When I went to Barcelona, Spain for a weekend last October, on the first day we ate Mexican food. Yeh I don’t know why either. And on the second day, I was hit by the mother of all flus, and had I actually been able to squeeze a morsel of Spanish food past my tonsils (which felt like they were the size of baseballs) I would have done, and probably raved on about it. But alas, I painfully swallowed my cold and flu tablets, and stayed in bed…
So this time round, I wanted to get in as much as I possibly could in the two days we were there.
Our hotel package didn’t include breakfast which is a blessing and a curse at the same time. Blessing because I get to wander and discover hidden local treasures… and a curse because well, I’m just a bitch every morning until I eat. Lucky for all involved, there was little local cafe just down the street, and like music to my ears, the waitress announced on our arrival that today’s breakfast special, for all of 1,85€, I could have churros with hot chocolate dipping sauce!
And to tip me over the line right into heaven, when I questioned “Churros? For breakfast?”, the waitress looked at me like oh yes, she’s a foreigner all right, and said “Of course! In Spain, churros is for breakfast, not dessert.” So slap me silly. I think I want to move to Spain.
Aside from my brilliant churros surprise, my two goals for Spain were: paella and tapas. I know ‘tapas’ is cheating because it includes a whole multitude of dishes but who said I couldn’t get to them all? I know it sounds completely unoriginal (but hey I’m not here to be original) but my favourite were the Patatas Bravas… In fact I ate so much that particular night that I couldn’t sleep on my front or side (which is how I like to sleep) and eventually when I did fall asleep on my back, I snored like a little piglet. Charming!
A trip to Barcelona is also not complete without a visit to the amazing, amazing La Boqueria food markets, just off La Rambla. The life, the colours, the smells, the textures – it’s an assault to the senses, but I mean that in the very best way possible.
La Boqueria is filled with the freshest of fresh organic market produce, seafood, meats and juices so freshly squeezed I would label them 150% fresh. I had a kiwi fruit juice and it was a good thing it came with a big fat McDonald’s thick shake straw, because it was pulp I drank, not juice. Unbelievable. With one of those, you can literally feel the vitamin c cruising its way through your body.
The only down side of La Boqueria, though I know I’m being culturally insensitive now, is the in-your-face display of skinned rabbits, head included, even eye-balls included, because apparently that’s the delicacy. Eeeks.
i snore so much that i can wake up the whole neighborhood by just snoring,*:
Thank you so much, this was very interesting. I was actually born in Spain (I’m not telling what year though!) but moved around europe and lastly settled in the UK when I was 6. I dont remember an awful lot of the few years I was in spain, but the delicious smell of spanish food always seems to ring a bell in me or something. Funny, how I dont remember anything except the smells,isn’t it! I even found a internet site dedicated to spanish recipe, which gave me great delight and thought I really should to share. Anyway, thank you again. I’ll get my husband to add your website to my rss thing…