Wood fired oven baking

The weather is getting SOOO nice and we decided to spend the weekend testing our brick oven in our back yard. (Seth had friends over so the boys ran amuck while we baked)

We made potato bread, tarts,corn bread and pizza.

We learned alot about the tempurature of the oven (Ours wasnt hot enough) and the teqnique (ours is developing) and we leanerned about the time and wood amounts. All in all it was a fun experiement for the weekend activity and....... we ate pizza (That was all that came out)

So we are going to do it again and used what we learned for a pizza party with friends!

Surfer

Today after dinner I opened a box of plastic bags, the kind with twist ties not zip lock. Seth grabbed the twisties and asked what are these...fireworks? (Guess who enjoyed Fallas)

He then made this picture on the table and said "I want you to blog this"

So here is a twist tie surfer being swallowed by a wave-by Seth Strode

Aunt Kathy's Visit

Aunt Kathy (and cousin Carrie) came to visit for a few weeks and we did lots of fun stuff. Seth's favorite was that she brought his birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa and helped him build it! They had a lot of fun!

Central Market

What a great time, I cant believe I waited so long to go. Carrie and I went just as she getting ready to leave. I didnt think it would be much different than the local markets. I had a great time looking at all the foods. The vegitables and fruits were amazing. There we so many stands for breads and sweets! Definatly will be putting this on the regulars list!

The Lovers of Teruel

So the legend goes that the two rich families each had a child one girl one boy and they grew up loving eachother. However the boys family lost all thier money and the girls family wouldnt let the boy marry thier daughter. The boy promised to go off for 5 years and make his own fortune and the father said if he did, he could marry his daughter. He returned in 5 years and a day and missed the wedding of his love by one day. He went to her and her husbands bed chamber and snuck in. He begged for a kiss from his true love. She would not betray her husband to kiss him. He begged to no avail and so he dropped dead. She was worried and woke her husband. He told her a story to calm her nerves and she said that was nice, now let me tell you a story..."My old boyfriend dropped dead a minute ago in our room" (OK maybe I shouldnt have put that in quotes)

So they do what you do with dead people, open casket viewing and the living lover went and kissed him like he had asked before he dies and with true loves kiss...she dropped dead too.

So they are actualy mummies inside (you can see them through the little holes) this sculptures. Notice how the hands do not quite touch.

The Virgin full of flowers

Valor

So there is this advertisment on a buliten boards accross Valencia about how they are the only ones with ebough valor (used like bravery) to burn an entire years worth of work. I look around at how poor so many of these people are and I see how the 2nd place Falla (that got burned) cost over 64,K Euros and ...well Valor isnt the word I would use for it.

Yes, Mom...they burn them.

First fireworks, then a long string of fire crackers that leads of the the gasoline dowsed falla and then as it began to catch on fire the clasical operaish sounding Fallas hymn plays very loudly like you are in some 1945 war movie.

Then is is burned to sticks! and Fallas is over.

The Mascalette

So each day there is a fire works contest. The best Piro-tech company out of the contest gets to do the show for the "Night of Fire" for next years Fallas. Tonight (Thursday) is the night of fire. So the last contest was today. The girls and I went out to see it and it was loud! All this time we have wondered why the Spaniards are such loud people. After whitnessing newborns feet from this crazy show we now know they are all half def and there for are naturaly loud!

They string these homemake firecrackers up in a fenced in area and then light one end and like Dominos they pop off. Some are farther some are closer for different sounds. Some only make noise and smoke some set out light and confetti.

The ground shook and our teeth clattered. Paige swears her feet came off the ground. I shouted to Logan right in her ear and she couldnt hear a word I was saying.

We walked around and saw many of the sculptures that will be burnt tomorow night. We will go to whitness that as well so check back tomorow.

The offering of flowers

Today was the first day of offering of flowers as part of Fallas.

Many peopple from all regions around valencia dressed in traditional Valenciano dress and marched down into the heart of the town where a giant sculpture of Mary was and presenter her with flowers. The flowers were tossed to men who had climbed her giant dress and placed them in a colored patern to make her skirt.

More flowers will be brought each day at the same time and the same way only they will be to celebrate other religious figures.

It was fun to watch and crazy to find parking. The kids were only happy to have walked all that way after we bought them traditional snacks from a side street vendor.

Paige and I had Bunuelos (small round donughts with no hole tossed in sugar) and the rest had chocolate covered churos!

ARELS France

A 2 hour drive from Carcassonne is a city called Arels where there is said to be the most important Roman ruins outside of Italy. We saw quite a few of them and they were amazing. Another interesting thing about Arels is that Van Gogh spent some time there and some of his famous paintings were inspired and painted there. We were able to see some of the spots that are pictured in his paintings. Realy, fascanating! We visited a tasty little bakery and got some yummy french pasteries.

I also got a little present for a friend that decorates "frenchish" in her home in the states!

We drove from Arles back home and are ready for some Valencia Fire fun now!

Southern France

We had Kathy and Carrie in town for a few weeks and the kids have the week off because of Fallas so we decided to take a long weekend road trip and be back in time for Fallas fun.

