Sunday, October 6, 2013

Spanish Bombs

My husband Dave and I got married on May 5, 2012. It was a beautiful day with all our family and friends, and the only thing that went wrong was the humidity. I had my hair in an up-do though, so it worked out for me. After our wedding, we traveled to Spain to bask in the Basque country, marvel at Madrid, and... bark.. in Barcelona (sorry I couldn't think of one).



We started our Spanish journey in Madrid, which is both the national capital and the tapas capital. We wanted to try everything! We feasted on many different tapas, ham, olives, cheese, tortilla española, and croquettes, just to name a few. However, we did manage to sneak some pizza in of course. The first piece of pizza we tried was a small place in the Cortes neighborhood. It was remarkable because they really loaded it up with dried herbs, and the crust had a nice puffiness to it.


The next pizza we tried was during a tapas crawl before a night out at some bars. It was much closer to the American style pizza, in standard triangular slices, which might be expected as we were in the touristy neighborhood near the Plaza Mayor. This was the best pizza we ate in Spain, and the pepperoni was super crispy.


Look how happy we are there! Awwww, honeymooners.

After a few days in Madrid, we took a long, 5-hour train ride to San Sebastián, located in the Basque region on the coast of northern Spain. San Sebastián is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and is known for being a major foodie capital. From Michelin starred restaurants like Arzak and Mugaritz, to the average pintxos bar (pintxos is the Basque equivalent of tapas) in old city, every chef in San Sebastián is aiming to be innovative. I absolutely loved it here, and it didn't hurt that the town is situated on a half-moon bay, nestled in the hills.


We of course managed to sneak in some pizza. After a leisurely afternoon grazing on pintxos, we stumbled upon a pizzeria and I decided there was no harm in trying a slice.


This pizza was super cheesy, with the nice broiled bubbles, situated on a super thin crust. It was delightfully delicate, and similar to American bar pie.



Our final leg of the trip was Barcelona, land of Gaudí. We did some amazing architectural tours, wandered a bit, and of course tried the pizza. The first stop was a small place on a touristy street near La Boquería market, and was pretty lackluster. Nothing special, just your average re-heated moneymaker on a cafeteria tray.


Our last night though, we had much better pizza near our hotel in El Born. Here it is, half-devoured.


This pizza was much more towards the European style, with a thin crust, good sauce, and not too much cheese.

Overall, Spain gave us some great memories and beautiful food. But my food memories there revolve more around ham and cheese bechamel croquettes, and less around pizza.



No comments:

Post a Comment