Back.

Back from the far distant lands of Espana.

Spain.

Love.

Two weeks of rest. Two weeks of exploring. Two weeks of vacation.

Break.

Vacation.

It was a much-needed break from everything. It was a much needed break from work.

Break.

Back.

Spain.

What can I say?

It was a great trip.

I got to see and explore many of the cities that we went to.

The downside, the first week of the trip was raining.

It rained for most of our stay in Barcelona and Madrid.

I wished the weather was nicer so we could have explored more. I don’t think I can make a fair comparison on which city I loved best because of it, but at the moment, given how things work, I would pick Seville to be my favorite.

Everywhere was very walkable.

They didn’t have a metro system unlike Barcelona and Madrid, but they did have a shuttle system that we didn’t use.

We walked everywhere.

The narrow European streets were everywhere and I’m in love with each and every one of them.

I also think the food was much better in Seville. They were some of the most memorable.

I would love to go back again, to explore more, to see more, to get away from the touristy now that I’ve seen them all.

My bro planned the trip, so there were a lot of touristy stuff, but it’s all right. I’m there. I’m exploring.

That’s all that matters.

I get to walk the streets and document wherever we went.

I hope the pictures turn out okay. That’s what I’m worried about the most.

I felt it wasn’t my best.

We shall see.

Family.

It was definitely some family time. 2 weeks of family.

That’s a lot.

My bro didn’t get on my nerves like he would normally do.

My mom did. I can understand where she’s coming from, but can’t.

She’s young, she shouldn’t be so tired all the time.

We’ll go visit an attraction and by early afternoon, she’ll be tired so she stays in the hotel for the rest of the day. Depending on the weather, she may or may not get dinner.

It is what it is.

It’s her money.

It’s her life.

I wish she’d done more or was more game.

But, on the bright side, she showed up. She did go with us.

Win?

Win.

The food.

THE FOOD.

Holly hell.

The food.

The food was amazing.

The tapas were amazing.

Most everything that we ate were great. They were excellent and definitely gave me a lot of new inspiration and ideas of how to do new meals and new dishes.

My favorite dish is probably tripe stew with chickpeas. It’s both funky and delicious at the same time.

My favorite type of combination.

I’ve eaten everything and things that I normally wouldn’t eat like Chocolate.

I’ve had so many churros and chocolate that I’m like, who the hell am I.

The chocolate wasn’t sweet. There’s a hint of sweetness. The rest is just chocolate flavor. Slightly bitter.

That I can get down with.

Food.

Ahh, the food.

I have so many pictures to upload.

I’ve had paella once before at the farmer’s market and, I made it once. They both didn’t impress me much, but when I had it in Madrid, I was sold.

I need more paella in my life. I need more paella with the garlic aioli.

Tomato bread. Who would have thought that light crispy baguette rubbed with tomato would be so good?

I think that it had more to deal with the crispy bread than anything else, but holy fuck, they were amazing. It was only in Barcelona and Madrid that the bread was great. Didn’t eat much after that.

In Granada and Seville, it was mostly table bread that I’ve tried, except for the toast for the pheasant pate. That was yum.

Empanadas were great too. They weren’t like the ones I had, where the crust was bready. It was more like Japanese pan croquettes.

Yum.

I think the funniest thing about our eating habits was that we didn’t include any salads until our end of Madrid, which was about halfway through the trip.

I needed some leafy greens or some kind of salad in my diet. I was protein-ed out. Too much meat.

Who would have thought, me, too much meat?

Another fascinating thing regarding our eating habits is that everyone thought we’d order too much food. But it wasn’t. We have eating habits of Americans.

We’re fat. We’re obese.

Plus, I kept to my IF schedule. Instead of OMAD, I did a 16/8. I skipped breakfast but gorged for lunch and dinner. Sometimes, we’d even skip lunch.

So, famished.

I think the one meal that we struggled was our first dinner in Madrid. It was a lot of meat.

Like, meat. All meat and carbs.

A lot.

Sigh.

Spain.

Great food.

Inspired me to make many of the dishes that I tried or inspired me to make some version of it.