With our trip coming to an end, comes a lot of work with it. In one week I had 4 exams and 3 papers to write. My life now consists of traveling, returning to Sevilla, doing a lot of work, and then traveling again. If I don't write this blog before I leave for Italy, I will regret it MUCHO!
Barcelona: Jordyn's 21st. The trip started off on the right foot at the airport when Jordyn whipped out some funky glasses, streamers, and noise makers that her parents had sent from home. We waited on a very long line to get on the plane looking absolutely ridiculous, but we looked great in my book.
We checked in to our hostel, Hostel One, the same type of hostel as the one we stayed at in Madrid with crazy lady praying heavily in the corner... remember that story? Further hostel stories to come later on.... But continuing on, we dropped off our bags and headed towards a park that is attached to the Arc de Triumf.... yes, another. Of course we hadn't been in Barcelona for more than 10 minutes and we ran into some friends from our class in the park. Two goons sprinting across a park...of course we knew them. We walked our friend to her hostel down by the beach because she was staying with our other friend. We touched the sand, felt our stomachs rumble and headed for dinner at Bo de B's. I've heard good things, great things, and was very excited for some Mediterranean food. Jordyn's friend said the line is outrageous usually and when we got there, not only was there no line, but we found ourselves a table inside (there were only 4).
Sandwich or platter... sandwich or platter.... tough decision. Well, when the outrageously large China man sitting next to us had this unbelievable Mediterranean feast sitting in front of him, we knew we had to get that. He said we weren't going to finish it. Clearly, he doesn't know us. The plate consisted of chicken/beef, tomatoes, lentils, rice, corn, cucumbers, peppers, red cabbage, feta, olives, 3 different sauces on the side and when we asked for a side of avocado, we received half of one each. Oh was I happy let me tell you.
Our friends were coming on a later flight so we decided not to do anything crazy and just grab a drink at a random bar and head back to the hostel for bed.
In the morning, I whipped out my map and lead the gang over to Sagrada Familia. It is one of the most unique cathedrals in the world. There was a massive amount of construction going on so we couldn't see the entire outside, but decided to pay the few bucks to go inside (It will be completed in 2026). It's extremely modern and different looking. Gaudi's architecture is twisted, playful, and colorful. I really could have sat there for hours, but my neck was breaking looking up and we had places to go and beaches to see.
We headed up a mountain via escalator (outside, realy cool) to Park Guell. Again, another design by Gaudi. Halfway up we stopped into a little cafe and had fresh sandwiches made for us. For once I did not feel like going the Spanish route. We had grilled chicken sandwiches with LETTUCE AND TOMATO!!! Go figure, we never get that on our bocadillos. While I was at lettuce and tomato I asked if there was mayo. Yes, there was. It tasted like America in my mouth. I was thrilled.
So we continued up, found some shade, ate our bocadillos and headed to the main part of the park. The designs are really exquisite and it looks like Candy Land everywhere you turn. The colors were magnificent. I've seen so much art whie traveling and not particularly art I love. I'm a landscape type of girl. I love color. So this, this was right up my ally. Lots of color and intrigue. Kate and I, sun lovers, sat down for a while, enjoyed the heat, and took it all in. Oh and there's this cave thing where America's Next Top Model had a photo shoot. Pretty cool, eh? We took some super model pics (not) and headed back. Martyna needed a bathing suit and I needed to return my shoes. In Spanish I managed to explain that my shoe broke the first time I wore it. The store, Blanco, took it back immediately and put it right onto my credit card. I then walked into H&M and found a similar pair that was about 100 times more comfortable and only 5 Euro more. Could life get any easier? New shoes just like that.
For dinner, Jordyn's birthday dinner, we went to a restaurant Attic. Every item had a picture. My mother used to always tell me not to look at the pictures in diner menus because it never looks like the picture, but this time, it was a legitimate picture. Kate and I decided to do a meat and a fish. We picked the cod, which was truly delicious. The portions were small, too small. Somehow we ended up paying 2 Euros for each roll we had. It happens every time. Dinner is great, lots of laughs and good food, and then the bill comes and it's always frustrating trying to split it up. And then when we have added up our own share 5 times and still haven't figured out why we are short money, we realize there's tax. Damn you, tax!
We went to this bar that's extremely popular to any tourist called Chupitos. Chupitos means 'shots' in Spanish. A shot bar. I already had some wine and knew I wasn't going to get much at this bar, but it was an interesting experience let me tell you. Some shots are more interactive, graphic, and crazy than others, but they also have shots where you toast marshmellows on the bar because they let it on fire for you. My hair would go up in a second so I made sure to keep my distance. The bar was really poorly constructed. About 2 1/2 bodies can fit through heading from the front to the back so if you are right at the bar, you're fine. If you are one person behind the person at the bar, you're getting slammed into by all the other people trying to get through. Who designed this shit? Thousands of people walk through their doors and spend butt loads of cash there yet they couldn't hire someone who understood how the flow of people work. At least I'm thinking about my hospitality classes. I dominated HRIM 350 somehow, and clearly it made an impact somewhere in this crazy head of mine.
So after chupitos we went to a club. It looked like a huge Bar Mitzvah, I swear. There was some random party that had to have been going on right before all of these people got there. All the guys were in suits, and none looked Spanish. I ran into my friend Mike, go figure. I knew he was studying in Barcelona, but I hadn't been in contact with him telling him I was coming. Such a small world. Jew to Jew I said it looked like a big Bar Mitzvah. He told me he agreed and how the clubs are so Americanized. When I told him I was studying in Sevilla he said that Sevilla was the only place he loved more than Barcelona. God do I love when people tell me that! He said Sevilla is so..... Spanish. And yeah, he's right. I wasn't used to being around so many Americans at a club. But we had a good time. Some guy was getting a tattoo smack in the middle of the dance floor. I'm not even going to comment on that....
