Stephanie's Barcelona Update

It's me again!  I wanted to give a quick update on some of the food we've been eating in Spain.  Most of our time here has been spent trying tapas and avoiding rain.

So here is our time in Spain in food:

Day 1:

We had breakfast on the train...no picture.  But we had coffee, orange juice, fruit, croissont, omelet, and jamon (cured prosciutto type meat).

Breakfast/Brunch (aka bocadillo time).  Per our guide books, the Spaniards eat light sandwiches before their large lunch at around 2:00

Sam: Chorizo Sandwich, cafe, and beer
Stephanie: Fanta Naranja (Orange)

Then we had tapas for dinner before the game.  I was pretty nervous to try out my spanish for the first time at a local tapas bar but the bartender was VERY helpful.  I said I spoke a little Spanish and he said he spoke a little English.  It worked.  But in our pre-game excitement, we forgot to take pictures.  We had jamon de iberico, manchego, pan con acieto y tomate.  (Iberian ham, Spanish cheese, and a local staple of toasted bread with olive oil and tomato rubbed on the bread.  You'll see pictures of it later as we had it again elsewhere.)

At the game, BARCA chips. 

 Day 2:

Breakfast/Brunch...we slept in this day

Cafe, Bocadillo de Jamon Iberico y Bocadillo de Chorizo
(Sam and Stephanie shared the two sandwich types)

Early Evening Tapas -

We headed to a place near our hotel per the recommendation of the extremely helpful staff here.  He gave us a voucher for a free "snack or drink or something".

The first thing we got from that voucher was some sort of seafood salad bite on toast topped with tuna...we think.  It probably had mayo in it, definitely tuna, and peas...the rest is a mystery.  Now if you know Sam, you know he HATES mayo and really dislikes peas and tuna.  If you know me, you know I HATE seafood and don't like peas either...but we were able to give it a try and were thankful the bites were so small.  (And that I had balsamic vinegar to drown out the tuna flavor for me).  Our efforts were rewarded at the end of the meal.  Read on.

Next up were some tasty treats:

Left: Tortilla Espanyola with that tomato bread
Right: Albondigas (meatballs in sauce...picture was taken after the meatballs were already gone).

If you care to try a similar meatball, try the Albondigas at the Continental in Des Moines.  Sam prefers those.  I like them both a lot.

Our short meal was punctuated by some free shots/digestives.

Sam's is the green one.  The waiter asked if we wanted something "fuerte" (strong) or something "suave" (smooth).  Sam picked fuerte and got some type of Spanish grapa.  I picked suave and got Crema Catalunya.  We think.


Late Night Tapas -

That tomato bread again with CROQUETTES!  My favorite!  (And a glass of Cava)

Some..."beef ham with parmesan cheese".  Essentially beef prosciutto. 

And for dessert Sam (left) Creme Brûlée with Pineapple Carpaccio

Stephanie (right) Crema Catalunya

 Day 3:

CHURROS
I was on a mission to try Churros.  My friend Kylee from Des Moines loves these things (I think) and they sound great, but have always tasted miserable at the amusement parks I've had them at.

And I wanted to try xurros amy xocolate (churros with chocolate in Catalan)

First place...no chocolate but very tasty in coffee

 Second place just an hour later...

amb xocolate!!  The chocolate is like a warm VERY rich pudding.  It was a little too rich for me, but the xurros were great.

We are on our way out for more tapas tonight...then an early flight home tomorrow.  The flight starts early, but we get home late.  A long day of travel tomorrow, but looking forward to being home and saying hello to our favorite cat/chat/gato Belle.