The Redemption of Madrid – By Way of Tapas

In a small stopover before heading to France I returned to Madrid for a one night stay and an attempt to allow the city to redeem itself in my eyes. My two days there had been all work and no play, staying in not so sexy accommodations, and being too tired to go out post meetings and really experience the city. I met some incredibly wonderful people and walked the length of the city seeing all it’s wonderful sights, but sadly had no real time to actually enjoy it. Too much running around, networking, and general jetlag prohibited me from even eating a meal that wasn’t a store bought sandwich or ready made salad.

Sinful, I know.

So I returned for one day/night and committed to being a tourist and seeing what this lovely city was really all about. And I can safely say that Madrid has redeemed itself, quite beautifully, by way of tapas, and I have the pictures to prove it.

Because that’s all I do when I’m being a tourist, I take pictures of my food.

I feel it is important to note before showing said pictures that I am aware that there is absolutely nothing sly about taking pictures of your food. You try to be discreet, you try to wait for the waiter to walk away, for the other patrons to be so engrossed in their conversation and their overblown hand gestures that they couldn’t possibly notice you photographing your sandwich. But they always do. The click of the camera always echoes across the room and when you put the camera down everyone is watching you, not sure what to make of the person who takes pictures of what to them is so stupidly normal.

But that’s what I actually loved about the Madrid people. Every time someone caught me taking a picture of my food I was met with either lovable laughter, agreeable mumbles of love for the food, or I was given something for free to try!

They, like me, agreed on one thing – the food of a city is representative of the city itself, perhaps even more so than its most famous monuments. The food holds the real energy to the people’s hearts and will undoubedtly help you better understand who they are and why they live there. And it is what always, always makes me want to come back.

Here are some of my official tourist photos along with my tapas/food porn:

Plaza de Colon

view from my lunch spot

first glass of wine, second glass was comped - love you too Madrid!

the spanish version of the amuse bouche. There was salmon and spices and mayo and mustard and all around goodness

This tapa changed my life. Iberian ham, tomato relish, on bread and smothered in olive oil. I was literally licking my fingers after every bite and muttering my thanks to God.

mmmm shrimp - in the most amazing broth/sauce EVER.

No, really. LOOK AT IT! It's nothing but butter, garlic, herbs, and olive oil. And it's all bubbly and warm and perfect...SO GOOD.

In case you're wondering, this is what happiness looks like. Amazing, amazing food.

yes, we're back to the sauce. Look at it. Do you know how much bread I used to soak all that up? Do you know how much cellulite I now have because of it? Do you know how much I don't care?

the palace

gorgeous cathedral

what can only be described as the most beautiful and magical little bookstore

So there you have it. Madrid’s redemption by way of food and friendly people, both of which will no doubt bring me back.

I will however still maintain that as far as cities go, it’s not my absolute favorite. London and Lyon have control of my heart, New York will always seduce me with her unapologetic and invigorating energy, and the beauty of Paris always overwhelms me in a way that I have no real words to describe. So Madrid has stiff competition in my eyes, but at least she’s now on the list, and I can’t wait to come back and see what else she can offer me in the future.

Next up – a week in Annecy! French lessons, cooking class (!), a visit to Chambery, and an attempt to get my money back from a French bank. This should be interesting…

The Joys of Malaga

My one full day in Malaga resulted in a lot of lovely networking, a lot of tourist visits, and more drinking than I ever expected.

The day started out with the necessary meetings and information exchanges with all our partners and was followed by me spending the entire day in downtown Malaga by myself doing the touristy thing before meeting back up with my lovely colleague for dinner. I toured the cathedral, I went to the Picasso museum (oh my god), I had the Malagan version of a cosmo…it was a perfectly lovely day.

Much like Nice in France, Malaga is a typical European beach town – palm trees, cafes, lots of drinking…a little bit of heaven in the simplest terms. I do have to say that in terms of food, Malaga wins over Nice hands down. When I was in Nice I found the food quite dissapointing unless you REALLY wanted to pay for good food. Normal cafes and restaurants catered to tourists and because of that the quality of food suffered. But in Malaga the food was excellent. To be fair, I had a local taking me to dinner, which always helps, but overall Malaga wins for ultimate beach relaxation. Here are a few photos from my trip:

my adorable studio. Shame no one was traveling with me!

Welcome gift from my Malagan colleagues. You have no idea how happy I was to see that little bottle of wine.

my terrace

Malagan wine, sweet, much like Port.

tapa -salmon on crunchy bread. I never eat salmon anymore because all the salom in the states tastes funny because of the quality. But the salmon in Spain is so amazingly fresh it's all I've been eating!

mmmm - fresh chicken and ham salad for lunch. Everything is so fresh!

gorgeous

so many beautiful little streets

The Malagan version of a cosmo...hmmmmm....

view of the cathedral while drinking my "cocktail"

the cathedral at night from the harbor

Tapas dinner!

tapa on the house - cheese, tomato, and eggplant yumminess. So HAPPY.

this is a very typical Malagan digestif but I have no idea what it is called! Tastes a lot like Calvados though so I was happy. Great way to say goodbye to Malaga!

