Noches de tapas y muchas bebidas!

We saw this painting at a museum and laughed because it totally was us on this trip. I like to think I'm the one guzzling the wine, Daniel's the one eating the snack and weirdly smiling at the camera. Kiko is the one cutting the food with a fork, Ashley, you're the one lovingly staring at Kiko with a cup in your hand. 

Warning: do not read this if you are hungry, dieting, or made the lifestyle choice to not eat bread, meat, cheese, and potatoes (the 4 food groups of Spain). 

We woke up really early for our flight Friday morning- 5:30, to be exact. We were too tired to eat anything, and running too late to grab food or coffee at the airport before we got on our flight. So we arrived in Madrid around 1, starving and ready to dive into some tapas! 

I love love lovveeee the concept of tapas. It is similar to all of the tapas restaurants in the USA/ UK, but much better. You order a drink, and with it comes a tapa, or small plate of food. And Madrid is incredibly inexpensive. You get a small glass of wine, sangria, or beer, along with a delicious tapa, and pay about 3-5 euros. And with every drink you order, you get a new tapa. Sometimes you get to pick it out, but usually it's the choice of the restaurant. So, we rarely even bought a separate meal, because we would get so full off of tapas! And since it was 4 of us, if we got a different tapa, we were able to pick off of each others. I used to think Italy was where you go to eat, but I was very wrong. It's Spain, people. That's a foodie's paradise. 

First place of the day- mussels, croquetas (like a hush puppy but with meat),  chorizo, and sangria!

After our delicious lunch, we realized we hadn't had any coffee or breakfast that day. So, we went to a cafe any sweet-toothed person would be in heaven at, had a cup of coffee, and I had a pastry- a stuffed powdered sugar fried bread filled with creamy cutard. No, I wasn't paleo at all on this trip. More on that later. 

I had a hunch it was going to be a late night, and wanted to pace myself on the drinking so I wasn't asleep by dinnertime. In Spain, you go to dinner at 10- even children do. Places are often times closed during the hours of 5-8, preparing for the dinner crowd. So, it's a late lunch, siesta, tapas, then dinner. Anyways, because we knew it would be a late night, we went to an adorable cafe called Jardin de Secreto for some tea to help us wake up. I posted pictures of it yesterday, and highly recommend going there for a cup of coffee or tea before starting your night in Madrid. 

After tea, we went back to Ashley and Kiko's flat to get ready for the night (this is around 8) and meet their friend, Jesus, who, side note, it getting his PHD and researching cures for Cancer. We snacked at home on jalapeños and cheese (the perfect infusion of Texas and Spanish cuisine, and my new favorite snack) and wine before going out. 

We stopped by several places that first night, but "the cave" as Ashley called it was by far my favorite. I LOVED the cave. You go underground in this one bar, where there is a man with his guitar, and another man singing Flamenco. I always thought flamenco was just a dance. It is a type of very passionate singing. I am still a little confused by it, but it starts off with a man singing a line or two over and over again, and then he'll stop, and another person will randomly start singing. Everyone listening is clapping along (a skill neither Ashley nor I have mastered yet, but we were trying- and I think with each glass of wine we drank, we got better and better!). 

I almost felt like an intruder since I, of course, never started singing. Most people there would join in and sing, and with so much passion. 

We left at 3 am when it closed, and you would think we would have gone straight to bed, but nope. We ate more jalapeños, cheese, and wine, and didn't go to bed until 5:30 am!!!! Meaning Daniel and I were awake for a full 24 hours on Friday. And I wouldn't have had it any other way.

Next day, we slept in until 1 and didn't even leave until about 2. We first had our coffee before starting the whole eating/ drinking our way through Madrid brigade.

We went into a market that I absolutely loved and now wish would have spent more time there. It had so many interesting types of food- baby eel, mussel stuffed olives, and loads of jamon.

Next, we ate our body weight in potatoes at this really quaint little restaurant. We had potatoes aioli, "cheesy potatoes" as Ashley called them, and Paprika potatoes, along with some sausage.

OK, I am getting burnt out writing about all of the food we ate. I'll show the rest of the pictures with just a small caption!

Just an Estrella Damm while watching futbol

This place is literally called Museo de Jamon. 

Delicious Sangria. They don't use a ton of wine- it's also brandy and Martini. 

Our churros being made. Accompanied with chocolate sauce, it was my favorite sweet treat!

This last place did me in. It was called El Tigre, and for 10 euros, we each had a small (1/4 pint) beer and all of this food. Tortilla (which is potato and egg- not the tortilla we are used to), bread, jamon, croquetas, and patas bravas (potatoes with delicious spicy tomato sauce). This was on our last day, and at this point, I was feeling bloated, sluggish, and like I never wanted to eat or drink again.

So, go to Madrid to eat and drink your heart out. Wear stretchy pants. And don't worry, you can go back to veggies and lean meats once your trip is over!