Next morning, we grabbed some breakfast. This little cafe had some spinach tortillla... in America, a spinach omelette. We have to take advantage of these rare times. Eggs... for breakfast!? LOVE IT. Ha, that was a flash back to one of my first blogs.
We went to Casa Batllo, one of the few houses Gaudi designed. It was a little pricey, but one of my favorite things I've seen in my travels. He designed the house, and even the furniture inside. The entire outside and inside is supposed to represent an under water feeling. Just like the park, the mosaics and details were out of this world. We had a free audio tour that explained literally every nook and cranny about the house. It was several floors, with dozens of rooms. Even the door knobs were extremely detailed. Truly a must-see..
When in Barcelona... go to the beach. So that was our next stop. The weather was nice, but not really, really warm. I wound up putting on my sweatshirt and passing out. Surprise, surprise. Afterwards we walked around Las Ramblas which is a long street with vendors, food, pet shops, street performers, and the famous Boqueria which is a market. Meats, fish, fruits, veggies, fresh smoothies, nuts... it reminded me of the huge market in Jerusalem. Everything looked and smelled delicious. Okay, maybe not the fish stands, but everything else looked and smelled great.
We hopped onto the metro and went to see a light show which was really more of a fountain show. Hundreds of people come to watch. Paired to music, it really was exciting! I remember when I was in Vegas and only had a disposable camera. I took 11 photos of the fountains. Eleven. Really Sara, it's WATER! Well now I'm a big girl with a digital camera, but didn't go too crazy taking pictures. I did mom dance though, and let me tell you, that was my biggest audience yet. I had a few hollers and some weird looks but hey, anything for the mom dance. I also ran into my other friend studying in Barcelona. This city is huge, it's like NYC and I ran into both people I know studying there. HOW CRAZY IS THAT!? Every city we travel to we have seen at least 1 person we know. Such a small world.
That night we bought some bottles and drank at our hostel. We know how to save money. We went to the club called Catwalk. We literally had just stepped out of our taxi and some guy asked us if we wanted to get in for free. Uh sure? Sign us up. So we cut the whole line and stepped right in. We danced, did our thing, got into VIP, got kicked out of VIP, and went to bed.
In the morning, we went back to Las Ramblas to buy some gifts and to see some art. We had kebabs and falafel at 11 AM. That shows a true kebab lover. As we sat in the resturant, I looked up to see a few quotes on the wall. Here is the first one I read: "No hay amor mas sincero que el amor a la comida..." which means "There is no love more sincere than the love of food." Was I more touched that I knew every word in that sentence or the meaing behind it? I don't know, but it made me smile so big. Then I looked underneath that one, and it said "With cheese..." Uh yeah, with cheese. This wall, this wall just knew me.
We had some time to kill before our flight so we went back to the beach. What was the first thing we saw on the almost barren beach due to clouds... a butt naked man, standing proud, with his hands on his hips. Everyone was staring. Guys, girls, everyone. I fell asleep and woke up to him putting on his work clothes, shaking his friends hand, and then heading out. How did that conversation go? "Hey man, I have some time before work. Want to get naked?" Who knows. Anyway, I was sleeping happily until I kept getting woken up by Asian women asking if we want a massage. One of my friends actually gave in. Also on this interesting beach day, a man tried selling my friends drugs. We hear that happens all the time.
Welp, that was Barcelona in a nut shell. I liked it, it was a cool city, but again, doesn't even compare to my precious city. We were all happy to get back to Sevilla for a fun filled week of work. WAHOO!!! Portugal is next... adios kids!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Thursday, April 7, 2011
San Sebastian: Where the mushroom married the egg....
San Sebastian... doesn't the name just sound nice? Well for all you readers out there, let me give you a little background on San Sebastian. The city is located in northern Spain, right on the beach, and has more Michelin stars per capita than any other city in the world. San Sebastian is like a mecca for all of the foodies out there and chefs from all over manage to make a pilgrimage there at some point in their life. Food and beach... does it get any better? Jordyn and I knew we had to make a visit before our time here is up so we headed to the beautiful city last weekend.
My life was crazy right before I left, and I wound up having 15 minutes to pack for the weekend. 15 minutes? No problem. Grab this, grab that, grab the bocadillo and head to the bus. Right as I reached the bus, the airport bus was pulling away. So with a little jog, Jordyn and I made it on the bus. What was I missing? Oh that's right, my Northface jacket that fell off of the side of my bag while I jogged for 5 feet. Man oh man. Some lucky bum gets to wear that coat now (sorry Mom.) It was on sale! I'll live...
Flying into San Sebastian is not so easy. The cheapest/easiest way was to fly to Bilbao and take a one hour bus to San Sebastian. Well, of course our plane was late and we were about to miss the last bus. Jordyn and I started running through the airport with our big backpacks My sneakers tied on the strap were hitting me as I was running while praying not to lose another item on this journey. We missed the bus by a few minutes, but luckily there was one more bus for the night.
Of course I zonked out in 10 seconds. Then we got to our hostel (this is about 1 AM by the way) and woke up the manager guy. Within 15 minutes we had brushed our teeth, started charging our phones/cameras and were out cold. Oh and within this "15 minute time frame" I took the GREATEST SHOWER IN THE PAST 3 MONTHS!!!!!!!! Water pressure... so underrated!
Oh, time out. Probably should give some important background info. Jordyn's ex boyfriend studied abroad in San Sebastian and is a wonderful chef. We had the perfect itinerary for the weekend (food and fun both included.) So we knew the places we needed to see and places to eat with a somewhat limited budget, but there was plenty of extra time to improvise.
