Mostly Spain 2023 - Daily Life AND We Finally Eat Spanish Food! (Really, We Do!)

 As you know, Wife and I have been contemplating and planning (and planning and planning) on how we might live somewhere other than the United States. You've read about all our tribulations concerning the expenses, and our issues with how difficult it might be. There has been the search for where we might want this to take place. And we've struggled with would we be happy living long-term somewhere else. 

A significant set of answers to these questions came to us as a result of our stay in Cefalú Sicily last fall. We developed a living pattern that seemed very enjoyable (even if Sicily was not ideal as a long-term destination). I have been quite surprised how quickly I have melded into 'we are living here' mode. I really does not feel like we are visiting a place as a 'vacation' or 'new travel' destination. 

We are right back to the living pattern we developed in Sicily. We stay up very late. We get up late. We don't even eat breakfast until close to 10am. Then we are out doing things during the midday. Most of the time, I am cooking. This is a contributing factor to our not having eaten much (read any) Spanish food so far (at least until today!) My work meetings are all late afternoon or in the evening. But I still have time from 9pm to Midnight for personal stuff like blogging and writing my story. 

Yesterday we spent doing what I hope will be the last big shopping while we are here. We went to a mega store that is part of the Carrefour chain. It was GIGANTIC! It made Costco look small. It was selling everything from appliances and beds to a full supermarket. We spent a good two hours at the store just trying to figure where everything was. 

Today, Wife was met up with a group of expats that meets weekly that she connected to via Facebook. I used the time to do more exploring. However, it has been a pretty cloudy and not the ideal photographic weather. I did get a much better feel for the neighborhoods we would want to rent in if we were going to stay here for a longer period. 

AND Wife got a good recommendation on a place to go for fish. So let's get into some Gastronomy.

Wife and de-I eat Spanish!

A small number of Tapas

A mini-sandwich of cured tuna roe with tomato and olive oil

A baby artichoke cooked in (I don't have a clue but was mild and tasty)

Wife had grilled sea bass and I had grilled mackerel

 

How much do the Spanish love dry cured ham?

I don't know. But this was the section for the 'whole hams' in the Carrefour supermarket

With it being so grey outside, I only did a bit of black & white photography to play around with patterns and contrast