Have you ever woken up in the morning and had a hankering for ham?  If you answered affirmatively to that question and you live in Spain, [...]]]>

The butcher shops here in Spain come complete with hanging "legs of ham" to entice customers to buy (especially look where the red arrow is pointing).

Have you ever woken up in the morning and had a hankering for ham?  If you answered affirmatively to that question and you live in Spain, you’re in luck: a nice “leg of ham” is waiting for you just around the corner at your neighborhood deli.  Yes, you heard right… here in Spain “ham legs” like the ones pictured above are suspended from the air and sold in places like grocery stores and delicatessens. 

As an American, I was a little put off the first time I saw one of these ham legs literally “hanging around” in a grocery store.  In fact, I remember asking myself how these things don’t go bad after being stuck in the middle of the store with no refrigeration whatsoever for days (or even months) on end.  I later learned that these patas de jamón are cured much like beef jerky and thus don’t require refrigeration.

Now that I’ve been living in Spain for close to two years I have to admit that, despite their bizarre appearance, I’ve acquired a taste for these delectable “ham legs.”  In case you are curious, this type of ham comes from a special Iberian pig that is native to Spain and these ham legs are sold with much success throughout the Iberian Peninsula.  In fact, most families here in Spain buy a pata de jamón once or twice a year and slowly shave ham off of it with a special knife until nothing is left but the bone.  The ham from these legs can be used in recipes or in sandwiches.

Let’s use the comments of this post to talk about ham and other foods that are “typically Spanish.”  Please, leave me a note below describing both the strangest food you’ve ever eaten in Spain and the best food you’ve ever eaten here.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

Carrefour, one of the biggest chain supermarkets/one-stop-shopping stores in Spain, recently made the decision to stop giving plastic bags to its customers under the assumption that less bags is friendlier for the environment.  In fact, [...]]]>

I’ve joined the ranks of old ladies and homeless people everywhere by buying myself a shopping cart.

Carrefour, one of the biggest chain supermarkets/one-stop-shopping stores in Spain, recently made the decision to stop giving plastic bags to its customers under the assumption that less bags is friendlier for the environment.  In fact, the whole “bag debate” has been going on for quite a while in Spain.  Truthfully, I don’t really know if the stores are using less (or no) plastic bags because they genuinely care about the environment or if they are just doing so because it cuts down on costs.  In any event, that’s not really the reason I’m writing this post….

As a result of Carrefour no longer giving out plastic shopping bags to its customers, I have had to become a bit “innovative” in figuring out a way to get my weekly grocery order home from the store (remember, I don’t have a car to take my groceries home in).  In Spain, a lot of older ladies — the “señoras,” if you will – use rolling shopping carts like the one pictured above to carry their items from the store to their homes.  Since the whole “rollable cart” idea is so popular here amongst the older ladies, I thought I would give it a whirl.  So, just a few weeks ago, I decided to buy my very own, green shopping cart to help me carry my items home from the store (it’s the cart pictured above, isn’t it a beauty?). 

Now I have my new, glorious, green shopping cart.  There’s just one problem: in the States, the only people who push shopping carts around in the streets are homeless people.  Thus, when I told some of my friends and family members back home that I bought a shopping cart to transport my groceries, I got the obvious chuckle and questions such as, “Do you carry around a blanket and a pillow in it too?” 

So, my dear readers, my question to you is the following.  Do you think that my cart makes me look like a homeless person (or like a retiree)?  Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below.  I’d also be interested in hearing your reaction to Carrefour’s decision to stop giving plastic bags to its customers.  Do you think this was done out of true concern for the environment or just to cut down on the store’s costs?  Thanks in advance for sharing your opinion!

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

I don’t know if this is exactly what Quad City DJs had in mind when they created the song “C’mon Ride the Train” back in the mid-1990s.  It’s the Burgos “choo choo” tourist train and, for a small fee, it will take you to the most important monuments [...]]]>

The Burgos tourist train chugging along.

I don’t know if this is exactly what Quad City DJs had in mind when they created the song “C’mon Ride the Train” back in the mid-1990s.  It’s the Burgos “choo choo” tourist train and, for a small fee, it will take you to the most important monuments in the city of Burgos for your sightseeing pleasure. 

I still remember the first time I saw this unique creation creeping along the streets of Burgos at a whopping 5 miles per hour.  I was just walking along the sidewalk — minding my own business — when I suddenly looked up and my eyes laid upon it for the first time, a thing of beauty: the choo choo train.  You know, it’s not every day that you see a motorized, wheeled train chugging down the street, obeying traffic rules, and generally running without a train track; thus, my first reaction was to chuckle a little.  After the initial chuckle, I looked inside the train and saw all the tourists — cameras in hand – comfortably seated in the “passenger compartment” and I chuckled a bit more. 

