Honey and Nectar

Spanish food is divine. 


For the first time in my life, I eat five to six servings of fruits and vegetables, which are fresh, delicious and cooked in dishes slathered in olive oil and garlic. We have tomatoes, apples, oranges, clementines, cauliflower, beans (so many beans!), and dozens of other green/purple/red things I don't know the names of in english,


Some of my favorites so far (in all honesty, the only things I haven't gone bananas for was this weird olive spread) have been ANYTHING paired with patatas bravas, omelets with potatoes, kale, peppers, tomatoes, beans and company and this veggie soup with crunchy brown bread. I'm taking notes and have a file twenty pages long of recipes that take thirty minutes or less of preparation time. Cheap and timely food, for life!


And now the day of a foodie....


I eat breakfast at 7:45 (ranges from eggs with tomatoes to unreasonable helpings of spanish nutella and ALWAYS hot chocolate in a bowl. My habit à la francais that I will never give up). 


After a couple hours of school, I have an apple/orange/clementine at 10:45, then another apple/clementine/orange at 13:00. If I forget to pack fruit (like I did today) I hunt around for the best intersection of quality and price in the upper half of Barcelona. Yesterday I broke tradition and got thick, dark hot chocolate with cinnamon churros with a brazilian friend.


According to my host father here, churros are better for you than croissants. Score one for the good guys! (Even if it isn't true... neither is particularly stellar in its health qualities).


I then either walk around, visit a museum, find an adventure or go to a library (or all of them) until 15:00-:30, where I try to be home for lunch. I'm typically late, and my host mom then shakes her finger at me and says that tomorrow there will be no food for late american chicas. When I am on time she called me cariño.


Which brings me to another thing I adore in spanish: The preponderance of terms of endearment. Some favorites include cariño, cielo, chiquito/a, cuchura, querido/a, and muñequita. There is something very special about constantly affirming someone's worth to you, be they friend, family or romantic partner.


This spanish stuff is progressing nicely though. I got taken along to a party last night, and while it is a mystery how and why we were there, I had a great time. Twas choc o bloc with spanish twenty and thirty somethings who looked fresh out of an American Apparel catalogue. I hope you get the term I'm hinting at, but I don't want to offend anyone with a dirty word...


Anyways, I availed myself of the open bar and made friends with people from France (near Marseille and Paris), Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Sevilla and Valencia principally), England (London west end) and probably more. I accosted a man wearing a Green Bay Packer's hat, and demanded to know what a supporter of my little brother's favorite team was doing at a party in Barcelona. He was in the process of explaining (something to do with his name?) when my friend pulled me away to bust a move or two on the dance floor.


The only other thing I remember poignantly is chatting away happily on the bus in spanish, probably mixing up the half a dozen languages garbled in my head. Well fed and well entertained, I thus collapsed in bed.