I travelled to Barcelona, Spain this past weekend to meet up with some of the friends from Furman who are studying abroad in Berlin. I got there Friday night, had tapas, and went to bed early (too early for Barcelona), but I was exhausted and used to going to bed by like 10:30. Saturday was a blast! We went on a free walking tour of Barcelona, got lunch in La Boqueria which is a giant fresh market with fish, seafood, vegetables, fruits, candy, chocolate, and a lot of little restaurants, and then visited the Sagrada Familia, one of Gaudi's most beautiful structures. I was lucky enough to visit Barcelona in high school so I had already seen Sagrada Familia, but in at the time the inside was unfinished. Luckily they had finished the inside sometime after my high school visit. It was amazing getting to see the inside completely finished because before it was mainly scaffolding with a few stained glass windows peeking through, but now it's a massive Roman Catholic cathedral with plenty of space and light. It was a day full of Spanish culture and food.
La Boqueria
Earlier in the day we signed up for a cooking class where we learned how to make the famous Spanish dish paella. We accompanied the chef to La Boqueria where he bought fresh clams, mussels, calamari, prawns, salmon, vegetables, and saffron for our paella. We then went to the restaurant had amazing tapas that featured iberico ham, two types of chorizo, manchego cheese, tomatos, bread, potatoes braves (fried potatoes with a spicy cream sauce on top), and fire roasted green peppers. It was all so fresh and really delicious! I was in heaven. We also got unlimited sangria so you know we all took advantage of that. While snacking (technically devouring) on the tapas, I made four new friends who are awesome! There was a big group of us so the girls I sat with and I sat with people we didn't know. That was one of the best parts of the night: getting to know really interesting new people. Soon after we finished the tapas the chef started cooking the paella and the room immediately filled with the mouth watering smell of onions, garlic, and peppers. Once the chef finished the paella he had to let it sit for about 30 minutes for the rice to soak up all of the flavor and broth from the seafood and spices. During that time he taught us how to make sangria. I'm most definitely going to be taking that recipe back to Furman with me for next semester! Finally the paella was ready to eat and let me tell you, it was one of the best things I have ever eaten. I had had paella before, but nothing as fresh and flavorful as this. It is definitely going down in the books as my favorite meal ever, which is quite an accomplishment because 1) I am terrible at deciding my favorite color, movie, book, etc. and 2) I love almost all food. Overall, this weekend was an amazing one spent with wonderful friends and amazing food in a beautiful country!
You might be thinking to yourself, "How does chocolate pie have anything to do with this?" Just you wait. This weekend was a long weekend for us because we didn't have class on Monday, so last week my "French sister", Béryl, and I decided we would make my mom's chocolate pie on Monday! It was quite an adventure. I slept in that morning and found out that it was Saint Martin's day and since my "French family" has a son named Martin, we were going to have a big lunch for him. It's like a mini birthday celebration. I didn't have much time to make the pie, but luckily I only had to get a few things at the store and my little "French brother", Stan who is 9, accompanied me. It started off smoothly but then we realized that the dough we had was for flaky dough, not the normal pie crust we have at home. Also, they don't have cream of tartar here, which is kind of essential to have a really pretty, big meringue. But we decided to go ahead and do the best we could. There also wasn't a mixer like I'm used to at home so I tried using a food processor that worked well enough, but I unfortunately mixed the eggs whites too much the first time so they were just soupy. Then when I was putting more egg whites into the food processor, they fell through the little hole in the food processor and then proceeded to quickly slide off the counter and into the dishwasher...just my luck. I quickly grabbed a paper towel and cleaned it up, but I knew the meringue just wouldn't be the same. At the end the pie came out tasting fine even if the chocolate filling was kind of runny, the pie crust not completely cooked, and the meringue almost non-existent. But Béryl and I had a great time! Definitely a bonding moment.
Tomorrow we're heading to Paris to visit the Musée d'Orsay, which is one of my absolute favorite places in Paris. It used to be a train station so the architecture is beautiful. Also, the best collection of impressionist art in the world is at the Musée d"Orsay (impressionism's my fav). I'll be sure to take lots of photos. This weekend we're traveling as a group to Strasbourg and I have my fingers crossed that there will be Christmas markets. Although I do not support celebrating Christmas by listening to Christmas music or decorating before Thanksgiving, I would love to see what little things they have that I can buy because I can't go to a new place without buying something. I can't believe this will be our last weekend traveling together as a group! We have a little less then three weeks until we leave France to travel for 12 days around Europe on our own or with our families. It's unbelievable how quickly time has passed since I arrived at the beginning of September. I guess it's true that time flies when you're having fun, because I know that I've had the time of my life.
"It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end." -Ernest Hemingway
(I just finished The Paris Wife by Paula McLain last night. It's a fabulous book about Hemingway's first wife. If you have the chance, you should read it. It's very easy to read and I learned so much about Ernest and Hadley Hemingway.)
Also, I am unable to add anymore pictures to the post! I don't know why, but blogger won't let me right now. Sorry for the lack of pictures! :(
P.S. I have officially succeeded in asking and receiving sushi without seaweed in France. Therefore I know that I could live here forever.