Obviously, after seeing the tourist train, I just had to ride it.  A few days after the initial “sighting,” I got together a group of my friends and we had at it.  The ride lasted about 45 minutes and it passed by all the most historic places in Burgos.  The train came complete with an overhead loudspeaker which explained all aspects of the ride to the passengers: where the train was headed, what we were currently passing, etc.  To my surprise, the ride wasn’t that bad.  Of course, I don’t know if I’d rely on the Burgos tourist train to get me to Madrid (I suppose Renfe is better for that), but I guess it isn’t bad if you’re a tourist who wants to see the most important parts of the city. 

I love Spain.  What other country has choo choo trains running down the middle of busy city streets? 

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

Ever since arriving in Spain in September, I have been eating my spaghetti without sauce.  I would put butter on it, or maybe some cheese, but never spaghetti sauce.  Why?  Here in Spain spaghetti sauce is only sold in boxes [...]]]>

Nothing like some spaghetti sauce from a box rather than a jar. Yum!

Ever since arriving in Spain in September, I have been eating my spaghetti without sauce.  I would put butter on it, or maybe some cheese, but never spaghetti sauce.  Why?  Here in Spain spaghetti sauce is only sold in boxes – not in jars — and until recently I just couldn’t bring myself to eat “fried tomato” from a cardboard box.  In the USA when you want to have some sauce with your spaghetti, you buy a little Ragú in a jar and have at it.  For the longest time, I just couldn’t comprehend how “cardboard box sauce” could be the same.   

Anyway, things have changed now.  I finally got tired of eating my spaghetti dry and bought a box of “fried tomato” at the supermarket down the street.  As you can see in the above photo, the box came complete with a picture of a tomato on the front (for us foreigners to easily recognize it) and there was even an “easy open top.” 

Of course, once I had made my “boxed sauce purchase,” I didn’t really know what to do next.  Since I had never prepared spaghetti using sauce that literally came from a cardboard box, I didn’t know if there was something special I had to do like add water.  Luckily, the same person who put the picture of the tomato on the front of the box for the foreigners also put directions on the side of the box detailing how to prepare it.  Really, the directions were pretty simple and basically told me to “heat the sauce and then dump it on the spaghetti.”  So, I heated up some sauce, boiled some spaghetti, and dumped the sauce on top of the spaghetti just as I had been instructed in the directions. 

Really, the sauce tasted pretty close to what I’m used to having in the USA.  I guess it was just a mental thing with me for a while: box sauce didn’t sound appetizing to me so I refused to try it.  Maybe that’s the moral of this blog post: give things a chance before you come to a conclusion about them (and I suppose that can be applied to any cultural difference — not just food). 

In any event, are there any Spanish foods that you just find too different to try?  Have you ever been surprised by a Spanish food that you thought you wouldn’t like?  I’d love to hear about your experiences with Spanish cuisine in the comments section of this post. 

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

If you thought being a pizza delivery boy was a bad job in the USA, you should try being one in Spain.  As you can see from the above picture, here pizzas are delivered on “motorized pedicycles” (commonly known in the USA as “mopeds”) [...]]]>

Here's a "Telemoped" used by "Telepizza" to deliver food.

If you thought being a pizza delivery boy was a bad job in the USA, you should try being one in Spain.  As you can see from the above picture, here pizzas are delivered on “motorized pedicycles” (commonly known in the USA as “mopeds”) instead of being delivered in cars.  Imagine doing that job in the rain.

You know, for as long as I’ve lived in Spain and as many pizzas as I’ve seen delivered, you would think that this would be something “normal” for me by now… but it’s not.   I just can’t help but notice every time I hear the “roaring” sound of a Telepizza moped zigzagging through the busy streets of Burgos at top speed (5 MPH) or whenever I see an unusually large man perched atop an unusually small moped, fulfilling his pizza delivery duty.  It’s just so different to me.   In the USA, pizzas are always delivered by car. 

I suppose it makes more sense to deliver pizzas by moped.  After all, as far as gas goes, it’s much more economical.  Mopeds can usually arrive a little quicker than cars too because they can (illegally) pass cars and run red lights with ease (something that is done quite frequently by these lunatic moped pizza delivery boys).  I don’t really know why we use cars in the USA instead of mopeds — maybe we just care more about the pizza having a “comfortable ride” before it gets eaten.

Leave your thoughts on pizzas and mopeds below.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

There is a joke in Spain that says that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the current Prime Minister of Spain, looks a lot like Mr. Bean, the ridiculous British comedy character.  I’ve decided to place a little image above to allow you to compare the [...]]]>

Prime Minister or Comedy Star? You be the judge...

There is a joke in Spain that says that José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the current Prime Minister of Spain, looks a lot like Mr. Bean, the ridiculous British comedy character.  I’ve decided to place a little image above to allow you to compare the two.  Zapatero, of course, is on the left and Mr. Bean is on the right.  What do you think?  Maybe they were brothers separated at birth….

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://www.abroadinspain.com