While the trip was short it was certainly lovely and I would definitely come back again. You really can’t go wrong with taking a little time off in the south of Spain…I mean, really. Who can complain?

Next up, the redemption of Madrid and back to France for one whole week!

A First Impression of Madrid

I have learned the following during my first full day in Madrid:

1. Men make kissing noises at you when they’re trying to hit on you/get your attention. At first I thought it was just the lowlifes who did it, you know the desperate unappealing ones that need such tactics. But then some men in suits did it. Some really good looking men in suits did it. Men who would have had a chance at at least a conversation, had they not made a noise that suggested I come to them like a sweet, needy little puppy. Note to the Spaniards, thanks for the “compliment” but I’m not actually a dog who wants to kiss your feet and bring you your slippers.

2. Despite the above, the friendliness and energy of the Spanish people is truly beautiful. Maybe I’ve spent too many years around the French who are guarded and particular about who they are friendly with, but man, Spaniards are nice to everyone! Even the city people will talk to you! And they smile! Between living in New York and Paris and Lyon I didn’t know people still did that.

3. When exploring a new city never underestimate your need for walking shoes. My legs and feet feel like they are going to fall off and I was wearing my comfy shoes today. All those outfits I brought that require heels may never see the light of day on this trip. Seriously, ouch.

Sadly, so far, I’m not really feeling Madrid. To be fair I’m working, and running around from point A to point B for meetings, but in all that running around in all the varying neighborhoods, I’m not quite loving it. It’s pretty, as most Spanish cities are, but it’s lacking something that I just can’t put my finger on. I just can’t seem to feel anything but indifferent.

I suppose I have unrealistic expectations of big cities having lived in New York. New York is special because of it’s energy. There’s a reason everyone says there’s no other city like it – because there truly isn’t. However, I’ve been immediately seduced by London and Paris, and even Lyon on arrival, yet somehow Madrid is just not doing it for me.

I blame work.  The people who live here love it here and I am sure they have good reason to…I just can’t quite see it yet. So I am reserving actual judgment until I am back on Saturday for a real tourist day. I have a whole 24 hours here in an honest to goodness hotel with nothing but time to do things like go to museums and visit the old town, which I do believe is where everyone keeps telling me to go. I just don’t currently have the time.

Besides, the Prado museum currently has the “Mona Lisa copy” everyone is all up in arms over. I can’t leave without seeing that. And I haven’t even had time to have tapas. How can I possibly judge Madrid without having their tapas? That almost seems criminal.

Silly work, always getting in the way of  a good time. We’ll see how Madrid seduces me tomorrow. If she doesn’t I’m off to Seville in the p.m. and I am pretty sure she is going to be just my type.

Hola Madrid! Yo No Hablo Espanol!

And that is about all I can say – Hola, Gracias, yo peudo? cuanto cuesta? bano? pan? And yet somehow I am managing quite well.

After a very bumpy flight (thank you drugs for making me only semi conscious)  and little to no food, I made my way to the Madrid metro determined to conquer the public transportation system, suitcase and all. I not only conquered the metro but managed to follow my nose enough to find my apartment which was a good 20 minute walk from the subway station despite assurance from my colleagues that it was “just around the corner.” Yeah, at this point in my life I could write a thesis on the cultural significance of that phrase and how it means many things to many different cultures.

After embarrassing myself with my hosts and apologizing in a mix of half English/half French for my complete lack of Spanish I fell onto my lovely little single bed and had a much needed siesta in my new Madrid digs, waking  up around 8pm wondering what always springs to mind when I first wake up – how the hell am I going to eat?

After making the necessary rubbing of my tummy and grunting noises to demonstrate “American is hungry”, my hosts assured me nothing was open on a Sunday but I refused to believe it. It’s Madrid, something has to be open, not anything good. But something will be open. So I told them I’d go explore anyway,  and lo and behold, within 5 minutes I found a small corner store/deli that had all the basics to make a not so sexy yet potentially delicious meal.

And boy did I score big. No seriously, God bless Spain.

From the limited corner store selection I was faced with I opted for a dinner of goat cheese, baguette, and salami. Dinner of champions from any travelling point of view. It’s not terribly exciting but it serves its purpose and it will fill me up. And, voila, my first official meal in Spain

And man was it DELICIOUS. I expected it to be good, like all basic things are in Europe, but the salami had like a lovely garlic oil all over it and the cheese was that perfectly tart goat cheese that when combined with the bread and the sweetness of the salami…yeah, happy tummy.

YUMMMM. I’m certainly not saying I’d rather be eating this than some fabulous sit down meal prepared for me by some amazing chef, but if this is me making do, then I’m not exactly upset about it.

I also treated myself to a 4 euro baby bottle of wine and some much needed snacks to get me through a busy work day with no stop for real food in sight.

So there you have it. My experience in Madrid so far – airport, metro, embarrassing lack of Spanish vocabulary,  food, snacks, and cheap Spanish wine.

I’m hoping the next two days are much more thrilling.

The itinerary for this week is Madrid for two days, Seville for two days, then Malaga for two days, followed by a one night stopover back in Madrid before venturing off to bond with France for a week.  I will do my best to update the blog as much I can while I’m running around eating everything I see and quietly judging everyone I meet.

Pics and more to come!