Margarides i més

Margaritas and more

Before leaving for Barcelona, I researched common foods for the region as wel

l as "the best food and drink". We were able to find a couple of places mentioned

and found a few more that weren't.

This is La Boqueria - a food market off Carrer (street) de la Rambla

The food was so fresh and displayed beautifully.

These booths were near the entry of the market

Then we turned a corner and . . .

D'Alerta! (Warning!)

Proceed at your own risk

Remember that word in the event you are looking at a menu in Catalan.

There's a market for this?!

Who buys this?!

Better question . . . who eats this?!

Don't answer that.

And Jim wonders why I eat like a 10-year old at restaurants. I don't think I need worry about any of that ending up on my cheese pizza.

Now, here's something worth eating.

This is a dessert called Crema Catalana. Much like creme brulee', it is quite good. The main difference in the two is that creme brulee' uses heavy cream and Crema Catalana is oven baked using a mixture of milk and cream with cornstarch to thicken.

Sometimes called Crema de Sant Josep after Saint Joseph, the husband of the Virgin Mary. Saint Joseph's Day is celebrated on March 19th and pays homage not only to this Saint, but to all fathers. Crema Catalana is a traditional dessert to serve on this day, which is treated much like the U.S. Father's Day.

Farggi is a coffee and ice cream shop with locations in Spain and Portugal. I got a cappuccino, which was excellent, but it was Jim's hot chocolate (literally liquid chocolate) that was really unbelievable.

According to the New York Times, this is the best sandwich that guy ever ate. Naturally, we had to try it.

Cafe' Viena - located on the famous pedestrian-friendly La Rambla.

The bread was crispy and a bit salty and the meat is a thin salt-cured ham. I'm not a sandwich connoisseur, but it was a good sandwich.

We never found Pizza del Born which touts the best pizza in Barcelona. I really love pizza so we must make a more concerted effort to find it next time!

And now to the good part.

I'm not an expert on margaritas. Yet. I'm working on it. It's my favorite cocktail and I think I know a good one when I drink it. Supposedly the best margarita in Barcelona is at a bar called Margarita Blue. Of course we had to try it.

Souvenir/handy cocktail mixing guide

In my opinion, it is not only the best margarita in Barcelona, it is the best margarita I've ever had.

Margarita Blue - bar and restaurant.