Probably the best dinner I've had at home, el botellón, and Asturias

Another Thursday, another botellón with our favorite Spanish friends. As always, it starts out a bit awkward, then as we liquor ourselves up, the conversation and jokes start flowing. T'was a good night, as always. Unfortunately this time I had to come home to get dinner and didn't get to stay out with mis amigos. I did spend a good three hours with them though. Tonight's theme drink: calimocho, which I realize will be the drink for the rest of these botellones. 

It's fun getting to know the Spanish. Fran has never been to Barcelona and wants to go with us when we do. Said he wishes he could go with us to Asturias this weekend. <-- Brings me to my next topic: I, and the rest of mis compañeros de CIEE are going to Asturias and Cantabria this weekend. For those unaware, Asturias and Cantabria are on the norther Atlantic coast of Spain. It's supposed to be cold, rain, and green. Basically, my ideal vacation spot. I'm sick of this cold at night and morning but scorching in the sun during the day Alcalá climate. I'm so excited to finally be covered in sweaters and sweatshirts and jackets and scarves and stuck in the rain all day. It'll remind me in the very least a bit of Wisconsin and the beautiful autumn that I'm sure you are all enjoying right now. Since I'll be in Asturias this weekend though I'll be incomunicado all weekend unless I steal a friend's laptop and internet or else go to an internet café (unlikely). So, you'll all be updated on Monday night with a nice long blog post and plenty of photos, so don't worry. Until then, I'll be off having a great weekend, so don't worry about me.

One last bit of news. Perhaps it was the calimocho from the botellón but tonight's dinner was probably the best one I've had so far at home in Spain. It was simple. First: no soup. White (olive oil) rice with a fried egg (which I placed on top of the rice). Even better, I had good (read: not styrofoam) bread. Even better still, spicy chorizo and, get this, Havarti cheese. I went to Carrefour earlier today to get meat and cheese for my bocadillo for the trip. I picked up jamón serrano and Havarti slices. I made the boca at dinner and ate the leftovers. It was delicious. So let's recap: white rice, fried eggs, good bread, spicy chorizo, Havarti, and jamón serrano. Definitely the best dinner I've had at host family's house since I've arrived. 

Jalapeños

As I sit here now, after dinner, my stomach is tearing itself apart. I can only imagine tomorrow's trip to the bathroom being a (quite literal) shit storm. 

I have been craving jalapeños ever since I got here. First night, we went to this Mexican restaurant called "Burrito." They didn't even have spicy food, I was fearing that jalapeños didn't exist in Spain (couldn't find them at Carrefour, my favorite close by super market). However, the other day after our visit to Carrefour, Marisa went to El Corte Inglés and found some jalapeños at Hipercor and, remembering how much I wanted some, bought a jar and gave them to me. For that, I am eternally grateful. The first spicy thing I've had since I left for Spain. I knew coming here I wouldn't be having any spicy food in Spain, so I guess I subconsciously ate as much spicy food as I could the weeks beforehand. Any time I'd got anywhere, I'd get whatever sounded hot and detrimental to my intestines. I was in the garden of earthly delights. 

And now, four weeks of not having spicy food, I'm presented with a jar of jalapeños and nothing really to put them on, so I had to be creative. For lunch, I just ate them raw, straight out of the jar. It was wonderful. My mouth burned a bit, and I even had to drink some water. Oh, the sensations were coming back to me, the fond flavor of food with a bite. My host mother tried the very corner of one (after just smelling the jar she exclaimed that she could smell the hotness), and I feared I was going to have to call the hospital. Now, living her whole life in Spain, without ever hearing of the word "jalapeño," I can understand her reaction. I'm just sad that she doesn't appreciate the wonder of jalapeños like I do. She immediately ran to the garbage to spit out the piece of pepper and I had to hand her my glass of water in fear of her having a heart attack. She downed the whole glass, something that usually takes her the whole meal. Her mouth was still burning afterwards for quite some time. To help with the mental image, for those that were around: think of the first time Mitch tried a jalapeños..yeah, it was kinda like that. At least she tried it. 

For dinner I actually tried mixing jalapeños with Spanish food. Host mother specifically made rice tonight because the previous night I was that jalapeños would go good with rice (I couldn't think of any other food we've had here that would--soup just doesn't cut it). Of course it was just plain white rice doused in olive oil, but I added some jalapeños and it turned out pretty good. Now if only they had sour cream lying around the house, we'd be getting somewhere. Mamá also had a plate of tortilla sitting out, and my least favorite bar bread (the styrofoam kind). Regardless, I quickly made a bocadillo and tossed some jalapeños on top. Now that was delicious. I don't see why this bocadillo isn't more widely available here, all the Americans and Mexicans would eat it, and the Spaniards would learn to love it.

Perhaps then instead of giving us nasty green olives to nibble on while having a drink, the waitstaff would bring out a plate of jalapeños. I can only hope...

Good news on the jamón front: Mamá told me that I can make the two bocadillos for the Asturias trip myself. One of tortilla and the other of whatever I want. She recommended chorizo. I'm going to Carrefour tomorrow and getting the best jamón ibérico and queso I can find. I was thinking of adding jalapeños but I don't want to ruin my first true jamón y queso bocadillo in Spain. My mouth is watering just thinking about it now. I can't wait for Friday when I devour this boca.