A Museum Just for Ham? Must be MADRID!: Week 4 (1/26/09 - 2/1/09)

Yes, I know, I'm a horrible person and my recent lack of posts has put a thick, foggy raincloud over your life. But fear not, I'm back with a vengeance. After reading some other food blogs, I feel inspired to share with you what I have been experiencing. So here goes, from the top, the past 4 weeks. Starting with... Week 4.

En casa: Tomatoes. I've been keeping an outline of everything I've been eating each week so I don't forget what to write, and for this week en casa, all I have written is "tomatoes". This week I had a quartered tomato with basically every meal. No condiments, no oil and balsamic on the table, just the tomato. Its official: la comida en la casa is sub par. But at least I'm getting vegetables. One friend recently expressed her frustration with her señora's belief in boiled potato as a vegetable. Served as a side dish with noodles and rice. Carb city. Yick.

En Barcelona: Els "Pollos" de Llull


My friends and I came across this AMAZING restaurant right near our university that specializes in rotisserie chicken. Although this sounds incredibly boring, the recent lack of a typical American meal of protein, starch, and veggie has left us craving conventionality. The giant menu board on the wall written in Catalán wasn't much help to us, so the waiter kindly explained everything in more understandable Castillian. We started off with a pitcher of sangria de cava, as shown above. As you can see, its not the typical blood red color you would expect from a sangria made with a sweet Spanish rioja. Instead, it is made with cava, or Spanish champagne, and what tasted like peach juice. Delish.


Our main meal consisted of 1/2 of chicken (for each of us), a salad, and an order of croquettas. The chicken was maybe the best chicken I've ever had. And trust me, I'm not the kind to order chicken at a restaurant, because I usually find it to be the blandest thing on the menu. But this, THIS, was chicken. The croquettas also seemed to have some magic potion in them. Rather then the normal, chewy, overly mushy croquettas I find at home, these had the consistency of fluffy mashed potatoes and tasted like really rich chicken broth. Overall, Els "Pollos" de Llull is a great, cheap restaurant if you're craving some American tastes in your Spanish-overloaded palette.

En MADRID:

This weekend (4 weeks ago) I went to Madrid!!! Sadly, we were only there for a very short time, and our only full day was filled with LARGE CHUNKS OF SNOW and just general gray misery. It doesn't snow in Madrid. But I guess I had forgotten to empty the Ithaca from my baggage beforehand. Oops.

I did however get the chance to experience some Madrid staples. Featured above: MUSEO DEL JAMON (Museum of Ham). Although kind of touristy, (well obviously, they have 8 million hams hanging on the wall, who wouldn't want to snap a photo?) Museo del Jamon delivered what it promised: a plethora of pork products. My friend Ally ventured lightly into ham territory with her ham croquettas, as seen here. Al otro lado (on the other hand), I ventured into.... cheese territory. ARE YOU SHOCKED??? I had a Manchego salad which was basically a normal salad piled atop 7 ginormous slices of Manchego. Not even I could finish a pile of cheese that monumentous.


After spending the last month eating nothing but traditional spanish tortillas and bocadillos, my friends and I decided we were ready for a change. The next night, we wandered around looking for something, ANYTHING, different. We found a random eclectic restaurant that served stirfry, and decided that was different enough to satisfy us. I had mine peanut sauce style, while my Thai friend Patty ordered the spicy and urged the waiter to make it "muy picante, muy picante". Although her dish wasn't nearly picante enough for her liking, the stirfry did satiate our need for variety.

Most cultural food of the week: Churros con chocolate

Although this dish is supposed to be very popular in Spain, I had a hard time finding a legitimate churrería (store that sells churros) in Barcelona due to Barca's Catalan roots. In Madrid, I visited the famous Chocolatería San Ginés, which is open 24 hours a day so the midday tourists and early morning drunk college students can enjoy whenever they feel the urge. As my freshman year roommate KK demonstrates above, you are supposed to dip the light, cripsy pastry into the thick cup of chocolate. We found our churros to be a little bland, so we piled on the powdered sugar, which made all the difference. Since this experience, I've had even better churros con chocolate, but you'll have to wait on the edge of your seat to hear about that. Until then...

Hasta luego!

Museums and Marketplaces: Week 3 (1/19/09 - 1/25/09)

And were back! To my loyal readers (all 5 of you), I sincerely apologize for the delay. I tend to write the most when I am unhappy or don't have anything to do, and obviously this hasn't been the case. My first month in Barcelona was one of the best months of my life, and not just because of the food. Living as a Spaniard, la vida es buena. Your days revolve around sangria, siestas, dancing, and just all around merriment. Well, that probably isn't what the typical hard working Spaniard would say, but thats a fairly accurate portrait of my existence in this beautiful country. Now lets get this party started...

