Barcelona: Tapas, Mercat and Bacallà

This past weekend, I went to Barcelona, Spain with Kevin and Janice. Janice is from UC San Diego, as well, and is studying abroad in Cordoba, Spain. We wanted to meet up on her side of Europe, so we chose Barcelona. It's such a great city, full of culture, great food and fun-loving people. We started our day with chocolate con churros, the breakfast of champions and tourists alike. It sounds so simple, yet the warm fried, slightly salty churro sprinkled with sugar was the perfect vehicle to move the coat-the-back-of-the-spoon thick chocolate drink into our bodies. The chocolate was not too sweet, which I preferred because I could taste more chocolate flavor than sugar. We're going to have to try and make this at home.

We saw many works of the Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudi, throughout the city. My favorite was the Sagrada Familia, which is a catholic church which has been under construction since 1882. Even though construction has taken well over a hundred years, it still has about 20 more years to go. 

Let's talk food. Spanish food is becoming quite popular; it's full of fresh local ingredients and tons of flavor. It has a lot of seafood from the waters surrounding the country. Barcelona is in the northeastern part of the nation: Catalan country. The cuisine of Catalan emphasizes fresh vegetables (like tomatoes, garlic, eggplant, and red pepper), breads and pastas, pork products, poultry, olive oils, wines, cheese, and of course seafood, including anchovies, tuna, and the salt cod, bacallà.

Bacalla

Of course, we had tapas, many small plates of food making up a whole meal.

Calamare Romanesco

Pulpitas a la planca (Grilled octopus)

Croquetas de jamon. Breaded and fried mashed potatoes, ham and creamy bechemel sauce.

Then we went to Mercat de la Boqueria. This has to be one of my favorite food markets I've been too. The perfect produce was carefully stacked. 

 

 

 

The local seafood was fresh, very fresh. The vendors displayed their bright red gills as well as the crystal clear eyes, both signs of freshness.

 

 After looking around for awhile, I had to get bunyols de bacallà which are salt cod fritters with garlic and parsley. They were excellent.

I miss the churros and tapas already. We had such a great time in Barcelona. It was great to catch up with Janice after 4 months of not seeing her and to hear how God was working in her life in Spain. If you are ever in Barcelona, start your day with chocolate con churros, eat as many croquetas as you can for lunch, and visit the Mercat de la Boqueria. There is always something tasty to eat in Spain.