Plaisirs Decadents de la Marquise: Easter

I 'd dreamt of elves in my kitchen many a time, cutting, and baking and piling and stacking away cookies I'd carefully and dedicatedly decorated, but never did I imagine they would show up at Easter...

They arrived, the three of them a week before Good Friday and I was late to pick them up. I got to Sants train station and there they were together, ligthly packed and trendy looking on the arrival of their first ever trip as an indepedent group.

Habia soñado con elfos en mi cocina mas de una vez, cortando, horneando, apilando y despachando las galletas que yo habría decorado cuidadosa y dedicadamente, pero nunca imaginé que llegarían en Semana Santa.
Llegaron, los tres , una semana antes de Viernes Santo y para variar yo iba tarde a recogerlos. Llegué a la Estación de Sants y ahí estaban, juntitos, ligeros de equipaje y con look trendy en lo que era la llegada de su primer viaje como grupo independiente.

Welcome ! / Bienvenidos!

The first day was dedicated to Las Ramblas, and a must visit to La Boqueria Market www.boqueria.info where the eldest took shots of the mouth watering fruit, different kinds of nuts and all sorts of sweet edible goodies.
El primer dia fue dedicado a Las Ramblas y la visita obligatoria al Mercado de la Boquería www.boqueria.info donde el mayor disparó hacia las suculentas frutas , la variedad de frutos secos y todo tipo de delicias dulces y comestibles.

Back on the Ramblas where I had found my own little goody-spot on the way to La Boqueria, I made a stop. Here, the attraction the object of my new interest/hobby exerts on me, ran wild and I began getting one of each...but before I get carried away let's just make a note that this shall have a post of its own in the near future. There was also a visit to "Titanic the Exhibition" which added another hour to our already overwalked day, and then... we collapsed.
De regreso a las Ramblas donde camino a la Boquería ya había encotrado un lugar de deseo propio, hice un stop. Aquí la atracción que sobre mi ejerce el objeto de mi último interés/hobby se desbocó y comencé a coger uno de cada...pero antes de que me desvíe, hagamos una anotación para hacer una entrada al respecto en un futuro cercano. También hubo una visita a "Titanic the Exhibition" que añadió otra hora a nuestra ya "sobre-caminado" dia, y luego...colapsamos.

The next morning I treated my honorable guests to a crêpe breakfast on the terrace.

La mañana siguiente serví a mis honorables invitados un desayuno de crêpes en la terraza.

It was lovely to see them rejoice in the dripping and pouring of the many high calorie accompaniments I 'd served them with...in total ignorance of the trek up to Montjuic Castle that awaited them.
Fue encantador ver cómo se regocijaban vertiendo y chorreando los diferentes e hipercalóricos acompañamientos con los que los había provisto ... en total desconocimiento de la subida al Castillo de Montjuic que les esperaba.

The later walk around the Gothic Quarter with goodies of its own , hoped to bring gargoyles as well as this specific time in history and the eldest of the elves to a better start which I'm not sure occured. What we all did agree on that night was the need for something yummy to munch on as we watched a movie so I headed to the kitchen and did my 360 degree turn I usually do when in need of incoming inspiration from the ingredients on display...apples ! Apple pie ? Yes.
La posterior caminata alrededor del barrio Gótico y sus delicias propias, esperaba traer las gárgolas asi como este momento de la historia y el mayor de los elfos a un mejor y mas cercano inicio de relación, el cual no estoy segura ocurrió. En lo que sí estuvimos de acuerdo todos esa noche, fue la necesidad de tener algo rico que saborear mientras miráramos una peli asi que me dirigí a la cocina y llevé a cabo mi giro 360 que suelo hacer cuando necesito inspiración proveniente de los ingredientes a la vista...manzanas ! Pastel de Manzana ? Sí.

All of a sudden there were 8 busy hands where there usually were 2 . I spoke and they made it happen.
Y de pronto había 8 manos ocupadas donde normalmente había 2. Ýo hablaba y ellos hacían que sucediera.

Anyone who loves to work in the kitchen can understand what I mean. Times had been reduced by more than half. Not only the cooking in itself but the cleaning up the mess. Magic - elves in my kitchen.

Cualquiera que ame trabajar en la cocina, puede entender a lo que me refiero. Los tiempos se habían reducido a mas de la mitad. No sólo al cocinar propiamente dicho sino en la parte en la que hay que limpiar todo el desastre! Magia - elfos en mi cocina.

