OT - Adventure through Spain and what I am eating along the way - OT

northGAcock

Living the good life there Mark....great pictures.....and great times. 

Sea2Ski

Yesterday was crepes in the morning (Jamon and manchego cheese and fresh squeezed orange juice.  That was the best orange juice I ever had in my life. Valencia oranges are fantastic!




We then walked 3 miles on the beach at about 2 miles an hour.  The weather was as perfect as you could ask for and the water temperature was just as good. It was one of those weather days you never wanted to end. 
Lunch started with a tuna croquet followed by a seafood rice dish that was similar to paella, but had a different name. 


On the way back home, we saw the funniest thing on the trip so far:  we were walking back to our place following a guy walking his dog. Then the dog stopped seemingly randomly. The guy yelled at him, and the dog sat. Then it sounded like he was pleading with him and and then said “No, non, no....” and the dog laid down and rolled onto his side. Our place was literally across the street so we crossed. As I looked back, he had lit up a cigarette knowing he was going to be a while.  The dog is certainly the boss of the two and had no plans of going any further anytime soon. The guy tried to play it off cool, but he was not happy. 


After relaxing, we went out for pizza. Mine had roasted tomatoes, garlic, anchovies and olives. 


Alicante, while not a small town was great. Super cool and friendly people with a small town feel.

johnmitchell

This is the coolest post/thread.. Thanks for sharing Mark..

Sea2Ski

Today we drove 3 hours to Madrid. The landscape was anywhere from flat and barren to green with high grass, to fields of what looked like red poppies, as well as more manicured olive groves and vineyards and of course an occasional castle. Europe is just cool like that.

 Nothing good came out of the landscape shots. We did stop to fill up the Audi, and even the gas stations have cheese in them:
. 
We got to Madrid, and started walking to find somewhere to eat.  We saw where a few locals were chilling so we stopped.

This was the tapas menu:

 
When I got to the last one on the list, I knew what I was getting. 

Ladies and gentlemen:  I present to you “grilled ear of pig”:



And wrinkled potatoes:



The ear was interesting. It was cut in strips, and really fried, not grilled. The taste was great. Fatty and rich like belly, but with cartilage in the middle on some pieces. While the cartilage is 100% edible and chewable, I was not fond of that part. So I picked off the meat and left the cartilage.

The potato was just a boiled and heavily sauced with something similar to a extremely garlicky pesto.

On our walk through the city, we came across this place:
  
 


If if there were not 250 legs of Jamon in there, there was not one.

We walked more, then it was time for another snack: 

Olivas variopintas con virutas de manchego 


hamburguesa Back angus con manchego



and sandwich trufado de mozzarella con Jamon Iberico:


Saw a flamenco dance, and decided we needed dessert which was custard with a sweet sherry wine. 


Tired and beat. Time to plan where we are going to eat then go to bed...

HeavyG

I've never bought European gas station cheese but I'm guessing it's a cut above US gas station cheese.

thetrim

Did the gas station have hot dogs on a roller?

Each day seems to be just a tiny bit better than the last!  Awesome trip!

JohnInCarolina

I love everything about this thread!

JohnInCarolina

HeavyG said:

I've never bought European gas station cheese but I'm guessing it's a cut above US gas station cheese.

Several cuts above.

Botch

The last (well, only) time I visited Spain there were two menus in most places, one for the locals (in Spanish) and one for the yanks (in English, with higher prices).  This looks like they've gotten rid of that nonsense; have you found that to be the case in most places?  
 
And yes, this is a most excellent thread, and I've added another thing to my retirement bucket list; thank you!  

Botch

JohnInCarolina said:

HeavyG said:

I've never bought European gas station cheese but I'm guessing it's a cut above US gas station cheese.

Several cuts above.

Who keeps cutting the cheese?!?  
(sorry, dad joke)  

JohnInCarolina

Botch said:

JohnInCarolina said:

HeavyG said:

I've never bought European gas station cheese but I'm guessing it's a cut above US gas station cheese.

Several cuts above.

Who keeps cutting the cheese?!?  
(sorry, dad joke)  

It’s OK, I’m a Dad.

Sea2Ski

No hotdogs or sausages on rollers, and I did not buy the cheese. I just found that very odd they had that much along with the 5 lb jar of olives and 2 lb tins of sardines to be at a gas station.

@Botch  menus:  some places yes and some places no. At the smaller places (we prefer), they will only have one menu as I show above.  Bigger places sometimes do have 2 menus, but when I have been able to glance at them, they appear to have the same prices.

It has been a great trip so far. Tonight our friends from England arrive, and we will hang out tonight to catch up in person. The husband may come later as he is in the process of selling his business, so we will see if he arrives tonight or not. hopefully he does. Can’t wait. 

Sea2Ski

Today was sightseeing tour day. Weather held out for us. 55F when we woke and 80F now. 


Almost ate at the worlds oldest restaurant, but was already stuffed.



And apparently there here is a little football game going on here this weekend. @CPFC1905 know anything about it?  

Sea2Ski

Simple food day today as well. 
Started with a Jamon on a light toasted roll:


Jamon croquettes 


We ordered 2 drinks and got the following tapas for “free”


Wings and potato’s:

Some type of pork on bread, an egg/potato quiche type thing on bread, and Jamon on bread. 