So we drove to France and visited a town called Carcassonne. There was a large castel that was amazingly in tact for how old it was and we visited a museum that showed what the town used to be like in minature replicas. Very cool. We also had some interesting food. Not shown is Dans plum jam and bree pizza (ODD!), or our cassoulet (which was not too bad). The art work on these other dishes (Kathys fish and Dans Bannana Split) were picture worthy!

We saw a realy old cemetary that had mosuleums.

As we drove through town we also saw a real french "CARNIVAL" Make sure you say it with a french accent!

We stopped and the kids rode a few rides, yes they have crazy carnie's just like we do in the states! The girls enjoyed a candy apple.

Carcassonne is a recomended visit !

Fallas @ASV

So this month is not St. Patricks day month it is Fallas month. A holiday only in Valencia. They build large paper machete sculptures and then vote for thier favorite. The favorite is not burned, but the rest are set on fire with fireworks and burned to the ground!

The kids at the school all added thier classes art work to this sculpture and then blew it up. Never in the states would you see school children so close to a bon fire! The girls dressed up are in the traditinal Valenciana outfits. Some boys dress up too, but mostly girls.

For more Fallas info read on, and check back soo because we are headed out to the main city to see what Fallas sculptures are out to see and Friday we will go see some burn!

Fallas Falles (in Catalan) or Fallas (in Spanish) is a Valencian tradition which celebrates Saint Joseph's Day (March 19th) in Valencia, Spain. Each neighborhood of the city has an organized group of people, the Casal Faller, that works all year long holding fundraising parties and dinners, usually featuring the famous regional specialty paella, and of course much music and laughter.
Formerly, much time would also be spent at the Casal Faller preparing the ninot (Valencian for puppet or doll) for the Falles. During the week leading up to March 19th, each group take it's single favorite ninot out for a grand parade, and then mounts it, each on it's own elaborate firecracker-filled cardboard and papier-mâché artistic monument in a street of the given neighborhood - this complete assembly being the Falla proper. Falles has since grown considerably.
On the final night of Falles, at midnight on March 19th, these falles are burned (cremà) as huge bonfires. The ninots and their falles are developed according to an agreed upon theme that was, and continues to be a satyric jab at anything or anyone unlucky enough to draw the attention of the critical eyes of the Fallers - the celebrants themselves. In modern times, the whole two week long festival has spawned a huge local industry, to the point that an entire suburban area has been designated the City of Falles - Ciudad Fallera. Here, crews of artists and artisans, sculptors, painters, and many others all spend months producing elaborate constructions, richly absurd paper and wax, wood and styrofoam tableaux towering up to five stories, composed of fanciful figures in outrageous poses arranged in gravity defying architecture, each produced at the direction of the many individual neighborhood Casals faller who vie with each to attract the best artists, and then to create the most outrageous monument to their target. There are more than 180 different fallas in Valencia, including those of other towns in the Valencian Community.
The days and nights in Valencia are one running party during the two weeks of Falles. There are processions galore - processions historical, processions religious, and processions hysterical. The restaurants spill out to the streets. Firecrackers are everywhere.
Every day at noon, the mascletà (an explosive display of the concussive effects of coordinated firecracker and fireworks barrages) is king, and the crowds gather from all corners to the main plaza, the Plaça de l'Ajuntament, to hear one of the lovely maidens (dressed in her fallera finery) call from the balcony of the City Hall "Mr. Pyrotechnic, you may light the fuses!!". Suddenly the plaza rips with a pyrotecnic display designed to showcase the concussive effects of the pyrotechnics arts - something rarely seen outside the battlefield. For a half an hour or better, the crowd rocks with each explosion, great billowing clouds rise up, and the air is filled with the smoke from all the black powder. Smaller neighborhoods have their own mascletaes for Falles, but also for other saint days, and for weddings and other celebrations as well, as any reason will do as an excuse for young men jump through the fires.
During Falles, many people from the neighborhood casal faller dress in the regional costumes from different eras of Valencia's history - the fife and drum are frequently heard, even bagpipes, as most of the different casals fallers have their own traditional bands that demonstrate the Celtiberian roots of Spain, a real Celtic connection that surprises many visitors.
A similar tradition happens in Alicante the night before June 24 (St John Baptist's day), the Hogueras de san Juan.
HistoryIt is thought that the Falles started in the Middle Ages, when artisans put out their broken artifacts and pieces of wood that they have sotred during the winter and burned them to celebrate the spring equinox.
External links
Official page for the Falles of Valencia, Spain: http://www.fallas.com
History of Falles in English: http://www.fallas.com/historia/ingles.htm
Referenced By

The Worst Cake I Ever Made

So I am still adjusting to the differeance in the Spanish powdered sugar (Its much finer and absorbs liquid differently) So this cake I made for YW or rather MMJJ wasnt as good as it could have been. I almost scrapped it because it looked so bad. Its a good thing I didnt because it was a big hit. I cant say I remember seeing decorated cakes here. The idea of colored food was amazing to them. The people at church were coming in and taking pictures with thier cell phones. It was quite funny. I have never had so much praise for a cake and yet never made such a horrible cake.