Tinto de Verano vs. Calimocho: Spanish Smackdown 2013

As someone commented last week, 2-Euro chuck isn't all that it's cracked up to be. Fortunately, the Spaniards have a way of dealing with situations like this: just add soda! Two common options are tinto de verano, which is red wine mixed with Fanta Limón, and calimocho, which is red wine mixed with Coca Cola.

On the surface, neither of these options sounds very appealing to me, but I figure that the result can't be much worse than the wine by itself. So, let's give it a shot! Mixing equal parts wine and soda results in a nice maroon color in the case of tinto de verano, while the calimocho exhibits a deep shade of purple.

In the end, the results weren't too bad. Given the quality of the ingredients involved, I would say that this is one of those situations where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. I definitely prefer a good wine over either of these, but I can see how they would be fairly refreshing during a hot summer day on the beach. The final verdict: 3/4 of a thumbs up for the tinto de verano, and 1/2 of a thumbs up for the calimocho.

 

Jamón + Vino de la semana

This week, I went with a variety of cured hams. First up is jamón de pato (duck):

I found this one to be way too greasy and fatty. Not so good. Next on the list is "llom de gall dindi curat", which Google Translate tells me is "loin cured turkey". Thanks for the help, Google Translate!

This one was much drier than the duck, but also not very good. The flavor just doesn't compare to the jamón ibérico. I feel like a snobbish Spaniard now. Next, I bought some chicken patties.

It's hard to read, but these chicken patties turned out to be 25% pork. I shouldn't be surprised. Finally, I decided to buy some red wine, from the Rioja region of Spain.

This bottle of wine only cost 2 Euros, and all I will say is: you get what you pay for.

San Feliu de Guixols

During the week of June 3-6, I attended a workshop on topological insulators. I learned that if you want to get the top people in your field to attend your conference, then you should hold it in a place like San Feliu de Guixols. Here's a sample of the conference location:

In related news, Mistress Vagabond has finally arrived in Spain. In fact, she timed her arrival to coincide with the aforementioned conference. Thus, while I spent all week trapped in a room listening to people talk about Chern numbers and time-reversal invariance, Mistress Vagabond spent her first week in Spain on the beach.

Prague

One nice thing about living in Spain is its proximity to the rest of Europe. For example, the thought of hopping on over to Prague for the weekend is one that never occurred to me when I lived in the western U.S. However, the fact that Prague is just a 2.5-hour flight from Barcelona has turned this dream into a reality. Hence, I spent this past weekend in Prague with a friend of mine (plus her husband, baby, and two of their friends) who lives in Germany. I didn't know much about Prague before going there, except that there are a lot of old buildings and pilsner-style beers. I found plenty of both.

That last beer there is the Czech version of Budweiser, brewed in a town called Budweis. It is 100 years older than the American version of Budweiser, and approximately 100 times better.

In addition to all the old buildings, there were some other interesting places to see, including the famous Dancing House and a few very specific museums.

I agree; I should be an exhibit in the Sex Machines Museum.

All in all it was a good time. Funnily enough, my now-living-in-Germany friend was my neighbor and a high school classmate, and we used to walk to school every morning. Sixteen years later, we were able to recapture some of the old walking days.

Jamón of the week

This week I went with another 5-Euro pack of thinly-sliced jamón.  This one was called Jamón Curado Bodega.  It was also pretty tasty, but about the same as the one last week.  So far there seems to be a distinct correlation between flavor and price.  Is it time to start getting more extravagant?

Caja

Note: this post has a lot of complaining about a situation that probably falls under the category of First World Problems.

Spain can be a funny place.  On the one hand, they have a reputation for taking their time when it comes to service.  My first experience with this was at the Spanish consulate in San Francisco, where some people seemed pretty annoyed at being forced to do their job.  On the other hand, Spain also seems to have an obsession with doing things just by the book -- this must be stamped here, and that must be signed there, and you need an official seal for this, and a notarized photocopy for that.

I ran across this most recently when dealing with Spanish customs concerning a box of my clothes that had been sent from the US.  For some reason all my other boxes went through, but this one was singled out for inspection.  I received a notice in the mail stating that I had to submit a list of the items in the box, as well as their approximate value.  I also had to submit a form with my signature and ID number, plus the signature and ID number of a Spanish citizen.  I tried the first time to submit all this information online.  Two weeks later I got another notice telling me to do the same thing.  So, I had to do it all over again.  This time, however, I was unable to submit the forms online because I had already done it once.  Fortunately, I found a fax machine and sent everything in that way.  Finally, two months after it was sent (and after paying 40 Euros in taxes), my box arrived.

When I was filling out the form detailing the contents of the box, I couldn't remember everything that I had put in there.  I remembered there were some shirts and some jackets and some snow gear, so I put all that down.  When the box finally arrived I opened it and found this inside:

I'm sure the Spanish authorities were surprised when they opened up the box and found that staring them in the face!  Maybe next time they'll think twice about messing with my shit.

Jamón of the week

For the previous jamón of the week, I tried the 2-Euro smorgasbord of sausage.  It wasn't too bad, but I felt I could do better.  So, this week I upgraded to a 5-Euro pack of thinly sliced Pernil Serrano Reserva.  It was definitely tastier than the Lunchables-like snack pack from before.  What will next week bring?