On a toasted sesame seed bun!

Homemade french fries!

And some faux-german beer from Barcelona to round out a healthy American meal.

Because of Saint Joseph’s status as surrogate father, today is also when Spaniards celebrate Father’s Day. At daycare, my daughter made me a little paper necktie that says, “¡Te quiero, Papá!” and a card that reads, “De tu mano voy a aprender lo que mañana voy a ser.” (From your hand, I will learn what tomorrow I will be). Both are scribbled on in a variety of crayon colors. Silly, but doggone it if a tear didn’t well up.

A proud father.

I got berated for taking a shot of the messy kitchen mid-cook, but I liked it. You can see the already-made, but not yet fried spring rolls.

Frying the vegetables and almonds. Spaniards fry their onions and peppers until they are very soft, yet Chinese cuisine calls for a bit of crunchiness to be left.

The rice had carrots, onions, ham, peas, and egg. I’m not sure which of these are considered the “three delights”.

Nora loved the rice.

Spanish culture has almost no racism filters, so making “Chinese eyes” to celebrate the occasion was acceptable.

Spring rolls!

Almond chicken!

Yummy spring roll!

Almond chicken on a bed of rice.

The meal was a big success. I suspect we will be making these recipes again sometime soon. The food was delicious!

Desayuno

The first meal of the day. i.e. breakfast. It’s even a compound word, like “breakfast”, since ayuno means “fast” (as in not eating), and des- is a negating prefix, so you’re literally “un-fasting”. Unlike the US or the UK, the typical Spanish breakfast is very light and completely devoid of protein. The most common breakfast is a café con leche with some type of pastry or cookies.

I always assumed that Spanish farmers or other people that do long hours of manual labor in the mornings probably eat a heartier breakfast, but I know a few of them and they don’t.

A typical Spanish breakfast: coffee with milk and a pastry.

Almuerzo

This one is complicated. The dictionary says it’s “food eaten in the morning or midday”. Spanish-to-English dictionaries always translate it to “lunch” and there are those who use it synonymously with comida, but I think the best English translation would be “brunch”. The few times I’ve had one, it was more substantial than a simple snack or tapa, and left me with no desire to have lunch afterwards. It’s normally served at around noon, or just before.

Interestingly, almuerzo breaks the etymological rule of thumb that most Spanish words starting with al- came from Arabic. This word comes from the Latin word for “bite”.

A typical Spanish almuerzo: a concoction of fried eggs, bacon in a tomato sauce, served at noon with plenty of wine.

Comida

Translating best to “lunch”, this is the primary, and largest, meal of the day, eaten at midday. However, what the Spanish call “midday” is not what an American would call “midday”. In Spain, they eat their lunch between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM. Most shops are closed during this time and reopen at 5:00 PM until about 8:00 PM. While the noun comida and verb comer mean “lunch” and “to have lunch”, they are also more generally used to mean “food” and “to eat”, and there is rarely any confusion.

Traditionally the midday meal consists of two courses, one of which normally requires a spoon to eat, like a soup or legume stew, the other is usually rice (e.g. paella), pasta or a small serving of meat. All restaurants assume that you will be having two courses. In daily home cooked practice, however, one course is all we ever eat.

Last time I checked, nutritionists and dietitians agree that it’s healthiest to have your biggest meal in the middle of the day like the Spaniards, rather than at the end as the Americans do. It may be healthier, but it can make it difficult to become productive again in the afternoon, especially if there was any wine involved.

A typical Spanish lunch: beans with wild boar, followed by…

…a steak with fried potatoes.

Merienda

This is another in-between meal – like the almuerzo – and best translates to “afternoon snack”. I never really heard it used until I became a parent and saw that every Spanish child has an afternoon snack of some sort, be it a piece of fruit or a small sandwich. From what I can tell, most adults don’t eat the merienda, but I suppose the word could be used for some British-style tea and cookies.

A typical Spanish merienda: a small serrano ham sandwich.

Cena

The final meal of the day is strangely similar to the US or UK breakfast: high in protein. Eggs are a common ingredient, often in a tortilla de patata (Spanish omelet). Meats and cheeses are often included. If you go out to a restaurant, sandwiches and hamburgers are a common supper.

A typical Spanish dinner: tortilla de patata.

