jessie's piso

Here is a tour of Jessie's piso, here is the inner courtyard where they hang their laundry:

Her room!

Oh yeah baby! I'm in so many photographs! I feel so special!

The x-ray of her ankle:

Proud to be an American.

their balcony:

their entrance:

tapas

Tapas #1

Sangria + FREE pollo asada con patatas!

It was so yummy!

Tapas #2

Tinto de verano + croquettas + gambas

Tapas #3

Not a fan. Migas (meatballs sort of?) + blood sausage.

EW!!!! It brought back gross memories of the food I was forced to eat in Spain while studying abroad, let me show you below:

"Food" #1 = our Spanish Mama was a nurse that worked the graveyard shift, so she would prepare the food (at some unknown time) and then freeze it, and then defrost it the morning of so Mami and I could eat it for lunch. Most the time it was still frozen, other times we just had to nuke it in the microwave. Here is some beef stew? I think? and some somewhat mashed peas:

"Food" #2 = chicken + chickpea soup + bread

chicken - pan fried in olive oil

chikpea soup - had no taste whatsoever

bread - their pan sucks!

"Food" 3 = chicken + paprika rice + bread

chicken - heavily deep fried in olive oil, why does the chicken always look so sketchy?

rice - she killed everything with paprika, do this day my palette can't stand paprika.

"Food" #4 = barf soup + barf meat

barf soup - beans + olive oil + chorizo chunks

barf meat - there is more fat than beef and was probably marinated in olive oil for days

"Food" #5 = hamburger + potatoes in paprika rice + bread

hamburger - "because you are American! and you love hamburgers!" sure Mama.

paprika rica - oh getting fancy throwing in some potatoes I see....

"Food" #6 = shaddy chicken + bread + soup

this soup is a puree of vegetables, I think. Would it really kill her to give us FRESH VEGETABLES? She never ONCE served us a salad, or fresh veggies, not even a diced up tomato.

"Food" #7 = the ultimate barf

those are little meats + red peppers, "carmelized" in sugar + olive oil. This was a sweet dish, sweet barf.

the other thing is pasta, I think?

These are leftovers! Whatever we didn't eat she would put in little ramequins and we would nuke them in the microwave. Leftover days were my least favorite lunches in the world.

There is so much olive oil that it would turn into a gel, and yes I could hold the contents of the ramequins upside down and nothing would spill out. Bon apetit!

Specimen #1 = This is bolgna, with caramelized bell peppers! Mmmm! What have I done to deserve such a tasty lunch!!!!

Specimen #2 = Thanks for serving me brains for lunch!

Much appreciated!!!!!

To this day I have no idea (a) what animal this is nor (b) what part of the animal it is:

BARF BARF BARF. I'm convinced that Spaniards only know how to cook red meats, potatoes, make tapas (which are just snacks really), they don't know about vegetables or spices, and they can't serve anything unless it's been deep friend or drowning in olive oil. YUCK!!!!!!

casa natal de Cervantes

Here we are at the Casa Natal de Cervantes (the birth house of Cervantes)

Fun fact = Don Quijote de la Mancha is the second more translated book in the world (following the Bible). One time I was playing a trivia game with Lana and when asked, what book is in 9 out of 12 homes? Her answer was Harry Potter. No Lana, the Bible. hahahah

Hola Don Quijote!

Sancho Panza + Jess, Yo + Don Quijote. Profe Fagan would be proud!

alcala fiesta

We went to Jessie's friend's birthday party tonight in this house. Whaaaaat, look at that interior???

museo thyssen

Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza offers art from 13th century to 20th century. It's a fine museum and I don't know why it doesn't get as much hype as Museo del Prado or la Reina Sofia.

Rory, that's you.

some art:

some art + Jess, being such a trooper on euro crutches:

we loved these ones:

check out the details!

!

we also liked this one:

and these little guys:

mmmm stilllife:

lovely

nice colors

the inside of the museum:

holler, Paris!

I forget this artists' name but we used to have some images of hers hanging up in the Upham bathroom!

holller, Paris.

Rory, that's also you.

A portrait of George Washington's cook! RAD!

interesting.

beautiful.

modern.

appreciating.

i like this.

this is alright.

learning.

This is one of my favorite Dali paintings. The title of the painting is: Dream caused by the Flight of a Bee around a Pomegranate a Second before Waking up. (heaaa!)

a nice sketch:

Jess:

This reminded my of our friend Kyle Wilhelm's artwork:

I really like this one!

the modern art room:

the outside: