I went on vacation!

We went to Spain again!  And ate sooooo much delicious food!!!!!

Here are a few highlights:

• Pastries for breakfast every day*
• Ice cream almost every day (it was vacation afterall!)
• Pa amb tomaquet* (no idea how to spell... basically bread slathered with oil, salt, tomato, and sometimes garlic)
• Chorizo cooked in cider 
• Creamy artichoke soup
• Simple potato salad - potatoes, hard boiled eggs, tomatoes, onion?, garlic?, lots of olive oil
• Fried everything* (fish, vegetables, croquetas de jamon y queso) 
• Shrimp and bacon "quiche" (definately not quiche, but that's what they called it... more like a souffle or frittata? Slathered in a mayonnaise sauce, sounds gross, but DELICIOUS!)
• Mushrooms stuffed with bolognese-type meat sauce & zuchinni, topped with cheese
• Tortillas (Spanish omelets)
• Churros* con chocolate (only when fresh though!)
• Some kind of special spanish region stew - beef (like brisket?), potatoes, kale, white beans, and broth.  So simple, but SO flavorful!
• Grilled (on a griddle, not a grill) mushrooms, the weird flat kind (called setas in spanish)
• Roasted artichoke hearts, topped with crunchy onion pieces and ample olive oil

Things I missed out on, but others enjoyed:

• WONDERFUL WINES!!
• Cured hams (serrano, iberico, etc) and meats (varieties of morcilla and chorizo)
• Lots of awesome cheeses 
• Good looking little sandwiches and tapas with mystery cheeses and meats
• Purposely undercooked scrambled eggs served over super fried and salty french fries

I'm very excited to try and recreate a few of these dishes!  And someday in the not too distant future (in late October), I'll be able to pour myself a glass of some delicious Spanish wine like the ones I passed up this time around... and I will likely close my eyes for just a moment, and try to imagine I'm still on vacation... because I'm sure I'll be exhausted!  Estoy embarazada!  Ya tengo 18 semanas :)  I probably ate a few things that I wasn't supposed to, but I tried my best!  And everything was delicious!

*I couldn't survive on pregnancy restrictions AND gluten free diet, so I ate a lot of gluten.  I did my best to have only "fresh" things (no packaged and processed items).