If there’s one thing Spaniards love, it’s food, and I think it shows in their language. Of course no one ever eats all five meals, but no matter what time of the day you get hungry, you’ve got a Spanish noun and verb to use.

The full brochure.

The first pincho we tried was at La Marina Company. It was by far the most elaborate and special in a “you’re not going to ever make this at home” sort of way.

La Marina Company: Panacota de frambuesa con anchoas – That’s a cooked cream of raspberries with anchovies.

The presentation was gorgeous, but the combination of flavors was a little too bizarre for our philistine tastes. It came with a little dropper of Modena olive oil. There were too many flavors for my wife’s expertise in anchovy quality to gain any purchase.

A close-up of La Marina Company’s pincho. In general we were pretty displeased not only with the pincho, but also by the service. It took about ten minutes for the pincho to make its way down from the upstairs kitchen. By that time, we’d almost finished our wines.

La Casona: Suprema de buey – This “Ox Supreme” was described in the brochure as “Hamburger of ox meat with onion, egg and cheese”. After La Marina Company, our eyes were immensely disappointed when the tiny little burger rolls were plopped down before us. But wow, had hour eyes deceived us! The first bite had us both moaning with pleasure. The grainy bread, the tender meat, the sweet caramelized onions and the cheese made an excellent combination. Supreme, indeed!

It’s really not much to look at, but I could happily eat a dozen of these little treats.

Cafetería Colón: Hamburguesa de potro a la barbacoa – “What’s potro?”, I asked my wife. “Baby horse”, she replied. Whoa! Well, this is the place that had kangaroo meat in 2009. The ingredients listed were: sweet roll, colt meat, tomato, onion, garlic, pepper, parsley and barbecue sauce.

Like most foods with barbecue sauce, the sauce completely overwhelmed any other flavors, making this a very boring pincho to eat. The potato chips on the side did little to make it any more special. I’d certainly never have guessed that it was foal meat. It was a big let down after the previous hamburger in La Casona.

La Abadía: Destinos Pejinos – Apparently pejino is a local word meaning “a humble resident of coastal Cantabria”, so the title translates to “humble Cantabrian destinations”. Indeed, the primary ingredient was respigos, a local winter delicacy. The ingredients were listed as: pastry toast with cumin and respigos.

Visually, it looks like something your sick cat might leave on the carpet, but it was quite tasty in a humble, healthy sort of way. I didn’t care much for the “pastry toast” on the bottom; it reminded me of a bland granola bar.

The second night, we went to El Concept, but they were out of pinchos, and had enough business so that they didn’t really give a damn. Boo!

El Somera: Guiso de jabalí al chocolate – The name means “wild boar stew with chocolate”, and sure enough, that’s what it was. Unfortunately, for cost saving motives, there were a lot of potatoes, and very few chunks of boar meat. I must say, however, that I was impressed.

The little bowls were lovely. It definitely took second place away from La Albadía’s respigos.

A bore eating boar.

El Guti: Hamburguesita de ternera con salsa de queso y su guarnición – The title means “Little beef hamburger with cheese sauce and garnish”. The meat was fantastic, and the potatoes were fresh out of the frying pan.

The little burger looks insignificant, but the taste was powerful. I think it just barely edged out El Somera for second place.

Conclusion

Of the six pinchos we tried, I would rank them as follows:

1. La Casona – Definitely the best tasting pincho of all, despite presentation.
2. El Guti – Excellent flavor, though simple presentation.
3. El Somera – Wonderfully warm stew, with a slightly sweet chocolate tone.
4. La Albadía – Very hearty and healthy, but nothing spectacular.
5. Cafetería Colón – Too much sauce, but a decent snack.
6. La Marina Company – A lot of work put into preparation, but a very eccentric taste.

So concludes this year’s Pincho Week. I hope to do much better than a 33.3% sample size next year. ¡Hasta entonces! Until then!

The Maria Cristina hotel. This is the hotel to stay at in San Sebastián. It was built in 1912, during the rise of San Sebastián into prominence as one of the top tourist destinations for Europe’s upper class. This is where all the Steven Spielberg and Julia Roberts types stay when they come for the annual film festival.

The hotel overlooks the mouth of the Urumea River.

Almost all the facades in San Sebastián are worth examining.

