¡Comida comida!

¡Ay! It has been awhile. My poor old Lappy suffered a heart attack and I am now getting to know my LappyII (that's Lappy el Segundo or 2°) I love being able to type that!

This section is dedicated to the lovely food of Spain. Honestly, it was one of the things I was looking forward to the most. I am in love with the food here.

However, as many of you know, I am a picky eater. If you truly know who I am, you will NEVER offer me a PB&J. I hate cooked fruit! No fruit pies, no jelly, no jam, nothing like that. I also detest beans and olives and many cooked vegetables (although I am coming to terms with them). However I don't want to be rude so I pick things out with great ease and say nothing. however, last week I was at a friends house picking out kidney beans. I realized the kidney bean pile was half of the food on my plate and started panicking, because it was so noticeable! So I asked for more salad and started surreptitiously covering their weird texture with fresh lettuce. It helped.

Since then I have eaten many things I would NEVER eat in the states! The list goes as follows:

Beer: not too bad. it's cheap and you get free tapas. Add some Fanta limón (to make a drink called clara) and I can manage jsut fine.
Olives: heck no...so gross
Jelly: yes, I ate jelly! it was nasty as ever
Tomatoes: coupled with Zuchinni, not so bad

Also, I attended a women's retreat last weekend and got a good dose of Spanish food. Traditional meals go as follows:
You sit at a table with a basket of fresh bread in the middle (oh...the amazing bread here) as well as a couple of appetizers (tapas). You much on the bread and tapas, and then you're salad is brought out. This could be lettuce or cooked veggies. Then soup comes. My first meal I thought "Hmmm...I may be a little hungry later, but this is a nice lunch). Oh but wait. Next comes another dish, more veggies or perhaps a full plate of pasta. Ah! Now I can be full! By the end of this dish I usually regret eating all of my lovely bread. I sit back, relax, thinking of what the postre (dessert) will be. Instead, they bring out the meat! ANOTHER PLATE? Which of course is delicious and you want to eat, but by the end when the dessert arrives you are nearly panting from exhaustion. Thankfully desserts here are light (often consists of only fruit or perhaps yogurt...only one day did I get helado...or ice cream). I quickly learned to moderate.

Here is a picture of the famous Spanish dish...paella. I have never seen one so big...it was more than enough to feed 50 hungry women! Yummy rice mixed with veggies and meat (usually shell fish but in this case chicken).



I am also starting to learn to cook Spanish dishes (maybe even some French ones) from my land lady. Today we discovered we both like to cook and I have already helped her with three dishes! I cannot wait to share them with you. :) I'm going to start my own little "cook book" to take home.

I miss some of the food back home, but I figure I will enjoy what I have while I have it. I know I will miss this food when I get home. So easy come easy go.