Chocolate Caramel Cookies

My chocolate caramel cookies are really easy to make and are always enjoyed by chocolate and caramel lovers. I decided to finally share the recipe to hopefully save me from making them so often. I don't have a picture of them, but they should end up looking like little mounds filled with delicious caramel. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 room temperature eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup baking cocoa (Hershey's brand)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 (13 ounce) package Rolo candies
• 1/4 teaspoon espresso power or dried ginger*

*Optional ingredient, either help to make the chocolate flavor more pronounced


Directions

1. Place the Rolos in the freezer the night before making the cookies.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, 1 cup sugar and brown sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and optional espresso or ginger; gradually add to the creamed mixture, beating just until combined.  
3. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, to allow the dough to chill. Without this step, the dough is quite difficult to mold.
4. Shape a tablespoonful of dough around each candy, forming a ball. Place 2 inches apart on a parchment paper lined or greased baking pan. While batches are cooking, return the dough and Rolos to the refrigerator.
5. Bake at 375 degrees F for 7-10 minutes or until tops are slightly cracked. Cool for 3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Winter Vacation

For one reason or another my first trip outside of Spain didn't take place until winter break, but my first trip sure was a dozy. Working in Spain has its privileges and one such was a nice 2 week break for the winter holidays. So for 1.5 weeks my friend Amber and I decided to trek throughout central Europe. We booked one way flights from Madrid to Budapest, Hungary and Berlin, Germany back to Madrid, and sort of found cities and transport along the way. I think our trip turned out pretty good.

Budapest 

We spent the first three days of our trip in Budapest. Included in this time was New Year's Eve, which ended up being the wildest New Year's Eve that I have ever experienced. Besides enjoying the generous currency conversion and lower cost of living, we really enjoyed the food and drinks that Hungary provided. Among our favorite things we did was a trip to a small town, famous for housing artists under the Soviet regime. In this city, we visited the marzipan (frosting) museum, which I recommend visiting if you ever find yourself in Szentendre, Hungary.

Prague 

After Budapest, we took a bus to Prague in the Czech Republic. My favorite part of Prague was all of the art that has spread throughout the city after the revolution. To this day, my favorite picture of my adventure is the faceless babies that are climbing on the Soviet radio tower. 

Terezin 

While in Prague, I decided to make a solo trek to visit the former concentration camp that is Terezin. I studied a bit about Terezin in university, but I didn't know what to expect. What I found most striking about the city is the stillness and emptiness. Terezin is not a tourist destination, and I never felt comfortable there, but that is exactly what I wanted to feel there.

Berlin 

Berlin was the final destination of our winter adventure, thus completing our inadvertent tour of Soviet strongholds. I think the pictures do a better job of talking about Berlin, than I can. 

I strongly recommend a visit to all of these cities if you have a chance. Though I might recommend a visit during the warmer months as opposed to when we went.  

Longer Spain Trips

In addition to one day trip a month, I also tried to take one longer trip within Spain a month. I've already talked about Malaga and Barcelona in a past entry, but here are more places I went to in Spain.

Barcelona

Malaga

Nerja (Malaga)

Bilbao

Bilbao was the city in Spain that I'd most like to live in. What used to be a dirty port city, has now become one of the most modern and trendy cities in Spain. Home to the Guggenheim museum, Bilbao is located in the Basque country which is famous for its separatist movements and cuisine. Bilbao and San Sebastian held some of my favorite food in Europe.

San Sebastian

Not far from Bilbao lies San Sebastian. San Sebastian is known as one of the most expensive cities in Spain, and given the amazing beach and mountain landscapes, who wouldn't want to live there.

Valencia

When my family was visiting in me in Spain, we decided to spend a long weekend in Valencia. Two hours away on the AVE (high speed train), Valencia is a nice break from the chilly, cloudy Madrid winter.

Granada

Home to the famous Alhambra, Granada was my last trip inside of Spain. I spent nearly a week in the city visiting my friend Lyla (you'll find a picture of us with a bear we found). Famous for their giant, free tapas (snacks you receive when purchasing a drink) is another great place to visit when in Spain.

Antequera

Since I had so much time in Granada, I decided to take a day trip to Antequera. Located in the province of Malaga, Antequera was another Moorish stronghold. It was a great trip to escape the city that is Grenada and see some of the countryside. 

Day Trips

One of the great things about living in Madrid is its connectivity to other cities in Spain. Nearly every train passes through Madrid Atocha train station, and I tried to take advantage of this whenever I had a free moment. While long train trips tended to run on the pricey side of things, day trips from Madrid were quite reasonably. I tried to do at least one day trip a month, and for the most part I managed to accomplish this. Here are photos from the day trips I went on.

Alcala

Alcala de Henares was the first day trip I went on. It's a town to the northeast of Madrid city center and it's a combination of a university of town and a historical landmark (birthplace of Miguel Cervantes). Many of my friends lived or worked in Alcala so I made quite a few trips there during my stay in Spain.

Segovia

Segovia was my second day trip and easily one of my top 5 favorite cities in Spain. It's a medieval town with a lot of old world charm, mixed with a modern feel. It also contains my favorite cathedral in Spain, and given Spain's history with the Catholic church, this is quite the accomplishment.

