Los Madriles

The place to go in Valencia for cocido madrileño but there are many other dishes and reasons for stopping by. The video is a bit dated and made before it was recently remodeled. It is also only a block away from the Globexs office on Na Germana Street.

 Los Madriles

Avenida Antiguo Reino de Valencia, 50

 46005, Valencia

 96 374 23 35

AZ Alkmaar vs Valencia CF @ 21:05

The Quarter-finals of the Europa League begin tonight with Valencia on the road against Alkmaar Zaanstreek from Alkmaar, Netherlands. After losing to Zaragoza and Getafe is it unrealistic to expect a favorable result this evening?

Pollo al Chilindrón

José Andrés has been responsible for introducing Americans to Spain and Spanish food with his program Made in Spain. Irresistible dishes along with breath-taking views of Spain. This is one of my favorite chicken dishes which uses one of my favorite spices: pimentón, Spanish smoked paprika.

Our new Valencia office opens in 3 days!

How to Make Pasta Putanesca

How to make the Italian classic, Pasta Putanesca.

The Abuela Project

I was explaining my process of integrating new recipes into my repertoire to someone at a party the other day and more recently here in my comments section.  It’s not exactly ground-breaking but I thought that I would flesh it out a little here simply because I think it is a good idea (and perhaps I don’t have anything else to write about in my current brain-dead state during Fallas).  When I am looking to try a new classic dish for the first time or if I want to improve upon my existing idea of how that recipe should be prepared I go to YouTube. Nothing new there; everyone uses YouTube for cooking instructions. I search out videos in the original language from where the dish hails even if I don’t speak that language or only speak it a bit (I can get by in French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Greek).  Then I try to find a video made by a very old woman.  I use this video as my starting point.

If I have learned one thing about cooking the food of Valencia it’s that you really should respect tradition. If you want to learn how to make paella you should begin with the most traditional form of this hallowed Valencian dish before you start breaking out into improvisation.  I doubt there is a more rigid standard in all of European cooking that what most people here consider to be a paella.  Most of the other dishes I set out to conquer don’t have recipes as jealously guarded as the one seemingly written in stone for paella but I have learned my lesson and always seek out the most traditional form of a dish.  Learning a new recipe can be like the children’s game of Telephone and the farther you are from the source the more garbled will be your message.

It seems only logical that if you are trying to learn how to make an Italian dish you should look at some recipes prepared by Italians. This isn’t to say that just because a cook shares nationalities with the dish being prepared they will automatically make it better, like there is something in their DNA but I think it’s a good idea to begin at the beginning.  And, of course, a foreigner can cook traditional dishes as well as native born chefs.

Whenever a friend brags about their grandmother’s cooking I tell them that they should be making videos of her staple dishes. The same goes for grandfathers.  Get it on film.

Gusto Nuovo

Gusto Nuovo is the place to go in Valencia for high quality Italian food products. Whether you are looking for just the right kind of pasta, mozzarella cheese, or Italian sausage this place probably has it. I have been looking for bucatini pasta for a long time and bought it here yesterday.

 ¡Buon Appetito!

Gusto Nuovo

Avenida Reino de Valencia 16

Valencia 46005

961 042 820 + 674 828 702

La Cremá*

 

 In the grand finale of all grand finales, the Fallas are blown up and burned to the ground on the last night of the Fallas festival. No kidding. It's a crazy end to this crazy party. If there was a particular Falla that you wanted to see you need to see if today because this evening it will be a pile of ashes in the street.

 Schedule

The Crema will take place consecutively - from 10pm to 1am:

10 pm - Fallas Infantiles (Children Fallas)
10.30 pm - The Prize Winner of Fallas Infantiles (One of the Fallas Especiales)
11 pm - Falla Infantil of Plaza de Ayuntamento
0 am - Fallas
0.30 am - The Prize Winner of the Fallas (One of the Fallas Especiales)
1 am - Falla de Plaza de Ayuntamento

* Pronounced as cremA - "burning", as opposed to crEma - "crème"

EUROPA LEAGUE DRAW

AZ Alkmaar v Valencia CF
Schalke v Athletic Bilbao
Sporting Lisbon v Metalist Kharkiv
Atlético Madrid v Hannover

First legs to be played on March 29
Second legs to be played on April 5

SEMI-FINAL DRAW

Atletico/Hannover v AZ Alkmaar v Valencia
Sporting Lisbon/Metalist v Schalke/Bilbao

First legs to be played on April 19
Second legs to be played on April 26

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2115896/Europa-League-draw-Athletic-Bilbao-face-Schalke-Sporting-Lisbon-land-Metalist.html#ixzz1pOf4qNyI

It's Not Fallas Without at Least One Paella

You will see hundreds of paellas being made in the streets of Valencia over wood fires. Paella is as much a part of people's lives here as breathing. Try this recipe twist on the most iconic dish in all of Spain. Substituting duck for the rabbit is fairly common in Valencian cooking but you may have to pour off some of the extra fat rendered from the duck skin.