First stop: La Concha. It's a cute cafe directly on the beach. There weren't too many food choices, but that was no problem for me. Jordyn is a pastry nut and likes to start off her days with something sweet alongside her coffee w/ skim milk (hard to find.) But for me, I really don't have much of a sweet tooth so I need something in the savory category. Ugh damn it, I should probably stop and give more background info. San Sebastian is most famous for their pintxos. They are smaller than a tapa, served hot or cold, and typically are laid out on the bar. One would walk in, pick this, that, this, and that... they either heat it up for you, make it look more presentable or sometimes you just grab it with tongs and put it on your own plate. I absolutely LOVED the whole idea of it. Just like the way I feel about tapas, you get to try many different tastes and flavors throughout your meal. Oh and a lot of the time, whatever you're eating is served on some kind of little piece of toast. So what did I see at La Concha? A pintxo with jamon iberica (the real, famous, unbelievably special, Spanish ham) with an egg on top and finished with potato sticks (we call them potato sticks in the US, but I'm sure there is some fancy name for them here.)
After breakfast we started our day with some site seeing. We took a trolly up a mountain that overlooks the whole city. It was absolutely picturesque. It's hard taking pictures when you only have one other friend so we really didn't have too many pictures of "us" this weekend, but we have plenty of those anyway. We walked around the top of the mountain and saw that during the warmer seasons there's a precious theme park. We really wanted to go on the trampolines, but they were closed. Jordyn finally realized that La Concha, the name of the beach and cafe, is named that because the beach is in the shape of a conch shell. Good one, Jor. After, we went back down the mountain, saw a sweet, little garden, and found a grassy place to lay down, take pictures, and stare at the water. We also walked to the end of the beach as far as we could go to see some famous statues that are built into the rocks. This city was so beautiful, so small, and so perfect that I started questioning if I liked it more than Sevilla. Well, it was special, but nothing will replace Sevilla :)
For lunch, we headed to our first Michelin star restaurant for some really expensive mushrooms. Supposedly these mushrooms were to die for so we had to go. So for 18 E, we received a plate of mushrooms with a perfect egg in the middle... no white.. just yolk, so perfect that if you breathed on it, it would probably ooze everywhere. So we cut in, put a little egg, a little mushroom on the fork, and let the taste buds dance. The plate was pretty small and I knew my portion was limited. I was enjoying it so much that I was completely silent. That's how you know a food has touched my heart, better yet, my soul, when I shut up. Me, shut up? Impossible. But not when it comes to food. Jordyn munching away saying things like "Oh my God. Unreal, unreal Sara, unreal" turns and looks at me and says "What, you don't like this!?" Well, quickly Jordyn learned at that moment that I was in utter shock that something so simple could taste that unbelievably delicious. San Sebastian is also very famous for their fish so I tried to stick to fish the entire weekend, tried a bite of Jordyn's meat dishes, ate foie, and appreciated the egg.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was a bit intimidating, and we would quickly learn that all the restaurants would have the same vibe. Lots of loud, Spaniards, giggling, smiling, I don't know, making fun of the silly American girls. Happens all the time by the way... But yeah, everyone is loud and abrasive, pushy and hungry. We made do. After we paid a nice man who worked their gave us keycahins and pins from the restaurant. We smiled, thanked them for a delicious meal, and left.
We walked over to the other beach, the surfer beach and saw where Jordyn's ex lived. Literally outside his house was the beach. Right there. Lucky bastard. Our river was looking pretty lame compared to this ocean, but still, I refuse to compare the two cities. So we walked around the area, went into some boutiques, laid down for an hour and then headed out for the best tortilla in the world. I've explained tortilla before, but I'll explian it again. It's pretty much an omelet, with potatoes, and sometimes vegetables. It's very simple, very delicious, done in a million different ways, and is a staple in the Spanish diet. So hearing about the best tortilla, I thought how could anyone make tortilla special? We heard that this tortilla is so good that people wait on a really long line to get a piece and then they run out and the people in the back miss out. This guy puts out his masterpiece at 1 and at 8. We showed up at 7 for the 8 o'clock showing. Was there a line? No. Was there a single person? No. That's right, we were first! They wrote down our names (serious business, right?) and we walked around the area looking at different pintxos around that restaurant. Right across the way was an unbelievable restaurant. We would return right after tortilla... you will just have to read on to see what happens...
So finally tortilla time. This guy comes out with this massive tortilla. He looked like the Spanish version of a big Italian guy serving up some pizza to his customers. He happily lets us take a picture and then we received our slice. At first glance, I was nervous. Why? Because I don't like wet eggs and that's exactly what it looked like. Ehhh. Wrong! I cut myself a piece, bring it to my mouth, and WAM! FLAVOR!!! I knew that it tasted to good because of caramelized onions... I already knew that before walking in, but still I was pleasantly surprised. The potatoes, usually cubed, were sliced very thin. I'm thinking, they were baked first... I say this because the edges had a nice bite to them, like a scalloped potato. There was the perfect amount of salt, really sweet caramelized onions, delicious eggs, the slightest hint of green pepper. I don't know what else this guy does to his tortilla, but wow oh wow, it was honestly really, really good!