I had the impression they had actually enjoyed it. Like with most impressions derived from teenage behavior, the odds are you're probably wrong.
Tuve la impresión de que en realidad incluso lo habían disfrutado. Como con la mayoria de las impresiones derivadas del comportamiento adolescente, las probabilidades son que posiblemente estés equivocado

The next day we headed to our planned Girls' Shopping Day downtown and of course there was posing, street photoshooting, drinks and all that goes with it. Except for a stop at a store where one of them asked what some tiny spoon shaped chocolate silicone molds were and which of course I got her, for once I was doing very little of this activity myself ( I have to say I've developed a new kind of respect for male shopping companions). However on the way back from lunch I mentioned my intention to stop at a bookstore www.happybooks.com I love which lately has not only increased their stock of cookbooks but have opened a little baking utensil area. Here's where I confirmed my suspicions - the elves had been struck, charmed, converted.
Al día sigueinte nos dirigimos a nuestro planificado Dia de Shopping de Chicas en el centro y por supuesto hubo posados, sesión de fotografía, bebidas y todo lo que acompaña. Excepto por una tienda donde una de ellas sntió curiosidad por unos moldes en forma de cucharitas para chocolate y que por supuesto le regalé, por una vez no era precisamente yo quien estaba llevando a cabo las compras (debo decir que he desarrollado un nuevo y profundo respeto por los shopping-acompañantes masculinos). Sin embargo, de regreso del almuerzo mencioné mi intención de parar en una librería que me encanta www.happybooks.com y que ultimamente no sólo ha incrementado su stock de libros de cocina sino que ha abierto una pequeña área de utensilios de reposteria. Aquí es donde mis sospechas se confirmaron-los elfos habían sido golpeados, encantados, convertidos.

They touched and explored each and every chocolate melting set, madeleine kit and cupcake book . The latter courtesy of La Marquise, and another cookie recipe book they purchased themselves - speechless.
Tocaban y exploraban cada set de moldes para chocolate , kit para magdalenas y libro de cupcakes que podían encontrar. Este último cortesía de La Marquise, y otro que se compraron ellas mismas - sin palabras.

Among the many activities I had planned for them, one was a Baking Workshop (Easter Cookie Themed)which I had initially envisioned as me in the kitchen and they watching TV, but after the recent course of events I realized it was my opportunity to put these elves down to work!

Entre las muchas actividades que había planificado para ellas, una era Taller de Repostería (de tema galletas de Pascua) que inicialmente visioné como yo en la cocina y ellas mirando TV, pero que después del reciente curso de acontecimientos, me di cuenta era mi oportunidad de poner a estos elfos a trabajar!

I snapped my fingers...and this is more or less what happened /Chasquée los dedos y esto es mas o menos lo que sucedió

The masters of Royal Icing / Las Maestras del Glacé Real

and here a couple of the ones I managed to save from their voracious little hands and decorate myself

y aquí unas poquitas que logré rescatar de su voraces manitos y decorar yo

Easter bread is a tradition in many countries ...specially the Mediterranean of which the Italian "Colomba Pasquale" is perhaps the most easily found in shops...And more to the East, there's the Polish "Babka", the "Kulich" in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Bulgaria for example...

My memories of a particular smell and taste of Easter Bread this year go back to when many of the Eastern countries mentioned above were all one and by that, i mean a while ago. I suppose that's why what i mostly recall is the hours and hours spent sitting, head resting on my arms crossed on the other end of the table, (not far enough to avoid getting sprinkled with flour now and then) feet hanging from the chair observing our cook. She was a woman of powerful complexion with powerful pinkish white arms that scooped and poured and mixed and tossed and worked that wooden spoon in a way i kinda felt sorry for it. She was making "Cozonac", the local (Romanian)Easter Bread...

The hours seemed endless as i sat quietly waiting for the dough to rise... She would come back to slap it and punch it (now that i think of the religious and symbolic significance of bread it's kinda ... well, it seems strange) only to leave it again to rest covered in a cloth close to the stove. I was eager to taste the lovely "yeasty" flavor i still love and would wait to be alone in the kitchen and pinch it here and there - yes i would eat it raw...the funny thing is that i was rarely discovered as the dough would swell and sponge back up leaving no trace of my crime, and that's when i discovered the importance of the slapping and punching ... That, and the quality of the yeast of course

I decided I'd made the "cutesie" pastel colored egg shaped truffles, the chocolate Easter eggs, the candied this and that, last year so... this year i was going back to what i consider a ritual in itself - the making of the bread, a tradition passed form grandmothers to mothers to daughters...(or so the romantic in me likes to think) and why not - from special cooks that make impressions on young apprentices...

As the question"Where do I begin?"(so now you get the title of the post?)ran through my head, I decided to just mix and mingle the grandmother, the mother, the cook, the experience of one, the notes of the other, the cooking skills of all...Italian, Uruguayan, Romanian, who cares?Perhaps its the secret to the story of "how great a bread can be"...