Variety of meals

We've enjoyed a variety of meals and tried to be local in our cuisine choices.

The first night in Madrid we got tapas, which include mini baked potatoes, hummus (which I haven't been able to find in a store anywhere, although they have a lot of chick peas in various markets), a spinach pastry, and a meat empanada

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In Barcelona we had 'cocas' - which is a local dish that is simply a baguette sliced in half and toasted with a variety of toppings - ham, Iberian ham, salami, chorizo, etc.  I had mine with Roquefort cheese.  It was pretty good, but basic

I've had paella in three places - on the square in Madrid, in a small plaza in Toledo, and at our hostel in Barcelona.  The one on the square was the best.  It had the most spicyness/flavor.

We've picnicked several times.  In Barcelona we went to the famous Santa Catarina market and got fresh raspberries, grapes, dates, turkey and salami, some good bread (and an empanada that got stolen with David's backpack because I was saving it for later). 

We've stopped for gelato at least three times.  Good every time!

My favorite meal so far, however, was the Argentine empanadas that we had for dinner in Barcelona.  It as a hole in the wall shop around the corner from our hostel.  It was mostly take away, but had a few seats, so we decided to stay.  The young owner struck up a conversation, asking us where we were from. He then said he was from Argentina (in the north).  The recipes were Argentine empanadas and were delicious!  I had Spinich (spiced with a touch of nutmeg) and Cheese and onion.  He chatted with us the whole meal.  His grandfather was German and immigrated to Argentina at the end of WWII, thus the young man could claim German citizenship.  With EU law, this allowed him to open a business in Spain.  He said it was a lot of work.  He and a friend basically renovated their entire space, including plumbing and electrical to open the shop.  They had been open 9 months and were doing well.  His family had come to visit him and really enjoyed the visit.  I asked him what he thought of the Catalon independence movement.  He said the neighborhood where his business was was pro-independence, so he went along with that when asked. He spoke Spanish and English, which he taught himself.

It was a little hard to tell which empanada had which filling, but he showed us a key that indicated which was which.  We still ended up switching the carne and the pollo.