This photo is not tilted. This is the cliff face looking up to a lookout post. It was yet another time when I wished I had my Uncle Jamie, the geologist, with me to explain what type of sedimentary rocks make up the various layers and approximately how many years each centimeter represents.

The sea wall had these little rings and padlocks every ten meters or so. I wonder what for?

A look at the beach.

This is the must-photograph shot from San Sebastián’s pedestrian streets. I’ve never seen a documentary about San Sebastián without it.

I was not aware that if you turn 180° from the previous shot, you can see all the way down to the cathedral. City planning win!

I loved this stairway down to the water. The steps have been worn down by the waves and weather to the point where it’s almost a ramp.

Good thing they have a gate on it. They look dangerous.

The fisherman’s quarter would’ve been a lot more intriguing if I didn’t live in a northern Spain fishing village myself. The menus in the seaside restaurants were very pricy, but probably very delicious.

Don’t touch that dial! There are tapas photos coming up in the next post!

The event began as a get together for a local bowling club (a special local style of bowling, not ten-pin), but as the years went by various members stopped going and their numbers waned, so they started inviting friends of the original members. After ten years or so, the original bowling club members make up only a tiny fraction of the attendees. Today there were 34 of us. It was only men, for unspoken reasons. I was invited by my friend, Andrés, and I subsequently invited my father-in-law.

We left at noon from our house and drove into the mountains, stopping at three bars along the way. Initially I was under the impression that we would be in someone’s house or cabin or something, but it turns out that the event was hosted at a restaurant called Casa Germán in the little valley town of Matienzo.

Some elaborate tapas at a bar we stopped at. We avoided any tapas despite our hunger to save space for the donkey later.

We stopped for another drink at Restaurante Cagigal, which was so rustic that the place was filled with smoke from the two fireplaces heating it. Cagigal is Andrés’ second surname, and it’s fairly rare around these parts, so I took his photo in front of the restaurant.

The first course was asadurilla, donkey offal, various parts of the intestines and other edible organs, served in a spicy sauce. Mmmm!

Donkey offal on my plate. I never get tired of saying “donkey offal”.

The second course was a donkey stew with peas, mushrooms and potatoes. There was a seemingly endless supply of this stuff, and they brought out several servings.

Some donkey stew meat on my plate.

Remaining stew.

Then came the third course, which was donkey fillets, boneless steaks.

As well as chuletas, steaks with bone. These were the best part of the meal, melting in my mouth like butter… Mmmm…donkey butter…

My donkey steak.

How to describe donkey meat? It was really quite similar to beef, but with a slightly stronger flavor. More gamey, perhaps, whatever that means.

Then it was time for coffee and a honey liqueur. This is my new friend, Mariano.

After settling the bill, 25€ each (not bad for such a meat-laden banquette), we all went our separate ways. Andrés took us home. He had a long night of partying ahead of him, including tickets to the local premier league fútbol match. My father-in-law and I were seriously full and decided to walk two circuits around town, about six kilometers in total, at a brisk pace to “settle the donkey”.

No need for supper tonight. Straight to bed. Hee-haw!!

I’ve made a variation that I enjoy that includes onions and peppers, although any ingredients beyond egg and potato are superfluous to the recipe.

A blurry flash-less photo of the raw ingredients. These peppers are exactly like regular old bell peppers in flavor and texture, but these just happen to be a little cheaper in Spain.

Step 1: Peel the potatoes and chop up all the veggies.

It’s important that the potatoes be sliced very thinly like this.

Step 2: Fry the potatoes, onions, and peppers in plenty of oil for 10-15 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes. When the potatoes begin to fall apart due to your stirring, they’re probably done.

Step 3: Dump entire contents of frying pan into a colander, collecting the oil in a bowl beneath.
Step 4: Put 2-3 tablespoons of the collected oil onto a smaller frying pan and put it on the stove to heat up. I usually save the remaining oil in a jar for future potato frying adventures.
Step 5: Beat 5-6 eggs in a bowl and add the fried vegetables. Add salt and optionally a little pepper.

Step 6: Pour mixture into the smaller frying pan and let cook on low heat for 5-10 minutes.
Step 7: This is the extremely difficult part that takes lots of practice. You have to place a plate over the frying pan, flip it over, and slide it back onto the frying pan to cook the other side. The really good chefs can flip it in the air, but that can get kind of messy.

