madrid. best moments.

final installation of spain..

our lovely lobby from cats hostel..



wiseguys yang and i skipped the three euros entreance to museo el prado and visited the opposite retiro park for one euro. though not all the flowers were in season, the camelias and tulips were amazingly beautiful.. which made me think why the heck would anyone want to lie on a bed of roses when camelia spreads look even more inviting and don't rose bushes have thorns? HMMMM..



this was taken outside the royal palace. we asked two local madridians to help us take a photographs with the roman statues and after that, they volunteered to be in the picture with us! talk about spontaneous.. i love the spanish.. they can be incredibly offhand, without giving a damn if anyone thinks they are odd.. haha.. note how colour coordinated we are!

madrid downtown.



another favourite moment was when yang and i impetuously walked into a hair salon because yang was tired of the jaw-dropping haircut prices in uk. after gaining much insight into the price rates, we picked up the spanish instyle, picked out a picture and showed it to our non-english-speaking hairdresser.. who then proceeded to provide yang with quite the hair-raising ride of her life.

we watched flamenco at casa patas on ,our second night in madrd. we actually visited casa patas on our first night in madrid since it was just a couple of doors away from our hostel. we met incredibly friendly locals, including two semi-drunks and the bartender. our two drunk amigos kept yang and i amused and introduced us to pulpo gallega by letting us take a bite of their plates.. haha..

pulpo gallega from casa patas (madrid): 'pulpo' means octopus in spanish and though this dish can be served as a tapas, we had it as an entree at casa patas, thanks to our drunks amigos the night before. this delicious dish was served galician style- octopus, sprinkled with sea salt, paprika and olive oil and grilled to plump perfection. plate's up!

i think we caught a spanish boyband in mtv-filming- action.

with four days in madrid, we owned all the time in the world and i will never forget spending a lazy afternoon on the lawns on royal palce, just gazing into the vast clear-blue skies and talking about i-have-forgotten-what. thoroughly relaxing..

more photos:
barcelona
madrid

Madrid, Spain

madrid.
ginos: i met up with fellow smu exchange student sharon in barcelona and she took
yang and i out for lunch at ginos. honestly, the thought 'huh, italian food in spain?' came to my mind when sharon first mentioned it but i am glad we tried it out.

yang ordered the cannelloni rossini, which features creamy white pasta filled with meat and bechamel au gratin.. which clearly set well with her the carbonara-lover. sharon had the lorraine, a pizza topped with hereagain! bacon, gouda cheese and four cheese sauce.. this pizza was difficult to resist..haha.. but i particularly liked my piamontese pizza, which was topped with whatsnottoloveabout bacon and caramilsed onion. two words: love it. the sweetness of caramilsed onions totally spilt my tastbuds and now whenever i order pizza, i want to have my onions caramilsed- no way around it.

santa anna: for dinner, sharon took yang and i out for dinner at santa anna, which was a pebble´s throw away from la ramble. for our entree, we made an advanturous choice of paella arroz negro- black (squid) ink paella.

tip: don't order this dish if you are hoping to impress your first date. eat it only with friends and family whom you can afford to be unglam in front of.

tapas-wise. sharon recommended the pinchos de maruno (grilled pork, seasoned with with cumin and paprika), which is what i would NOW recommend.. and we shared a calamare dish too, note the slightly-thicker batter? though i don't usually prefer thick batters, this got the thumbs-up from yang.

la paca vaca. unbashedly my second buffest in spain, yang and i had such a ball over this unspanish feast. it was such a good deal (at 7.95euros) since there was a high food turnover rate.. luckily we made it to the restaurant at half past one as fifteen minutes later, there were hordes of people queuing and the long lines continued till past three.. erm yes we were there for quite a while.. we gave the salad table a customary visit and launched intos our meats.

CARNIVORES UNLEASHED: yes out-of-the-roastary meats and sausages.. the roast pork was a blissful reminder of those that we had back in singapore (think crrrrcrunchy skin and super-tender meat, sanwiching a thin layer of fat.. ooo). there was lamb too and i made sure i ate enough to satisfy my lamb quotar since i hardly get any protein back in copenhagen! i skipped the pasta and delved into the fresh-out-of-the-oven pizzas which were amazingly good.. when you tear apart the pizza base, a light almost fluffy texture emerges... no kidding, i lost count of the number of slices that i had.. mmmm.

ruffles: this probably confirms your suspicion that i ate EVERYTHING in spain.. BUT BUT.. you got to understand ruffles is soo dreadfully expensive in copenhagen and here they have flavours suited to local's taste. at only 0.95euros for 200g, i tried both the jamon jamon (smoked ham) and york'eso (ham and cheese). verdict? jamon was ordinary but york'eso had me licking the sides of the packet after i polished the entire bag. how on earth does the company frito-lay capture or rather powderify the essence of ham and cheese?! ingenious.

just in case you were wondering, i am still in germany.. hence the lack of updates. keep smiling, kids!

