Cooking...

I'm not much of a cook myself (probably because, rather than despite the fact that, my grandfather was an Austrian-trained pastry chef -- he never let my mother into the kitchen while she was growing up, and she couldn't boil water when she married my father). But the trip to Spain has inspired me.

I really enjoyed Salmorejo, which is like Gazpacho, but denser. It is basicly tomatoes and olive oil and garlic and bread thrown together in a blender, so I figured I could handle it. Alas, the recipe in:

http://www.andalucia.com/taste/gazpacho/rec2.htm

didn't work spectacularly well. Some of that may have had to do with the way I failed to put in the full 450g of bread -- I already put in a half a loaf, and any more just seemed crazy. And I used bacon instead of fine Spanish ham. Oh, well.

It turned out to be sort of garlicy -- and I love garlic myself, but it was even a bit strong for me -- and not all that flavorful. I'll have to try a few more recipes, now that I've made it semi-successfully once. Who knows what other culinary delights await?