Liam’s awesome Spanish roommate, Pablo, taught me how to make Tortilla Espanola. Here is the recipe and some pics to help.
First Pablo had to clarify the recipe with his Mom….
In search of warmer weather, I headed to Malaga to visit a friend from college, Liam. He works in the morning so I would wander around his hood and go to markets and buy food (for SO cheap) and come back and cook and attempt to chat with his Spanish roommate, Pablo. We went to some incredible tapas places, the beach and walked around the touristy part of Malaga together. Pictures after the jump!
Welcome to Amsterdam! I took the Thalys train from Paris. It was a quick, beautiful ride and there was free WiFi on the train, which I used to video chat with my parents as the weather outside went from nice and sunny to gloomy to torrential rain.
I went with my cousin, Tanguy from Paris and we stayed with other cousins in Amsterdam. The weekend consisted of a lot of eating (obviously), catching up, hanging out with great aunts and uncles and exploring the weird and wonderful shops of the city. I probably had pickled herring about 8 times, which works out to about 2-3 times a day. We also visited the poffertjes stand a few times. Poffertjes are like little mini pancakes slathered in butter and powdered sugar. They are pronounced poferchers and they are incredible. I love the language because it sounds like an alien language. Luckily, almost everyone I needed to talk to spoke English perfectly.
I stared out at the Fellini exhibit. So worth it. Definitely worth a visit if you’re there before February. So many great photographs and fun facts. Now I need to re-watch La Dolce Vida.
Breakfast: Pan au chocolate and quiche with salmon and broccoli. Must try to make this.
Activity 1: Gallery Lafayette to browse shoes. Nothing found under 150 euro, not worth it.
Activity 2: Spent 3 hours in the Musée d’Orsay. Definitely my favorite all-around museum. I could spend a week there. In the train painting by Monet, the train station used to delay trains so he could finish his sketches and paintings. Some pieces I liked in particular:
Henri Edmond Cross - Les Isles d'Or - The Golden Isles
Monet - Le Fare Saint-Lazare
I started the day off at Fauchon near the Madeleine with a croissant and a coffee. Delicious. Good to try ONCE. Ever.
Next: Versailles for the rest of the day. Gigantic. Spectacular. Ridiculous. Gold. Complex. Cake. I walked through the palace and gardens until the sun set.
I started the day off right with some delicious macaroons from Ladurée: rose-something, pistachio, chocolate, pistachio, raspberry, pistachio.
I think my favorite museum show ever is Monet’s Water Lilies in L’Orangerie. Their intense and large size is balanced by their calming and euphoric subject. Standing in each room surrounded by them feels like a dream.
Another day with my cousins! We have a lot of time to make up for. We started at La Butte Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur and explore the area a little. Check out the woman in orange… wow.
The cousins are back in town and that can only mean one thing: adventure – or at least some fun. We started the day off right with a croissant from Paul (a patisserie I later found out is a chain store – but it’s okay) and coffee on top of the giant department store, Printemps. Definitely do this. It gives you a great feel for where everything is in the city.
Next stop, the Musée du Quai Branly to see the Teotihuacán exhibit.
If you’ve never been to Le Bon Marche it is worth a visit just to the food section. It’s sort of like a food mecca, like the food section in Harrod’s in London. There were so many things to try and so little understanding of what things were. Regardless, I went a little crazy and did some serious sampling. Crab meat with dill wrapped with smoke salmon and a glob of caviar, duck and arugula crepe, prosciutto di San Danielli, goat cheese, baghuette, fava beans lightly sauteed in butter and vinegar, and a pear. All excellent.
