Gastronomía en Madrid

Let's face it, we all know that the real way to Hei-Yue's heart is through good food. If you want to witness my "content and satisfied" face, you're gonna have to feed me first because it only comes out after I've consumed some hearty deliciousness. To be honest, I was slightly concerned with my Spanish experience prior to my arrival because the only thing that I really associated with Spanish cuisine was fat sausages like chorizos. I just felt like Spanish cuisine could be one of the farthest things from the high standards set by my Asian tastes!

Thankfully, I have been proven wrong! And this past weekend in Madrid was the ultimate experience to disprove my eating expectations. For dinner the first night, we stumbled upon this fantastically authentic Spanish restaurant from which we ordered paella, fried calamari, and mejillones (mussels), topped off with a delicious pitcher of sangria. It was an inaudible dinner. My friends and I only communicated through chewing and the occasional noise of satisfaction.

The next day, after viewing some incredible frescos by Goya, we found a gem of a restaurant that produced its own house cider which we ordered with fried chicken (which could almost compare with the amazing Korean fried chicken found in New York's K-Town--if you haven't gone, PLEASE GO: http://www.bonchon.com/eng/index.php) and deliciously rich cheese with bread.

For our afternoon snack, we indulged in some churros & chocolate:
But after this highly concentrated Spanish food experience, by dinnertime we were quite ready for the least western food we could find. Luckily we found the "Bangkok Resaurant." I don't think that I have ever been so satisfied by pad thai, green curry, and pork fried rice. Needless to say, it was another verbal-conversationless dinner. (sorry, it was so satisfying that I forgot to capture it with my camera hahaa)

Aside from the food, something refreshing about Madrid was the absolute presence of Spanish. Last semester, whenever I would tell people that I was going to Barcelona, many people would respond, "Oh, don't they speak Catalan there?" to which I would reply, "Hm, I haven't thought too much about it but I guess so." Since then I have learned that if people tell you things about something that you don't know very much about, like me with the city of Barcelona and its language, then they are usually right. Barcelona is full of Catalan because it is in the northern part of Spain known as Catalonia. A fairly accurate comparison would be like the Northeastern part of the US, which I suppose is known to be a slightly more snobby and arrogant part of the country.
The Catalonians are extremely proud of their heritage. I mean, I definitely understand to a certain extent--if my native language were prohibited by a Fascist ruler for almost 30 years, I'd want to restore it to its rightful use as well. But not to the extent that all the schools are taught purely in Catalan, all the road signs and Metro stops are in Catalan, and even Timeout Barcelona is in Catalan! There is no other place in the world that communicates with this language apart from this tiny region in Spain. And my impression is that a huge part of this purely stems from pride, which is, in my opinion, one of the most stupid reasons for any action, particularly any national action. What are the little Catalonian children going to do when they grow up and want to leave their home region, which is going to happen inevitably because of our globalized society?
Not like there is no Spanish here at all--I definitely communicate with others through Spanish, and I hear it everywhere. But it's definitely different from complete immersion when I can't read my way through the city as I could this past weekend in Madrid!

I couldn't believe I was actually traveling somewhere this past weekend. I felt like I was double-dipping or something because just being here in Spain means that I am traveling! It was a pleasant experience overall--just don't ever fly with Ryanair. (The flights themselves may be cheap, but that's before all the miscellaneous taxes they require you to pay, and then the bus fares you have to pay to get to the smaller out-of-the-city airports out of which they fly.) But exploring the city, especially at night when everyone just goes out and has a good time was so much fun :)