A sliver of tortilla can only take you so far so we headed back across the street to a restaurant called Zeruko. Just looking at the bar, these were the most beautiful pintxos I had seen thus far. Every resturant we passed Jordyn and myself would walk in, look, and walk out. But this bar takes the cake on presentation and flavor. As we were awkwardly standing at the bar deciding what we wanted to eat, I met a woman from the US who was doing a pintxo tour and told me I had to specifically try this one pintxo that is higlighted in her San Sebastian pintxo book. So I ordered la hoguera (the bonfire), chose a few others to share with Jor and sat waiting with anticipation. Camera in hand, mouth drooling, I was ready. The guy brings me a small square plate, with wiring over it that had a small little smoke thing underneath. It was rosemary. The point of it is to put the small piece of cod on the smoke, smoke your own fish for a minute, flip it over and when done, put it ontop of the pintxo. The pintxo consisted of a tiny piece of toast, followed by sweet caramaliezed onions, then a green, herby cream, finished with parsley. This was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. EVER! I was sitting in amazement because I had never eaten or tasted anything like that. The cream... oh the cream.. I came back another night to eat it again to try and figure out what it was, but it was impossible. The secret recipe really was a secret. I was blown away. The fish, the cream, the onion.. OH. MY. GOD. With only 2 baby bites I decided to turn my brain off and let myself enjoy it. I was speechless. Jordyn was hysterically laughing. Oh and there was even a little after dinner drink thing. It was some kind of vegetable puree with bubbles. There were no words to describe this experience, really. So in my euphoric state, I moved onto this cheese concoction that Jordyn was raving about. When we ordered it at the bar, it looked like a ball of foam with a stick on it. We heard it was cheese, we ordered it. It came out, warm and fried and laid ontop of a delicious jam. Maybe some apple was in there, I don't know...but it was unreal. I took my first bite and WAM! Something different, but just as delicious as what I had just eaten. I shed a tear. An actual tear came from my eyes because I was that blown away. The cheese definitely was in the swiss family, had a nice nutiness to it. The crunch, the creamy, the gooey, the sweet..... anyone drooling yet?
It was all too much. It was all too orgasmic. I'm telling you, it was THAT unbelievable. We had a few other bites of things and moved on to the other street that has a lot of famous restaurants. We headed into A Fuego Negro. I immediately asked the man behind the bar what he recommends, because their opinion matters. For Jordyn, the non-fish eater, she ate a fancy play on ham and coffee. I can't really pick apart her dish because I didn't try it, but the coffee was served in a cup and you dipped the ham (possibly fried) thing into the coffee. It was much more complex than ham and coffee, but I really can't explain it. I had hake, and it was served with a parsley based sauce. It was good, it was well cooked and prepared, but I wasn't as blown away as the last place. We made friends with the couple sitting next to us. They were from Chicago (where Jordyn is from) and even went to her school. Then, a bachelor party walked into the restaurant and the bachelor was dressed as Cleopatra. This is a very common practice here in Spain. The bachelor party always consists of the bachelor, dressed ridiculously, with his entourage of men following behind wearing weird/embarassing shirts.
Day 2: Friday. We took a nice walk to the other part of town to see a Cathedral and to see the great shopping area for a little while before we went on a hike up a mountain. Like I said, tortilla is very popular and is served for breakfast in some cafes on a little roll. But what I came across wasn't tortilla, it was a legitimite omelete! I haven't had an omelet in 3 months. I was so happy to have this little sandwich for breakfast. We grabbed some coffee and moved on with our day. We hiked to the top of a mountain where Jesus was overlooking the city. It was a fantastic view of the city. We could see both beaches and everything beyond. I mom danced at the top and then we walked down a little to find a great spot to catch some rays. We decided to be a little adventurous and decided not to take the real path. We were going to rough it. We saw this big rock, slanted on an angle and thought if we could get to that, then we could get to the next level down really easily. Well, of course something had to get in our way. The grass had weird prickly things. We managed to get down the rest of the way without a problem and walked around the mountain to the other beach. Jordyn's ex kept telling us we needed to go to this bar called Monpas and to get Bocadillo #7. He wouldn't tell us what it was, but he said it's out of this world. So we were pumped for Bocadillo #7. We ordered it, looked at it, bit into it, and WOW!!! SO GOOD! Again, mushrooms were the star, with Roquefort cheese and pork that tasted like chicken. Warm, delicious, yum. After, we sat on the edge then moved to the beach. We both fell asleep using our sneakers as a pillow. I woke up to some weird old man standing somewhat close to me. He said, "Sol." That means sun. I'm like "Sol?" He said, "Agua." I said, "Agua?" He pointed to my stomach and said "Nini." HUH? First off, what the hell is "nini" and sir, what the fuck are you talking about!? He walked away. Thank God. 
After our relaxing day we headed back to the hostel for a shower. We finally figured out how to work the television. What did we find? An American station! I haven't watched tv in over 3 months. All of my friends watch it on their computers, but my internet is too slow for that, plus I have zero time. So we watched Two and a Half Men and got ready to go out. We went on another pintxo tour. Jordyn had a cubed meat dish, I had rockin foie grois, eggplant, and some other dishes. I left my camera in one of the restaurants and two men chased after me with it. I think I would have legitimately cried if I had lost it. Jordyn needed dessert so we wandered around and found her a crepe. She was happy, and we were full. Went back to the hostel before our last day in San Sebastian. Here are a few pictures of some of the things we ate:
We woke up and headed out for breakfast. We found a delicious bakery and I had the best cookie I've ever had. This city just kept getting better and better. It was chocolate and praline if you were wondering. After, we went to the famous market and got a brilliant idea to later come back for an afternoon snack. Jordyn saw a pair of shoes she really wanted to we searched and searched for that store, but couldn't find it. We had worked up an appetitite by that point and went to our last lunch stop, a burger place that Jordyn's friend insisted we go to. Why was it so good? Because it had an egg on it. Surprise, surprise. An egg? In San Sebastian!? ... SO we got the burger and yeah, it really was a delicious burger. Probably about 150 times better than Pepi's microwavable shit she serves me. We went back to the hostel to change for some time at the beach. Jordyn had her travel size little towel, I had my sweatpants. It was cloudy, but we both zonked out quickly. After laying at the beach for a few hours we went back to the market for our picnic. Of course everything was closed, but there was a supermarket open within the market. We grabbed some strawberries, some honey, some cheese, and some bread. How were we going to cut the cheese though? As we were walking out there was one butcher still open. We asked if he could cut it for us. Not only did he cut it, he sliced it, and cut off all the rind and wrapped it up for us. He wouldn't accept any money from us. Such a simple act of kindness, but it really made us so happy. We walked to one of the other beaches, and sat and had our picnic. I dropped my last bite of cheese. It was sad :-( We bought a cheap bottle of wine and figured we would find a wine key in our hostel. Nope. We were screwed. We looked up home remedies to opening a bottle of wine without a wine key. We put it in a shoe, smashed it against a wall, hit the bottom while it was upside down, inserted keys, wires, adapters, tv cables, pens, and other sharp objects into the bottle. We broke off half. And pushed the other half in. When we took a sip of our cork filled cheap bottle, we realized it was really warm wine and so we gave up. It was really funny though. I have a great video of Jordyn banging on the bottle.