The finished tortilla de patata. At this point, it can be eaten with a knife and fork and any number of sauces, including ketchup, mayo, and/or Tabasco.

Step 8: Cut a bit to fit on your bread and put some ketchup on it.

You’re done! Time to eat!

• 4oz cheddar, grated (sharpness dependent on your mood)
• 1 small jar pimento (pimiento)
• 1-2 Tbs. of finely chopped green onions (again, up to your mood)
• 1/4 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning (or cayenne pepper if you are into that, which I am sometimes but my great aunt is not)
• 4-5 Tbs. mayo
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Maybe a drop or two of the pimento juice

Mix until it is to your liking and refrigerate until ready to eat. (Alternately, eat directly out of bowl without refrigerating. Make sure the bowl is large enough to accommodate your noggin when you decide to lick said bowl clean.)

So I thought I’d give it a try. The main hurdle is the complete lack of cheddar cheese in Spain. We have a far greater variety of cheese available in even a small corner grocery store in Spain than even the largest supermarkets in the US. But there’s just no cheddar. Even the Brits, who invented cheddar cheese, don’t have as much of it in the stores as the yanks. It’s confusing. Anyway, the closest thing I could find was Gouda. And, although they certainly exist here, I couldn’t find any green onions at the grocery store yesterday, so I had to go without them in the mix. I also don’t have, and even didn’t know existed, Old Bay Seasoning, but the blogger behind the above recipe has agreed to send me some to try.

Ready or not, here we go!

These canned fried peppers are pretty common here in Spain. In a pinch you can throw some into the pan with a pork chop and it really adds to the flavor and color of the dish. Gouda isn’t required, swiss cheese would also work.

Note that they are pimientos, not pimentos. The latter word doesn’t really exist here. The former is the general term for all peppers. But what I took out of the can and chopped up would definitely be called “pimento” by an American.

My bloodied cheese torture device and the seasoning I used. I stole this seasoning from a restaurant in England on January 1, 2005, when we went out to eat with the group of friends that we had been partying with the night before. It’s basically just salt, a little black pepper, and a little cayenne pepper. It does wonders to french fries.

Grated and chopped and seasoned…awaiting the mayo.

The Wikipedia page says,

There is common agreement that the pimento cheese should not be a puree. But there are differences as to how much mixing and mashing should go on. Some favor a gentle tossing while other seem to advocate a more thorough combination.

I love that phrase, “some favor a gentle tossing”.

After this photo, it didn’t look or taste peppery enough, so I added another can of chopped pimento and a few drops of Tabasco. I then left it in the refrigerator for an hour, which I think helped it a lot.

Tada! It was pretty darn close to what I remember from childhood. In the end, you’re just eating a cheese and mayo sandwich, which can’t be too awfully healthy as a regular part of your diet. But for special occasions…yummy!

Foie paté to start with… There was more ham, too, but it didn’t survive the time it took me to get out the camera.

Marinated clams, the most expensive starter on the menu (25€). I will never be able to eat clams without thinking of my great aunt, Betty.

Some creamy fish dish that Marga ordered.

My plate: Sirloin steak stuffed with foie gras, with a side of potato puré. This meat was so good that my eyes involuntarily closed from pleasure with each bite. Unbelievable!

For the dessert, Marga chose more wisely than I. This was her ice cream sampler with raspberry sauce.

Mine was cheesecake ice cream with a side of apples, bananas and kiwis.

We had a nice Rioja with the meal, and a coffee and brandy to finish it off. When it was time to go, we thanked the waitress and walked out the door. That’s a nice experience.

Sautéing peppers and onions.

Chopped up turkey breast. Looks kinda like chicken.

Cooked.

My dough recipe is a secret.

Rolled into a pizza-sized disk.

Tomato sauce.

Add turkey.

Add peppers and onions.

Glorious, glorious mozzarella! There is a Cheese! That’s a little basil sprinkled on top.

And into the oven she goes!

Served with some left-over-from-wedding champagne.

Happy Thanksgiving!

When two pieces were left, I was already very full. Marga said, “We’re gonna finish it, right?” I figured that, in the spirit of the holiday, the “comfortably full” point should be pushed beyond. In a rare intersection between Spanish and American tradition, a post-pizza nap was called for.