Foodie Delight in Barca: La Boqueria y Tapas con Sangria

~Barcelona




     

The Chew		The View
Gaggle of tapas @ Txapela		La Boqueria!

Here I write yet AGAIN from a cafe--sheesh, buying these teas in exchange for internet is gonna start adding up! No matter, internet will be arriving soon at the apartment.

The weather here has been LOVELY the past two days, and it was finally time for me to head to my personal foodie Mecca of La Boqueria.


This is Barcelona's biggest public market, and it's a convenient 10 minute walk from our apartment. I have to say how much I love how small the city center is...and we're right in the heart of it!


The market was bustling when we went, around 4pm. This was LUCKY for us, considering that when we go to sleep at 5am and wake up at 1pm, most places are closed due to siesta. I really wonder if some of these shops ever open, as I've yet to see some lift their graffiti-adorned metal doors.

We found an "Organic Market" which looked mighty tasty to me. I'm sure their paella is orgasmic. They also have these amazing fruit smoothie shakes for a euro (as it gets later, prices go down), with flavors like dragonfruit and coconut-strawberry. SO YUMMY.

I opted for a "Macedonia Fruit Bowl" to stave off my hunger until TAPAS TIME.  The silver-coated cocoa beans and candied walnuts looked mighty tempting. But at 63 euros (=$95) a liter of chocolate, my wallet was thanking me for sniffing instead of tasting.

The next phase was dinner (lunch? Dessert? I can’t keep track of mealtimes anymore). It was my first tapas & sangria (aka quintessential Spanish) meal, and Lu had pinky-promised it days ago. Now that my bank issues were resolved, it was time for some feastin'. 

• Pintxo bikini txapela: Layers of parmesan and asparagus stacked in a mini double-decker.
• Pintxo tudela: A skewer of tomatoes, eggplant, and mushroom served on its own crostini.
• Pintxo bilbao: Layers of tomato and parmesan cheese on a round crostini (seeing a theme here?)
• Pintxo igualdo: Crumbled goat cheese on a circle of eggplant.

I basically wiped the kitchen clean of its vegetables. Everything else is centered around ham and seafood. 

And the sangria was divine! Maybe because I was tired already or because I had built up such anticipation, but I was good with one glass of the light, fruity beverage. Txapela has been my most memorable meal here--and for a total of 9 euros (=$13.50) including sangria, it's considered a steal. Though it's not completely filling, but that's the Spanish way.

Txapela
Passeig De Gracia 8
08007 Barcelona
93 412 02 89

In fact, I've started to get used to not filling up at restaurants. We rarely take dinners to go (count: 1 at a Spanish diner where my spinach had bits of ham cartilage peeking out), and lunch is non-existent. Baguettes with cheese and miscellaneous sandwiches are typical fare. GOD do I miss a good salad. A big, loaded, Togo’s egg sandwich/wonton asian salad combo. Kristin, Kevin, and I were talking about how much we’re deprived of veggies and how psychologically it seems impossible for us to be satisfied without them.

The market we go to has a poor selection of veggies. Redeeming quality: 1 euro wine. New place has 0.80 euro sangria as well.

MUST VARY DIET. No tofu in sight. Must find beans.

~~~Responses

Linds: We’ve definitely been cooking at home—I’ve had 3 meals at home, some yummy frozen veggies with rice (found in cabinet), spinach-cashew pasta that Lu made, and tomato pasta that Evan made. I haven’t eaten this much pasta in my life.

Susanna: I will try to eat out as much as possible, I’ll just have to budget.

:D Wait who is this?