Thursday, October 17, 2013

Spain: Café Society

Like Winnie-the-Pooh, I need to eat A Little Something every few hours. While in Spain (and Scotland and Paris and pretty much any city on earth), The Hubby and I stopped at sidewalk cafés. Well, I stopped for a bit, and he tagged along.

I love café life: the food, the little tables and chairs, the ability to sit and watch the world go by with the tacit understanding that the table is yours until you want to leave.

Coffee and something baked was my go-to choice for a mid-morning break:


This was my new fave way of ingesting caffeine: a "Cortado." It's an espresso with a half-shot of hot milk added by the waiter or barrista. Yes, please!:


Little white cups of coffee make me soooo happy:


Sometimes The Hubby joins me and eats a little something:


But the coffee is strictly for me:


Lunch at an outdoors café in Spain at a cafe inevitably includes the most wonderful tapas. This lovely pile of fluff, below, was billed as "potato salad," but it was so much more. There was some hint of fish, and pimiento, and I don't know what all. I could've eaten two, it was so good:


But we had to leave room for this local version of bruschetta, richly laced with garlicky flavors:


The anchovies in Spain are entirely unlike the little tins in U.S. grocery stores. These sweeties are fresh, mild, and utterly delicious when sopped up with a crust of bread:


And this thing? A toasted bit of Paradise. A slice of chewy bread on the bottom, covered with caramelized, sweet onions cooked to a mahogany shade, and topped with pillowy-soft cheese somewhere between a soft farmer's cheese and a dollop of sour cream. Divine!:


While we were eating, this adorable Frenchie buzzed up to say Hello. That's another thing I love about sidewalk cafés: the dogs!




By mid-afternoon, there's a significant drop in my energy level that's just begging for an ice-cold glass of something:


 Oh, yeah. Come to momma:



Aaaand, if it happens to need a Little Something to go with it, well, so much the better:


After all, this is the Café Society, and nobody's kicking us out.


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