Spanish Food Log #2: Paella

Okay, I know that I should probably follow the chronological order of my trip to Spain, but I can't help jumping around since the focus of these post and the one before this is about food.

So again, I'm taking you through the photos taken in both Madrid and Barcelona within the same post. Topic? Paella, baby!

First, we'll be stopping over at Madrid since that was our first stop and also where we had our first paella. 

Day 1 was spent on travelling from Borås to Madrid, arriving at the hotel near Atocha Station past 10pm. Here's to Day 2, photos taken right before dinner. 

Was mad hungry, as Jing kept dragging me from attractions to attractions, ALL ON FOOT and disallowed me to take a break or ice cream, as it was getting darker and she wanted to take photos of the attractions. So I didn't bother remembering where we were going exactly. All I was thinking of was food. So don't ask me what the name of this square was.

 Can't tell you the name of this place but I can most probably show you on the map, it was near some main shopping district, just a street after the square aboce. I only just went into Zara and another shop. Came out empty handed.

I was starting to make a fuss by this time. So I chose a restaurant quickly on the main shopping road. Here's what we had.

 My small glass of aloe vera tea that cost me about EUR2-3 and there wasn't much in it at all and I was quite thirsty. Didn't taste that extraordinary either. Interesting glass and filter, though.

Our first croquette in Spain, ON THE HOUSE! Woohoo!! Kind hearted waiter gave us some of these to try. The outer layer was thin, fried to a golden brown colour with a slight crisp. The insides were rich and creamy, with bits of bacon within.

 Our main star of the night, mixed paella to share, consist of both seafood and chicken pieces. Let's see, seafood included mussels, clams and calamari. It took about 15-20 minutes to cook.

Close up of my portion. Squeeze in with some fresh lemon juice, mmmMMmm! 

The first plate was awesome, but when you have second/ third serving, it starts to get a bit...blugh. So would definitely go for smaller portions next time. 

Had been craving for ice cream the whole day. So decided to have some after the paella. Here's 2 pieces of pancakes, 2 scoops of vanilla ice cream with a large dose of chocolate sauce. 

The pancakes were literally saturated with the chocolate hence I didn't finish them. 

Jing had her dessert first, before the paella. Just a normal ball of vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce.

My verdict of the experience? Probably just 6.5/10. 

Paella was nice but too much of it really would make you feel sick. When you're feeling a bit sick of the main meal and your pancakes come to be a bit too saturated with chocolate...just doesn't do anything but make you feel even more sick and stuffed. 

Here are some quick snaps after dinner, along the way back from city centre to our hotel.

The same square as the first 2 photos, but now in night time. 

 A bar we passed by that I thought looked quite cool, called Glass Bar.

 Reminded me of Stamford Raffles featured in Kiasu comic books that I read when I was younger

 They came out for a quick show! Many paused and took photos, like yours truly here.

Night view of a night in Madrid, near some fountain roundabout, where we took a right turn to go back to the hotel.

Now!

Fast forward to the Day 5, to Barcelona and to our last meal in Spain before our flight back to Sweden at one of the restaurants a few streets past Placa de Catalunya. This time I chose whichever restaurant that looked slightly funkier. 

Loved the vintage deco on the wall by the entrance!

 Cola-Cao...wonder what that was back in the Spanish 50s or 60s  

 A snap of the bar, whilst sipping on my cafe latte and waiting for my food.

I had paella again. But this time, it's pasta/ noodle version, called Fideua. 

Here it is!!

My fideua, served on a wide, deep-soup metal pan, with a small side dish of white, garlicky, savoury cream.

Here's a close up of my first spoonful before it was gone. 

Honestly, this tasted really close to Malaysian fried bee hoon/ vermicelli, with a slight lemony tang! I was quite surprised. Never would I have thought that I'd get something as close to home as this when I'm over in Spain. It goes really well with the garlic cream that I was given. Was really yummy. Loved every bite!

Would give it a 7.5/10!!

Hope you enjoyed this post! Still more to come!

Uddevalla

Oh man I've left this blog unattended for super long! 

I was meant to upload many of the works and trips that I've done and taken. However didn't manage to squeeze in the time to. I've travelled quite a bit therefore much of my final assignments were only done after the travels, ie) 3 weeks before end of my study period. In another words, no time for blogging!

There should be quite a few posts that I could do regarding my travels and work, including my trip to Spain, Kiruna, my knitting project and my student directed project (digitally printed fabric). These would  s.l.o.w.l.y be updated here coz editing is a pain in the backside, even if editing was minimal.

The photos in this post were taken on 25th November 2010, when Sophie (French), Nina (German) and I took a train up to Uddevalla, a small town that one of our teachers is living in. 

Before going to her house, we drove to a small island off Uddevalla. Though it was only -10 degrees it felt like -18 deg coz it was by the sea. I've taken loads of photos there as well. But here are only those that were taken at Elisabeth's home. It's so cosy and cute. Loved everything about her little home and they actually renovated most of the interior themselves, including the bathroom!

 Pink Marimekko wall hanging for winter. She changes the cushions and the wallhanging to green one for spring!

Elisabeth with one of the books from her white, gridded shelves

Loooove the colours! Instantly brightening up any gloomy winter day

Cool stairs leading to the bedrooms, wasn't invited up of course

Cool old school stove that she leaves on when she's out so the house would be warmed up

Bulbous plant that you could find very commonly in winter 

Sophie! And typical Swedish food...cheese, ham, cucumber, peprika and bread/ crisp. Can you imagine having this everyday? Not me, thanks, though it wasn't bad. A guy in my student accommodation has this every single day, that's excluding the ham and peprika. Just bread, butter, cheese, cucumber, salt and pepper to taste. Omg.

Motherly :)

Super tasty soup!!!!! I had two servings yet wanted more :( And it's made out of...

...this!! Its texture is like potato...but I'm not sure what it's called.

Saffrony dessert with raspberries :)

Actually the photo looks yummier than it really was. The texture of the pudding was like...white carrot cake, for those Malaysians/ Singaporeans who know what I'm talking about, but with a hint of saffron and sugar. Not used to it but it looked so appealing. Anyway, shall not destroy the pic. So I'll say that it's still.....YUMMMM! Hahah.

Sophie (French) and Nina (German)

 Courtyard, with Elisabeth's car at the background

 Frozen apples still hanging on the tree

 Exterior of Elisabeth's house! Many of the Swedish houses are small and often square/ rectangular in plan

After the lunch, we went to Uddevalla's Art Museum. Didn't take many photos.  It wasn't that blog worthy.

Heading home on the regional SJ train. The kid at the background breathed really heavily, borderlined snoring. Quite distracting.

Anyway, still had a good trip, though it was super cold and I actually slipped and fell as I was walking to Elisabeth's house from her car :)!!

Hej då!!

Somewhat Edible Piece of Dirt

First attempt making chocolate flourless cake. Read recipe wrong and added water in my chocolate, butter and caster sugar mixture. Tried soaking up the water with paper towel. Not sure if that was the reason why my cake was hard, though still edible. Or could it be the cold weather coz it's gooeyer whilst warm? Hmm. 

Still tasted good though, as I used Nestle Gold, 70% dark chocolate bars instead of cooking chocolate as suggested in the recipe book :) Went well with a ball of rich, creamy vanilla ice cream!