Candy Making

And that fresh taste - while the candy was still warm?

Oh so tasty.

Don't get me wrong, you can buy some pretty good store candy - but it just never tastes as good as candy you make yourself.

And, when you make candy yourself, you can use a spoon and scrape the mixing pan clean. Yum...

Spanish Food and Drinks: Tapas, Gazpacho, Paella, Cava, Sangria, and Rivers of Red Wine
Ofer Shoshani 
1601

Spanish food and drink – Spanish cuisine, if you will – is quite different from how it may be perceived in the United States. In fact, when most Americans think of Spanish food they tend to think of dishes that hail from Mexico rather than Spain. Tacos, tostadas, enchiladas and such are, however, wholly Mexican creations and the tourist will be hard pressed to find them in Spain unless Taco Bell manages to open a franchise there.

Like most things in modern Spain, traditional Spanish food tends to differ based upon the region that it comes from. The Southern city of Seville, for example, offers cuisine that is reputed to be very delicious while also being very simple to prepare. Here you'll find the cold soup Gazpacho, which is a vegetable cream that includes tomato, cucumber, garlic, paprika, olive oil, and vinegar. This is usually served with bread or even with tomato-bread.

In the Northern region of Navarre you may find many specialties of meats and fish, with one original recipe consisting of a delicious trout stuffed with cured ham. Many dishes here include the local beans Pochas de Sanguesa, and of particular interest are the vegetables like asparagus and Pimientos del Piquillo, a mild red pepper dish. This Region is also famous for his Tapas.

In addition to traditional regional fare, the nation of Spain does have some delights that are enjoyed nationwide. For instance, many like to snack on quick Tapas, prepared bite sized snacks that may include pieces of fried squid or octopus, spicy sausage, cheese, squares of fruit, or even sweet candy with almonds. Tapas is literally everywhere in Spain and is often enjoyed during siesta as opposed to a full meal. Prices for Tapas vary slightly from place to place, but it is often a very inexpensive treat. In some places you can get a Tapa for as little as one Euro and in others that same one Euro will get you a glass of red wine and a Tapa. No wonder many Spanish stop at the local bar, for a meal.

Another well-known Spanish food is Paella (pronounced paeya) delicious mixed dish that consists of rice combined with many different types of meat and Seafood. Paella, is perhaps the most famous dish to come from Spain and, although it originates from Valencia, it can be found and enjoyed pretty much everywhere in the country, from the north to the south.

Spanish drinks are not quite as varied as the foods, but there are some particularly enjoyable specialties. Spain, like France, is a wine-drinking country and is famous for its various forms of Sangria, a sweet red wine that is combined with any number of other wines, liquors, and fruits. Sangria recipes differ based upon who is doing the mixing, so it's not uncommon to find sangria that includes apples and bananas in one bar or restaurant and one that contains grapes, white wine, and oranges in another. Tinto verano is very similar to sangria, and is very popular at the south, were it is drunk during pestival. Wine is available everywhere in Spain and costs very little, starting for 1 euro for a glass. The wine loving tourist will have little to complain about when visiting Spain. Moreover, the prices of alcohol are cheaper in Spain that in any other western european country.

Spanish wines differ from region to region but most share two common traits: they are delicious and very inexpensive. The region of Catalunya, for example, offers wondrous Red wines from Peralda, Alella, Priorat and Tarragona, and the famous sparkling wine known as Cava. The region of Galicia offers several fine wines as well. Here you will find the remarkable Ribeiro, and other favorites include Fefinanes, Betanzos, Rosal, Valdeorras, Ulla and Amandi. Talking of Wine, you can't escape Rioja, which come from a region with the same name and is a lovely, greattasting, inexpenssive popular wine. They even have their own Wine festival in the end of summer, where red wine is splashed everywhere.

It is important for the tourist, visiting Spain to note that Spanish libations are typically much stronger than those they may be accustomed to in the US. In fact, a Spanish drink may be as much as three times stronger than a similar drink made at home. Some experts advise that the visiting American count three rounds for ever one actually ordered. Also popular with the Spanish and visitors to their country are Horchatas, which are frozen drinks made with milk and a variety of crushed and chopped nuts. Heralded for both their taste and the fact that they are rich in vitamins, Horchatas are enjoyed in every area of the country and differ only slightly from region to region or recipe to recipe. In the hot summer, their popularity is on top.

Coffee and hot chocolate round out the staple of Spanish drinks. These are enjoyed daily by most Spaniards, including children who often receive chilled coffee topped with ice cream as a treat. Coffee and hot chocolate are often drunk for breakfast and lunch and are enjoyed with churros, a pastry that is comparable to a fritter. Many tourists, however, complain that the Spanish coffee taste more like the american mild one, and not like the rich french/italian coffee.

One of my favorite candy recipes for cold weather is peanut brittle.

PEANUT BRITTLE
1 pound (2 cups) sugar
1 teaspoonful lemon extract
1/2 pint (1 cup) golden syrup
1 gill (1/2 cup) water
2 heaping teaspoonfuls baking soda
1/2 lb. (2 cups) shelled peanuts
1 lb. (2 cups) sugar
1 oz. (2 tablespoonfuls) butter
1 teaspoonful glucose
Cook the syrup, sugar, water, and glucose until it commences to thicken and bubble; then add the butter and peanuts and stir constantly until the nuts begin to brown. Remove from the fire, beat in the lemon extract and the soda, and stir through quickly until it foams up.
Pour out on a well-greased slab and roll out very thin. Then break into pieces.
Wonderful...

From the big book of Bon Bon Recipes.

Candy Recipes

Recipe: Smoked Olive and Avocado Arepas Ethnicity: Cuban Source/History: "Delicious Cuban corn meal cakes filled with mesquite smoked Lindsay Spanish Olives, roasted red pepper, onions, and garlic. Topped with melted mozzarella cheese, avocado, and citrus cream with cilantro garnish." Original recipe yield: 8 servings. Baseball Sounds Better in Spanish ESPN Deportes baseball announcer Ernesto Jerez and commentator Candy Maldonado deliver an update during a Spanish-language broadcast. Recipe: Spanish Rice #3 Ethnicity: Spanish Source/History: Some very old trucker friends of ours, Linda and Pat Phelan (now divorced and married to other people), used to drive through the Kansas town where we lived and stop in to see us. They ran shrimp from the Texas gulf coast to up north of Kansas. The recipe is Linda's and she would fix it for us along with killer enchiladas (and shrimp of course). The only problem with this recipe is that once you start eating the rice you can't stop. To this day I way over eat when we fix this outstanding recipe. Ginger and Date Pyramids - Candy These make up into very nice candy, good enough to give in a gift basket. Another recipe from my favorite Candy cookbook by Beverly Sutherland Smith. Most of the cooking time is time spent either marinating the fruit mixture, or allowing candies to firm. -- posted by Chabear01 [CandyWarehouse.com] Halloween Candy Corn: 10LB Case ($49.5) A premium quality version of the classic creamy vanilla mellocreme Halloween treat! Manufactured utilizing an hundredyearold recipe from Herman Goelitz, the founder of the Jelly Belly Candy Company. There are approximately 415 candies per pound. Un... Price: $49.5 Simple and Easy Crispy Rice Candy! Kid Favorite! This is a super simple candy recipe that everyone loves and has become a favorite at my office as well as our home. -- posted by kiwidutch... :) Candy-Topped Creamy Peanut Butter Bars My homemade version of a pillsbury recipe given to me by my cousin. A 3 layer bar; it's very rich and decadent but still hard to eat just one. -- posted by Kaarin

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