So, I went to Spain, and it was glorious. There will be stories, and there will be pictures, but work has dumped a metric ton of paper on my head and it’s muggy and hot and I’m jetlagged beyond all hell so for now you get a summary in the form of a term paper outline:
Title: My summer vacation in Spain
I. Food
. A. Ham
. B. Cheese
. i. manchego
. ii. queso de cabra
. C. Ham
. D. Patatas Bravas
. E. Tortilla Espanola
. F. Ham
II. Drink
. A. Tinto de verano
. B. Beer
. C. Fanta Limon (see also “torrid love affair with”)
. D. Clara (beer MIXED with fanta limon. See also “summer’s perfect beverage”)
. E. Bottled water (lots)
III. Weather
. A. Hot (see “bottled water,” supra)
. B. Hot
. C. Also, hot
IV. Sights
. A. Churches
. B. Museums
. C. Purveyors of patatas bravas
. D. Purveyors of clara
. E. Purveyors of World Cup paraphenalia, in search of the perfect Espana onesie for my friend Mason’s brand-new son (never found)
. F. The beach
V. Language
. A. Catalan
. B. Basque
. C. Iberian Spanish
. D. That pidgin blend of high school French and learned-while-teaching Mexican Spanish that I used to try to communicate.
. E. English, when (D) invariably failed
Conclusion: Summer vacations are the best.
The English major in me loves this. I have to say, the beer mixed with Fanta Limon sounds intriguing.
I love me some manchego cheese. Mmmm…
Am jealous! But, also noting to go to Spain in shoulder season, not high summer. Thanks for the tip!
You had me at ham.
I still miss fanta limon from when I was in spain in 2001. Sadly I was not quite old enough to discover clara.
Also, yay for Mason’s new baby!
This was hilarious enough! I can’t wait to hear the real stories! Everything except the heat sounds great.
Oh my GAWD with the ham, right? I adore ham and bacon and all things porkchop, but absolutely hit my limit of The Pig while in Spain. Lordy.
And it was balmy when we were there in Ooctober/November. Holy balls, I have a hard time thinking about how warm it is there now…
First of all, it was SUPER EXCITING to meet you this weekend! I think you are great. Total J Crew model, plus hilarious and smart. My kind of gal.
Second, I didn’t want to admit this in person but my feed-reader had some kind of brain fart somewhere along the way and, um, I thought you had stopped blogging. Like, MONTHS AGO. Durr!
Third, tinto de verano is quite possibly the world’s most perfect drink. Also, I believe I ate my body weight in ham when I was in Spain a few years ago. However, I was UNAWARE of “clara” and now I am extremely pissed off, because beer and lemon soda sounds pretty much like the best thing ever. Why, God, WHY?