Barcelona. Spain

favouritest memories.

i will try to keep this post un-foodie.. if that's possible.. hohoho..



left: view from the top of parc guell; right: yang with the lizard

taking into consideration the crazy meat-fest at la paca vaca, we decided to head onto parc guell- on foot, to ease our fat-laden souls of guilt. but damn, it was a one and half hour walk! U-P-H-I-L-L.. the both of us became so grumpy along the way- though luckily we managed to keep away from each other's necks.. the funny thing was how anti-climaxal parc guell was. after the physically- challenging climb, we were like, 'where's the lizard... hurry up.. take a picture of the lizard.. quick stand in front of the lizard, yang'..

and there were many many who felt the same way and i took the above picture to show how overly-hyped and tourist-covered the silly lizard was.. well at least yang got the lizard to herself for two minutes.



our hostel was actually next to the casa batllo..



la sagrada familia was right smack in the middle of the surbans... imagine living your life next to a revered work of art.. to be honest, la sagrada is so eccentrically-designed.. without the skyfoldings, i doubt most would know its uncompleted.. haha.. we created another tourist fuax pas at la sangrada familia. instead of oohing and aahing over the unfisnished masterpiece, i took a few pictures.. yang didn' even bother with her camera here, before heading downtown for dinner.



down la rambla, yang and i played up our 'beachness' by taking a relaxing stroll along the port. there seemed to be a huge fuss in front of one of the buildings but we totally ignored it.. realising later that it was the wolrd trade center. haha.. whooppss

bubo: an incredibly chic food boutique where they serve carefully-crafted tapas and dessert treats that will have you fumbling for your camera and wallet.

i don't quite remeber its specific location, only that it is in barri gothic.. should visit if you can!

Spain

spain house of commons

you can't come to spain and leave without trying these grubbin' goodies.

bocadillos calamares: here´s a treat everyone could love. you order it and they deep fry the calamari on the spot.. for my first bocadillo, i wasn´t used to the dryness and was tempted to ask for ketchup.. but rather than insult the cook, i ate without complaints and learnt a good lesson- the freshness of calamari needed no sauce for ass-kickin´purposes. it was such a delight to sink your teeth into those chewable calamari.. i hereby declare this my favourite adopted snack from spain.

museo del jamon aka musuem of ham. vegetarians and peta: keep out. there is a ver very pungent scent of cured jam.

i would recommend a visit to this museo (apart from the fact that entrance fee is nil) but don't come banging on my door if the perverse stench of ham haunts you for the next couple of days.

paella: paella to the spanish is like hainanese chicken rice to singaporeans. oily- check. flavourful- check. yang and i couldn´t go home without trying the different varieties.. from the normal seafood to our most daring affair of them all, the arroz negro (paella in squid ink).. from terraza outdoor cafes, to proper sit-down restaurants.. WE HAD THEM ALL. we even tried a takeway version from el conigles. personally, the paella is a little too oily for me.. how ironic considering how i love my greasy greasy roast meats and deef fried calamari.. haha..

Chocoholic, Spain

europe's uncrowned chocolate capital.

spain is surprisingly fervent about their chocolate and we took a risk on our sugar blood levels by making it a point to try out hot melted chocolate at every noticeable cafe.

mauri (barcelona) under sharon's recommendation. this was by far the poshest cafe but defintely well-known. we were at mauri's on a monday evening and had to wait for a table. this place is well visited by locals and tourist alike. the hot xocoalate was undiscerningly good. try this: for a lap of luxury.

bar saint joseph's at mercat de la boqueria.

this, my dear reader occupies a special place in my heart. despite the dinghy setting in a markeplace, yang and i got to see the proprietor conjure up hot xocoa on the spot, instead of just dispensing it from a machine. pair it with a churro and just watch your endorphins scutter around your blood circulation.

the proprietor and his missus were awfully friendly, doing their best to accomodate our lack of spanish.. posing for a picture for yang and making our rrip to mercat boquerie ever more special.

in fact, we loved bar saint joseph's so much, we made a second trip the next morning. too bad the churros were out so i had a lucious fresh loaf from a bakery nearby and whilst yang crossiant-ed with her xocoa. the fresh loaf was simply amazing- i felt like oliver twist with his first meal in days..breaking open a crusty loaf, only to discover a pillowy soft texture within. i am not exaggerating! this is perhaps the best loaf of bread i have ever encountered.. and now, i am rather upset i have no idea what kind of bread it is.. can somebody solve the mystery?

we had our FIRST cuppa hot xocoa at maestro churros (madrid) so this pretty much set the standards..

nothing much to yell about but this might not be a bad thing. to me, hot xocoa tastes pretty darn good just about everywhere so its more about the experience

