Howdy! I've finally gotten my pictures organized and edited. Take a look to the left at "Albums". Clicking on any of the 5 categories will open a new window where you can browse through all my pics. You'll probably notice I'm not a big fan of taking pictures of myself, but you all know what I look like anyways.
If any of you would like any of the original pics (ie - for your desktop wallpaper, to print and hang, to throw darts at my face), let me know and I can email the originals since they're bigger and better. I'll probably be posting them all on Shutterfly.com as well. Enjoy!
EPILOGUE: The Best Lunch I've ever had
Many of you that I've spoken to about my trip have heard me rave about "the best lunch I've ever had". I promised that I'd go over it in vivid detail, just so I can make a few mouths water.
The meal started off w/ some fantastic appetizers. First up, a cherry tomato sandwiched between 2 pieces of chorizo. The tomato was surprisingly sweet and a perfect balance for the hot chorizo. Next, a little salad wedge w/ minced peppers, anchovies and olive oil. Salted fish in Spain is sooo tasty, definitely a must have. Next up, 2 types of stuffed pimentos (roasted and peeled red peppers). The first was stuffed with a minced beef and topped w/ a brown gravy - a nice, light meaty flavor. The second was stuffed with minced octopus and covered with a black squid ink sauce. For anyone who hasn't tasted anything with black squid ink, it's surprisingly buttery and VERY good. Both pimentos were really good.
The appetizer was the BEST. The waiter brought out these smokin' hot ceramic pots with olive oil, garlic, and some herbs sizzling at the bottom. Then they drop in a few raw, meaty sardines at a time to cook them lightly. SOOOO delicious (drooling). After the fish is all done, you can dip your bread into the olive oil. Again, we were all in heavan. Finally, we reached the main courses. My choice was a "sirloin", which turned out to be a 12 oz. filet mignon with a big honkin' piece of foie gras on top. That filet was butter, I swear I could've cut it with a piece of paper. Charred on the outside, just past rare, and smooth like sashimi on the inside. The foie was just as good. Both were topped with little roasted chilli peppers and a wine sauce. There's a picture of this amazing piece of meat in the Food Album. We also had tasty desserts and coffee to finish off this incredible meal. How good was this meal? I still remember everything in vivid detail and it's been over 3 weeks since I ate there!
The whole thing I loved about the food in Barcelona was the simplicity of it all. Sauce is scarce, but if there is sauce it is there to compliment the ingredients, not to overpower them. Each ingredient is there to add its own subtle flavor. Rubbing garlic and tomato on toast, adding some jamon and cheese. Clams with olive oil, parsley, garlic, a bit of lemon. All of these things were absolutely full of flavor. This is very much how food should be.
The truth is, when you travel and find all these amazing things and places, everything is "the best" or "most incredible". There's a reason people flock to these sights. I hope someone that reads this endless rambling that I've posted up here, gets inspired to go somewhere. Most of the people I know trully deserve to get away and some of you desperately need to get out there and see things for yourself. Well, that's all for now.
Adios, arrivaderci, cheerio!
T
Hello everyone from sunny and HOT SoCal. After a weekend of golf in Palm Springs and doing serious damage to my liver, I'm back home again and workin' hard for my money. (sooo haaard for the money...)
Anyways, I'm in the process of organizing my pictures and writing up some descriptions for them. Mostly food, buildings, and some artsy stuff.
The entire trip was a tremendous adventure. All the people I met, all the foods I sampled and all amazing sites I saw. I'll share them all with you in the hopes that it inspires some of you to go out and do it all yourselves. Alternatively, any of you who have trouble sleeping can read my inane comments for about 2 minutes and doze off.
Check back soon for pictures!!!
TC