We had a fabulous time in barcelona. i had a great time being out of small town granada and out in a metropolitan city (but i'm not gonna lie, i did miss the simplicty of granadinian life). When not traipsing all over the city, i spent my time observing those crazy catalunians (only moderately closely related to there andalucian counterparts)
i'd like to start with the fact the spanish cannot get enough of the immersion blender--so much so that it is found in every kitchen (i mean EVERY kitchen...even my littler apartmento for foreing students has one). at home i have only seen the industrial kind, the kind we use to puree gallons of soup or pasta sauce. i admit that i have been leaning towards purchasing one for my personal kitchen (always handy to blend without having to dirty the cuisinart) but have yet to justify such a superfluous appliance. but here in spain, well, they use the damn thing for any kitchen function which might require any sort of find dice or puree--soup, salsas, beans or lentils, any sauce imaginable, vegetables, meats, fruit smoothies etc etc. and not only do they puree said culinary delicacies, they PUREE them to a fine cream...they let that baby whiz away until there are no chunks or textures left. personally i prefer a lesser degree of smoothness in these sorts of dishes but, like i've said before, they do things differently here.
speaking of which, what's even stranger is there unecessary and excessive use of the microwave (something which my apartment lacks, thank god). in barcelona, the majority of small restaurants or cafes had some sort of microwave set-up for reheating the food that had already been prepared that morning, something which i believe is tied to the incredible cunundrum that is spanish employment...
let me digress for a moment. apparently the unemployment rate in spain is up around 21%, which is pretty high (but they say it always is high in spain). thus the government creates meaningless jobs where you get paid for doing virtually nothing--they are a lot of people paid to sweep...anything you can sweep they have made a job for someone. in my tiny "street" (which is more closely related to a village alley without pavement and some scattered rocks) there is a fellow who comes around every morning to pick up odd ends of trash and to sweep. i cannot tell what he sweeps because as is it a street there is the usual natural debris (leaves, petals fallen from the almond tree, grass etc) but nothing that necessarily needs removing....and yet, every restaurant i have seen has been understaffed. I mean, a singular server fulfills the role of waiter, busser, and sometimes even dishwasher. thus the lack of service and the loong waiting periods. but wouldn't you think, that with all this unemployment they could create jobs (requiring minimum education or technical skills) as bussers and dishwashers to help out? theoretically the business would run more smoothly, the service would be faster thus making more money for the owners. when presented with this question, both my professors (jesus and rosa) could not come up with an answer. yet another mystery in the spanish way of life...
which leads me back to the microwave situation. perhaps it is out of necessity that the restaurant staff often-times uses a microwave to quickly heat a customer's meal in order to expedite service. this is something which i believe, in San Francisco, would be met with horror and defiance, yet the Spanish do not take notice. Furthermore, it doesnt seem to depend on the quality of food as i have even seen a 12-15 euro plate be microwaved (Jamie and i have started poking our heads into bars and restaurants listening for the tell tale "ding" before committing). Clearly we have different cultural beliefs about the value of food (or lack thereof) in relation to the microwave. This is most brilliantly exemplified by Jamie's roommate, Maurizio and italian ex-pat living in granada for the last ten years. This man microwaves EVERYTHING you could posssibly put in there without causing an explosion. Finally, when curiosity got the better of us, Jamie pointed out that the radiation in microwaves is harmful to the body and probably not helping the quality of the food either. We attempted to explain that eating every meal from the microwave probably sapped your plates of any sort of nutritional value and were met with the classic "Oh-you-americans-and-your-crazy-ideas" face plus being told that we were completely wrong. I mean, i'm all for the quick reheat when it's needed, but i refuse to believe that microwaving ALL of your food is not damaging to your health in some way (if not only because it alters the composition of the food itself). Perhaps this is why spanish people do not mind paying 12 euro for a microwaved plate of albondigas, but I on the other hand, prefer my food cooked to order. Call me persnickety if you want, but i will take my meals without gamma rays thank you very much...
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