After our picnic we went to an internet cafe to research the best pintxos in San Sebastian so we wouldn't miss anything. What did we find? That we had already hit up a lot of the hot spots and were bar hopping on the right streets. We started off our night by heading back to Zorbeks because I needed to try Heaven one more time and I made Jordyn eat it too. Even the non-fish eater was blown away! We went to another restuarant and tried a few things. Nothing I can really rant and rave about, but still some really good dishes. We wound up going back to Zorbek's AGAIN for the final pintxo of the trip. I had more cod, and it was fantastic. I'm telling you, if you ever go to San Sebastian, you need to go to Zorbek's. And if you don't call me and tell me you're going there I will hunt you down.
The morning came and we had trouble finding a taxi to the airport. Jor kept saying we needed to go to the airport to catch the bus, I had a feeling we needed to go to the bus station. Long story short, I was right and we made it to the bus stop with plenty of time to spare. Some strange man looked utterly confused waiting for his bus. I looked at this ticket and realized he had no idea that the clocks moved ahead an hour last night. Woops! We got on our bus and were quickly confused when we smelled cigarette smoke. Where was it coming from? Oh that's right, the old man in the back seat. I thought I was going to die even after he put it out so I buried my face in my sweatshirt and went to sleep for an hour. We woke up in Bilbao and had a lot of time before catching our plane. I wound up buying two pintxo books. I know I could probably get them in the US, but I thought it would be really special and memorable to have them from San Sebastian. I read them both 3 times on the plane. They're in Spanish, but I really understand them because I understand how a recipe is written. I can't wait to get home to New Jersey to make them.
Well, that was San Sebastian. It was an incredibly delicious weekend. I've never felt more inspired and excited to see where my life goes with this. I love the idea of pintxos, but don't know how it would translate in America. I am confused on how they keep the food out for so long without refrigeration. Does no one get salmonella poisoning here? I have to research Spain's "FDA" because I don't get how they all get away with leaving food out for long periods of time. I've taken too many classes on food borne illness to figure out that one.
This was on the the most special times of my life. I returned home just in time for lunch. What did Pepi serve me? Eggs with potatoes and mushrooms. I laughed. Seeing Marissa and Pepi's excitement when I came home was so bitter sweet. They wanted to hear so badly about everything. Marissa knew how important this was to me and listened to every story I had to tell. Pepi looked through the pictures of the book and of course pointed out every honey and cheese combination feeling proud that she gives that to us all of the time. I'm so glad I have my happy little family to share these memories with and to have this blog to share it with everyone else. I think my goal in life is to make money not for myself, but to be able to take my family here to Spain and be able to let them experience everything I have had the joy of experiencing. I can't wait to return here again and eat my way through the city all over again. Tums, here I come!
My life was crazy right before I left, and I wound up having 15 minutes to pack for the weekend. 15 minutes? No problem. Grab this, grab that, grab the bocadillo and head to the bus. Right as I reached the bus, the airport bus was pulling away. So with a little jog, Jordyn and I made it on the bus. What was I missing? Oh that's right, my Northface jacket that fell off of the side of my bag while I jogged for 5 feet. Man oh man. Some lucky bum gets to wear that coat now (sorry Mom.) It was on sale! I'll live...
Flying into San Sebastian is not so easy. The cheapest/easiest way was to fly to Bilbao and take a one hour bus to San Sebastian. Well, of course our plane was late and we were about to miss the last bus. Jordyn and I started running through the airport with our big backpacks My sneakers tied on the strap were hitting me as I was running while praying not to lose another item on this journey. We missed the bus by a few minutes, but luckily there was one more bus for the night.
Of course I zonked out in 10 seconds. Then we got to our hostel (this is about 1 AM by the way) and woke up the manager guy. Within 15 minutes we had brushed our teeth, started charging our phones/cameras and were out cold. Oh and within this "15 minute time frame" I took the GREATEST SHOWER IN THE PAST 3 MONTHS!!!!!!!! Water pressure... so underrated!
Oh, time out. Probably should give some important background info. Jordyn's ex boyfriend studied abroad in San Sebastian and is a wonderful chef. We had the perfect itinerary for the weekend (food and fun both included.) So we knew the places we needed to see and places to eat with a somewhat limited budget, but there was plenty of extra time to improvise.
