The last week has been rainy, windy, and cool. It’s great for sleeping but not so good for a lot of exploration. First I must add, although I am still under doctor’s care, the condition with my eye is improving and I am feeling much better.
Geared up in rainwear and layered clothing, our mission on Monday was simply to leave the house, do some window shopping and find a place to print our Absentee Ballots and Identity Affidavits for the upcoming election at home. Voting is supremely important.
That done, we strolled in and out of rain showers, wind, and chilly temperatures.
We passed a cute corner restaurant. The signboard said tacos were the featured plate at lunch. Ahhh! Tacos! How long has it been since we’ve had a taco? Ordinarily, we enjoy eating outdoors at a street-side table but the weather made an indoor table look inviting. We decided to share an order of their tacos and also get an order of cheese salsa (as it is called here) and guacamole nachos. Again we thought, how long has it been since we’ve had cheese dip and guacamole?
When we tasted the nachos, Stan and I agreed they were tasty but merely only reminded us of those at home. But this is Spain; we have to hand it to them for trying. The tacos? Now those were soft and fantastic! Ole!
Now, a little about the market we visited the following day:
If you want fresh fish, I mean fresh-off-the-hook fish and you want to choose between many different varieties, the Mercado de Esperanza (Market of Hope) is the premier place to go in Santander. There on beds of ice lay many different types of fish . . . some whole, some fileted, and some were cut into steaks and chops. There was tuna, Bonita, flounder, snappers, salmon, seabass, mullet, monkfish, fresh sardines ready for the grill, and every variety, shape, and color of shellfish, langostinos, and crabs. Staffs from restaurants and smaller markets come to this place at daybreak to get the first selections.
I started learning to cook as a young girl and have always enjoyed it. I can cook almost anything but I simply don’t have the confidence I need to prepare fresh fish and shellfish available at seafood markets. First, I have great respect for our apartment neighbors. They don’t cook fish at home; therefore I won’t cook it either. While the fish may taste heavenly, the smell of cooking fish is just too much in confined spaces. Plus fresh fish is expensive! I dare not buy a pricey piece of fish only to ruin it at home by choosing the wrong cooking method, over or undercooking it, or seasoning it incorrectly. Rather than take the risk, I prefer to visit a nice restaurant and let its expert chefs prepare my fish to perfection. Plus it feels very civilized to be served.
The Mercado is a great place for meats and cheeses too. Big glass-fronted refrigerated cases showcase both fresh and dark, aged beef, pork, lamb, and chicken, all dressed with care and the waste trimmed away. The choices of cheeses there are enormous. Those made locally are always set aside and proudly labeled as Cantabrian cheese. Aside from the fancy grocery deli varieties like Edam, Gouda, Emmental, Havarti, Brie, and bleu cheeses, my knowledge of more exotic cheeses is severely lacking! Rather than buy some and simply taste them, I usually pass and stay sadly uneducated.
The glory of the Mercado is the fruit and vegetable stands. The colors are brilliant. I’d like to buy one of each type. This time of year brings in harvests of leeks, giant red peppers, and green peppers of many different types, green beans, turnips, eggplants, tomatoes, and so much more. It’s a sight to see!
After checking out the market stall by stall, case by case, and buying absolutely nothing, we spent a while poking around the city becoming more familiar with Santander streets. Later, we stopped at a random place for lunch – there are thousands of restaurants here! We were hoping to find food typical of Northern Spain. I’m not sure our dish there was Spanish, but it was delicious. We were served a plate of stewed chicken with mushrooms and papas fritas. Know this, regardless of the main dish selected, plates here are almost always accompanied by French fries. In Panama, the side was always rice and sometimes rice and fries, but here it is papas fritas!
Afterward, we did the European thing and had a tiny cup of espresso – we had ours con leche and azucar. We are beginning to truly appreciate this stuff. Coffee tastes so rich and flavorful here. The fun part of our meal was meeting Marlena, our server. Originally from Cuba, this young lady with bouncy blond curls framing her very pretty brown face learned English during the seven years her family lived in Great Britain, but she grew up here in Santander. Spanish is now her primary language. Her face lit up as she practiced her English with us and we loved trying our Spanish with her. She politely and in fun corrected us and urged us on. Como nuestros maestros siempre dicen que debemos practicar, practicar, practicar!
Before we left and since we could easily communicate with Marlena I asked her for a recommendation of a restaurant with authentic local food specialties. With no hesitation at all, she gave me the name, Restaurante Los Picos de Europa.
