In my last entry I touched on food a little bit, but I have quite a few interesting food stories so I think it deserves more attention.
In the United States, you can look at a resaurant and know exactly what they serve just by hearing the name or quickly glancing at the exterior. Over here, it's not so easy. Everything is called a "bar." Even places that we would call a restaurant or coffee shop, they label a "bar." It confuses me when I'm looking for something to eat and all I can find are bars. One trick I've learned for finding actual food is to look for Coca-Cola signs.
Pamplona seems to be the least diverse city I've ever lived in ethnically and culturally speaking so I guess it makes sense that the restaurants all look pretty much the same. Most of the ones I've visited serve bocadillos (sandwhiches) and platos combinados (literally, combination plates with meat and a side item). One of my roommates told me that different bars serve different things, but I still can't see any difference. Maybe it just takes time to get to know the places.
I'm not a huge fan of Spanish food so I started making American food that I never made for myself back in Gainesville. I made french toast for one of my roommates once because she shared her tortilla (omelette) with me on her first night here. "Mucha grasa," she said as she watched me dip the bread in the egg and then drop it into the melted butter on the frying pan. I never thought of french toast as an unhealthy dish. I thought that whole wheat bread is healthy, donuts are bad, and french toast is just normal. She had told me a couple times that she thinks Americans are unhealthy. This is coming from the girl who eats Frosted Flakes for breakfast and adds chocolate poweder to the milk as if the cereal itself does not have enough sugar.
In the United States, you can look at a resaurant and know exactly what they serve just by hearing the name or quickly glancing at the exterior. Over here, it's not so easy. Everything is called a "bar." Even places that we would call a restaurant or coffee shop, they label a "bar." It confuses me when I'm looking for something to eat and all I can find are bars. One trick I've learned for finding actual food is to look for Coca-Cola signs.
Pamplona seems to be the least diverse city I've ever lived in ethnically and culturally speaking so I guess it makes sense that the restaurants all look pretty much the same. Most of the ones I've visited serve bocadillos (sandwhiches) and platos combinados (literally, combination plates with meat and a side item). One of my roommates told me that different bars serve different things, but I still can't see any difference. Maybe it just takes time to get to know the places.
I'm not a huge fan of Spanish food so I started making American food that I never made for myself back in Gainesville. I made french toast for one of my roommates once because she shared her tortilla (omelette) with me on her first night here. "Mucha grasa," she said as she watched me dip the bread in the egg and then drop it into the melted butter on the frying pan. I never thought of french toast as an unhealthy dish. I thought that whole wheat bread is healthy, donuts are bad, and french toast is just normal. She had told me a couple times that she thinks Americans are unhealthy. This is coming from the girl who eats Frosted Flakes for breakfast and adds chocolate poweder to the milk as if the cereal itself does not have enough sugar.
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