I mentioned before that we have been enjoying our tapas in Spain, and a very charming custom of theirs is that when you sit down, they always bring you a complimentary small plate of something to nibble on before you order your tapas. Often this will be a small plate of marinated olives but as you can see in this picture, one place we visited offered us a plate of tasty shrimp as well as olives. I know - the worst part is the ENTIRE shrimp is served which is certainly something that we're not used to in the U.S. but Jim was a real trooper and offered to peel them for the rest of us so we wouldn't have to. The only other experience I can relate this to is when you go into a Mexican restaurant and they bring chips and salsa to the table. I find it to be such a welcoming gesture - as if they're thanking you for coming into their restaurant.
The other treat we HAD to indulge in is the Spanish tradition of churros with chocolate. Although it is a very common sweet treat all over the city, lucky for us that Tina and Sharon had Rick Steve's travel book on Spain with them and he listed a couple of his favorite places to get the sweet treets in Madrid. We visited one of the places he recommended twice and loved it! Basically, churros are long strips of dough that are deep fried and served with cups of hot, thick chocoate for dipping. I'd say it's almost as thick as pudding, but not quite. Mmmm.mmmm good!! The place is open really late and is very popular with local and tourists alike. In many ways, it reminded me of going to Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans - a local tradition you just can't miss out on.
No comments:
Post a Comment