Welcome back at Spain Recipes' Newsletter!

First of all, we must apologise for the delay of this issue (the last one was sent on Aug. 25). We've been working like crazy adding new content to Spain Recipes (as you will see soon), and still we've got to find time to develop a brand new site: travel-to-barcelona.com!

Additionally, we've added quite a lot of new recipes and articles, focusing on regional gastronomy of Spain: Andalusia, Madrid, Valencia, Galicia, Extremadura, Asturias, and Cantabria all have incredible typical recipes, and we're starting to add this new point of view to our site. Check them out and discover what the regions of Spain have to offer you!

Travel-to-Barcelona.com: Spain Recipes first sister site

As many of you already know, we live in Barcelona, and have been asked many times by some of our friends abroad about 'what do you recommend us to see in Barcelona?' or 'Where should I stay when I come to visit Barcelona?'. As Barcelona is becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination, this questions have become more and more frequent, so we've tried to structure all this information, and this has given birth to our second website: travel-to-barcelona.com.

travel-to-barcelona.com is not intended to be an exhaustive directory of what's available in Barcelona - we don't think we can put up with a work like this - but instead, is an arbitrary selection - based on our own preferences - of what we like of Barcelona. Currently, travel-to-barcelona.com is just starting, but we are planning to incorporate new content in the next months, specially regarding practical issues, very useful when visiting Barcelona: where to stay, where to shop, what are the best deals to get to Barcelona, top 10 things to see in Barcelona, etc.  We're not planning to issue a specific newsletter for travel-to-barcelona.com, so all new additions will be notified via RSS. If you're interested, please go to travel-to-barcelona.com main page and sign in for this particular service.

One final thing on travel-to-barcelona.com: if any of you are wondering how we built this site, as in Spain-Recipes.com, we trusted once again Sitesell's tools and products, which we believe are the best for those - like us - that have a hobby or something to tell the world, and have limited time and resources to publish it. We've selected Ken Evoy's Sitesell because the results with Spain-recipes.com have been just incredible (more than 50,000 page views per month in only one year!). So if you think of doing something similar, check out Sitesell's page and you'll discover what they have to offer you

New recipes added

As we said earlier, these two months have been quite prolific in new recipes. These are some of our new additions:

• Arroz con leche (Spanish rice pudding): Some say that Arroz con Leche descends from the Moorish occupation of Spain centuries ago, as may be evidenced by the traditionally Arabic mixture of cinnamon and rice. This creamy dessert may be savored warm or cold, though most Spanish establishments tend to serve arroz con leche straight from the oven. If you wish, you may decorate the finished pudding with raisins and an extra sprinkling of cinnamon.
• Cocido Madrileño (Boiled Meat Dinner from Madrid): Cocido Madrileño - or simply cocido - is probably one of Spain's national dishes. Cocido is based on a vast cauldron, which simmers away all day, hardly bubbling. In the old days households made it every day, for poached meat used to be the hallmark of the middle-class kitchen. From this pot comes a series of magnificient things.
• Boquerones en Escabeche - Moorish Pickled Anchovies This is an old, old way of preserving small fish which has survived into modern times because it is so delicious. The coast round Nerja is known for its shoals of fresh anchovies. In Malaga the fish are pressed together into a little fan, four tails together, for frying, but this is not essential to the recipe.
• Garlic soup: Bread and garlic soups are eaten for supper by the poor all over the country. This garlic soup is fortified with eggs and canned tuna, which I suspect has come to replace the traditional salt cod.
• Migas: Migas -fried breadcrumbs- are a popular supper or snack at any time of the day, usually served with a fried red chorizo sausage, or with fried eggs with paprika and a little vinegar dribbled over them. This version includes some extras and can be used to stuff a chicken for roasting.
• Fabada asturiana: Fabada, the worlds' most famous bean pot comes from the wild mountains of Asturias. The beans are flavoured with all the local specialities like lacón, which is the cured front leg of a pig and oak-smoked fresh sausages.

There are a lot of new articles and recipes 'ramping up' to be published on both sites: Spain Recipes and travel-to-barcelona.com. We'll get back to you in about four weeks (we promise!) with all the new additions.

Enjoy!