The food in Spain

The food in Valencia, Spain was amazing. I now realize how much of a foodie I am.  We spent 3 days in Valencia and I had the best food ever.

Day 1, at Helder and Silvia's house, we had my absolute favorite meal of the entire trip. A shout out to Helder, Silvia, Hakan, Nuria, Veronica (who am I forgetting?) for preparing this unforgettable meal! Thank you! Actually, to call it a meal is inappropriate. It was a feast. We had the freshest sashimi, octopus, land snails, sea snails, blood sausage, jamón (ham), salads, olives, cheeses, home-made aioli, home-made sour dough bread, almonds, beers and wine, coffee, tea, chocolate cake ... I'm sure I've forgotten a few things. We had so much food that it took several hours to eat.

Day 2 - I have no idea where we went. All I remember now is that we walked miles through crowds, fireworks, beautiful lights displays, fire crackers, and finally we got to sit down and eat.

Shrimp (tempura style) dipped in some kind of sweet white sauce

Bacon and beans?

Pork cheeks in a reduced red wine sauce with home-made potate chips... wow!

I must say I really really really enjoyed the street food there especially the buñuelos, fried dough balls. 

You dipped the buñuelos in a thick not-too-sweet hot chocolate and it's just delicioso!

Bruce's hand (Thank you, Bruce!)

We did more walking and stopped at a wine house for a snack.

Cheese platter with jam and dried fruits

Day 3 - In Valencia, you must try their famous paella, a Valencian rice dish. We walked and walked and walked and finally arrived L'encert for the real deal, Valencian paella. 

The very awesome Vilynx team!

I learned that the real deal takes two hours to prepare so we had to start with some amazing appetizers. We had bread, clams, shrimp and much much more. I was so busy eating and forgot to take photos of every dish, until the foie gras dish that is just out of this world.  Look at the presentation!

Lightly grilled foie gras served medium rare with jam

Two hours later... we got what we came here for. It was worth the wait!

Valencian Paella

One month later, I still dream about the food in Spain.