We had reservations for 9:00 am at the Prado Museum in Madrid, but found that there is no place open for breakfast before 9 - not even the bread shops or grocery stores. We made our way to the Prado by metro, then dashed into a little coffee shop at 9 and grabbed some croissants, hot chocolate and fresh squeezed orange juice. Delicious, but rushed, since we knew if we didn't get there by 9:15, we might lose our chance. There was no line at the museum entrance for prepaid reservations, and we lost ourselves in the museum for hours. We grabbed another simple meal at the cafeteria there - as little food as possible because it was so expensive. A tortilla (egg and potato frittata), some salad greens, a couple of slices of bread and a bottle of water. Zoe and I abandoned Clay to his wanderings at about 2:00 and headed out to the botanical gardens and a walk through the edge of Retiro Park, then went to Mallorca, a high end food shop, to buy stuff for dinner. We got a selection of little sandwiches, some pastries, cheese, a small salad. Zoe and I had a lot of fun picking things out - it was all so lovely and appealing. Then we went to a grocery store and got some cheaper food to round it out - a bag of spring greens, a baguette, and drinks. We met Clay back at the hotel and ate the little sandwiches and drinks in the plaza in front of the hotel before heading out to the airport for our flight to Barcelona. We got there quite early and had a leisurely gourmet dinner - a big salad, a huge wedge of brie with baguette, and then the pastries (looking a little worse for the wear in this photo). We all had to have a taste of each one. My favorite was the millefiore. Lots of thin layers and pastry cream. The one on the lower right was chocolate orange, one of my favorite flavor combinations.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Food in Spain - day 2
We had reservations for 9:00 am at the Prado Museum in Madrid, but found that there is no place open for breakfast before 9 - not even the bread shops or grocery stores. We made our way to the Prado by metro, then dashed into a little coffee shop at 9 and grabbed some croissants, hot chocolate and fresh squeezed orange juice. Delicious, but rushed, since we knew if we didn't get there by 9:15, we might lose our chance. There was no line at the museum entrance for prepaid reservations, and we lost ourselves in the museum for hours. We grabbed another simple meal at the cafeteria there - as little food as possible because it was so expensive. A tortilla (egg and potato frittata), some salad greens, a couple of slices of bread and a bottle of water. Zoe and I abandoned Clay to his wanderings at about 2:00 and headed out to the botanical gardens and a walk through the edge of Retiro Park, then went to Mallorca, a high end food shop, to buy stuff for dinner. We got a selection of little sandwiches, some pastries, cheese, a small salad. Zoe and I had a lot of fun picking things out - it was all so lovely and appealing. Then we went to a grocery store and got some cheaper food to round it out - a bag of spring greens, a baguette, and drinks. We met Clay back at the hotel and ate the little sandwiches and drinks in the plaza in front of the hotel before heading out to the airport for our flight to Barcelona. We got there quite early and had a leisurely gourmet dinner - a big salad, a huge wedge of brie with baguette, and then the pastries (looking a little worse for the wear in this photo). We all had to have a taste of each one. My favorite was the millefiore. Lots of thin layers and pastry cream. The one on the lower right was chocolate orange, one of my favorite flavor combinations.
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Glory, this sounds like a fabulous trip! Makes me want to lounge about with baguettes and cheese myself.
ReplyDeleteI love making churros and extra-thick hot chocolate at Christmastime. The recipe I use is from the cookbook Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey and is worth seeking out, if only for this once-a-year kind of treat.
Parker and I also have fond food memories of Spain. Parker likes to reminisce about the bocadillos. I also loved shopping at the grocery store there and perusing all the jarred pickled vegetables.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I love your blog.
--Your friend and fellow foodie.