First stop: La Concha. It's a cute cafe directly on the beach. There weren't too many food choices, but that was no problem for me. Jordyn is a pastry nut and likes to start off her days with something sweet alongside her coffee w/ skim milk (hard to find.) But for me, I really don't have much of a sweet tooth so I need something in the savory category. Ugh damn it, I should probably stop and give more background info. San Sebastian is most famous for their pintxos. They are smaller than a tapa, served hot or cold, and typically are laid out on the bar. One would walk in, pick this, that, this, and that... they either heat it up for you, make it look more presentable or sometimes you just grab it with tongs and put it on your own plate. I absolutely LOVED the whole idea of it. Just like the way I feel about tapas, you get to try many different tastes and flavors throughout your meal. Oh and a lot of the time, whatever you're eating is served on some kind of little piece of toast. So what did I see at La Concha? A pintxo with jamon iberica (the real, famous, unbelievably special, Spanish ham) with an egg on top and finished with potato sticks (we call them potato sticks in the US, but I'm sure there is some fancy name for them here.)
Now, you might be thinking "ehhh, doesn't look so special"... well, you're wrong. Ham here is outrageous. It's nothing like you could taste in America. The bread was fresh, the jamon was salty, the egg with the runny center complimented the salty ham and the crunch of the potato sticks tied the whole bite all together. A delicious first bite it was. I'm glad we could start off the food adventure on the right taste bud ;) Enough with the dumb jokes, moving on... I knew that after a 2 bite pintxo I would be gnawing at my arm within the hour so I had to get something else. As I ventured over to see what else was put out, I spotted it. It. Was. Mine. "It" had Sara Mintzer written all over it. First of all, if it has salmon on it, sign me up. Secondly, if it's a mound of salmon, I'm really on it. So for 1.50 I got this delicious and BIG, well bigger, pintxo. I didn't want to ruin such a pretty picture, but that bad boy needed to be knocked over, and picked apart, so that every bite would have a little bit of everything. On top of the salmon was a very mild cheese. More-so there for color and texture. Under the salmon was a beautiful halved hard boiled egg that lay ontop of some jamon york (regular, deli sliced ham) and between the ham and the bread was a mild, creamy cheese, oil and lettuce. Woah, did not know I was signing up for that! Perfecto!! I could have sat and tried to figure out what kind of cheese that was for a good hour, but I thought I would rather enjoy my few bites and leave San Sebastian with a little mystery. Again, the neutral, smooth egg complimented the saltier salmon and ham and the cheese with oil balanced out the bold flavors. This dish was made up of perfect harmony.
After breakfast we started our day with some site seeing. We took a trolly up a mountain that overlooks the whole city. It was absolutely picturesque. It's hard taking pictures when you only have one other friend so we really didn't have too many pictures of "us" this weekend, but we have plenty of those anyway. We walked around the top of the mountain and saw that during the warmer seasons there's a precious theme park. We really wanted to go on the trampolines, but they were closed. Jordyn finally realized that La Concha, the name of the beach and cafe, is named that because the beach is in the shape of a conch shell. Good one, Jor. After, we went back down the mountain, saw a sweet, little garden, and found a grassy place to lay down, take pictures, and stare at the water. We also walked to the end of the beach as far as we could go to see some famous statues that are built into the rocks. This city was so beautiful, so small, and so perfect that I started questioning if I liked it more than Sevilla. Well, it was special, but nothing will replace Sevilla :)
For lunch, we headed to our first Michelin star restaurant for some really expensive mushrooms. Supposedly these mushrooms were to die for so we had to go. So for 18 E, we received a plate of mushrooms with a perfect egg in the middle... no white.. just yolk, so perfect that if you breathed on it, it would probably ooze everywhere. So we cut in, put a little egg, a little mushroom on the fork, and let the taste buds dance. The plate was pretty small and I knew my portion was limited. I was enjoying it so much that I was completely silent. That's how you know a food has touched my heart, better yet, my soul, when I shut up. Me, shut up? Impossible. But not when it comes to food. Jordyn munching away saying things like "Oh my God. Unreal, unreal Sara, unreal" turns and looks at me and says "What, you don't like this!?" Well, quickly Jordyn learned at that moment that I was in utter shock that something so simple could taste that unbelievably delicious. San Sebastian is also very famous for their fish so I tried to stick to fish the entire weekend, tried a bite of Jordyn's meat dishes, ate foie, and appreciated the egg.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was a bit intimidating, and we would quickly learn that all the restaurants would have the same vibe. Lots of loud, Spaniards, giggling, smiling, I don't know, making fun of the silly American girls. Happens all the time by the way... But yeah, everyone is loud and abrasive, pushy and hungry. We made do. After we paid a nice man who worked their gave us keycahins and pins from the restaurant. We smiled, thanked them for a delicious meal, and left.
We walked over to the other beach, the surfer beach and saw where Jordyn's ex lived. Literally outside his house was the beach. Right there. Lucky bastard. Our river was looking pretty lame compared to this ocean, but still, I refuse to compare the two cities. So we walked around the area, went into some boutiques, laid down for an hour and then headed out for the best tortilla in the world. I've explained tortilla before, but I'll explian it again. It's pretty much an omelet, with potatoes, and sometimes vegetables. It's very simple, very delicious, done in a million different ways, and is a staple in the Spanish diet. So hearing about the best tortilla, I thought how could anyone make tortilla special? We heard that this tortilla is so good that people wait on a really long line to get a piece and then they run out and the people in the back miss out. This guy puts out his masterpiece at 1 and at 8. We showed up at 7 for the 8 o'clock showing. Was there a line? No. Was there a single person? No. That's right, we were first! They wrote down our names (serious business, right?) and we walked around the area looking at different pintxos around that restaurant. Right across the way was an unbelievable restaurant. We would return right after tortilla... you will just have to read on to see what happens...
