A little Fiesta and Sangria from Barcelona

We are all moving a little slowly this morning at the Bunkycooks. We had much merriment last evening as more family arrived for a wedding this weekend. The bride and groom showed up yesterday just in time for a little pre-Cinco de Mayo celebration complete with all sorts of appropriate decorations, foods and sangria! We know how to do things right around this house!

We are still cleaning up the gigantic mess in the kitchen this morning, but it was great fun (as proved by the slow motion of our bodies this morning). I am waiting anxiously on a large pot of much needed coffee as I write this…

The weather was perfect for our little fiesta last evening, so we were able to sit outside and have our party on the back deck. That way, all the neighbors could enjoy our party, too! There was much laughter as several family members met the groom to be for the first time and he was totally freaked out by us crazy people met them. Of course, I was in the kitchen cooking much of the time, so all I heard was the laughter (not really sure what all was said). I just know that they had fun! At least I had the sangria in the kitchen with me!

I will be sharing the dishes that we had over a few posts (gotta get the mileage I can outta this little shindig). I will tell you that we had some amazing guacamole. I always use Ina Garten’s recipe and there is never one bite left! It is so good! Of course, we had to wash all those nibbles down with some beverage, so I made sangria!

I have several great sangria recipes that I usually go to, but not this time! I wanted to try to make the sangria that we had in Barcelona last year at Cerveceria Catalana. This is a great tapas restaurant and was highly recommended by many sources (for a good reason!). It was packed the evening we were there, so we had a few tapas and some sangria at the bar before getting seated. I don’t remember the names of our bartenders, but we did take a picture of them!

Anyway, their sangria was very good, so I decided to ask how they made it (being the curious little person that I am). Well, they were very nice to tell me what they put in the mix, but they didn’t tell me the proportions. So what I received on a little piece of paper was “Red wine, Gin, Orange juice (or orange Fanta), Lemon-Lime Fanta”. Of course, there were some chunks of fruit and ice, but this was very different from what I usually put in my sangria. I also am not sure that was everything they used (would they really give up the secret recipe?!). Whatever was in that little pitcher…it sure was good, so I decided to try to make some at home!

After much playing around, stirring, adding a bit of this and that (more that), using Sprite (I could not find lemon-lime Fanta here)…I think I got it! Whatever I did…it was really tasty! It definitely was very close to the sangria we had there. We all drank it (every bit of it!) and are semi-living proof of that this morning!

Since I am missing Barcelona (as I write this), here is another picture from our trip (I actually have a few on my blog). This one is from Park Guell (which is the creation of the very famous Antoni Gaudi). His architecture can be found all over Barcelona. Much of it is truly breathtaking.

Well, I must get going as it is another wild day here at our house. Much to do, much to cook. It is Cinco de Mayo after all, so I am sure that we will have a bit more appropriate food and drink to accompany the day. “Arriba! Arriba! Andale! Andale!”, which in English means “Get going! Get moving!”.

I hope you have a happy Cinco de Mayo!

Print Recipe

Sangria

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

2 bottles of Tempranillo (Spanish wine)
1/2 cup Triple Sec (or gin)
1 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 cup Sprite
3/4 cup orange Fanta
1/2 cup sugar (more or less, to taste)
Fresh fruit, cut up (I used oranges, lemons and limes)
Ice

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together except for ice. Let flavors mingle together for an hour or more, if you can. Taste to check for sugar. Add ice and stir.

Serve in tall glasses over more ice. Be sure to put a piece of fruit or two in each glass.

Enjoy!

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