Spanish Food

There are 4 foods from Spain which stand out in my mind. There's the paella, the hamburger, Sangria, and the Cafe Americano. (All photos, except for the last one, courtesy of Lili)

Paella

There are many varieties of this dish, but what they all have in common is a bed of seasoned rice and some sort of meat and/or vegetable on top. Lili and I tried a standard seafood paella and then a local Valencian paella that had chicken (pictured). While I enjoyed the seasoned rice, I can't say that I was totally blown-over with joy about paellas in general because the whole concept of it didn't seem very unique. I also learned through the experience of eating the seafood paella that eating crustacean seafood is a waste of time. The animals are so tiny making for a very small amount of meat and it is incredibly difficult to get the shell off.



Hamburger

The Spanish know how to make hamburgers. We saw signs for them everywhere and digested some ourselves one day. What makes them so fantastic!? The ingredients: beef patty, deli slice of ham, onion, lettuce, tomato, and a sunnyside-up egg. I made one last night myself. Soooo delicious.



Sangria

We had a very Spanish meal one day of paella and Sangria. Sangria is a cold red wine drink with slices of fruit floating in it. I found it to be quite tasty because the fruit added the extra fruitiness which I have always believed red wine should have (because it's red and red says fruity!). Having had already tried German Gluehwein during the Christmas season, we found ourselves identifying Sangria as a cold version of Gluehwein (because Gluehwein is a hot, red, fruit-filled wein, for those of you who forgot).



Cafe Americano

I have not even had my 1 year annisversary yet of being a true coffee drinker, so until I did some research a couple days ago, I was really not knowledgeable at all about all the different terms used to describe specific types of coffee. I was first taught to make coffee by pouring drip coffee into a cup about 3/4 of the way full, adding a spoonful or so of sugar, and filling the rest of the cup with milk. At home I have changed this to adding water to instant coffee, adding two spoonfuls of sugar, and filling the cup with only a tiny bit of milk. So, in Spain I didn't know how to order coffee... On my first try I agreed when the woman said "cafe solo". I thought this meant a single coffee. As you can see in this picture, that is not what it meant.



No, my cup does not just appear smaller, it was smaller. I think I ordered espresso. So, I learned that with enough sugar, even a tiny cup of espresso can taste good. Perhaps you are thinking, what did Lili order that her cup is so big? She ordered "cafe con leche", which means "coffee with milk". So, why didn't I order that? Because I learned already last summer that when "coffee with milk" is ordered at a coffee shop, they fill half of the cup with milk and only put in half a cup of coffee, and that just tastes boring. On my next attempt to order coffee I tried to describe that I wanted "coffee black" because I figured that with the little amount of milk I usually add, I could probably survive with no milk. I was informed that what I wanted was "cafe Americano". I didn't quite understand the logic of calling it "Americano" because it doesn't describe from what region of America this style of coffee originates, but it tasted right. When I did my coffee research a couple of days ago in an attempt to answer this origin of name question, I found out a couple of interesting facts. First, I had not found a "normal black coffee" like I thought I had. Rather, "cafe Americano" is watered-down espresso, typically served at coffee shops as the equivalent of "normal black coffee". Second, this style of coffee originated during WWII when American (United States American) soldiers poured hot water into their coffees. And if I had already been at all into American coffee culture, I would have known that this name "cafe Americano" is normal in American coffee shops like Starbucks. Ah well, sometimes ya gotta travel halfway around the world to learn about your home.



Here's a quick lesson for all of you who have ever wondered what is with all those crazy coffee names.
Espresso Varieties (water forced through ground beans by pressure):
Cafe Americano -- diluted with water
Latte -- diluted with milk
Cappacino -- diluted with milk
Machiato -- diluted with milk

Coffee:
Drip Coffee (water passes through ground beans by gravity)
Instant Coffee (ground beans freeze dried)
Cafe con Leche, Cafe au lait, caffe e latte -- diluted with milk
Frappucino -- cold coffee and milk, typically with additional flavorings