Previously on the adventures of Senor Birdbath and his harem of spanish ladies, I had been ragaling you with tales of teacher training. Riveting stuff indeed.
As I had explained, the course is a month long and constitutes every form of abject humiliation and cringe-inducing terror that you can imagine. Ack, no. It's not that bad really.
However, on to some local details. It is, in a word, stupendous. The majority of the time I have been gorging myself on Tapas. Tapas, for those of you not in the know, are small dishes of varied foods. The idea is to order about four plates of something that you cannot even pronounce, never mind translate, and make an arsehole of yourself as you tentativley shovel the unknown substance in to yer gullet, all the time wincing under the murderous glare of a waiter who is thoroughly enjoying your distinctly 'fish out of water' grimaces.
My favourites include fried squid, black pudding on hot bread, patatas bravas (chips dipped in rose sauce to me and you) flaming chorizo sausage (see the picture), cod croquettes. All served with liberal quantities of beer and bread. Cheap, quick, tasty, healthy and fun - I could get to like this.
Then of course there is the Paella (pronounced 'pie-ella'). The Valencians are mighty proud of their Paella and rightly so as they invented it. A rice dish, comprised of garlic, rabbit, chicken, green beans and assorted herbs, this is one meal which I have immediately fallen in love with. There are seafood variations, but the rabbit/chicken combo is the most common.
The percieved wisdom is that the only good Paella (according to Valencians) is in someone�s house and not in the restaurants, whcih cater for fat bovine British tourists. I�ve had both varieties and enjoyed success with both. Yummy.
On the whole, food is cheap, healthy and tastes fucking great. That's a pretty heavy compliment coming from me.
And the juniors? Tell me all about the Spanish juniors?
Do you know why they're called Tapas? Tapas means 'lid' or something similar. The name comes from years ago when lunches were prepared for spanish workmen - the lunches were always served in small bowls with a round piece of flatbread placed on top of the bowl to use as a lid to stop sand and dust blowing into them before the workmen had a chance to sit down and eat.
Hence the name 'tapas'.
Love the garlic prawns in oil,tumbet (mallorcan type veg casserole), Russian salad???.not so mad on the deep fried whitebait though.
aaah Onion Soup too!
Stop it now!!! Haven't had me lunch yet and I am drooling.