V is for Variety #atozchallenge

Variety is the spice of life right?  One of the most stunning things we encountered while in Spain were the beautiful markets.  As we grow most of our own food, eat fresh while we can, try to store as much as possible, cook with wild abandon and were at the end of Winter at home, these 'merkat's' were complete eye candy.  There was everything from farmers market style groceries, to sushi, tapas, and anything else you could imagine snacking on.

The variety was both intriguing and dizzying.  The best part was we simply sampled our way through, and for at least two of our meals that is exactly what we did!

These meals were as fresh as can be, prepared in their most basic form; olive oil, lemon juice and fresh herbs. We could travel from booth to booth with a glass of wine or beer in hand and simply immerse ourselves in the variety laid before us.  Of course, the meal ended with a bag of hand dipped truffles, what else?

Immersion

Sidney has been working extra hard on her Spanish in the months preceding our trip.  She is in high school Spanish II and has been supplementing with Spanish lessons on Duolingo (where she is also learning German).  She has been watching some novelas and as we leave at the end of this month, she has also begun listening to Spanish music channels on Spotify.  She decided last night that we need to sharpen our skills, so armed with a pile of sticky notes, began to label the house.  What topped the evening off was the Spanish morphing to German text conversation that she had with her grandparents last night.  Her dedication is admirable and a bit infectious, I am feeling the urge to brush up on my Spanish. Hmmmm, I wonder what I can get accomplished in the next three weeks?!