PENELOPE CASAS

Our friend Penelope Casas has offered to share some of her secrets about Spanish Cuisine, as well as her extensive knowledge on travel in Spain. We cannot think of anyone who could better help answer your questions.

Through her extensive travels in Spain, Penelope has experienced the culinary traditions of every part of the country. She has published a travel guide on Spain and four cookbooks on Spanish cuisine. We carry them all, each a great resource to help learn the secrets of Spanish cooking.

Penelope Casas was born in New York City, graduated from Vassar College, and studied at the University of Madrid. Currently she teaches courses on Spain at New York University. Ms. Casas has written about food and travel in Spain for The New York Times, Gourmet, Food & Wine, and Conde Nast Traveler as well as publishing six books of her own. The Spanish government has awarded her both the National Prize of Gastronomy and the Medal of Touristic Merit, and has named her Dame of the Order of Civil Merit.

By digging into old Spanish cookbooks and family collections and by observing local cooks at home and chefs at work, Ms. Casas has unearthed the essential cooking techniques and the subtle flavor secrets that make authentic Spanish food so appealing.

Year after year she and her Spanish husband have shepherded groups of American tourists, exploring the remotest corners of Spain as well as the more traveled areas, discovering extraordinary new eating experiences. She knows exactly what appeals to American tastes and what we yearn to reproduce at home. Now she has translated all of her findings into recipes that will be every bit as delicious prepared in your own kitchen as on their native soil.

If you enroll in La Tienda’s Update and Recipe programs, you will receive a monthly recipe from her -- keyed to the season and to La Tienda special sales. Just enter your email address at the top right of this page.

Many of you have asked us advice as you make your travel plans to Spain. Without hesitation we refer you to the expert, a woman of exquisite taste who shares our love for the warmth and joy of Spain. The only book you need to plan your vacation is Discovering Spain: An Uncommon Guide. It stands head and shoulders above the rest.

For the culinary excursion of a lifetime why not consider a personal tour of Spain with Penelope and her husband Dr. Luis Casas? Because of their warmth and hospitality many of their clients return year after year to visit yet another region. Pleaser click on their personal website: Discovering Spain: An Uncommon Tour for more information.