Tapas

Wow, I can't believe I haven't written about this yet because it is an integral part of Spanish culture and more importantly it involves something very dear to me, FOOD!

Anyway, in case you don't know already, tapas are not a type of dish but rather a way of eating . Spaniards have a different biological clock than the rest of us and this works in terms of eating times as well. Small breakfast, humongous three/four course lunch, merienda (snacks) in between and then tapas at around 9PM.

Tapas are small (although some places the portions are much larger) plates of food. It can be anything from montaditos (small bocadillos - aka small sandwhiches made with a baguette instead of sandwhich bread), hamburgers, perros caliente (hot dog), paella, and more!

So your thinking, okay whats the big deal? They are just small snacks, right? NOPE

Like I said, its the way of eating, not portion size. So normally Spaniards eat tapas with friends or family, always with a lot of people and always with conversation. Its not like fast food where everyone scarfs down the food in 5 minutes.

I remember one time I ate tapas and it took us 4 hours! We were in the tapas place from 9PM -12PM. The funny thing is that all I ordered was two montaditos!!

Anyway, why do I bring this up now? Because Wednesday is the big day for eating tapas. Why? Our favorite tapas places, 100 Montaditos and Lizarran, have 1 Euro tapas and drinks. With this amazing deal its so hard to resist, especially for my ever hungry belly!!