¡Buen Provecho y Felices Fallas!

Champions League

The schedule of Champions League games has now been confirmed.

Quarter-final draw

1 APOEL FC (CYP) v Real Madrid CF (ESP): 27 March/4 April
2 Olympique de Marseille (FRA) v FC Bayern München (GER): 28 March/3 April
3 SL Benfica (POR) v Chelsea FC (ENG): 27 March/4 April
4 AC Milan (ITA) v FC Barcelona (ESP): 28 March/3 April

Semi-final draw

1: Marseille/Bayern v APOEL/Madrid: 17 & 25 April
2: Benfica/Chelsea v Milan/Barcelona: 18 & 24 April

Final

(19 May, Fußball Arena München, 20.45CET)

Winner semi-final 1 v Winner semi-final 2

You have to think that the smart money is betting on a FC Barcelona vs Real Madrid final in Munich.

Un Carajillo, Por Favor.

A carajillo is simply an espresso coffee with a bit of either Spanish brandy, whiskey, or rum added in. Another amazing contribution to world civilization thanks to the Spanish. This should come with a twist of lemon but most places don't bother with that tiny extravagance. ¡Salud!

Fallas!

If you have been thinking about visiting Valencia this is the time to do it. Fallas officially begins today and wraps up on the evening of the 19th.

Fallas 2012

Bar Casa Morrut

A corner bar like no other in Valencia. Great food and very inexpensive. Pepe makes traditional Spanish food as well as anyone. Great sandwiches (bocadillos) of all sorts but you really need to try his tortilla de patatas. The more I go here the less I feel like cooking at home.His morro is the best I've ever had and I try it everywhere.

At the front of this photo you can see batter-fried artichokes, then there is a bit of fried squid, croquetas de bacalao, a tortilla, and chicken wings. He makes his mayonnaise with milk instead of eggs as Spanish health code forbids the use of raw eggs.


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Bar Casa Morrut

Carrer del Maestro José Serrano, 4

46005 Valencia

Barrio: Russafa

963 743 609

Horas de apertura:

lunes-viernes 09.00 - 16.00

lunes-viernes 18.00 - 23.00

sábado 18.00 - 23.30

Fallas is So Close (You Can Smell the Sulphur)

Mexican Food for Beginners

Besides family and friends, what I miss the most about the United States is Mexican food. The basic ingredients for a lot of Mexican dishes are a little hard to find in Spain, or at least here in Valencia. The chile peppers are different but you can find some that are a little spicy at most of the Pakistani green grocers as they eat spicy food in their part of the world. I buy a lot of my Mexican products, including corn and flour tortillas, at Bodega Portal Latino, 45 Calle Cadiz.

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This woman makes great Mexican food:

Valencia CF vs PSV Eindhoven @ 21:05

Valencia CF goes into the round of 16 in the UEFA Europa League tonight against PSV Eindhoven.  Valencia still has a firm grasp on the third position in the Spanish league behind Real Madrid and Barça.

How to Make Fried Squid

Go for an Asian twist on this popular Mediterranean staple dish.


Another, more traditional recipe, video can be found here.

Stuff White People Like

This web site started as a joke and then sort of snow-balled to fame (and then melted away). Very funny at times and almost always true. Far from some sort of white supremacy blog, Stuff White People Like sort of mocks the whole culture of American, white, middle-class. educated, and urban.

China Gets into the Bike Share Act

Hangzhou, China has, in a few short years, built a 50,000-bike system that dwarfs all other noble contenders. Montreal, Mexico City, Washington D.C., London and Paris, all of which are regularly lauded for their systems, all launched with between 1,000 and 10,000 bikes, and Paris's Velib now has 20,000 bikes. Check out this amazing video.

March 1 Means the First Mascletà

If you happen to hear all hell breaking out today at exactly 14:00 in Valencia, it's not WWIII. Today is the first Mascletà of Fallas, a percussion fireworks display in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. If you miss it today don't worry, there will be one every day until (and including) March 19th. Happy Fallas!

La Perla Negra

This is a great bar in a top location with a nice terrace. Situated on the most beautiful street in Valencia, Avenida Reino de Valencia, this place offers all you need between 2 and 4pm: a daily menu of only 6,5 euro, including the choice of 4 starters, 4 main courses, desert or coffee, and a drink.


A great place to enjoy typical Valencian food: paella, arroz caldoso, fideua, etc...