Comida

Pan de matalauva (anis). It's super hard/crispy. Give it a smash with your fist so it shatters. This restaurant helpfully pre-smashed the bread for us?!? I've only seen this in Gran Canaria.

I forget that eggs in Spain are not found in the fridge. The market has goose and duck eggs I need to try

Cultivo - amazing cheese store in Madrid

Enough said!

La Concha in Madrid...

definitely stop in for a vermut cocktail.

Apparently this is what Spaniards think Americans eat. I can't even look at this without feeling ill.

Got Milk?

These guys do! Soy, almond, hazelnut, sheep, coconut, rice, corn, canary seed, oat, wheat, hemp, cashew, tiger nuts (chufa, it is Valencia, after all).

Not a meat you see in the store too often

See that tag? That is the secret to buying a jamon. It indicates the breed and feed. https://www.ibericosvazquez.es/imagenes/tipos-jamones-ibericos.jpg

2 for 1 happy hour ≠ 50% off 1 drink

Note to self: coordinate with drinking buddy next time, imagine our surprise when double the number of cocktails we ordered arrived

Sorry to see us exporting our poison to the rest of the world (entire store filled with sugar bombs)

Gas station stop. Snacks on offer: clams, wine, olives, jarred white asparagus, peppers, beans, artichokes and olive oil

The anchovies up north are amazing (photo from 7 streets of Bilbao)

Halloween pintxos in La Ribera Market in Bilbao

A croissant walked into a panini press... it's not a joke, it's brilliant

Toaster or space heater? Why not both?

(Yaiza made my toast so I didn't brand my fingers.)

Manzanilla olives! Click here for photos from our day of olive picking

Enguerino pulpo - bar style. Dessert was my bag ~ roasted squash with miel

A little food porn from our astrological tour up north can be found here

An egg makes everything better

Always hunting

Could be delicious? Or just too many things going on here

Look at how proud Chef Fernando is of his Arroz con Costra - a rice dish from his hometown sans sofrito and topped with eggs. His restaurant is named for the last week of hunting of the season - La Càbila

Lunch at El Poblet - a Quique Dacosta restaurant in Valencia (warning - food porn at the link)

So many questions

Ninot from fallas museo

One of our favs in Cabanyal

Why you should buy local and in season

Arrels

My happy place. The beautiful produce and products make me vibrate at a higher frequency

I would hate to have to clean those pans.

It recently occurred to me that socarrat is a Valencian, not Spanish, word

Happy holidays!

13€ for liquid salt?

Super yummy lamb (lechazo) at the asador in our neighborhood, which has amazing old school decor

The surprising (to me) amount of sludge at the bottom of my Greek coffee

Delta Restaurant fotos here

Somehow the island of Mykonos felt deserted in winter - but you wouldn't know if from how stocked the bakery was. Bonus extra nuts and honey available to add to your sweets

Since we missed Susan's annual cookie exchange, we just had to bring a few sweets home

The Engueran AOVE has rested a month and been filtered. This should last us a few weeks. Update - delicious olive oil - better than so many we have bought!

Turron from La Rosa de Jericó Pastelería (which also sells handbags)~ chocolate with cava pasión, almond, cream and hard turron (my fav)

Paco's ratatouille

Paella Valenciano (one of the guests was allergic to fish!)

My SIL gets this almond cake from Dulceria Nublo every Christmas. It's a heavenly sugar bomb

Fun drinks at Maison Lupin - based on the stories of Arsène Lupin (carta)

We finally made it to La Salita (food fotos here)

Side note - So many restaurants here play covers of well known pop songs...it's a better Musak

The south is known for its little fried fishes...we stopped into Tapería Ca Pere in Altea (not quite the south) to enjoy these little yummies

Limequats among all the citrus at the Jardín Botánico de la Universidad de València

From the Xufa i Tierra stand (one of the threesome with the meat girl and the cheese guy who gather for wine/beer and chats between their stalls, or the occassional shot in their coffee)

Food here

Chef Camarena

Fraula

Love the name! (Brussels)

Now you know where to go when you give up your animal based espresso

Heritage (Ghent)

Clairefontaine food here (Luxembourg)

Accents food here (Paris)

One of the best reasons to visit Paris in my book

Beet lattes on the menu (Luxembourg)

So excited to find a Lux bretzel

A beacon in the darkness

A wall of chocolate spoons at Chocolate House

Valencian cremaet - burnt sugared rum and coffee, optional lemon peel - a new fav (one place added a bit of cinnamon)

Requena wine country is quite enjoyable

Food here

My husband noticed that walking and breastfeeding seem to be an olympic sport in Valencia. I hadn't really noticed until we went for coffee one day and I notice the woman ordering a capuccino had a baby strapped to her chest enjoying its latte

Reconstructed bravas at Churchara de San Lorenzo (Cordoba)

Al punto y coma (Granada)

We are totally stealing this idea (quail eggs on jamón y pan)

Everything you need to make your paella at the hardware store (Osuna)

Added difficulty to slicing your jamón

Vista (Portomão)

Montserrat cheese

Agua de Enguera porque el "Agua de Valencia" no es bueno

Cuchilla o chuchara de palo? (Navalón)

Umm, not a secret if posted outside on your patio

Gaspacho Manchego

One of my dinner breaks - celebrating the EC getting it right

Jajaja

The Meat Carnival

Ew - Pan de Molde o Pan de Moho? (Lidl)

Restaurant at gas station; food pretty good; bunch of tables, facing the same way, each with a guy having the menu del día and a bottle of wine, it felt like a panel on 101 law was about to start