Category Archives: glorious food!

Rainbow Cake Tutorial

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Super fast and easy…

I recommend using a white cake mix so the colors are bright.

Mix up cake using instructions on box.

Separate into bowls depending on how many colors you want to use. Mckenna wanted 5 different colors so I separated the batter into 5 different bowls.

I used these gel food colors instead of the regular drops, don’t know if it makes a difference but I like them.

 

Just pour in any way you would like, both cake layers ended up super different.

 

After baking and cooling, I leveled both cakes, I was pleased with how bright the colors turned out!

 

 

I also cheated and mixed my can of vanilla frosting with a 8 ounce package of cream cheese. Quick and easy cream cheese frosting (also makes MORE frosting for your cake so you can really pack it on there!)

I stole this square cake idea decorated with M&M’s, super easy and simple

You could probably use skittles if you would prefer those colors, but I like M&M’s better… I also used some regular and some peanut butter just to have the variety of sizes.  The girls all thought it was cool and couldn’t wait to eat it!

Easy and delicious!  The great thing is that you can do this with any colors you want to match it to a specific theme!

 

100 Montaditios

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One of my favorite places to eat in Spain is 100 Mondaditos.  It is a sandwich place that has just about every variety sandwich you can think of.

Every Wednesday everything on the menu is 1€, so a couple of my girlfriends and I decided we needed to go out to dinner tonight!

100 Montaditos, I love you!

 

Picture perfect setting, right on the beach at sunset!

As usual we were pretty much the only people in there. There were a couple of other occupied table but they were just having drinks, no one else eating.   6:30pm and you can guarantee the only people in a restaurant will be Americans!

Inside

The tables all have menu’s and order sheets so you just write down the number of the sandwich you want along with any sides, drinks, etc. Then just go up and hand it to the cashier, pay and sit down until they call your name.

Waiting at the counter, food please!

 

Beachside Rota, even better in summer when you can eat outside.

 

 

Montaditos and chips!

Here is how the montaditos arrive, a bunch on a plate with a pile of fresh potato chips in the center. The bread is this delicious crusty Spanish style bread. Now as to what we ordered: a couple of chicken caesar, one with kebab meat, one with Spanish tortilla (which is basically a potato frittata) and my absolute go to number one favorite, chorizo and brie. So. Good.

O couldn't wait any longer! Stop taking pictures mom!

 

Patatas con 4 salsas... yummy fries with 4 sauces - usually aioli, ketchup, taco and kebab. Comes with cute forks to eat them with (or fight with your sibling over - your choice)

Dessert!

Okay, I know it looks wierd but this is a dessert montadito. Yummy crusty warm bread filled with chocolate. Let it sit for a minute so it gets nice and melty. They also have a version with a berry sauce added. You would never believe that a chocolate sandwich would be delicious. My kids go nuts for them (and were COVERED in melty chocolate)

Lucky for anyone stateside, 100 Montaditos is going to be opening stores in the U.S.! While I don’t know if they are going to have the same delicious combos, you have to go try them if you see them!

My happy place – Puerto Sherry

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Puerto Sherry is what I pictured Spain would be like before we moved here.

I thought my house would look like these houses (not knowing we didn’t have a choice and HAD to live on base!)

Hello beautiful houses, will you be mine?

Puerto Sherry is where I go when I start to feel bummed about living overseas (I really do love it, it’s an awesome opportunity and I am going to miss the hell out of it when we leave but it can be challenging!)

As a matter of fact I DO love bougainvillea arching over my windows! I’ll take this one!

Puerto Sherry is a charming neighborhood that is parked right on the bay and has a small group of restaurants and a small beach.  The parking is pretty horrible (par for the course in Spain – when someone tells you about a restaurant the parking situation is one of the biggest pros/cons!) But there are parking lots and if you go during ‘American’ dining times as opposed to Spanish, you are fine.

Now our favorite place to eat? Blanca Paloma.  It is a small Italian restaurant that actually has another larger twin a few miles away. However there is no competition when it comes to the view!