So finally tortilla time. This guy comes out with this massive tortilla. He looked like the Spanish version of a big Italian guy serving up some pizza to his customers. He happily lets us take a picture and then we received our slice. At first glance, I was nervous. Why? Because I don't like wet eggs and that's exactly what it looked like. Ehhh. Wrong! I cut myself a piece, bring it to my mouth, and WAM! FLAVOR!!! I knew that it tasted to good because of caramelized onions... I already knew that before walking in, but still I was pleasantly surprised. The potatoes, usually cubed, were sliced very thin. I'm thinking, they were baked first... I say this because the edges had a nice bite to them, like a scalloped potato. There was the perfect amount of salt, really sweet caramelized onions, delicious eggs, the slightest hint of green pepper. I don't know what else this guy does to his tortilla, but wow oh wow, it was honestly really, really good!
A sliver of tortilla can only take you so far so we headed back across the street to a restaurant called Zeruko. Just looking at the bar, these were the most beautiful pintxos I had seen thus far. Every resturant we passed Jordyn and myself would walk in, look, and walk out. But this bar takes the cake on presentation and flavor. As we were awkwardly standing at the bar deciding what we wanted to eat, I met a woman from the US who was doing a pintxo tour and told me I had to specifically try this one pintxo that is higlighted in her San Sebastian pintxo book. So I ordered la hoguera (the bonfire), chose a few others to share with Jor and sat waiting with anticipation. Camera in hand, mouth drooling, I was ready. The guy brings me a small square plate, with wiring over it that had a small little smoke thing underneath. It was rosemary. The point of it is to put the small piece of cod on the smoke, smoke your own fish for a minute, flip it over and when done, put it ontop of the pintxo. The pintxo consisted of a tiny piece of toast, followed by sweet caramaliezed onions, then a green, herby cream, finished with parsley. This was the most delicious thing I have ever eaten. EVER! I was sitting in amazement because I had never eaten or tasted anything like that. The cream... oh the cream.. I came back another night to eat it again to try and figure out what it was, but it was impossible. The secret recipe really was a secret. I was blown away. The fish, the cream, the onion.. OH. MY. GOD. With only 2 baby bites I decided to turn my brain off and let myself enjoy it. I was speechless. Jordyn was hysterically laughing. Oh and there was even a little after dinner drink thing. It was some kind of vegetable puree with bubbles. There were no words to describe this experience, really. So in my euphoric state, I moved onto this cheese concoction that Jordyn was raving about. When we ordered it at the bar, it looked like a ball of foam with a stick on it. We heard it was cheese, we ordered it. It came out, warm and fried and laid ontop of a delicious jam. Maybe some apple was in there, I don't know...but it was unreal. I took my first bite and WAM! Something different, but just as delicious as what I had just eaten. I shed a tear. An actual tear came from my eyes because I was that blown away. The cheese definitely was in the swiss family, had a nice nutiness to it. The crunch, the creamy, the gooey, the sweet..... anyone drooling yet?
Artichokes!!
top right, that's our unbelievable cheese...
LOOK AT THAT MASTERPIECE!!!!
YUMMY YUMMY IN MY TUMMY
CHEESE HEAVEN
It was all too much. It was all too orgasmic. I'm telling you, it was THAT unbelievable. We had a few other bites of things and moved on to the other street that has a lot of famous restaurants. We headed into A Fuego Negro. I immediately asked the man behind the bar what he recommends, because their opinion matters. For Jordyn, the non-fish eater, she ate a fancy play on ham and coffee. I can't really pick apart her dish because I didn't try it, but the coffee was served in a cup and you dipped the ham (possibly fried) thing into the coffee. It was much more complex than ham and coffee, but I really can't explain it. I had hake, and it was served with a parsley based sauce. It was good, it was well cooked and prepared, but I wasn't as blown away as the last place. We made friends with the couple sitting next to us. They were from Chicago (where Jordyn is from) and even went to her school. Then, a bachelor party walked into the restaurant and the bachelor was dressed as Cleopatra. This is a very common practice here in Spain. The bachelor party always consists of the bachelor, dressed ridiculously, with his entourage of men following behind wearing weird/embarassing shirts.
Hake
coffee and ham
The last place for the night was another Michelin star restauant. It was tucked deep into a corner on a side street. I had been sucking on a heart lollipop from the bachelor party and thought I should probably throw it out before walking into such a well known restaurant. I asked again what was the best on the menu and the man said veel cheeks and the goat cheese. Done and done. We also got the risotto. The veel cheek was served on a potato puree and was ridiculously tender. Great flavor, great texture. The goat cheese, another good one and was served with vegetables. I love when chefs put a sugar coating on anything and torch it. It adds the sweet component into a salty dish. We didn't like the risotto though... Jordyn freaked out because she tasted fish. The guy said there was cod juice in it. Well, that'll do it for ya. I honestly thought it tasted too fishy. And I love fish, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't the taste I was looking for at that moment. Well, we were done. We were so stuffed! We headed home for bed.
