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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2017 10:52:21 GMT -5
(I need some occasional Trump breaks or I'll go crazy with an ax. I'm going to start regular non-political threads, just to keep my sanity.) I adore Spain - have been numerous times, and it's probably my favorite country to visit, if I really had to choose only one. But the very late dinner hour (10, 11 at night) does rather cramp my style -- big meals late at night disagree with my stomach and interfere with my sleep. I tend to turn the tapas hour into my dinner when I travel there, and make lunch my major meal. So why do they do it that way? This article fascinated me. www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170504-the-strange-reason-spaniards-eat-lateSpain's working hours are also skewed because of this. (I worked with a client in Spain, and it was a much bigger pain than coordinating with clients in, say, Britain, just because of the working hours there.) And some experts think being out of sync with their proper time zone is bad for Spaniards' health, and are out to change it. Anyway. I didn't know the stuff about Franco and the Nazis, and found it fascinating.
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Post by robeiae on May 16, 2017 10:54:44 GMT -5
That makes sense. I always wondered why Spanish soccer matches seemed to start late--on average--than ones in the UK. Now I know.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2017 13:53:49 GMT -5
I never even thought about why sunsets are so late there...until a recent trip when I went from Portugal to Spain and had to switch my watch -- and I was going north, not east. Suddenly I had an extra hour of daylight in the evenings.
But the fact that's down to Franco getting in sync with his Nazi friends. Yeah, I had no idea.
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Post by Vince524 on May 16, 2017 18:22:43 GMT -5
What does a tappa consist of?
I've seen them mentioned in things for low carb, but what are they??
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2017 18:32:00 GMT -5
it's tapas, and they are basically appetizers of all kinds. Not all of them are low carb -- many are bread-based. some are just a bite, and some are larger. If you go to Spain, and sit at the bar at 5 or 6 or 7 pm, you can make meal out of a selection of tapas, or just get one or two with a drink as a little bite. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TapasTapas bars will typically have a whole array of them at the bar on display, and you can point and choose, and/or order off the menu. Some are cold, some are hot. it is my favorite way to eat -- you can try a bit of everything. American places tend to ruin it by giving you huge portions so you don't have room for more than one or two unless you share with a table full of people. Boo. In Spain, you generally have the option of ordering a larger portion, but you can also get a wee little bit, and make a tasty, economical meal trying 6 different appetizers without stuffing yourself or wasting anything. And you can get one at a time and stop when it's enough. Love it. Perfect for a solo traveler or couples who like different things. But most American tapas places don't do the concept right, IMO. I am usually disappointed.
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Post by robeiae on May 16, 2017 19:15:39 GMT -5
Traditional tapas are meats, sausages or the like, with some breads. Now, they use the term to refer to any and everything that is served in small, bite-sized portions.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2017 19:23:18 GMT -5
by the way, stupid pet peeve: Britains and Australians tend to pronounce the first "a" in tapas the way we English speakers pronounce the "a" in "Spanish" or "apple" -- or at least, Gordon Ramsay and every Brit and Australian I've met says it that way. That's not the way the Spanish say it-- they say it more like the "a" in "taco" forvo.com/word/tapas/ And so do I. (And so do most Americans I know, actually.) Now, I couldn't give less of a crap how the Brits and Aussies say "tapas". They can say it any way they like as far as I'm concerned. But here's the thing -- at least a dozen times, various Brits and Aussies have sneered at MY pronunciation of the word! To note, though I do not speak fluent Spanish, I do speak some, my grandfather was from Spain, I studied Spanish for four years, I have been to Spain many times, and native Spaniards tell me I do pretty well with the accent. But nooooo. According to Brits and Aussies, apparently, I'm an American, and therefore untraveled, uneducated, and uncosmopolitan by default, so MY pronunciation must be off. They don't just correct me -- they laugh at how embarrassing it is for me to mispronounce the word that way.. Once, this happened in Madrid when I met up with a bunch of Brit colleagues (an international arbitration). The waiter overheard and said I had it right, so that shut them up, at least. Seriously, this has happened repeatedly. Grrr! If you are going to sneer at someone, you'd better at least be damn sure they're wrong. Better yet, shut the fuck up. It doesn't quite ruin my enjoyment of tapas, but it does annoy me.
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Post by Vince524 on May 16, 2017 21:45:27 GMT -5
Now I'm hungry.
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Post by Deleted on May 16, 2017 22:00:40 GMT -5
Go for tapas!
I could go for some nice jamon, a few garlic shrimp, a boquerone or ten, some patatas bravas, maybe a wedge of tortilla and some olives, a bit of cabrales and manchego...
I need another trip to Spain.
ETA:
I don't think I've ever come back from a trip anywhere and not missed some kind of food. I live in New York, so I can actually get a pretty amazing variety, but it's never quite the same, and there is always something you can't get.
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Post by Vince524 on May 17, 2017 6:03:11 GMT -5
I actually dreamed of Tapas last night.
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Post by robeiae on May 17, 2017 8:32:03 GMT -5
I have this uncomfortable image of tapas with arms, legs, and faces, dancing and singing in a big conga line as they leap into Vince's mouth...
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2017 8:48:15 GMT -5
You guys are weird.
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Post by Vince524 on May 17, 2017 11:51:16 GMT -5
Actually, in my dream I paid someone in a very greasy stand $121.53 for a very small bowl that contained 1/2 a sausage, a turnip, some leafy thing, and a piece of fried zucchini. They called it tapas which is what I wanted.
Also, in the dream, I hadn't eaten in well over a year, and I was able to fly, and most incredibly, my wife seemed okay with the fact that I spent that amount of money on that amount of food.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2017 13:03:13 GMT -5
It doesn't sound very tasty, but it does sound low-carb.
Your wife was likely feeling indulgent given how little you'd taxed the family food budget over the previous non-eating year.
Also, she may have been mesmerized by your ability to fly.
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Post by Don on May 18, 2017 6:44:04 GMT -5
Actually, in my dream I paid someone in a very greasy stand $121.53 for a very small bowl that contained 1/2 a sausage, a turnip, some leafy thing, and a piece of fried zucchini. They called it tapas which is what I wanted. Also, in the dream, I hadn't eaten in well over a year, and I was able to fly, and most incredibly, my wife seemed okay with the fact that I spent that amount of money on that amount of food. Given the way the economy's going, those prices may not seem so outrageous a year from now when you end your fast.
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