pepper OR Marijuana

Cerveza Fria

I love Spanish cerveza! My favorite is Mahou made in Madrid. I also like the fact that a person can walk around on public streets drinking her beer....

Tanto Monta Monta Tanto

The throne of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella
(one is as important as the other)

View From A Castle

I love my cousins!!!!!

My awesome cousins Berto and Carmen Maria and me taking a Sunday drive in the mountains above Veguin. {I don't think that Mercedes ever recovered.} Te echo de menos primos!!!!!Hasta Pronto....

Catch of the day

My husband Miguel took this photo and I love it!
Fisherman unloading the day's catch in Aviles Spain.

¡Organízate y Lucha!

I like this graffiti. It translates " Organize yourself and fight! " ok ..... why cant we organize and fight for affordable health care? I just don't get it..... Did you know that Spaniards do not pay a dime to go to the doctor? Doctors in Spain make house calls (for free) they don't want sick people in their waiting rooms making everybody else sicker! If a Spaniards needs a new organ (liver, heart, double lung etc...) they don't have to pay the first 100,000 in cash up front. They just get one. Yes you guessed it, for free. A prescription that cost me 240.00 dollars a month in the United States cost me 2.00 euros in Spain. Oh yeah I should be truthful here and tell you that the 2.00 euros I had to pay was full price. Widows and retired people get their medicines free!

La Paloma Cafeteria, Oviedo Asturias

Vermouth, its whats for breakfast in Spain. Keep in mind that Spaniards don't get up as early as Americans. (as a rule) But somehow Spaniards do not sleep near as much as Americans. I guess that there is just to much to do and when you live in Spain you can sleep when you are dead. This is my most favorite place in all Asturias to drink mid morning vermouth. La Paloma. I have been coming to this bar for Five years now and every day its the same two men tending the bar. I wish I knew their names. They are the most efficient and happiest workers I have ever met in my life. I am sure that these men are the reason customers pack this bar several times a day standing shoulder to shoulder . It is here that businessmen and businesswomen come out of their offices for a mid morning vermouth and a tapa of Spanish tortilla, snails, mussels or giant deep fried shrimp. The barrel in the right foreground is where the homemade vermouth is poured for the thirsty customers. Several years ago Miguel and I purchased a bottle to bring back to Kansas. Its loooong gone, but I still have the bottle to look at when I get homesick.......... OK I'm officially homesick!

DIA DE REYES

Christmas Eve in Spain is about one thing. Eating. New Years Eve in Spain is about 3 things, Eating, drinking & celebrating! January 5th in Spain is about the gifts.Today is Dia de Reyes or as known in my home in America, 3 Kings Day. Years ago Spanish children would leave their shoes by their beds at night and the 3 Kings would bring gifts while they slept. Maybe the kids still leave shoes as part of the custom. Baltasar, Gaspar & Melchor have had a very busy day and night with the parades and gift deliveries all over the Country. I just spoke to my friend Fernando and he confirmed that they were almost done in Spain and were soon heading west to the United States. I had better be a good hostess and leave out a bottle of red wine and some Spanish tortilla for a snack. Something tells me that The 3 Kings eat a lot better than Santa Claus does!

Spanish White Wine

My 2 favorite white wines are Albarino and Chardonnay. The Albarino grape is grown in a very small area of Northwest Spain and border of Portugal. Its not a cheap wine, because the grape is not abundant. The taste is slightly dry, floral and citrus. An average bottle in my part of the world is about 18.00 dollars. I have found this particular brand Salneval 2006 for 9.00 dollars a bottle. I guess I would give it a 85 or 86 rating. Its a decent wine.

I will show some of my favorite Chardonnays as well as my favorite Reds in a post soon. I warn you I have LOTS OF FAVORITES! I am sorry for the poor photo quality. My husband gave me this crappy digital camera, said something about it was the first digital camera ever made....

Can I borrow a Euro?

Its been quite a few years now since I have seen a cigarette machine in the United States. My girlfriends and I would purchase them for 50 cents a pack and go smoke them in the park, thinking we were very grownup and elegant. Looking back to how dumb I was as a kid, its probably a very good thing we didn't have these self serve cerveza dispensers standing next to the cigarette machines! I have no idea if other European Countries have Beer machines, If anyone reads this let me know. I don't care for San Miguel cerveza but I bought one anyway.....How many times in your life do you come upon a beer dispenser at the top of a mountian in Spain? (by the way, it was one Euro and fifty cents.) Mi gusta la cerveza y mi gusta España!