*Gasp* A free day! and a Trip to Barcelona

Oh yeah, you saw that! I officially have a day in which I can sit back for at least half the time. I know it's not as exciting as having a whole day off, but now I finally get some time to post something again!
And boy do I have lots to post. Remember I said something about a trip to Barcelona? I think by now it's two weeks ago. So it's about time I show off some pictures!

First of all, it was just a few very short days. They were stuffed full with visiting interesting places like Arc de Triomf, Sagrada Familia, Park Guëll and other historical places. I'm not a tourist kind of person, so there are almost no pictures of these places.

I did get to capture the lizard by Gaudi!

Oh, that lizard is tiny actually. It's on the cover of every folder for Barcelona or the park and it looks massive and great and big and when you stand next to it -if you don't walk past it in the first place- the first thing you will think is: "Is this it? This!?!"

There was even a chocolate museum! It was surprisingly small, but the entry ticket was a chocolate bar and most of the museum was an exhibition of amazing chocolate art so that made up for it. (It was pretty amazing: how many of you can make a life-sized gorilla or human-sized lizard or even an entire park in miniature version out of chocolate?). Did you guys know that chocolate was introduced to Europe through Spain? There's a lot more interesting things I could say about chocolate, but lets leave that for an Oven Info post as I've got enough to share here already!
Look at one of the things I found there:

Looks familiar anyone? I wonder if this hand-driven one is cheaper than those stand mixers you can buy now. I'd definitely buy one if it was.

This chocolate lantern is a mini replica of an actual lantern in one of the largest and most touristic streets in Barcelona: "La Rambla". This street in itself is really not the most special - it's touristic. But in the side roads you'll find the cutest shops and cafés and even a large market inside an even larger tent. FULL of FRESH FRUIT and vegetables. And meat. And fish. Some fresh pastries and candy or a crepestand, but you get my point right?

But look at all that fresh fruit! They had to stack it to fit! All those colours! *nearly dies at this point* And every single piece of fruit of vegetable was so much larger and colourful than the ones we have here. Most of the pictures I took were from this one single market.


I suppose I shouldn't bother you with ALL the pictures. But look at these tomatoes! They look so delicious, Im gonna die! (anyone caught the reference?) They're the kind that's not supposed to turn red: my sister honestly thought they were selling a lot of unripe tomatoes. Oh, you should have been there. There were uncountable different kinds of tomatoes in all different sizes and colours.
And so many varieties of mushrooms as well! Can you see the ones with garlic butter on them? I'm really curious as to what those taste like. They were all over the place there and just looking at them made me drool every time. I couldn't cook them though, or bring them home. Perhaps I should force my sister to buy some and eat them and then give me a review.

Apparently they're not even expensive! What is she waiting for?

My sister said she could buy enough fruits and vegetables for an entire week there for just 5 euros. Here, you'd be lucky to pay 5 euros for a day's supply. I'm so envious of her! It gets worse: she doesn't even like cooking so much. And she had never bought anything at this market!

Oh yes, how could I forget pictures of the candy? Chocolates and dried fruits in the background. We need a place like this here. Desperately.

I bought two of these, and got another 2 as a present from my sister. I'm saving them for Christmas. Apparently, these typical Spanish treats are even meant for Christmas! They are called Turron, Torrons, or Torró (on the packages at least). Some of these are nougat in a whole range of varieties, some are pure chocolate 'truffle' bars and some seem to be some sort of marzipan with lots of extra's on top or inbetween. I have one 'Turron selection' which seems to be almond brittle in different variations. From all that I'm guessing the only requirements for a Torró are almonds and a bar-shape. Yes, I can't wait to try them.

Oh, you thought I'd stop here? Well, I suppose there is a point in which I should stop spamming you with pictures of food. Okay, I'll stop.

I went to Barcelona and I brought home pictures food. Typical.
Now all I need is a Catalonian recipebook, so I can replicate my vacation in my own kitchen. Oh wait, did I forget to mention I finally got to see my sister again after about half a year? Or that I got to see the place she lives? (both my sister and I are astonished at how disorderly young girls are) Or that we went to see flamenco dancing? No? I didn't mention anything about how we were able to sneak my sister into the hotel we stayed at so she could stay with us at night? Or about the time we went Christmas shopping and I got myself a Christmas outfit already? Hmm, how typical.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures of food and drool as much as I do at the sight of all that food!
Also, I hope my enthusiasm for food isn't slathered too thickly all over this post. But I doubt you'd get this far if you didn't share my love for food. I really hope you guys get to visit places like these as well!