Thursday, January 12, 2006

Food for the Mood

Ahhh, I feel like Spanish food today.
This post was inspired by Yan, whom reminded me of the glorious week in Barcelona and Valencia last year. I think I took too many pictures of food rather than scenery/people that time, but then I probably do everywhere. Just can't seem to perfect the technique, LoL

Anyways, here are some to share with you guys. Be warned: do not proceed if you're hungry! :P Your first thought about Spanish food is probably just Paella or Tapas.

Paella, the ultimate comfort food, is probably a risotto to an Italian or a 'chow fan' (fried rice) to a Chinese. Very versatile and goes with most ingredients. Authentic method of making it requires some time or effort though, by cooking the rice with flavorful stock in a big wide flat pan and constantly keep a watchful eye over it. Sadly due to time constraints, many restaurants just use ovens or even pressure cooker to do it. The squeeze of lemon right before you eat gives the punch ;)



The first one is just a normal seafood paella. The second one is interesting, hehe. No, its not a 'chao tarh' (i.e. burnt) version of the first. It's not carsinogenic either for the health conscious amongst you all out there. It's Paella Negro, which is Squid Ink Paella, hence where it gets its color. It's my favourite kind of paella I must say, noticed some people eating it in restaurants and decided to try it. Cooking with squid ink is just adds a different unexplainable aroma and dimension to it, have to try it for yourself when you're in Spain, highly recommended! But make sure you wipe your lips after eating it to avoid looking like a dracula! Will do a Paella post when I cook it :) (soon hopefully...)

On another interesting note, Tapas to me is like the Spanish version of sushi. It's a westernized version with bread/baguette instead of rice in sushis. Ok, maybe not ALL, but I did see some with salmon, and a crabmeat mayo one on top of bread.



Tapas from top-bottom: Blood sausage, salmon mousse and grilled pepper with mozarella tapas. Quite artsy, just like sushis. Hmm.. I think I still prefer sushi, hehe. But these are different story ...


(First picture) Tomato and garlic mussels and grilled baby squids. The next one is deep fried calimari and baby squids. Mwahaha, seems like a total seafood feast! But its all right coz its very fresh over there and not too expensive anyways compared to the UK.

Time for the highlight of the trip. I'd been reading up on what special stuff to try and finally landed my hands (or rather mouth) to these devilish desserts/snacks:


This is Buñuelos (Boon-way-loos). They are a Spanish favourite snack or dessert, basically crunchy flour tortillas coated with cinnamon sugar, dipped in DARK CHOCOLATE *swoon* :P

This is Churros. Churros are fried strips of dough typically served hot and sprinkled with powdered sugar, cinnamon and sugar or dipped in chocolate (again!). Sounds equally sinful, hehe, but I had it for breakfast anyway a few days in a row! It's only a westernized version of 'Yau Char Kwai' (a.k.a) Chinese crullers, typically a breakfast item which probably originated from Hongkong. :P And I eat it with chocolate milk (though Chinese crullers normally goes with soya milk or even dipped in coffee :) ) Choosing between the two? Tough choice.. *think think, scratches head*.......... I think I prefer ....Ch.. Bh.. Chhu.. Bhhu.. CHuRRoS!! gargh

Haha, I think I went overboard again and ended up posting 80% of my food pics taken during my trip last year to Barcelona and Valencia. For souvenir? Yesh, I bought myself a Paella pan :P

Happy Friday the 13th everyone!

No comments: