Traditional Spanish Food

We had walked all the way over to Triana to buy my souvenier ceramics for the garden (so Matt could take them home for me), to find that all the stores were closed for Semana Santa. It was lunchtime so we asked a street vendor where to go for lunch. He directed us to a local bar (it sounds weird, but everyone eats at the bars) that had good traditional food. The place was packed and we had to wait for probably 45 minutes (standing up, squished against the back wall watching everyone eat at the bar). Addy needed to make a pit stop and there was a line up there too. By the time we made it back, we had been seated and everyone was ready to order. Alex wanted a ham sandwich, so the waiter had recommended a battered, fried ham something. We convinced Addy to go with chicken, fries and ketchup. Cassy and Connor ordered omlettes (tortillas in Spain) and we decided to try some meatballs and jamon iberico con queso. Jamon iberico is THE traditional Spanish meal so I was glad to finally try some. Matt ordered some pork. It ended up being the most expensive meal we have eaten in Spain, but it was nice to try some of the traditional foods.

Alex's ham steak, which was absolutely nothing like a ham sandwich.

The jamon iberico. One of the types of jamon tasted a lot like pepperoni. This was tasty, especially when eaten with the cheese and picos (hard little breadsticks).

Addy's chicken.

Spanish tortilla.

Spanish meatballs.

Typical Spanish decor. Any bar, grocery store, or restaurant worth its salt is decorated with hanging ham legs. The Spanish love their ham and pork. If a restaurant has sirloin on the menu they mean pork sirloin, not beef.

Although this wasn't our very favorite meal, it was fun to try the traditional foods. We have had some wonderful food here in Spain. There is not a lot of variety in the Spanish menu, but each place makes it's own sauces and they have different tapas. We mostly stick to ordering tapas (which is really how I prefer to eat anyway, if you have eaten out with me you know I would rather share a little plate of this or that than commit to one whole meal:). Tapas are like appetizer portions of a variety of things. You can get cheeses, pork chops, ribs, cold soups, all sorts of things.

Some of the foods we have grown to love:
Cassy will be very sad to leave behind her solomillo al whiskey from Bar Rodriguez (they have yummy jamon bocadillos con queso azul, too), Addy may not survive without her jamon potato chips (they are my favorite too!), Connor and I love the coco (coconut) yogurt they have here, I am hoping they make it in the States and I have just missed it somehow, we all love the Kinder chocolates (think Twix) and especially the pink licorice with the white stuff inside that they sell at the newspaper stands. Fanta naranja will be missed as well as the large variety of cheeses they offer here. I know we all would agree that we will miss the local bakery just around the corner with its yummy muffins, breads and palmeras (palmiers or elephant ears) with the yellow topping.

Addy with her jamon chips...notice the leg of ham on the front.