Toledo

Toledo (Not pronounced like the city in Ohio, think Tol-a-doe) is South of Madrid and is actually located in the province of Castilla-La Mancha. Even though it's outside the Community of Madrid, its proximity makes it an easy trip from Madrid. While just 1 hour by train or 1.5 hours by bus away from Madrid, the atmosphere is completely different. Toledo was an important city during Moorish times and much of this history is preserved in this city.

Aranjuez

I didn't have a chance to visit Aranjuez until a few months into my trip, but it held a special importance to me. Aranjuez was actually where I was originally supposed to work, until I switched with someone. While I have no regrets on the switch, part of me always wonders what my adventure would have been like living in this town an hour away from the center.

El Escorial

El Escorial was my last day trip before returning home. Famous for its monastery, it also has quite a quaint residential sector.

Valley of the Fallen

Just a short bus ride from the center of El Escorial is the Valley of the Fallen. This park containing a large cathedral, was designed by Spain's former dictator Francisco Franco. Inside the cathedral, which is built into the mountain, Franco's tomb lies just steps from the altar.

Madrid

Since I lived in Madrid, I should have the most pictures of Madrid, right? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Given that I lived in and experienced the city for nearly 9 months, it seems that I was never remembering to take pictures. Perhaps a little too much of the Spanish motto to life, why do it today when you have tomorrow? Luckily, in my last few weeks I decided to take more photos. But if my photos don't do Madrid justice, I suppose you'll just have to visit the city yourself. Included in here are my photos with my digital camera and my cell phone.

Phone Pictures

My Madrid

Pictures

Hello all,

Now that I'm home and finally unpacked, I'm going to be posting all the photos that I took during my trip. I'll post links to the online albums and a corresponding story for each trip. Let me know if the links don't work and I'll fix them.

Home

Hello all,

As some of you might know, I had to cut my adventure short. As of now I am back in the States and doing well. Still trying to get my health issues sorted out, but I feel better being back home. Below is a post I made to Facebook a few days before leaving that kind of sums up what was going on. Now that I have better internet access, I'll post a link to some more pictures. 

-Jeremy (aka Yeremi)

Dear friends,

For those who have not yet heard, I am leaving Spain this Sunday (27 May) to return home to the States. I know this is quite sudden (I only finalized my decision this morning) and could come as a surprise, but I feel this decision is in my best interest.

The past month or so, I have been going to different doctors, clinics, and hospitals with stomach problems. Each medical professional made suggestions on what it might be but I have never received a definitive answer. Along with these stomach problems, my anxiety, something that plagued me in the past, has been increasing. For the last few weeks I have been suffering from bouts of anxiety, stomach pains, and the associated physical symptoms. After much consideration of my health, I think that it is best that I return home to hopefully improve my anxiety problems and therefore allowing my doctor to better treat my stomach problems.

That said, I can safely say that I will not have any regrets returning home now. With all certainty, I have accomplished everything that I set out to do, and then some. I remember my biggest fear coming to Spain was my Spanish abilities. Not to say that 4 years in high school and two in college didn't prepare me, but I vividly remember my first day in Madrid trying to tell my hostel's address to the taxi driver. In comparison, one of my proudest language moments in Spain occurred less than a month ago when I was able to successful talk to someone in Spanish on the telephone. While this might sound silly, I assure you this is not a feat to be laughed at. At this point, I definitely do not consider myself fluent, but I am extremely pleased with the progress I've made over the past 8 months.

Besides increasing my knowledge of Spanish, I was also nervous about how my work would proceed. Thankfully this went well. I have loved nearly every minute of working with my students and teachers in my schools. Thinking back to the first days and hearing my students speak now, I know that my work helped to improve their English skills. If nothing else, my students can now respond to my habitual question of "how are you guys?" without a puzzled look and some Spanish side discussion as to what I said. I've also enjoyed working with my other auxiliars. Kyle, Tremaine, Afeefa, Aaron, and Nat are some of the most patient and passionate people I have ever encountered.

Of course, I was also nervous about meeting new people in such a foreign environment (pun intended). Thus, I also want to acknowledge all the friends I have made in this experience. With all honesty, I would not have made it past the first week of Spain without all of you. I would name you all, but there are so many of you and I would hate to leave someone out. I consider you all very good friends of my mine and I hope that no border will keep us from keeping in touch.

Thank you also to all my friends, family, and loved ones back home for your support. I'm sure I've talked to many, or all, of you sometime in the past 8 months with some sort of gripe and I want to thank you for listening, or at least pretending to listen.

In addition, my time in Spain wouldn't have been as pleasant without my flatmates Tiffany and Felipe. Everyday you guys helped me to see the world a little different and I was constantly learning from you both. Plus, you're both awesome.

As for my last few days in Spain. Tomorrow I bid farewell to my school, students, and teachers. Followed by a lot of packing and meeting up with some friends throughout the day. On Saturday I am going on my final day trip, to a city called El Escorial. Then finally on Sunday, I catch a 9am flight that arrives 9.5 hours later around 1pm in Charlotte, N.C.. Finally, I have just a two hour flight from Charlotte, after a three hour layover, which should get me to Detroit around 6pm.

I just wanted to share with you all this short, disjointed, farewell to Spain and collection of my thoughts. I'll post some more thoughts at a later date in my blog, most likely when I'm in the States.

These past 8 months have been a time of my life that I will never forget. Absolutely no regrets.