I constantly crave the flavors of Spain. Though Spanish cuisine varies tremendously across the different regions, they all have one thing in common: the use of fresh, local flavors. Spanish cuisine is heavily influenced by its climate and geography. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of the best way to describe Spanish food is the generous use of olive oil and garlic in dishes. Read more

Here's the catch. You have to get to Madrid by the end of the week. The pope will arrive in Madrid tomorrow for World Youth Day, and as part of his visit, any woman who confesses her abortion during the event will be forgiven and welcomed back to the Church. "Special powers" have been given to all priests in Madrid, which they can use to absolve women who confess abortions. A Vatican spokesman Read more

When it comes to European wine regions, France and Italy hog all of the spotlight. However, Spain has been producing quality wine for the past 700 years, too. The Iberian peninsula's most popular wine making appellation is the Rioja. Situated just below the Pais Vasco in the central Northeast of Spain, Rioja is known for one grape in particular, Tempranillo. Over 90 percent of the wine produced Read more

Those camera-hogging pandas are at it again! From our first glance to that extra cute doctor checkup, the two yet-unnamed babes are Madrid's stars in the making. As a signal of their status, they've already held court for royalty! Queen Sofia of Spain stopped by to snuggle the little ones — while it's still safe to do so! — and it looks like this one is already telling her secrets . . . Read more

Survey says: Spanish women are the most flirtatious women in the world. The study put on by Badoo.com, an online dating site with millions of users over 240 countries, looked at 90 million contacts over one month and found that Spanish women are likely to initiate contact with a man 1.33 times a month, a rate double that of female Brits. Polish women came in second out of the 20-country list, Read more

Yesterday, the world was introduced to the two panda twins in Madrid, and the sensation shows no sign of ceasing! I can't get enough of their expressiveness — it's like this cub is making funny faces just for laughs! The twosome had a visit from a doc and enjoyed more feeding time. Mmm, I'm full of cute. View 9 Photos ›Photo 1Photo 2Photo 3Photo 4Photo 5 See more of the healthy, hungry Read more

Look how tiny . . . but not too tiny to pose! It's like he (or she) is saying, "Aww, geez, another photo?!" This cub was one of two born at the Madrid Zoo on Sept. 7, the first artificial insemination panda twins outside of China! While the babes are still catching shut-eye these days, they'll soon grow too big for the incubator with all that milk they sip and will one day eat like 30 pounds of Read more