You know Papa Choi is getting tech savvy when ...

He manages to send you a text message. Nevermind the fact that it was completely blank; I know he was trying to tell me he got my text message to him earlier. haha.

He says he is planning to get an iPhone soon. This should be very interesting. =)

Cal Boter - Barcelona, Spain

One night, Eric took us to one of his favorite neighborhood restaurant in the Gracias district known for its Catalan cuisine. I'm beginning to think everything I ate in Barcelona was Catalonian now.

I think this is called an escalivada, a popular Catalan dish that consists of grilled red peppers, eggplants and pate of some sort that you eat with bread. Yummers!
I think this was fried cod with white beans. I've never been a huge fan of beans, until I was in Spain.
Eric raved about the steak here and it was just as tasty as it looks. I'm not sure if one person can eat this all by himself, but we had no problem devouring this thing. I think the secret to Catalan cooking is to keep things really simple and use fresh and flavorful ingredients.
Some kind of sausage with their signature pa amb tomaquet (tomato bread).

For dessert, we had some postre de musico (also called music in Catalan) to share, which is a plate of nuts and dried fruit. They also bring you a carafe of moscatel, which is a sweet dessert wine. Eric explained to us that this traditional dessert was called the musician's dessert because, back in the day, traveling musicians would eat this after playing in the villages. Again, a very simple dessert, but thoroughly enjoyable.

Apparently they give you a full decanter of moscatel whether you're in a party of one or three. Thank goodness I was not by myself or else I would have attempted to drink that all by myself. Soomeenshee has no restraint.

Cal Boter

62 Calle de Tordera

Sagardi - Barcelona, Spain

On a Monday night, we set out to find a place to eat for dinner, using Le Cool, a hip little guidebook that Eric lent us, as a guide. We literally combed through the streets of the Riberia District, in between the Picasso Museum and the Jaume I metro stop looking for three separate restaurants, all of which were closed. We didn't know this at the time, but apparently a lot of restaurants will close on Monday instead of Sundays. We were out of luck. So three failed attempts later, we were left to our own devices, namely our noses and eyes.

Since we weren't too familiar with the area and didn't really know where else to go for dinner, we wandered around for awhile. While walking along one of the main roads, Carrer de l'Argenteria, we saw a brightly lit bar restaurant with its counter lined with plates and plates of small bite size appetizer looking things. The waitress suggested we eat some tapas at the bar while we wait for a table outside. We happily obliged.

Sagardi has Basque style tapas, which is usually fresh slices of bread topped with all sorts of hot and cold toppings. Each little tapas, also known as a pinxo, looks like different types of nigiri sushi, but instead of rice, they use bread as the base. It's a great way to sample different types of tapas and with a glass of wine, it can make for a fun and very filling meal.

Basically you just pick the pinxo of your choosing, each of which has a toothpick stuck in it. At the end, the waiter counts the number of toothpicks on your plate and you pay for the number of pinxos you ate. At Sagardi's, I think it was 1,20 euros per pinxo. I don't remember how many different types of pinxos they had but I'm sure we tried most of the items there.

Now for the pretty pictures. The pinxo on the top was mackerel with some lime zest, which worked wonders in cutting out the oiliness of the mackerel. The other white and purple pinxos were both flavored crab meat with grated cheese or vegetables on top.

There were other pinxos with croquettes (fried potato balls), smoked salmon, ham with mushrooms and goat cheese. The goat cheese one with the roasted tomato and fried pepper on top was really good.

I think the one on the left was a piece of omelet that they wrapped a sliced zucchini over. Next to that was a mini ham sandwich and below that was what I thought was a fried squid ring, but it was actually a disk of fried cheese with some sort of sauce in the middle. Doesn't it totally look like a squid ring to you? To the left of that was a stuffed red pepper.

We eventually made it to a table outside and the waitress brought out more freshly made or fried tapas for us to sample as well. Since they are so small you don't realize how much bread you end up consuming. I think between the two of us, we had twenty pinxos. I'm pretty certain I ate a whole baguette all by myself. So much for eating just a few appetizers. haha.

Sagardi

Carrer de L'Argenteria 62-64

Sol de Nit - Barcelona, Spain

I was on the go mostly when I was visiting Toledo, Granada and Sevilla, so I ended up eating a lot of sandwiches. I tried their bocadillos de tortilla espanola (potato omelet sandwich), bocadillos con jamon and even a bocadillo de calamares (squid ring sandwich). I was beginning to think Spanish people only ate sandwiches.

Thank goodness I went to Barcelona and discovered tapas. So forgive the lack of food pictures in Toledo, Granada and Sevilla. If you really want to see a squid ring sandwiches, I'll email it to you. =)

So we pick up in Barcelona where I met up with my friend Matthew, who also happened to be visiting Barcelona at the same time. He was staying with his college friend, Eric, who moved to Spain a few years ago. It was like having our own Rick Steves, but so much better. I told Eric that he should write a guidebook with a local twist and even offered to move to Spain to be his contributing editor. The offer remains open.

