Barcelona, Spain - a quick trip

My blog's been a bit quiet because I did a whirlwind business trip to Barcelona earlier this week.  And I do mean whirlwind - I think I was inflight longer than I was actually on the ground.  But it was a good trip and I accomplished what I needed to accomplish for work and then some.  Didn't get to see much of Barcelona though other than my hotel, the meeting area and a quick walk to the beach nearby when I first arrived to enjoy the sunshine and beautiful weather.  It was my first time out there but it definitely won't be my last.  I would love to go back on my own and explore the city someday.

'

The beach near my hotel - beautiful water on a beautiful day

However, knowing me and my penchant for taking pictures of food, I do have food pictures to share!  And I thank my work colleagues for their forbearance in me snapping pics of their dishes before they could eat it, lol.  Whenever I travel, I like to sample the local fare and what a country or region is known for.  Unfortunately I was so busy right up until the trip that I was very unprepared for what I should try in Barcelona and had to rely on my (Americanized) version of what I think Spanish fare is.

Chorizo with scrambled eggs & peppers over (yes) french fries

On the first night (I was only there for 2 nights), we tried tapas.  I was used to tapas being small plates that were passed around for sharing and expected bite-size portions of various dishes.  We ordered a tapas special that the menu said was suitable for 2 people but we ended up with plenty for the 3 of us who got together for dinner.

Iberian ham over sirloin and again with the french fries (they were good too)

One specialty I was told of was Jamon Iberico - slices of bread, rubbed with fresh tomato and served with paper thin slices of Iberian ham (which I guess is Spain's version of Italy's prosciutto).  It was quite good although the Iberian ham looked more like American bacon that wasn't crispy.  I had to peel off the fat first, mostly because I don't like the texture of non-crispy fat.  Not as salty as prosciutto and tasty.

Jamon Iberico

One dish I didn't get to try since my visit was so brief was paella.  My colleagues had tried it in the restaurants around our hotel before and they didn't recommend it so now I have another item on my foodie bucket list for when I return to Spain and that's to find good paella.  I also wanted to try churros y chocolate which my friend Jenny recommended but alas, I looked and there were none to be found.  It probably didn't help that I didn't arrive until Sunday, a day on which almost everything was closed and I forgot to change money at the airport so I was limited to whichever place would take credit cards.  So the stars were not aligned for me to do a lot of food exploring and tasting.  I'll have to be better prepared next time.

The funniest thing I found was at the airport when I was waiting for my ride.  At the little airport food market at the Barcelona Airport, I came across this.  I'm Filipino so you can imagine how much this made me laugh.  It looks like some kind of chocolate covered cookie and it came in milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate.  I brought a couple of the milk chocolate ones back with me but haven't tried them yet. I'm seeing my nieces in a couple of days and will share with them to see how we like it.

Other random food pics from the meals I shared with my colleagues - I had the risotto while the rest are their orders:

Mushroom risotto with lobster

Fish over tagliatelle noodles

Some kind of salad

Forgot what this was but it looked healthy :)