IBBY Conference and Book Award, September 2010 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) honoured my daughter and me by placing NONAH (the last of my PAYAH rainforest adventure series) on its 2010 Honour List.
I met old friends and made new ones, and all in all, had a marvellous time exploring the OLD CITY and its Cathedral. And I have not stopped enthusing to acquaintances over the fantastic almond macaroons, a specialty of Santiago de Compostela, and the exquisite Spanish cuisine at the hotel restaurant – especially the filet of cod on a delicate sauce of chopped tomatoes and deep-fried parsley, accompanied by grilled green asparagus spears (in September!) Seventh Heaven!
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I have visited Santiago a number of times and also adore the Caprichos de Santiago (whimsys). I emailed Casal Coton to ask for the recipe but it is a family secret! The box lists almonds, sugar and eggs so I tried making them – easier said than done!
I tried using white sugar and ended up with mini pavlovas. The closest I’ve got to the real thing is to use a malt brown sugar and toasted almonds. Not quite the same but, with your eyes closed, close enough to the real thing!
Sil, I was just hoping somebody would read my blog and come up with the recipe for those glorious cookies. Now I know that they are called Caprichos de Santiago. I was going to try my hand at baking them, but never had the time. I was thinking of using only egg whites with a dash of cream of tartar, and of course roughly chopped roasted almonds (and some ground almonds as well?) plus vanillin with brown sugar.