Day 2: Friday. We took a nice walk to the other part of town to see a Cathedral and to see the great shopping area for a little while before we went on a hike up a mountain. Like I said, tortilla is very popular and is served for breakfast in some cafes on a little roll. But what I came across wasn't tortilla, it was a legitimite omelete! I haven't had an omelet in 3 months. I was so happy to have this little sandwich for breakfast. We grabbed some coffee and moved on with our day. We hiked to the top of a mountain where Jesus was overlooking the city. It was a fantastic view of the city. We could see both beaches and everything beyond. I mom danced at the top and then we walked down a little to find a great spot to catch some rays. We decided to be a little adventurous and decided not to take the real path. We were going to rough it. We saw this big rock, slanted on an angle and thought if we could get to that, then we could get to the next level down really easily. Well, of course something had to get in our way. The grass had weird prickly things. We managed to get down the rest of the way without a problem and walked around the mountain to the other beach. Jordyn's ex kept telling us we needed to go to this bar called Monpas and to get Bocadillo #7. He wouldn't tell us what it was, but he said it's out of this world. So we were pumped for Bocadillo #7. We ordered it, looked at it, bit into it, and WOW!!! SO GOOD! Again, mushrooms were the star, with Roquefort cheese and pork that tasted like chicken. Warm, delicious, yum. After, we sat on the edge then moved to the beach. We both fell asleep using our sneakers as a pillow. I woke up to some weird old man standing somewhat close to me. He said, "Sol." That means sun. I'm like "Sol?" He said, "Agua." I said, "Agua?" He pointed to my stomach and said "Nini." HUH? First off, what the hell is "nini" and sir, what the fuck are you talking about!? He walked away. Thank God. 
After our relaxing day we headed back to the hostel for a shower. We finally figured out how to work the television. What did we find? An American station! I haven't watched tv in over 3 months. All of my friends watch it on their computers, but my internet is too slow for that, plus I have zero time. So we watched Two and a Half Men and got ready to go out. We went on another pintxo tour. Jordyn had a cubed meat dish, I had rockin foie grois, eggplant, and some other dishes. I left my camera in one of the restaurants and two men chased after me with it. I think I would have legitimately cried if I had lost it. Jordyn needed dessert so we wandered around and found her a crepe. She was happy, and we were full. Went back to the hostel before our last day in San Sebastian. Here are a few pictures of some of the things we ate:
Cheese with pine nuts... consistancy similar to Laughing Cow
Lamb meatball with a potato puree
cubed steak with onions and a cheese sauce very similar to Manchego
legitimately can't remember.. some kind of meat for Jor
DELICIOUS FOIE GRAS served with apple
Creamy pasta with shrimp.
Under the poato sticks were egg, cheese, and ham. Jordyn was in Heaven.
We woke up and headed out for breakfast. We found a delicious bakery and I had the best cookie I've ever had. This city just kept getting better and better. It was chocolate and praline if you were wondering. After, we went to the famous market and got a brilliant idea to later come back for an afternoon snack. Jordyn saw a pair of shoes she really wanted to we searched and searched for that store, but couldn't find it. We had worked up an appetitite by that point and went to our last lunch stop, a burger place that Jordyn's friend insisted we go to. Why was it so good? Because it had an egg on it. Surprise, surprise. An egg? In San Sebastian!? ... SO we got the burger and yeah, it really was a delicious burger. Probably about 150 times better than Pepi's microwavable shit she serves me. We went back to the hostel to change for some time at the beach. Jordyn had her travel size little towel, I had my sweatpants. It was cloudy, but we both zonked out quickly. After laying at the beach for a few hours we went back to the market for our picnic. Of course everything was closed, but there was a supermarket open within the market. We grabbed some strawberries, some honey, some cheese, and some bread. How were we going to cut the cheese though? As we were walking out there was one butcher still open. We asked if he could cut it for us. Not only did he cut it, he sliced it, and cut off all the rind and wrapped it up for us. He wouldn't accept any money from us. Such a simple act of kindness, but it really made us so happy. We walked to one of the other beaches, and sat and had our picnic. I dropped my last bite of cheese. It was sad :-( We bought a cheap bottle of wine and figured we would find a wine key in our hostel. Nope. We were screwed. We looked up home remedies to opening a bottle of wine without a wine key. We put it in a shoe, smashed it against a wall, hit the bottom while it was upside down, inserted keys, wires, adapters, tv cables, pens, and other sharp objects into the bottle. We broke off half. And pushed the other half in. When we took a sip of our cork filled cheap bottle, we realized it was really warm wine and so we gave up. It was really funny though. I have a great video of Jordyn banging on the bottle.
After our picnic we went to an internet cafe to research the best pintxos in San Sebastian so we wouldn't miss anything. What did we find? That we had already hit up a lot of the hot spots and were bar hopping on the right streets. We started off our night by heading back to Zorbeks because I needed to try Heaven one more time and I made Jordyn eat it too. Even the non-fish eater was blown away! We went to another restuarant and tried a few things. Nothing I can really rant and rave about, but still some really good dishes. We wound up going back to Zorbek's AGAIN for the final pintxo of the trip. I had more cod, and it was fantastic. I'm telling you, if you ever go to San Sebastian, you need to go to Zorbek's. And if you don't call me and tell me you're going there I will hunt you down.
Jordyn's final bite
My final bite
Well, that was San Sebastian. It was an incredibly delicious weekend. I've never felt more inspired and excited to see where my life goes with this. I love the idea of pintxos, but don't know how it would translate in America. I am confused on how they keep the food out for so long without refrigeration. Does no one get salmonella poisoning here? I have to research Spain's "FDA" because I don't get how they all get away with leaving food out for long periods of time. I've taken too many classes on food borne illness to figure out that one.
This was on the the most special times of my life. I returned home just in time for lunch. What did Pepi serve me? Eggs with potatoes and mushrooms. I laughed. Seeing Marissa and Pepi's excitement when I came home was so bitter sweet. They wanted to hear so badly about everything. Marissa knew how important this was to me and listened to every story I had to tell. Pepi looked through the pictures of the book and of course pointed out every honey and cheese combination feeling proud that she gives that to us all of the time. I'm so glad I have my happy little family to share these memories with and to have this blog to share it with everyone else. I think my goal in life is to make money not for myself, but to be able to take my family here to Spain and be able to let them experience everything I have had the joy of experiencing. I can't wait to return here again and eat my way through the city all over again. Tums, here I come!
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