La Comida

Buenas tardes!


It's Friday afternoon here, and it's 70 degree outside. Yay! :) I had classes this morning, and then lunch with my senora and her two daughters. They talk SO fast, it's so hard to understand them. But it's a lot of fun to figure out what they're saying.


Speaking of lunch, I haven't really told you about the food here... well, it's wonderful. My senora makes lots of soup, which are always good. There's this vegetable dish that is basically just vegetables in olive oil, and it's very good. For salads, the only dressing is olive oil as well, but that's fine by me. :) And there there are the sandwiches that we have for dinner sometimes: giant, fresh bread that crackles when you bite into it (you know, the kind with the really good crust...) with ham or chicken or this fantastic spread (my senora told me the name of it but I don't know the translation to English, or if there is one). At meals, most Spanish people just drink water, which I think is great.

Possibly the best thing I've had so far is a churro. Yum. It makes me hungry just to think about them. ;) They are covered in sugar and sometimes you dip them in chocolate. I wish you could all come visit and we'd get churros. Also good was this pastel (pastry) that I had the other morning. A friend and I went out during our morning descanso (break) and went to a pasteleria (shop where they sell pastries) and I bought this flaky, semi-eclair pastry. It was filled with chocolate. It was fabulous. :) Some mornings we get cafe con leche (coffee with milk), which I've started to enjoy... I never drank coffee before coming here.

But the most interesting food-related experience I've had so far is the mercado (market). This morning my grammar class went to the market in Triana, and it was great! There are stalls for all kinds of food: pescaderia for fish, carniceria for meat, frutera for fruit, etc. Our professor bought this fruit called chirimoya for us to try (it was really sweet and kind of soft). That market is definitely a place I want to go back to.

So as you can see, I'm eating well here. :) There's lots of stellar food to try, and my senora is a really good cook. Here are two pictures from the mercado this morning; doesn't that food just beg you to reach out and try it?