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MrM and MrsM have had a demanding evening looking at Viking boats, swords and skulls in the British Musuem and they are very hungry. They decide to treat themselves to a couple of bowls of tapas in their favourite tapas restaurant, El Parador but when they arrive at the restaurant they look at the menu and try to decide how many bowls they can eat without being thrown out for gluttony. And then they order one more for luck.
There is velvety alioli with coarse bread, charred green pimientos glistening with salt, briny samphire with shaved artichokes and chickpeas. MrsM passionatelyl oves boquerones but she knows that it is against the unspoken rules to order the same thing twice so she bravely goes for calamares in a batter as light as a whisper. MrM chooses pan-fried chicken livers which melt in the mouth and king prawns in a fiery mixture of ginger and turmeric. When the bowls arrive at the table MrM and MrsM throw themselves on the food with a fierce intensity.
After a brief pause for the sake of her digestion and to maintain a fiction of restraint MrsM has the most delicious flan de naranja, a cream flavoured with smoky caramelised oranges. It is like eating clotted cream and marmalade.
There will now be a period of abstinence to ensure that the relationship between waist and skirt returns to normal but it was so worth it.
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Ahhh, El Parador! The first place I lived by myself after finishing university was upstairs from El Parador. In the tiniest imaginable flat: the bed was up a ladder above the sofa and table that could just about sqeeze two plates on. I used to dry my washing on the balcony over Eversholt Street! Reminiscing... And yes, I did partake of the delicious tapas every once in a while...
ReplyDeleteMy mouth is actually watering. I love tapas and these sound fantastic.....sometimes the eating of delicious food has to take priority over everything, especially thoughts of the waistline.
ReplyDeleteI just knew I should have joined you!
ReplyDeleteYou did that in a skirt?? Good grief - where were your elastic-waisted comfy pants?
ReplyDeleteI am undecided about tapas in general, never having seen a real Tapas restaurant but I am certain that I could cope with that flan!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a divine evening. I recently visited Barcelona and my evenings were spend in Tapas Bars. A wonderful experience.
ReplyDeleteHelen x
I never saw, let aloone had, Tapas ... they sound soooooo good. Maybe I should organize a trip just to taste them!
ReplyDeleteBoquerones made by someone else are my idea of heaven ! It all sounds delicious and well worth an extra inch or two .
ReplyDeleteOur nearest good tapas bar is about three hours away by train , sadly ... the local one isn't awful but has been known to serve oddly fusion delights like chorizo-and-pineapple .
Oh that sounds absolutely blissful. Lots and lots of different delicious things, my very favourite way of eating. And clotted cream and marmalade, oh my. I'm wondering if I could just eat clotted cream and marmalade and achieve the same effect...
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