Food in Spain

I spent the first day in Almeria getting acclimated to the clean, chilly apartment and going to the grocery store. The apartment provided us with few things necessary for a functioning house, therefore Krista (my roommate), her parents and I went to Carrefour, a huge store similar to a Walmart. We got hangers, laundry detergent, towels, clothespins and a few other things at the store. Then we headed to Lidl to get actual groceries. Lidl compares to an Aldi and has decently priced groceries. Going to the market will be a regular occurrence so luckily we have one right below our apartment building.

This is the milk I got at Lidl. The funny thing about Spain milk is that it does not need to be refrigerated until open, meaning this milk is good until June 2 unopened.

My first meal here was McDonalds with Krista’s parents because they wanted to go somewhere quick so we could run errands after. I was taken aback by the McDonalds menu, partially due to the different menu items, but mostly due to the price. As seen in the picture below and normal sandwich costs anywhere between 5 and 7 euros ($6.50-$9.10). Lesson learned from this trip, avoid McDonalds due to its overpriced, mediocre food. 

To contrast this experience was my first encounter with tapas, which was a great one. Another American who has been in Almería since the beginning of school took us under her wing and showed us some of the city, including her favorite tapas bar, “Tío Toms”. The restaurant did not even open until 8:00pm so we walked along the beach before grabbing some food. The way Tio Toms works is that you order your drink first and then a tapa. My first drink was a Vino Blanco and my tapa of choice was “El Pobre”. Any normal American would like this tapa because it was like a breakfast plate including potatoes, ham, a fried egg, bread, onions and peppers with an aoli sauce. It was delicious! My next drink was a Tinto de Verano (red wine with lemon) and I chose a Cherigan as my tapa. This cherigan included a 10 inch piece of toasted bread, aoli sauce and a smoked piece of salmon that melted in your mouth. That was my favorite of the night. The two drinks and two tapas cost me a grand total of 5,30 euros and I left with a full tummy.

  

"El Pobre" 

"Tinto de Verano" and my Cherigan.

After being in Spain for two days I was disappointed that I had yet to try a pastry so during our walk around the city we stopped in one of the many pastry shops. I asked the worker what her favorite was and ended up with a roll stuffed with cream and topped with powdered sugar. It left a lot to be desired, so next time I will try something a little different. 

My pastry!

The other sweets I should have tried.

Here are some other pictures from the week:

 Two of the twenty cats by the ocean!

Almeria's Beach

Old people sing in the streets at 12:30pm for Carnival