Okay, so continuing on our Spain tour this week, it’s all about the eating. Let’s admit it.
I know this is overkill, and don’t even ask how I remember what we ate everywhere, but I did. And it was delicious.
A thing to note about meals.
· Most of them eat five times a day.
· In the morning, 7-8 they will have coffee, maybe a pastry.
· Around 10-1030 they have a smaller breakfast
· 1-3 is lunch time for them
· 4-6 is wine time. Tapas and nap time. (Tapas are small plates of food, so when you see my lists AND LISTS! Of dishes below picture you eating a custard cup or 1.5 custard cups of food on each plate.)
· 9-11 is dinner time – ususally tapas (3-7 plates depending on size) served with pan tomate , and …you guessed it, wine.
· AFTER dinner is drinks, not before.
A word on Ham (Spanish: Jamon!)
THIS IS THEIR “THING”! – If nothing culinarily else exists, these people do nothing but love ham and live to make it the best ever.
· There are several terms to note: “Bellota” – which means acorn, which is found on the ground where essentially “cage free organic” pigs roam and eat as they would like produce the best ham. Also Iberico – which indicates that it’s Iberian, and only 7 sorts of pigs make up this type of ham. Then the third note to take is how long they age it , usually between 1-5 years, and the older, the better, and more expensive.
· There’s even a restaurant called “JAMON EXPERIENCE” for Americans. Golden hams decorate the windows:
Other Major Foods Glossary:
· Bread with Tomato: (Spanish Pan De Tomate, Catalunyan: Pa amb Tomaquet) as stupidly simple as this sounds, I’m hooked. Take good bread (any kind, but usually focaccia), sometimes toasted in oven on broiler sometimes not. Drizzle with garlic and olive oil and put grated fresh tomato on top. 
· Bunuelos de Bacalla – Salt Cod Fritters – I don’t care what fish you think you liked, these are deep fried rolls of pastry and cod – they aren’t salty, Mr. Fish Hater could barely taste fish – they are AMAZING. I’m going to try and make them. Salt cod is cod that has been preserved in salt, like dried fruits let’s say, and then you soak it in water to “revive” it…this recipe looks similar…
· Manchego Cheese – like a softerish version of parmesan, it’s their only cheese just about.
· Crème Catalan – flan + crème brulee = heaven
· Drinking Chocolate – this is not hot cocoa. This is their version though, it’s like heavy cream meets a dark Hershey bar. WOW.
· Butifarra – Spanish country sausage, originally roman, it’s pork and doesn’t have much spice, but it’s most like Italian sausage without the fennel seed.
· Gazpacho – cold tomato soup. Which sounds yuck, but is amazing.
Okay, on to what we ate….and where….
Breakfast:
Was at The Hotel for breakfast every day – bread with tomato/garlic and olive oil, yogurts, peach/orange/apple/multi fruit juices, brie, manchego, HAM, assorted sliced charcuterie/salamis/sausages, bread of every shape and size, coffee til your brain hurt, drinking chocolate,
Almost each evening before dinner:
Ate (on different nights): homemade potato chips, foie gras, gin and tonic, capirinha, caprioski, mojito, mango mojito, coconut mojito, pan con tomate.
MONDAY
Dinner: Flamenco Show at Tablao Cordobes:
Ate: EVERYTHING. Hahahaa. Including 7 desserts (for Mom of course): two small fried bananas, catalan crème (mix between crème brulee and flan), flan (to compare, duh), chocolate with orange, chocolate truffle, coconut pie, their homemade wine (when in rome…), stewed veal, octopus salad, ham (always), manchego cheese, Paella, Brave Potatoes, Garlic mushrooms, potato and onion omelette.
TUESDAY
Lunch: A little dive pizza place/bar (every restaurant seems to be a bar!) Ate: Jamon Iberico and a Pizza D’Queso…even at a place that cost us like 22 USD to eat at, it was amazing!
Dinner: Taller De Tapas
Ate: Sangria, Bread with Tomato/Pan de Tomaquet, Foie Gras with Caramelized Onion and , Cod Fritters, Egg/Potato and Cured Ham Scramble, Mallorcan sobresada sausage with garlic mayonnaise, arugula salad with fonteta goat cheese, quince jelly and toasted almonds.
WEDNESDAY
Lunch: We started at the restaurant Granja de Viader to learn about Barcelona, and had chocolate milkshakes that were first started in this in 1870. The next part of the food tour we did for La Boqueria and the Santa Caterina Markets, the largest open air markets in Barcelona.
Ate: Manchego cheese, Catalunyan sausage, Sheeps cheese, Goat cheese, several types of Spanish olives, wild strawberries
Dinner: Magic Nights at Casa Battlo (built by Gaudi!)
Ate: Sangria, White garnacha, champagne, Jamon de Iberico aged 5 years organic (goes $400 for the leg!) from Cinco Juntos, Cheese and Olives and Snacks from their catering company
THURSDAY
Lunch: Tapas at Pinotxo (Said Pinocchio, like the movie, that it was named after as it premiered in the same year)
Ate: fried goat chops, salad with butifarri, gazpacho
Dinner: Cachitos on the strand area of patio restaurants, we ate upstairs near the bar
Ate: Sangria (see a pattern here?), several “Monteditos” which are one bite pieces: we did two quail egg and caviar, we did one foie gras and fig jam, and one quail egg and ham., then tapas for the evening were Bravo Potatoes, two egg dishes one with egg/potato and butifarra (Spanish country ham), and then the other with slightly spicier sausage called sobrasada and Mabon cheese.
FRIDAY
Lunch: Picnic in the Park using La Boqueria food
Ate: jamon, wild strawberries, manchego cheese, focaccia bread, a 4 euro bottle of Spanish garnacha, black truffle potato chips and olive oil and vinegar for everything.
Dinner: Boca Grande/Boca Chica
Ate: Bread with Tomato, TWO DRINKS TEA AND MINE, foie grasand mango crepe, foie gras with bread, Octopus with Pork and Cheese, Gazpacho, Olives
Boca Grande is the main part, but we sat in the “cooler chic-er hahaha”, Boca Chica, which is the bar side. The first pic below is where we sat, the second pic was quite possibly the best bathroom I’ve ever been in. The pics don’t even do it justice, as there was techno music, strobe lights and laser shows playing
Living Aloud Allowed 
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