Spanish cooking – Page 2 – CYNTHIA D. BERTELSEN

In the Scent of Cinnamon, a Whiff of Medieval Humoral Theory

April 9, 2019

Purple bougainvillea flowers hung thick and rope-like over the sand-colored walls, their little white hearts nearly pulsating in the blazing noon heat of Rabat, Morocco. The door of The English Bookshop stood half-opened. The stern English proprietor stood behind the counter, his thin pale fingers reaching into scuffed cardboard boxes, filled with the newest shipment of books … More In the Scent of Cinnamon, a Whiff of Medieval Humoral Theory

Cooking with Hurricane Irma, Part II: Pipérade

September 9, 2017

Pipérade snuck into my life the other day. I mean, I’d known about this universal – global? – combo of tomatoes and garlic and onion and other stuff for some time. Hardly the sort of dish you’d let any culinary culture lay claim to. I mean, come on, what else might a cook do with garlic, … More Cooking with Hurricane Irma, Part II: Pipérade

9 Years of Writing about History … A Celebration!

July 27, 2017

Nine years ago, I decided to poke a toe into the world of food blogging. I settled on the name, “Gherkins & Tomatoes,” based on a painting by Luis Meléndez, a tribute to the period of history known as “The Age of Exploration.” Faced with a blank screen demanding something, anything, the first words that … More 9 Years of Writing about History … A Celebration!

The Power and the Glories of Eating Alone

April 8, 2016

King Louis XIV did it. M. F. K. Fisher did it. The faceless man in Edward Hopper’s painting, “Nighthawks,” did it. Mr. Bean did it, too. And so did I. Daring to eat a proper meal alone in public probably ranks as one of the few acts that cause normally confident people to quiver a … More The Power and the Glories of Eating Alone

Idylls of Cuisine, #66

June 13, 2010

[A picture, and nothing more, for silent contemplation.] For more, see the El Bulli slideshow HERE.

Sugar, Saffron, Spices — The Arab Influence on Spanish Cuisine, a Brief Meditation

June 2, 2010

Spanish food enjoys some quite heady popularity right now. Trendy magazines and the international food punditry (for example, Matt Preston in Australia) say “Si” to Spanish cuisine and predict a continuing surge of enthusiasm for the food of the land of Don Quixote. Just about every grocery store, mundane as well as high-end, displays wedges … More Sugar, Saffron, Spices — The Arab Influence on Spanish Cuisine, a Brief Meditation