I have yet to get on top of the jet-lag situation that my body is going through, and its rather frustrating. Every place we drive to is an hour away, and I sleep there and back, because my body is screaming at my eyelids for being open at ‘four in the morning’, even though it is technically ten o’clock a.m here. Also, I take these idiotic naps that my body forces me into, only in the car while we’re driving and there’s nothing to do, and because of it I’m up until two or three a.m here, which is eight or nine at home.
I AM SICK OF IT
We woke up today as always, ate breakfast and were on our way to a place with windmills. It sounds somewhat boring, I know, but it was quite the opposite. It was the first time I had been outside while here in Spain and felt slightly chilled; the wind was blowing so hard. The windmills were huge, and they were everywhere. They were insanely cooled inside, and the mechanics to the old-fashioned machinery was almost to the point of disbelief. I loved every second of it, because not only could I take pictures to my heart’s content, but we had a fantastic view of the tiny city below us.
Spain is still wondrous and magical. I have enjoyed every place we’ve been too, but the one thing I have been completely unable to enjoy (until today) is the cuisine. Its not that the cuisine is terrible, or some sort of terrible combination of pig brains and feet, although that was an entrée available at one of the restaurants we explored. It’s that everything is something that I’m afraid my stomach cannot handle, or it is made with an extreme amount of egg.
Two nights ago our hostess served us an extremely important dessert…I can’t remember what it was called, but I hope Koki never serves it again. It was literally made of eggs and only eggs and smelling it made my entire body lurch in a way that I didn’t know was possible. I attempted to be polite and eat a bite…I ended up crying because I was attempting to choke down vomit. Please, Koki. Never again.
But today the Lord smiled on me. I have never eaten such a delicious meal in my entire life. It was the day before the restaurant was closing for holiday (a thirty day period were they close because of the heat, etc.) and the first restaurant or any building in general we went into that had air conditioning.
PRAISE THE LORD
There’s this type of cheese here that is made of strictly sheep’s milk, and it is so fabulous. The flavor is mouthwatering, and if you put a tiny piece on top of a huge chunk of sourdough bread…I would kill for that combination. Then my Dad, Sam, Keeler and I decided to be adventuresome and order venison. It doesn’t seem like an adventuresome thing for my family to do, because we constantly eat venison at home; it’s the meat we use for everything, instead of hamburger or something pathetic like that. But it was adventuresome because we had no idea how it would be cooked, whether or not it would be fully cooked, etc. etc.
The first portion of venison was marinated in a type of salsa, with peppers and other gorgeous vegetables that you wouldn’t immediately pair up with a piece of venison that needs to be marinated. It was cut in thin slices and drowned in olive oil, so not only did the flavors jump out at you in orderly perfection, but the venison cuts were perfectly cooked and perfectly moist.
The second portion was cooked stir-fry style, with olive oil and possibly some somewhat bland other sauce, and the covered with a garlic and parsley sauce on top. I have never tasted any meat with so many flavors in my life. My family and I were inhaling the venison.
And finally, the third portion was cooked in a stew, with plenty of olive oil, wonderful wine and garlic cloves. The venison was so deliciously tender, the instant it was in your mouth it fell apart it perfectly sized strands, and you found yourself happily drowning in the flavor. Once again, inhalation occurred.
And finally, the dessert was one hundred percent chocolate ice cream, with no eggs to be seen.
J’taime, mi amore. J’taime.
No comments:
Post a Comment