A Passport is a Girl's Best Friend

On Friday we walked over to Chinatown for the Friday night market. The main street was packed with people, while overhead was filled with twinkling lights from Vivid. Even though it is winter, it was been incredibly mild and warm, weather that I am happy to soak up as family back home are suffering through heat waves. me and my little goober We found AMAZING GF Chinese food  Across the street was Paddy Market, an indoor market of hodge podge knickknacks that we explored.

Monday's theme was food. I am not joking, I don't need to eat for a few days. We wandered over to Mercat de Sant Josep or La Boqueria which is a giant famous market off of La Rambla that sells a plethora of items from whole cured pig legs, chocolate, fruit, spices, wine, cheese, seafood, game and so much more. That night, I had planned a local food tour for D and I. Taste Barcelona is a tapas and wine tasting tour designed for foodies with an interest in local wines and the culture of Barcelona, Catalonia and Spain. We met up with our guide, Paul, and small group 2 other couples from Australia who were fantastic! Paul took us to 3 restaurants and 1 bar that lasted about 5 hours. We tasted white, rosé, red wines along with cava and while enjoying authentic traditional Spanish tapas and local food. With each plate and wine, they explained the food and why it was important to the region. Along our way, he took us through some of the most interesting, historic and fas...

I have found my foodie zen place. I literally want to pull up a stool at every vendor and devour whatever they serve me. Everywhere you go, you'll find vendors offering fresh-cooked food, sometimes while perched on little plastic seats around a makeshift picnic table, others are to go on a stick. It seems as though you can wander the streets of Thailand for weeks, pointing at every single thing that looks tasty, eat until you burst, all without ever trying the same thing twice. And you'd have difficulty spending more than around $10 a day doing it. This is what heaven must be like. Sweet, curry, vegetable, rice, noodle and meat filled heaven. Thai ice tea Durian - the most disgusting smelling fruit in the world. "Your breath will smell as if you’ve been french kissing your dead grandmother" Anthony Bourdain Not food, but might fool you in case you we're paying attention mmmmm grilled corn Fried quail eggs and all the meats on a stick ...