Week 3 EN MI CASA: Casa food continues to tumble down from the lofty peak where I had initially placed it. In week 3, I received ALOT of this vegetable featured in the photo. I'm really not sure what it is, but I think they boil it and add ALOT of salt. They throw some chorizo or bacon in for flavor, and serve it hot. Also, horrible/fascinating discovery: all of the bacon that is found in my food comes from a giant pig leg that is situated on a stand on the kitchen counter. Whenever anyone wants a piece, they just chop it off. I didn't notice it at first because it was covered by a cloth, but now that I've seen it, I can't seem to forget it's there. *shudder*

Week 3 EN BARCELONA: Barcelona is home to one of the greatest outdoor markets, La Boquería, situated right off of La Rambla, the main pedestrian pathway in Barcelona. Here, you can find all sorts of goodies like brightly colored candies, fresh fruit drinks, meats from basically every animal (including hanging dead rabbits. thanks, but no thanks), emu/quail/chicken eggs and more.

My friend and I decided to go to the source for the freshest food in town, so we found a restaurant/bar situated directly inside the market, in between a fruit stand and a bakery. I ordered the salmon and was delighted to find that for once, I could actually see the whole preparation process from start to finish. The chef pulled a piece of salmon out of a refrigerated shelf. Clearly this salmon had just come from the fish vendor a few stands down. The salmon was cooked simply with some olive oil and fine herbs on the griddle, and then plated with a drizzle of oil, more herbs, and lots of tiny little clams. It was served to me as soon as it came off the griddle, and it was honestly THE BEST SALMON I'VE EVER HAD, EVER. It melted in my mouth. My friend, who ordered some squid that wasn't nearly as good, was a little jealous. Don't worry, I let her try a piece. A small one. (Sorry Patty.)

A few days later, I ventured to the Chocolate Museum with a few friends to find out about Spanish chocolate traditions. This museum turned out to be more of an homage to chocolate sculptures, but at least our ticket was made of dark chocolate (as shown in opening photo), so we got to taste with our mouths and our eyes. We asked the chocolate connoisseur/salesman in the museum's gift shop to sell us the weirdest chocolate available, and he didn't disappoint. He also has probably been reading this blog, because he gave us CHEESE CHOCOLATE. Yes, cheese chocolate. More specifically, "white chocolate with honey and cheese" (see below).

Shockingly, I wasn't a huge fan of this. It tasted basically like white chocolate with little chewy bits of gummy bears (the honey part), but knowing that there was cheese powder in it made me a little nauseous. I know, I know, I love cheese, but some things just aren't meant to be. But maybe I've found a new career path?

Most cultural food of the week: "Soft Self Portrait with Grilled Bacon" by Salvador Dali

Say what????

So, this isn't really a food. I visited the Salvador Dali Museum in Figueres, a town about 2 hours away from Barcelona by train. Apparently, Dali had a thing for bacon, because he decided it was important enough to include in the artistic interpretation of himself. If I was an artist, my self portrait would probably include goat cheese. or manchego. or cheddar. or... well, you get it.

Hasta luego! (Catch you later.)

Cheese Plates and Paella: Week 2 (1/12/09 - 1/18/09)

AND WHAT A WEEK IT HAS BEEN! Get excited folks, this week was chock full of all sorts of cultural delicacies. And I've got pictures galore...

Week 2 EN MI CASA: Food at home has started to repeat. And has also become less interesting. I think the novelty factor and the "Oh, we have a guest! Lets impress her!" factor have begun to fade. Still far better than making pasta and ham sandwiches in a dorm room, though. I began the week with an Italian style meat cannelloni (spelling? apologies) and a side of tortilla española. Pretty good, although the pasta part was a little mushy.

The rest of the week was fairly forgettable... strange soups with a random handful of vegetables, unidentifiably filled croquettes, an omelette with nothing in it, and a lot of tomatoes. On the plus side, I've learned I like pre-packaged flan cups (they're good, I swear!) and I think they've noticed too, since I've been slurping the excess syrup out of the cup (classy), so they've been giving me that often. There was one very important dish en la casa this week, but I'm saving that for my "most cultural food of the week" section at the end.

Week 2 EN BARCELONA: So last time, I let you in on my little cheese-seeking secret. This week, I made my dreams a reality by going to CheeseMe!, the restaurant featured in my first photo. My friends and I took full advantage of all the cheesetastic selections. We started with a Spanish cheese plate, which had varieties like Manchego and Cabrales, which is goat cheese. The plate also came with a fruit puree that was a perfect sweet balance to the salty sharpness of the cheese.

Then we all ordered main entrees, except for Ally, my very sadly cheese intolerant friend, who came along for the ride. Patty and I shared an eggplant parmigiana that had sliced eggplant with mozzarella of búfala, brie, and drained tomatoes, and an order of sauteed seasonal artichokes with pesto au gratin, caramelized onions, and a huge disk of goat cheese (pictured below).