It was so nice having someone take you to all the great, local restaurants and also figure out what to order for you. I don't think we had one bad meal under his tutelage. One night, Eric and his girlfriend even cooked us a wonderful, home cooked meal, which we enjoyed out on their charming front terrace. The following day, Eric took the day off and showed us around Gaudi's Parc Guell. We wandered through the park and somehow ended up at this beautiful viewpoint with three stone crosses on top, the Turo de les Tres Creus.

There was a guy at the base playing the most ethereal, dreamy song on his guitar and a group of people sitting on top just looking out at the view of the city below. It was so picturesque and as Eric put it best, it felt "magical."

After our long descent down from the park, we headed to the Gracias district of Barcelona for lunch. It's a less touristy part of town and it definitely has a small neighborhood type of feel to it. Sol de Nit is a small bar located in a cozy square called Plaza del Sol. Paying homage to the sun, most of the restaurants and stores have some reference to el sol in their name. Sol de Nit was already bustling by the time we got there and there were folks sitting outside enjoying the sun, tapas and cold beer.

Eric went to work with the menu and did an awesome job. It's hard to see but that brown bowl holds pimiento de padrons. Remember those shisito peppers I had at Ippudo? Who would have guessed that I'd see them again in Spain. They were just as delicious, fried in some olive oil and sprinkled with coarse salt. Apparently, once in awhile you might get a really spicy pepper, but all of the ones we had were mild. It's impossible not to keep popping them in your mouth. I had an open love affair with these peppers the whole trip. Ask Pete, I ordered them every chance I got.

We also had a plate of thinly sliced salt cod with some olive oil and olive tapenade. I've never had this before, but it was delicious. The cod literally dissolves in your mouth. Sooo good.

And it wouldn't be a proper meal without a ham sandwich, right? I'm not sure what the name of this sandwich is below, but you basically start with a huge piece of rustic bread that's been toasted and rubbed with garlic and very ripe tomatoes. It's then drizzled in olive oil and seasoned with salt. To this, you add roasted eggplant, onions and red peppers and some anchovy fillets. Who knew such simple, humble ingredients could be transformed it into something so spectacular. I don't know if I could recreate this at home, but I might have to try.

I hearted this even place more when I saw this cute little sign on their window. They only serve "costumers." Don't forget to dress up when you come here.

Sol de Nit

Plaza del Sol, 10

Introducing ... Two Sheeps Press

My friend's letter press cards are available now on Etsy. Here's the link. Their holiday cards are so adorable, I want to eat them. But I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate that. =)

They do custom orders as well, so feel free to contact them with any questions.

You know Papa Choi is glad to have you back when ...

He wakes you up at 9 am on Sunday morning to go to IHOP. He really must have missed me. =)

I'm back in LA now. I'm glad to be home and ecstatic not to be living out of my suitcase. I still have a lot to post from Spain, so bear with me while I try to catch up.

Mercado de San Miguel - Madrid, Spain

On my second day in Madrid, I stopped by the Mercado de San Miguel on my way to the Royal Palace. It's literally right next to the Plaza Mayor. It's a historic, turn-of-the century, wrought iron covered market that's gotten a recent facelift. It's been beautifully restored in cast-iron and glass and when you walk in, you feel as though you are in an open air market. During the summer, instead of air-conditioning, they spray you with a light mist every so often, just like the do with the lettuce at the supermarkets. hahaha. It's a nice place to look around, pick up some groceries or grab a mid-day snack. I hear it's quite popular at night as well.

Inside, you will find 33 booths selling fresh fruit and vegetables, cured meats, seafood, bread, pastries and a host of other prepared foods, including tapas. Here's one vendor with his wall of ham.

The most expensive ham is called jamon iberico, which is a type of cured ham produced only in Spain and comes from a black Iberian pig. There are several levels of jamon ibericos, the most desirable being the jamon iberico de bellota, which is ham from black Iberian pigs that are allowed to roam the oak forests along the border or Spain and Portugal and feed on its acorns. While other hams are cured for twelve months, the jamon ibericos are cured for up to 36 months. I don't know if this is a jamon iberico, because I can't see it's black foot, but this is how they typically slice the thin slivers of ham for you.

If I had only known I can mail prepackaged pieces of ham and cured sausages back to the states, darn! Rick Steves left out this critical piece of information in his guidebook.
Here's a huge iced seafood platter with some shrimp and some other crustacean that looks like a cross between a shrimp, lobster and a crab. Someone please enlighten me.

A variety of grains and beans for sale and freshly made pasta. Looking back now, I don't think I've ever seen pasta on the menu in Spain, so I was beginning to think Spanish people don't eat pasta, but I guess they do.

These mini donuts looked mighty tasty too.

Some different types of tapas. The Spanish really like baby squid and anchovies.

Although you can eat your tapas at the bar or counter at each stall, the mercado has a central area with tables and stools for you to pick up different goodies from the various stalls and enjoy them together.

There's a couple wine bars and an oyster and champagne bar called Daniel Sorlut that had French oysters.

Across from Daniel Sorlut's was a cheese stall offering artisan cheeses from Spain, Italy and France. I don't even know what I ate, but they were all really good. Especially that moldy looking one, yum!