So where did tapas come from? Going back hundreds of years, the poor workers coming in from working the fields only had enough to either drink or eat. So many decided to drink. The king was upset at this because after their break, no work would get done. He made it law that if you ordered only a drink, the person serving the drink had to serve food with it. At first, it was a thin slice of cheese which was placed on top of the glass to show they were compliant with the law. Later, it changed to whatever was leftover, since they had to give something with the drink. Then as the years went on further, different places tried to out-do the competition and serve something better than next door. Even to this day, some places, if you only order a drink, will give you free tapas. That is how we got the assortment above. 

At at least that is what we’re were told by a local today when we got ours unexpectedly. She explained it when we look very puzzled when the plates arrived. 

DoubleEgger

Looks tremendous Mark. What a great trip. How old is that restaurant? We ate in Freiburg Germany at a place that has been in continuous operation since 1311. I thought that was old! 

Foghorn

Dude.  If you can get a ticket for the Champions League Final I may jump on a plane to get there.  There will be a lot of English being spoken in Madrid this week as the two teams in the final are English.

And please tell me that you are going to see Guernica while in Madrid.  That and the mosque/cathedral in Cordoba were the two things in Spain I knew I had to see before we even started planning our trip.  

thetrim

Very cool day, but I thought their temps over there were in Celsius?

TN_Egger

How would you pay for a meal from the world's oldest restaurant?  With money earned from the world's oldest profession?

Sea2Ski

@DoubleEgger   I found this on the web:
https://madridfoodtour.com/botin-the-worlds-oldest-restaurant/  

Then there is is another page that lists others that are older.  So who knows.  Would have been cool to get the suckling pig there but was already full anyway. Oh well.   

@Foghorn no tickets.  But the place is already going insane. Talking to someone they are expecting 1.2M visitors.  Why that many would come but know they are not getting in the stadium, I do not understand. But hey - everyone has their interests and passions. Good for them.  

marysvilleksegghead

WOW!  what a gastronomic fest with all that very interesting food.
Thanks for posting! 

JohnInCarolina

Sea2Ski said:

 
@Foghorn no tickets.  But the place is already going insane. Talking to someone they are expecting 1.2M visitors.  Why that many would come but know they are not getting in the stadium, I do not understand. But hey - everyone has their interests and passions. Good for them.  

Alcohol, Mark.  It's called alcohol.  

Sea2Ski

I guess so.  
Maybe slightly akin to meeting a bunch of people in a state park in NC to cook and eat and maybe have a drink or two.
 
Seriously, you could feel the excitement building. Nearly ever town square had a giant screen going up for people to watch it there.  I am sure it would be a great time if you had the slightest bit of interest. 

CPFC1905

@Sea2Ski
Beware the roaming English football fan.  You will spot them easily enough, they are the ones behaving like 17 year olds that have never been away from home before.    Best to keep outside of their 'street furniture throwing arc'.

If you were totally committed to the cause of coincidentally being near a major football final while on a lovely holiday - you would have driven through the night (and several more days) to reach Baku in Azerbaijan for Arsenal v Chelsea.  A mere 3500 miles from your current spot.

Great pics & enjoy the rest of your trip!

Foghorn

JohnInCarolina said:

Sea2Ski said:

 
@Foghorn no tickets.  But the place is already going insane. Talking to someone they are expecting 1.2M visitors.  Why that many would come but know they are not getting in the stadium, I do not understand. But hey - everyone has their interests and passions. Good for them.  

Alcohol, Mark.  It's called alcohol.  

I think that being there when their team wins and participating in the celebrations after the game is part of it.  Taking a chance on stumbling on some reasonably-priced tickets is another possibility.  With that said, in the US, the only group I've seen that travels much larger than the stadium capacity is the University of Kentucky basketball fans.  They load up their tractors and flatbed trucks and head to wherever UK is playing just to be a part of the scene there.  If you're still there on Saturday, just watch the game, and when it is over buy a shirt with the winning team's colors and join the fun. 

billt01

DoubleEgger said:

The nipple tassels are a nice touch. 

you mean curtain ropes?!

Sea2Ski

We skipped out of Madrid and headed south to Toledo. It was the capital of Spain prior to Madrid. First we got something to eat then went sight seeing. 
 


Lunch:


We left late afternoon and drove through miles and miles and miles of olive groves for 60-80 miles.


Got to a super small town called Zuheros in the southern mountains 

Checked in 


Not it a bad view. 


Dinner was next - that needs a new post of its own and speed here is super slow. I will post when I can. 

Foghorn

Great pics.  Keep them coming.

We also did a daytrip to Toledo.  Did you happen to make it to Fabrica Zamarano?  We picked up a MZ knife while we were there.

https://nujournalism2015.wordpress.com/2015/06/18/the-toledo-sword-last-remaining-craftsmen-struggle-to-keep-age-old-tradition-alive/

JohnInCarolina

Looks like you guys have had awesome weather there Mark!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

This is just incredible. On the list for the next trip across the pond. Thanks for documenting all this. 

NDG

Love following this - your trip looks fantastic !!  I am super excited for champions league final tomorrow (big big deal) so also loved seeing the stadium, trophy, etc.  Keep the good stuff coming.