-think bar saint joseph's-

try this: if you stay near anton martin station

we visited valor chocolaterie (at madrid's puerta de sol) after lunch.. thereby proving that you don't need an occasion or specific time to have hot xocoa.. pretty good if not a tad too sweet.

try this: with a rosquilla (spanish donut)

on my last day in madrid, i had pretty much nothing to do, having covered more or less the tourity spots, thus i decided to hunt down san gines choclateria.. not much of a hunt since it was at puerta de sol but it was tucked into a small corner, thus making it easy to miss- even with the neon lights.
what more can i say? quaint, old-fashioned, hassle free.. this could have become a favourite haunt if i were to imagine myself a local madridian.

rightttt, that's a lot of hot chocolate.. i known. but after this trip, i will never be able to look at a cuppa hot chocolate the same way again.

if hot xocoa is not your thing (are you serious????), there are many chocolate boutiques found around both cities too.. posh, fun or just plain frivolous.. spain's got them all.

one of the many chocolate boutiques that we came across was xocoa and we also visited cocoa sampaka.

a museum for chocolate? kinda just says it all don't you think?

Sweet tooth in Spain

spain pastries and sweets.

MADRID- discovery travel and living freaks such as ourselves paid a visit to the Convento de Corpus Christi. home to the Las Carboneras, a small group of nuns who make and sell sweet biscuits and cakes in a tiny shop, hidden from public view. after searching high and low for the hidden outlet, we finally found the doorbell, thanks to a gypsy woman who begged by the streets.

it was such a clandestine affair, first we had to ring the doorbell to gain entrance, then our orders were placed through a grille with much difficulty (due to our inability to point at pictures) and we collected our cookies through a small revolving window. we never saw the nuns and this is so to protect them from the outside world. our bag of Galletes was rich in lemon-buttery-goodness and though we gave close to half of it away to the gypsy woman, we still had so much to indulge in. a must-visit in madrid!

peter pan: the Madrid: most spaniards probably have cavity problems and they have dozens and dozens of bakeries and pastesseries to prove it. peter pan is one of them and lucky for us, it was right at our hostel's doorsteps.

the copious spread of tantalizing scrummilicious treats easily warmed its way into our hearts and expanding waistlines.. but be warned by the photograhped 'miel'- bread soaked in honey, two bites of it was enough to make the ends of my hair stand in alert of saccharine-overload .. so unless you were a crazy honeybee in your previous life, you might want to give this a miss.. haha..

bottom left, ensaimada: this doughy pastry is guilty of over-simplicity.. no filling, no toppings, no fancy dandy candy-coating.. but it was a WINNER.. it actually made me realise i like all that doughy stuff, compared to puff pastry.

bottom right, empanada: another popular snack with the spaniards, this pastry is usually stuffed (i had tuna) with filling and baked before serving.. mmmm... how i love the crumbly ends..

with two hundred over pictures of spain.. here is the first of many installations you can expect.

tapa tapa.

when friends heard i was visiting spain, tapas was the first item on top of their recommendations (*cough* no mention of la sagrada familia?).. though the variety of tapas could prove to be mind-boggling to greenhorns, most bars and restaurants offer more or less the same items.. and if all esle fails, just point, SMILE and say 'tapas' or you might be charged for the entree version.

we maxed out our adventurous credit on this tapas trail road by tasting a variety of little grubs, looping in and out of the unknown and familar.

jamon serrano (smoked ham): the good folks at casa patas (where we watched the flamonco) served this as a complimentary dish. well, the ham was pretty dry and it didnt help that it was served on unbuttered baguette slices. having said that it is exemplary of spanish smoked ham, so i am glad i tried it.

boquerones (small fish in olive oil and vinegar): another complentary dish from casa, the slippery dish was tasty (thanks to the vinegar) and in my opinion, should have been served with the baguettes. haha

tortilla espanol (spanish omelette): confession time- within our first two days in madrid, yang and i tried three different types of sanish omelette.. wihtout having visited a single musuem. no prizes for guessing where our piorities lie. haha.. and with poatoes and eggs, this tapas dish is easy to love..

callos (beef tripe): we ordered this tapas and made a tributory toast it to our dad, a tripe lover.. though i am usually good with innards, the tripe was a tad too soft for my liking..

albondigas (meatballs): another agreeable tapas dish.. tip: grab a baguette.

carocoles (snails): yang had been desiring for this dish for a while but it was difficult to fit it into our 25euros a day budget until we reached barcelona.. reason being that we a magnificent buffet for lunch and this was all she was stomach for dinner.


aubergine baked with cheese and pork belly: this is one of the tapas that we didn't come across too often.. with its cheesy-mooshy texture, i say, order it!

pincho moruno (grilled pork skewers): under sharon's recommendations, this tapas was utterly platable.