Culinary Barcelona - Part 1.

At the end of my two weeks of work in Barcelona, TJ came to spend a long weekend. We started one of the best culinary weekends of our travels with a stop at a modern, popular place for pinchos, (small snacks that are typically on pieces of bread.)

A huge part of our love of travel comes from finding great restaurants, and enjoying local food. This place was a perfect mix of modern and traditional atmosphere. The food was all displayed at the bar, and you just pick up the items you want, save the toothpick and at the end of your stay they count the number of toothpicks you have and that is what you are charged.

It allows for locals to pop in, grab a couple of pinchos, a glass of wine, beer, or Txocholi and then continue on with their night. (Txocholi is a Basque lightly sparkling crisp white wine that for some reason is poured by holding the bottle at about shoulder height and the glass with your arm extended, thus pouring from a great distance and creating a bit of a spectacle that some bartenders excel in.)

When we were there, there were some sweet well-dressed older Spanish couples that popped in, some tourists and a bunch of locals. Out of all the countries we've visited, I think we've had the most frequent 'local' experiences in Spain. It's so nice to just follow their traditions, and wind up in these places where we clearly stand out - but can try and blend in to the background and truly experience a bit of local life.

Plus Spanish wine is the close I've found to Californian. Their reds are full-bodied in the same style as Californian Zinfandels, and the whites are not as austere as French or Italian and are more rounded and approachable.

Ahhhh- but learning Spanish continues to elude me and not make it on the daily to-do list. I vastly increased my Catalan vocabulary this trip, in most part due to a friendly staff member at the hotel who kindly introduced a new word or two each morning. But I still walk into a restaurant and shop, and stand in awkward silence for a moment or two while I anxiously struggle to remember how to say 'Hello, good morning.....excuse me, sorry....do you speak english.....errrr.....please.....ahhh....thank you?!?"

I'll get there.....