i fly a lot...and im american...so i generally have no trouble going through airport security. so...naturally i took the jamon...and went through homeland customs immigration. i usually get asked one or two questions...but this time....
"where did you go? how many days? did u bring any food back? where do you live? how are you getting home?"
five questions in a row startled me...but not enough for me to stutter...but enough to make my brain flicker with doubt. and then when i proceeded at the exit...i was slightly interrogated again...."where did you go...did you bring food with you...." and after a series of No's...i made it home...with goodies in tow.....YUUUMMMM>....
barcelona is beautiful. for how famous the city of barcelona is globally...it's just a small coastal city with wide streets and great food. the gothic architecture is classic and well kempt and the infuses culture or specifically gaudi into everyday life.
i regret not going inside. but the heat and the hoard of chinese selfie sticks really turned me off from buying tickets. i got this photo at least...and la sagrada familia is in it's final stage of construction....100+ years of building...a slow and urgency free way of life balanced by the sodium from the sea and from the tapas.
and then there was the parc guell. gaudi's park which they say the alice in wonderland design has full functionality....that is if most of it wasn't under construction. or the line to go up the museum didn't take forever. 8 euros...i felt jipped.
casa batilo is much nicer at night. and it's right near a great tapas joint. cervesceria cataluyna. go for breakfast. flauta's are mini sandwiches....and its a great morning bite. along with a coca cola.
cathedral...the violinist started playing vivaldi when we got there. and i immediately was thinking of
barmut was all booked up...so we ended back in rambla...for bar canete with charif and anna...gambas and tar tar...very good...the importance of this dinner didn't really manifest itself until a week later when i saw lynn in new york...
“It’s all a question of taste versus texture,” he said. “In France and much of Europe, we’ve always prized beef with character, while the U.S., Australia, perhaps Japan and many other countries are obsessed with tenderness.” - Hugo Desnoyer, Paris Butcher.
RUBIA GALLEGA - the prized cattle from northwest spain is not even in a category of steak as we americans know it. it's another species of protein on the menu. u can't compare it to an A5 melt in your mouth wagyu. u can't compare it to peter lugers dry aged 30 day charred plate of butter glazed beef. u come to spain to enjoy something entirely different. the spaniards age their beef a minimum of 180 days and up to 300 days. the mature beef funk has cheese like aromas that intoxicates your nose the moment you step inside the restaurant. your mouth waters watching a model-esque spaniard smear your plate with beef fat and serving the dark meaty medium rare beef onto your plate. you're instructed to eat the fat and let it coat your mouth. then have some beef. and when the grease accidentally gets on your hand...sniff it first. then lick it off.
sobrassada and chorizo....OMG!!!
gin and tonic....palate cleanser....a lemon sherbert and gin...,the spanish just get it...perfect!
where the steaks grill...what im going to build for the backyard...
"i didnt work with beef before because most of the time beef isn't very interesting. it's just proteins pumped up with very little flavor...." Magnus Nilsson, chefs table "fifty years ago there was like one kind of cow and because of the way we farm in the western world the whole development has split the dual purpose breeds into two lines. one that produces just milk. there is a cow that stands there for 8-10 years consuming vast amounts of grain just producing milk. on the other hand you have beef cattle. which do nothing just stand there also eating vast amounts of grain to grow as quickly as possible to reach a really big size. they are fed to be come these living monsters of meat. it's enourmously effective. i think that was what triggered the idea of using the dairy cow in the restaurant because it just seemed stupid to do the way its done now. the first dairy cow that we bought it had a depth of flavor and things that i didnt find in ordinary beef. that was when it started to turn really interesting. the dairy cow that has mostly eaten grass during its life from a nice farm where they are allowed to pasture you will have much more flavor with much more texture and natural marbling."
non ethnic food seems so bland to me. chicken with lemon. fish with butter. never appealed to me and it's because i live in america. mass produced proteins have no natural flavor. so you're just eating protein strands with lemon. but in europe...free range chickens and grass fed beef have a depth of natural flavor....that warrants only using salt...that warrants very little seasoning. and when there's a long line outside la bodega for rotisserie chicken....with chicken fat roasted potatoes on the side....u grab some to go and a jar of schmaltz....then go next door and pick up a baguette...then walk down the street for a picnic on the beach....
european bread....is just so much better. crispy and light...and yeastily flavorful. its just not like that stateside....blegh...
BOOBIES!
a nice vermut and espresso and aqua con gas on the way home...
breakfast in spain is awesome! it's a wide selection of bocadillo's (sandwich) with jamon, chorizo, sausage....etc...just smaller and tastier and better. i love american sausage egg and cheese's for breakfast. this is essentially the same thing. but the meats have so much more flavor other than sodium. i ordered bocquerones and a torta patates and an espresso. but the locals next to me, had their bocadillo's and a coca cola.
