Happy St. Patrick's Day II

Here in Madrid, we're enjoying those precious few weeks in the month of March that come just after the cold and rainy month of February and just before the warm and rainy month of April.  Spring is sort of a strange thing here in Madrid.  And when I say "strange," what I mean is that if you ask a madrileño about spring in Madrid, they might give you a funny look and ask if you meant to say "winter" or "summer;" apparently, there's not a whole lot in between.

But anyway, the last couple weeks have been beautiful and I've had the chance to hike around some of the parks in Madrid enjoying the local scenery and greenery.

This post brought to you by the color green.

The above picture was taken in the Parque del Oeste, which is but a mere fifteen-minute walk from my house.  Also, the camera's not crooked: the trees are just growing on an incline like that.  Incidentally, slanted trees are my favorite kind; if you can find one that is just the right angle (preferably not a "right angle"), you can lean back quite comfortably and read an enjoyable book.  Or, in this case, a slightly less enjoyable book, which is what I ended up doing.

So there I was, slouched up against my organic reclining chair, doing some reading for one of my classes, when I happened across a peculiar species of bird that I'd never seen before.  I actually didn't notice them at first because they were camouflaged so well with the grass.

A feisty and festively-feathered friend.

This one was a little easier to see, thanks to the fact that some of the trees still don't have their leaves out yet.

Look at the birdie!

I asked Marcela (the daughter of our señora) about them and she sighed and rolled her eyes, which I suppose is the Universal Body Language for "Invasive Species."  Although, I've also seen girls use the same mannerism in reference to annoying boyfriends, which leads me to hypothesize that perhaps the female mind is capable of equating "boyfriend" with "invasive species" in a manner not previously considered.^{[ citation needed ]}

Marcela informed me that these birds are called cotorras.  If you look up the word "cotorra" in a Spanish-English dictionary, you will find that it means "chatty, loud, talkative, chatterbox" and that a derivative of the word can also mean "gossip."  This is not a coincidence.  Not only are these birds an invasive species, they are an obnoxious invasive species.  They're not that bad in the afternoon, to be sure, but if you live next to a cotorra habitat, you can expect to wake up to a group of chatty, loud, talkative chatterboxes gossiping just outside your window.  Apparently, the city of Madrid has been trying (unsuccessfully, of course) to get rid of them for quite a while now.

Those of you who are in the know (or who have been reading the blog with an exceptional amount of perspicacity) may have a pretty good idea what method I would suggest for the extermination of small birds...

Hint: It begins with "El Búho Oscuro" and ends with "lots of green feathers strewn about the place."

Pigging Out: Spanish Cuisine

It's high time that I did a post on Spanish food.  Actually, it's high time that I did any kind of post, but that's beside the point.  

Suffice it to say that they take their food seriously here, which is evidenced by the fact that meals tend to take a long time and nobody eats on the run.  I'm a little surprised that many of my classmates don't like the food here, because I'm practically in hog heaven.  Especially considering that Spaniards are absolutely crazy about anything that comes from a pig (yes, it could be said that they go "hog wild").  I suspect that whoever invented Spanish cuisine decided to come up with the least-kosher menu possible: in addition to eating ham all the time, I've also had many a dish with octopus tentacles, calamari, mussels, clams, shrimp, and other assorted seafood.  Which brings me to a little known fact: Spain is actually the second-highest consumer of seafood per capita (behind Japan, naturally).

For those of you who are interested, here are some classic Spanish foods:

Paella--It's officially the national dish of Spain, which is why I give it first billing.  Basically, it contains rice, vegetables, and meat; there's really no "right" way to make it, unless you ask someone from Valencia (they're particularly persnickety about the preparation of paella).  I've had at least five different types of paella so far, ranging from the traditional (chicken, rice, peppers, saffron, etc.)  to the unconventional (calamari, shrimp, and squid ink, which colors the whole dish black).

Jamón--You can't even talk about Spanish food without mentioning the ham.  The most famous type of ham is the jamón ibérico, which is quite simple to prepare.  All you have to do is go to the kitchen and shave off a few small pieces of ham from the giant pig's leg sitting on your counter.  Oh, you don't have one of those?  Well, I should probably warn you: quality Iberian ham can be pretty expensive (somewhere in the neighborhood of $90 per pound).  One more thing: they preserve it before they sell it to you, so you always eat it uncooked.  Over the time I've been here, I would guess that my weekly consumption of raw meat has increased by at least 98 percent.

Tortilla española--Not to be confused with a Mexican tortilla, the Spanish tortilla is more like a frittata.  You make it with eggs and thinly-sliced potatoes and you throw in other ingredients (for example, ham) as you see fit.  Oh, and in case you're curious about which came first, the corn/flour tortilla or the egg, I've been told that the Spanish tortilla is actually an imitation (don't ask me how) of the Mexican tortilla.

Croquetes--Imagine the short, fat cousin of a mozzarella stick, except filled with a creamier type of cheese.  Croquetes originally came from French cuisine, but Spain adopted them and adapted them to create a distinctly Spanish flavor.  How did they do this?  They added ham, naturally.

Chocolate con churros--It's exactly what it sounds like: chocolate + churros = yum.  You get a delicious batch of freshly fried churros and a cup of melted chocolate to dip them in.  Enough said.

Napolitano--I decided to throw this one in, not because it's a very iconic Spanish food per se, but rather because it's one of my personal favorites.  It's a flaky pastry topped with a light glaze and filled with either chocolate or cream.  Those of you who know me can probably guess which one I like better.