The kiddos hanging out on the rocks next to the tables…

Big O and little O, hanging out at Blanco Paloma. You can see the beach in the background.

The kiddos and I last Mother’s Day… (A little blurry but you can see the city of Cadiz in the background)

Cutie pie!

A few things about this picture… first of all look at that great house behind O… And it’s for sale!! Also see the street right there? The street actually runs between the restaurant and the outdoor seating.  The outdoor seating is on a little strip that sits right on the water. The street ends at a small parking area so there isn’t really a ton of traffic. Also hey look there is Blanca Paloma’s phone number just in case you feel like giving them a call!

The view along the rocks, always LOTS of fishermen

Why can’t I have this roof on my house!!

M posing!

Puerto Sherry, Blanca Paloma, get there. You won’t regret it.

Bar Jamon

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Bar Jamon is the restaurant that we ended up going to for our Anniversary in November. Really nice restaurant, a little more upscale so it was perfect for an anniversary dinner.

We ended up getting there at around 8:30pm. FYI, here is what a restaurant in Spain looks like at 8:30pm on a Saturday night. We are ALWAYS the early birds.

By 10pm there were actually quite a few other tables filled (as we get ready to leave), even after 3 1/2 years we haven’t adjusted to the Spanish eating times.

Checking out the menu like there is any chance he is going to get anything but paella.

Decided to go with an appetizer of calamari, they were really, really good.

Delicious calamari, seriously the best I’ve ever had. Tiny and fried whole. YUM!

Baby squid I shall eat you!

Paella for two brought to the table

Paella for two ended being paella for one with a to-go bag. I went for the lamb ravioli.

Lamb ravioli. Very very yummy!

 

And dessert, chocolate crepes.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been a pitcher of sangria, but since I had to drive the babysitter home that was a no go!

Bar Jamon for menu, directions and pictures. Plenty of parking!

 

EVERYTHING in Spain closes early on New Year’s (well except the bars…)

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On New Year’s Eve I had wanted to go out to dinner in Jerez de la Frontera, a bigger city about 15 minutes away.  There is a restaurant there (near Ikea!) called Wok that does a kind of Mongolian buffet. We have a smaller version in Rota but I had heard good things about this one, bigger, nicer decor, better buffet selection.

Well we get out there at around 7:30pm which is early but we figured if we could kill time if we needed to wait until 8. Wok is closed. Dark, no one inside. Okay maaaaaybe we are a little early. So we hit up the grocery store Alcampo next door to look for sparkling apple/grape juice.  No sparkling non-alcoholic beverages were found (although I did see Lambrusco for sale, I’ll have to go back and pick some up!) we did get some delicious donuts for dessert/breakfast/who knows they just looked yummy.

After killing time in the grocery store back to peek at Wok, nope still dark and not a soul in sight.  Let’s just hop over to the mall that is right next door and find something in the food court. Park in the strangely half empty parking lot to walk up into the mall and see only people walking out. What the heck? Its almost 8pm on a Saturday night, usually the mall is packed with people! Mall doors locked. Oh no. This isn’t a good sign. Back over to the Ikea/Wok shopping center, McDonald’s maybe? Closed in the five minutes it took to run to the mall and back.

Now at this point we could have just given up and gone home except for the fact that I have been slacking on grocery shopping and there was nothing to eat at home (okay maybe pb & j but that was our last resort). So back to the base we go, we’ll hit up Pizza Villa even though we had pizza the night before. I figure a chicken, bacon, ranch sandwich will save the night. Pizza Villa closed.  While I am ready to cry and give up because I am cranky, hungry and frustrated that we are all dressed up with literally no where to eat, my husband perseveres.

Out into Rota, where surprise, surprise: Wok Rota is open! And of course we were only the second table in there (after other Americans). I really think everyone in Spain was already making their way toward a plaza to party.

So food! We finally got to eat!

Ended up eating 4 shrimp, 2 hot wings, french fries and 1 bite of rice.

 

I'm not embarrassed to admit that all THREE of those plates are mine. I was starving when I filled them.

 

Not shown, his plate of squid and frog legs.