Barcelona Part III

Here’s the last round of pictures of Barcelona. Trust me, there are hundreds more but I should really get back to interior decorating, recipe sharing and general Boston-themed-goodness… but just you wait and see, this post has a theme…

Getting accustomed to Spanish culture was a very easy transition. What do you mean, you drink wine at lunch, pre-dinner, dinner and then after dinner? Okay, I can get on that. It will probably come to no surprise to anyone that I came back determined to start my own wine bar. That was until the BF so lovingly asked me if I knew anything about wine… so I might be making a career move and become a Sommelier. Although, I will probably have to stop ordering the cheapest wine on the menu from now on…

(1) I mentioned this in my first post, but I will say it again, we had the most fabulous time at the wine bar La Vinya Del Seyor outside Maria Del Mar where we would eat pre-dinner tapas and sip on cava (2) and red wine (3) Strolling through the Gothic Quarter we stumbled upon this phenomenal wine store where we were able to pick up a bottle of our favorite Cava to bring back to Boston with us. Now, we just have to find the perfect occasion to pop that bad boy (4) For our last night in Barcelona, we decided to splurge and go out for a nice restaurant. The BF picked a little restaurant that we would have easily walked by without thinking twice. Can Valles looks like any old tappas joint from the outside, but is absolutely gorgeous inside. The service and food were just amazing. I’m so glad we went, and highly recommend it! We also had this amazing bottle of wine, that we will forever be searching for (5) My (clean) dish from Can Valles. I got the pistachio shrimp. de-lish. (6) Our fist night in Barca we ate at your run-of-the-mill Tappas place. and of course, with our menu del dia we enjoyed unidentified “house wine” (7) Sangria, done.

Barcelona Part II

wait, you wanted to see lots of long-overdue pictures of me eating? GREAT, you got it!

And well because going through my nine-day vacation day-by-day just seems like the type of blog post only my mother would enjoy (hey, mama!)

(1) La Cerveteca, again. Gosh, this place just hits the spot. I wish we had such beer bar in Boston with this vibe (2) Dinner in Barceloneta (highly recommended) and yet again another fish served to me in its entirety. At least this time the restaurant had the decency to cut this sucker in half before plating (3) La Sagrada Familia (4) First bite of Iberian Ham after years and years of not eating pork. Well worth the cheat (5) Dancing in Casa Batllo (6) My favorite tush (7) Maria Del Mar church in El Born. If I didn’t say it already, I’ll say it now, best church in all of Barcelona, hands down (8) Meat on meat on meat (9) The BF and I. I swear he doesn’t have a beer belly

Barcelona Part I

Well specifically, this was day one.  The BF and I woke up super early on our first day to explore the city and do a Runner Bean Walking Tour. If you want my FULL review of this tour, you can check out this TripAdivsor link, to which our phenomenal guide responded to.  The weather the first day was pretty terrible, but hey, how many times are you traveling through Barcelona? So glad we brought our own umbrellas, they totally saved the day!

(1) Plaza Renial, where we started our tour on a very rainy Saturday morning (2) Discovered espresso while we were away. Gosh, American coffee is just so much better and not nearly as strong. I drank espresso every day just so I could get my caffeine intake over with as soon as possible. As you can see from this picture, I really needed it (3) My handy-dandy pink umbrella that saved the day (4) We found some little restaurant that seemed to have a great menu del dia (menu of the day) we were so excited (5) especially because they had really good bread (6) but then one of our appetizers came out and it was an entire crab (7) and then my fish came out… and it was an entire fish. Thankfully there was a lovely Belgium couple sitting next to us who taught me step-by-step how to eat one of those bad boys (8) we stopped by the jewish temple, which was really just ruins of what once might have been a jewish temple (9) and ended the night with some delicious tapas and paella (as seen in my first post)

We’re Back!

 

BACK FROM VACATION!

The BF and I arrived last night to Logan Airport after 9 days of traveling through Barcelona and Lisbon!

I have so much to share, but am only going to leave a small snapshot of the trip as a whole before delving into the separate cities. And if you’re wondering why someone who loves to sleep as much as I do is posting at eight in the morning, it is because of this silly jet lag that is making us pass out on the couch by 8:30pm and up by 6:00am… no thank you.

(1) Picture from Rossio Square in Lisbon (2) View from our Hotel in El Born, Barcelona… we didn’t realize until the last day that we also had a view of the Iglesia de Maria del Mar from our window… whoops (3) Seafood Paella on the first night in Barcelona (4) Cava tasting at La Vinya del Seyor outside of Maria del Mar (5) Trams in Lisbon (6) We spent my birthday on the beaches of Cascais, about 30 miles west of Lisbon (7) Sunset from Barrio Alto on our last night

***

Anyways, there will be much more to come, including all my TripAdvisor ratings and links–because lets be honest, TripAdvisor is basically a godsend when trying to blindly plan a trip

Life Lately According to my iPhone

(1) Business trip to NY on a beautiful April day (2) Pizza night at our place (3) Half-Margherita-Half-No-Cheese-Veggie Pizza because relationships are all about compromise (4) Season-opener at Fenway Park (5) Plus Soft Pretzel (6) Beautiful bouquet from the BF after a long week (7) Saturday brunch at our go-to Church while trip planning (8) Cold War Kids concert at Paradise Rock Club in Allston (9) Can’t get enough of that skyline (10-11) SPRING finally IN BOSTON

Boston Strong

As most of you are probably aware, it has been a crazy week for Boston. Currently the BF and I are in lockdown in our apartment trying to get work done while listening to snippets of the news on the TV. As you are all aware, I love this city and am proud to call Boston my home.

Easy Homemade: Hummus

I absolutely love Hummus. I’m partial to Sabra, but really any hummus (as long as it’s smooth and creamy) will do. I have fond memories of mashing chickpeas by hand on Friday morning at my Jewish summer camp so that the whole camp could have homemade hummus for dinner. Although I was willing to mash bucket of chickpeas then, I have since lost all patience for such activities. Luckily, with a handy-dandy food processor, I no longer have to put any elbow grease into making hummus. Making homemade hummus is surprisingly easy, and most of the ingredients you probably have lying around anyways.

What you’ll need for plain hummus:

1. one can (16oz) of chickpeas/garbanzo beans

2. olive oil

3. salt & pepper

4. garlic

5. lemons or lemon juice (even from concentrate) will do

***

That said, we had lots of fresh basil left over from when we made homemade margherita pizza earlier in the week, so I figured why not make basil hummus… so I threw some leaves in

Then hit the blend botton….

…and voilà! easy homemade hummus

I cannot wait to try to make so many more hummus creations!