The artichokes were UNBELIEVABLE, definitely the best thing I've eaten here so far. The eggplant dish was good, but not quite as cheese-oriented as I would have liked. Meredith ordered cheese croquettes, which I sampled (obviously), and they were fairly standard and not all that interesting. Mickey got the four cheese penne pasta which was a mix of mascarpone, gorgonzola, parmigiano and gruyère. This dish was like pasta alfredo on steroids. Very cheesy steroids. Nicole ordered a beef carpaccio that had shavings of parmigiano reggiano, but this was far too un-cheesy for my tastes. Lastly, Austin and Joe, the MANly men of our crew, ordered a MANchego and Iberian ham dish to share.

All in all, CheeseMe made all of my friends kind of nauseous from the intense cheesification, but I would go back again in a heartbeat. In fact, the next day I purchased half a wheel of goat cheese from a local farmers stand, and finished it in about a day. I think I have a problem. Step one is admitting...

Most cultural food of the week: Paella

I told my señora (on the left) about the sub-par paella experience I had last week at the tourist trap where I lunched. In response, she told the cook (on the right, yes, there is a cook that makes everything here fresh every day) that she needs to make me paella. HOW CULTURAL! So I followed the cook around in the morning with my camera and took pictures of the process. First, she added the shrimp, peppers, oil, and garlic to the pan.

Then she added the peas and the rice. She mentioned that typically, onion is added, but she found that it dries out the rice, so she skips that step.

The whole massive thing simmers for awhile, and is then left covered. Whole shrimp, with the heads and tails and brains and ew, are added to the dish to gain points for presentation. Of course, I looked like an idiot trying to peel open the things, and my host sister had to show me twice. Overall, the dish was authentic and cooked perfectly, not too soupy like the paella you might find in the tourist areas. However, I would have skipped the whole shrimp addition, because pulling shrimp legs out of my mouth was kind of asqueroso (gross).

Thanks for reading and I hope you're enjoying watching me get fat. See you next week!

¡Bienvenidos a mi Blog!: Week 1 (1/5/09 - 1/11/09)

Welcome to ¿Quieres Comer?: Bites in Barcelona! For the next few months, I will be documenting my travels during my semester abroad. More specifically, I'll be bringing you the delicious details on dishes and desserts, cheese and chorizo, tapas and tortilla, and much much more. I have a passion for food; any given day you might find me browsing menus or cookbooks online, searching for satisfying culinary experiences wherever I may be. Although my goals throughout this semester include self discovery and language learning, I am also looking to expand my palette.

I also have an affinity for anything and everything cheese. Manchego, brie, cheddar, goat.... its all heaven in food form. Thus, this blog should really be called ¿Quieres queso? and the answer should be yes. I would like cheese. Always. I'm not really sure why you even bothered to ask.

Living with a Spanish family in Barcelona, I have the best of both worlds. En mi casa, my family cooks up cenas (dinners) that appear to have come out of the encyclopedia under the entry "Traditional Spanish Cooking". In Barcelona, an international city that has been influenced by Spanish, French, and Mediterranean styles, you can find just about anything. So I will be serving up all kinds of interesting food stories, from the bland to the bizarre.

Week 1 EN MI CASA: Thus far I have neglected to take any pictures of the food I have been served in my house, mostly because I think my family might be freaked out if I whipped out a camera and started taking pictures during dinner. But I have had some awesome traditional food! Tortilla española is a Spanish cooked egg and potato mixture, kind of like a quiche without the crust. Albóndigas, meatballs, are served in a tomato based sauce and are flavored with a variety of spices cooked into the meatball mixture. Lentajas are lentils, and they are served in a bowl with chunks of chorizo, Spanish sausage.

And then there was the not so great. Huevos rellenos, blech. Hard boiled eggs are cut in half, have the yolk scooped out of them, get tuna mixed into the yolk, and then put back into the hard boiled egg white. Not very awesome.

Week 1 EN BARCELONA: I went out for tapas with my group and remembered to take some pictures after everything was half-eaten.
Over on the left we have cubes of manchego cheese served with aceitunas negras (black olives) and on the right, calamares (calamari).
We also had tortilla española, 2 types of jamón (ham), bacon wrapped dates, seafood croquettas, and miniature chorizos. All of this was of course accompanied by uber sweet sangria. During another outing with a friend, we ate paella mixta with mariscos (seafood) and pollo, and patatas bravas, which are fried potatoes served with a mayonaise-based spicy sauce. ¡Qué rico!

Most cultural food of the week: Roscón de Reyes
This is a traditional cake served on Los Reyes Magos (Three Kings Day), which is like Christmas, The Sequel, in Spain and was celebrated last week. It was really super sweet and is filled with whipped cream. My family gave me a giant piece and warned me about swallowing the toys that are baked into it. Mmmm... crunchy.


Thats all for now, adios!