Sunflower seeds and eggs in Spain

For the past two columns, nearly a full month, I've been promising to write about food. Well, the wait is over! As you probably suspect, food is really different in Spain. \nLet's start with the dishes I hate. The first one consisted of green beans, diced boiled eggs, potato chunks and a little olive oil. It tasted awful. Of course I felt bad telling my señora that I didn't like it, but then I thought, "I don't want to have to eat this ever again." \nI don't know which meal was worse: Picture baked potatoes cut in half and the middle taken out. Then imagine a stew that consists of chicken, fish and tomato replacing the empty middles. Doesn't sound too appetizing to me, and once again, I had to explain to my señora that "it wasn't pleasing to me." \nThe rest of the food is pretty great.My señora makes the best chicken and rice (or arroz con pollo) in Spain. Also, tortilla español is pretty good, too. Picture potatoes and eggs cooked together ... it's not really quiche, but kind of looks like it. It may sound gross, but trust me, it's amazing. \nOlive oil is used in most meals here. If you ever were to enter a Spanish kitchen, chances are you'd see an economy size bottle of olive oil. \nThe meal times here are different, too. This took a little getting used to. Breakfast is usually between 8 and 10 a.m. There's no real difference here, but it is considerably smaller than U.S. breakfasts. \nLunch is the biggest meal of the day. You've probably heard of siesta. Most stores close around 2 p.m. Workers go home, eat lunch and take a nap. Stores open back up around 5 p.m. My family eats a rather large lunch at 3 p.m., and then I usually take the best nap ever. During lunch, it's normal for families to watch TV. We watch the news every afternoon. It's really easy to get used to the slower-paced life of Spaniards. Dinner is usually around 10 p.m. and isn't nearly as big as lunch. I figure their lunch is our dinner, and our lunch their dinner. \nSnacking here isn't too common. Of course, I've managed to bring that American tradition with me ... I have noticed a huge popularity in sunflower seeds. I mean, EVERYONE eats them. You can be walking down the street and see at least three people chowing down and spitting the seeds on the street. Only cool people eat them, too. I mean, we've had to kick some people out of our group of friends because they didn't eat sunflower seeds -- seriously. \nNow, I'm not going to beat around the bush here. I'll admit that I have already been to McDonald's ... three times. It's a little different here. I have a theory that the French fries are cooked in olive oil and therefore taste a little different. They sell beer (yes, beer: It's only 1.40 euro, and they don't card you). \nI almost forgot, the bread here is incredible. Like olive oil, it's part of many meals. Everyday at lunch, there is a loaf of bread on the table. My family used to make fun of me because I'd eat that instead of most of my lunch. The fruit here is also the best. Never in my life have I eaten such juicy fruit, and that's hard to say growing up in Florida and all. \nNow I have a request. E-mail me with suggestions on things you'd like to know about Spain. I'll include them in my next column.