Spain & Portugal

Delicious dinner at a hole in the wall tapas restaurant in Barcelona.  Octopus with an Old Bay-like seasoning, grilled prawns and salad topped with fried goat cheese - delicious!

La Boqueria Market in Barcelona - so many fruits and veggies here, and everything was so beautifully displayed.  The only problem we found in Spain was that unfortunately so little of these fresh items were featured on menus.  I'm not sure where the disconnect was.

Ham snack, anyone??

No lack of pig in Barcelona.  We bought some chorizo from this shop, hoping to bring home to share with our friends, and I got some for Howie.  US Customs had other plans for us :(

Somehow we resisted the delicious looking chocolates and sweets from La Boqueria.

More colorful beauties in La Boqueria.

Fried squid on a stick!  Cleverly photographed with a picture of an octopus in the background :)

So many different types of chorizo.

Mushrooms for days!

So many spices to choose from - the colors were amazing.

Starting the night with goblets of sangria!

Monica shaking her artichoke maracas!

At Barcelona Cooking School, learning the secrets of making paella.

Yummy...simmering paella.

Made some butternut squash soup with in-season local ingredients.

Git 'er done, Carolyn!

Menu del dia at Lost In in Lisbon - Octopus cakes with spinach rice and salad - I devoured the greens as my body was seriously lacking at this point.

Just taking a cheese break after conquering the super hilly streets of Lisbon.  We stumbled upon this cheese shop and got the sampler - a mix of goat and cow cheese, all of which were amazing.  Carolyn and I were practicing eating super slow and enjoying every bite - I think we're on our way to becoming true Europeans!

At Pharmacia in Lisbon - awesome trendy spot with old time-y pharmacy decor.  Such a cool place and the food was excellent as well.

Eggplant rolls stuffed with goat cheese and nuts - potential recipe inspiration :)

We had to try the classic Lisbon dessert from Pasteis de Belem.  They were these custard-like tarts which were excellent and super rich - we gladly washed them down with some cappuccinos.

Crazy veggies!  I loved all the art and graffiti in Spain and Portugal.  This was on a street near our flat in Lisbon.

The market in Madrid - I seriously loved the displays.

Squid - straight up.

Beautiful seafood - the prawns looked so yummy.

Super scary monkfish!

Beans look so nice when they are called legumbres and displayed in cloth sacks.