Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Madrid Food Market

As mentioned yesterday, I've just returned from a two-week vacation in Europe. We finished up our trip in Madrid and I fell in love with the city immediately.  Our B&B was nestled in a cozy area downtown, a warren of winding streets and beautiful old buildings.  The weather was warmer than what we'd grown used to in Eastern Europe.  And the food.  Good God.

We wandered, by chance, past the Mercado de San Miguel and stopped in for lunch.


This indoor market was lined with food stalls and filled with people.  With our euros in hand, we started to make our way around the huge space.


 First, Jesse grabbed these little caviar-topped concoctions.  I think they were a euro apiece...


Then, we moved onto the olive stand, conveniently next to the wine cart.


While we were standing and eating our olives, I spotted a stall selling paella.  I downed my champagne, ran over, and bought us each a bowl.


We noticed that everyone was walking around with paper cones full of handmade potato chips.  I tracked down that cart and chose a mustard aioli for the chips... amazing...


...and while I was getting chips, Jesse tracked down these tomato and mozzarella skewers.


And on the way out, we passed a man selling crostini.  I had one with fresh mozzarella, olive oil, tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar.  Jesse's also had the fresh mozzarella, topped with a sardine & green onions.


I'm drooling just thinking about this and ready to book a flight back to Madrid right now. Break out your euro and stay hungry!

4 comments:

  1. Not that's my kind of tourism!

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  2. oh my goodness, what an amazing lunch! super jealous of this trip, too.

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  3. that looks amazing! I used to live in madrid, but I was like 16 and didn't have any interest in anything other than the discos... shame because this looks like something I should have taken advantage of!

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  4. We moved from Italy 4 years ago ... have been around a few places ... love Italy, of course ... France, who would and of course Spain holds a special place in my heart ... good food, good sights, great people!

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