Day 10, Thursday

Today was the first day of having classes until 2pm, instead of 1pm; we now have an hour more of our Culture class. In our first class, grammar with José, we learned more about subjunctive, and the cases in which you use it. Next we had grammar practice with Álvaro, we did a worksheet on subjunctive and then listened to Spanish songs containing subjunctive verbs. Our last class is Culture with Beatriz, we first learned the provinces of Spain on an interactive puzzle map, then we learned about some crazy Spanish laws that are still on the books and also talked about stereotypes of Spain. Then we went home to eat lunch with our Spanish families and rested for a while. Our activity today was a cooking class! It was at the new ISA office, and Iker and Carolina taught us how to make: Huevos Rellenos (stuffed eggs), Tortilla de Patatas (Spanish omelette), Paella de Pollo and Berenjenas Fritas (fried eggplant). To cook the Huevos Rellenos you need eggs, tuna fish and mayonnaise. First you hard boil the eggs, then peal of their shells, cut them in half and take the yolks out. Then you remove the oil from the tuna fish, then you mix the tuna with the egg yolks and add mayonnaise as well. Once you’ve mixed it all together you use a spoon to put the mixture into the eggs. To make the Berenjenas Fritas you need eggplants, olive oil, salt and flour. First you wash the eggplant and cut it up into slices, then you put a bit of salt on them to take away the bitterness, then you leave them there for about 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes you wash all the salt off, then press the slices with your hands to remove the water and let them dry. Once dry you coat the slices with flour and then you fry them in hot oil, continually turning them as they brown, once they are done put them onto a plate covered in paper towels to soak up the oil. Then you can add a drizzle of sugar cane honey to add sweetness if you want, and youre done! To make Paella de Pollo you need rice, chicken, onion, peppers, tomatoes, lemon, garlic, saffron, pepper, parsley, rosemary, thyme, oil and salt. First you fry the chicken then take it out and continually add onion, chopped peppers, salt, pepper, a sprig of rosemary, thyme sprig and then let it fry for 10-15 minutes. Then add 1 clove of finely chopped garlic and parsley, add half a glass of lemon, chopped tomato and a strand of saffron, then let everything fry on a low heat for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes add the chopped chicken, the rice, turn it for a couple of minutes and finally add the chicken broth. Then leave it for 20 minutes on medium heat, once it’s done take it out and let it sit for 5-10 minutes and then its ready to eat! To make the Tortilla de Patatas you need potatoes, eggs, onions (optional), salt and oil. Firstly wash and cut your potatoes and onions into cubes. Then you heat up the oil and add the potatoes and a little salt, fry on low heat. When they are cooked drain out the oil, then beat the eggs and add a little salt, once they are beaten add the potatoes and mix well. Then add oil to a pan and fry it, but remember to continually turn the tortilla over so it doesnt burn on one side. Once its golden on both sides, you're done! That’s what we learned today in our cooking class, it was fun! Afterwards, we returned home to do our homework and have dinner with our Spanish families.

Daniela