Christmas in Spain {and Polvorones Recipe}

Christmas time in the US is a well known holiday everywhere as the traditions are often shown in movies and TV shows. That's why we wanted to tell you how the holidays are celebrated in Spain.

Christmas in Spain is heavily influenced by catholicism. Even if you are not a religious person, as in my case, most of the Spanish traditions and decorations have their roots in Jesus' birth. And even though many Spaniards define themselves as non-practicing or agnostic, we still follow these traditions just because it takes us back to our childhood, to our abuela's kitchen and sleepovers with our cousins.     

Spanglish Recipes {and Super Easy Halloween Cookies}

Have you ever tried to cook something from another country with a recipe in a foreign language? Have you ever lived abroad and tried to cook something from your country? Then, you will understand this post. It is never easy, is it?

We love cooking. We cook dishes from all over the world, but of course, many times we like cooking American or Spanish foods. Mama Monkey especially enjoys baking, and here comes the problem: in American recipes solid amounts come in volumes (cups, tablespoons, teaspoons...) and Spanish recipes come, generally, in weight. Measuring weight is much more precise, but, volume is so much faster and cleaner...

When we were living in Spain, we used to bake American recipes all the time. Until we bought American measuring cups and spoons in one of our trips to Oregon, we would convert from American measurements to milliliters and measure with whatever we had. Believe me, that wasn't easy or clean. Not at all! Now, living in the States, we miss Spanish seasonal sweets. Remember, recipes in grams, and we didn't have a scale till recently! Let me tell you, it has been ridiculous. We went crazy trying to estimate amounts, looking online... And we have had quite a few EPIC FAILS! 

Spanglish torrijas

As you sure know, Easter is celebrated differently in the States as opposed to Spain. There is something in common though, the high caloric content of the traditional holiday foods! Here in the US, kids get lots and lots of candy from egg hunts. Cholocate eggs and bunnies, peeps... You have to make a choice: you eat some, so the kiddos don't eat so much candy, or you let them eat it all and have kids on a sugar high for several hours or even days. Either way you lose! Crazy kids all strung out on sugar, or added calories....

    

In Spain, you find delicious (empty) chocolate eggs in the bakeries wrapped with beautiful, colurful, shinny papers and also something call 'monas', which basically is a cake with a boiled egg on it. However, in Catalonia, monas are huge chocolate figures given to kids by their godparents.