Barcelona: Mercat de la Boqueria

 

 

 

 There's a reason the majority of these people look so happy – look at all this food! That candy! Those fruits! This market contained the most color I have ever seen in one place, period. Such a high concentration of life. We visited twice and I'll never forget it.

Aged gouda and fromage blanc

Lately with dinner we've been eating a delicious aged gouda cheese that I almost can't get enough of. And, because it's strawberry season, fraises et fromage blanc. Now, how to describe fromage blanc... let's say that sour cream and crème fraîche got together, had a baby, and let plain yogurt have a part in the whole thing too. That's what it tastes like. Add a little sugar and drizzle over strawberry halves. OY.
This is not what's pictured above, though. Above is my host mom's wonderful raspberry charlotte. She made it when my mom visited, and again this past weekend to celebrate her own mother's birthday. It's a mom thing, I s'pose. It's awfully photogenic, too.

Fat Friday!

Vendredi Gras > Mardi Gras.

This morning I stumbled into a neighborhood not too far from where I live. I'd never been there before, so I just walked around and tried to absorb the surroundings (a skill I'm becoming quite proficient at). I stumbled upon a traiteur/ boulangerie/ boucherie/ patisserie alsacien, the first of its kind I've seen in Paris. So obviously I went in. Lunch ended up being the most ridiculously fatty sandwich I've probably ever eaten. It looked kind of like this, but better:

Ingredients: saucisson sec cut in paper thin slices, sprinkled with paper thin slices of the most delicious pickle I've ever had. Oh and there was butter, a lot of it. The baguette was the best I've had in Paris thus far, definitely. And for dessert a chocolate tart that I'm almost positive was 3/4 butter and 1/4 chocolate.

This is just lunch.

So yes. Fat Friday.