OFF TO SEE ERICA DAY #7 “The Best Meal of the Trip”

I know many of you are sick of me writing about food (although many want to hear about our dining recommendations) but I have to tell you about the best meal of this or any of our trips.  Tonight we had dinner at Erica’s apartment with a number of her friends who live here in Madrid.

Prior to the meal we accompanied Erica to the local grocery store.  We found a number of interesting items and curiosities.  One thing I found very interesting was that in the fruit and vegetable departments you bagged your item and then took it to a scale.  From the scale’s monitor you chose the name (or in my case, picture) of the fruit or vegetable in your bag.  A sticker with a bar code is then printed out.  You attach the label to the bag and then you are ready to check out.

There were many items in the store that I have not seen in the US.  For example they had a variety of pizzas.  One was definitely new to me (see below).

 

Also I had not seen this food stuff before either.

 

I think germ-phobic Americans might like to see the practice below adopted by grocers in our country.  Most of the fruit and vegetables come pre-wrapped (see below).

 

Dinner was wonderful.  Erica did a great job of preparing the meal.  Patrice did a lot of work too.  I was a major contributor by playing Words With Friends on the couch, thus keeping out of the way.

Erica’s friends were delightful.  They all spoke perfect Spanish and pretended to understand what I was trying to say.  The one theme that was clear and most important to us was that they all love Erica.  It was also very heartwarming in that they also asked about Lindsay since they knew her from her time here in Madrid.

Until tomorrow,

Roberto