A Special Gem: Mercat de Sant Antoni

I know the infamous Boqueria gets a lot of tourist attention, but we also live 30 seconds away from the very eclectic Mercat de Sant Antoni, which sells exotic meats, colorful fruits and vegetables, pungent fish, and other traditional Spanish delicacies. Although these pictures were taken in October, they are worth sharing.The fish stalls stand in the central dome.
Fernando buying some nuts and dried fruits for a healthy snack.Here's a charcuteria, or a delicatessen specializing in sausages, ham, pâtés, and cooked or processed meat foods.
An array of olives.
Unfortunately, I see all the young people hitting up the supermarket chains for most of their needs instead of this curious joint. Convenience rules, I guess.This backdrop adds character to this Modernist structure.
Now comes the gross part...the woman at this meat counter told me that there are two famous attractions in Barcelona: the Sagrada Familia, and the non-traditional edible animal parts found in the food markets. Fascinating!
Not for the faint of heart. Who's staring at you? Mr. Goat.
Can you imagine what this is right below? You're right!
Cow's tongue.
Goat hooves, I believe.
Cow's heart.
Tripe.
Coagulated block of blood. This isn't so scary after having enjoyed dinuguan (Filipino savory stew of blood and meat simmered in a rich, spicy gravy of pig blood, garlic, chili and vinegar).

Goat's tongue.
Goat's brain.Can anyone figure out what this is?
I love our neighborhood!

Enjoying Barcelona on a Sunday Afternoon

Today we walked out of our neighborhood of Sant Antoni and walked into another parade. I can't seem to find out any information about this one, but this is what appeared on our doorsteps!
These huge puppets or "cabezones" stepped in to do some dancing.
The cabezones got in a circle with the neighborhood kids and formed a dancing circle.
We found out these cabezones weren't real. Fooled!
A "castell" or, a human tower, is a Catalan tradition during festivals like this one. Steady, steady...

There is a huge Chinese population here in Barcelona. We ran into these young Chinese girls practicing for the Chinese New Year event tomorrow, and they were kind enough to invite us.

On the way to the neighborhood of Borne, we ate at this spectacular "Euskal Taberna", called Sagardi. It's a Basque bar that serves "pintxos", or small delectable servings of bread topped with hake, cod, anchovy, tortilla de patatas, stuffed peppers, croquettes, or maybe even something sweet. Each one has a toothpick running through it, so when you're done eating, the server just counts how many toothpicks you have on your plate. We had 11 pintxos, some mineral water, and the bill came out to be 23.80 euros! AND...it was exactly what we craved.
We rewarded ourselves with some ice cream at Giovanni's and vowed not to have dessert for another...3 weeks.

One more stop! We found this colorful mosaic of a cat at a park in the Raval neighborhood. Do you see our baby's glow? I think he/she thanked us for a long, pleasant Sunday in Barcelona.

Els Tres Tombs Parade

Upon leaving our apartment to a windy day, we were surprised to see that there was an annual parade that was passing through our neighborhood. The 184th "Cabalgata de los Tres Tombs" is traditional passage of carriages and animals and pays homage to Saint Anthony Abat, protector of animals and cargo.

In Catalan, "tombs" are not "tombs" in English, but "turns". History says that on this special day, farmers and shepherds dressed up for a blessing and made three turns around the church. Tradition reigns!
The mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, greeted us city folk by carriage.I admired these fine horses. Check out them gorgeous legs.
Fernando with the barrels o'local beer behind him. He got thirsty after this.
Even kids on horseback joined in on the parade. Ride 'em, cowkids!
This was clearly the windiest day of the year thus far. We dared to hit up the open-air mall after this. (I got a pair of maternity jeans and tall black boots, and Fer bought some shoes, Dragonball comics.) It was a good day indeed!

Ale and Maria's Wedding in Madrid

Last weekend we hitched a ride to Madrid with Angel and Sandra. We were expecting a very cold day (1 degree C!), but it turned out to be chilly at the most. We stayed at Dani and Zainab's cozy home in Pedrezuela, which is about 30 miles from Madrid.
Fernando was the "videographer" for this wedding of about 50.
The church was tiny, but perfect enough for this quaint gathering. This is the couple with their parents at the altar.
The new couple will be moving to Australia in March because Ale got a scholarship for his post-grad. Don't you just love Maria's winter wedding dress?
Borja and his charming Colombian girlfriend, Sandra. Lucky guy, I say.
Memi, Caitlin, me and Sandra in the lobby of the reception venue.The after-party was at a bar/restaurant with a spectacular view of the Real Madrid Futbol Stadium. Nice!
We got a chance to take a picture with the newly married couple.
Their first dance song was "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green.
Fer with Juan Antonio and Dani.Nicole, Zainab, and the sister of the bride enjoying some drinks and smokes.
Juan Antonio got to wear Zainab's hair for awhile.
So did Borja.They had a sushi bar downstairs. My pregnant self was particular about what I ate. Sad to say, quality was not what I'm used to at home.
On Sunday, we had a roasted chicken lunch at Rafalin's and Elena's house. We also got to meet their new boy.
Sandra and the chubby bubby 5-month-old baby, Francisco Javier. I wanted to eat his cute sumo wrestler legs.