Markets and Bakeries

Though i don't have a gigantic budget here in Spain, my nannying jobs are keeping my life comfortable, and provide me with cash to spend at the markets. I *love* the vegetable markets, the small bakeries, and, oh my goodness, the recently discovered flea-market.

Most weeks i go to the large central market on La Rambla, La Mercat de la Boqueria. It's incredibly famous, and the first ten feet across the whole front of it is always crammed full of tourists, taking pictures of the unusual fruits and the amazing spreads of nuts and candies. The vendors there at the entrance sell cups of squeezed juices, all combinations, for 1 euro, and not-tiny packs of sliced fruit for 1 euro as well. Well, the ones in the very front are sometimes 2.50, but if you go on back a stand or two, you find the cheaper stuff. Most of the produce, even the fruit, comes from Spain, elsewhere in the Iberian peninsula, or somewhere in Northern Africa. I usually buy enough vegetables for at least a week for under 3 euros! It's not a market for haggling, but i love shouting in Spanish over the noise to the vendors. I love the whole experience.



Today i went to the market at Gloriès, which is a massive flea market. It's not as big as El Rastro in Madrid, which seems to go on for miles, but it's a pretty good size. There's everything there, from chandeliers to sunglasses, piles of old clothes to new boots that probably came from the black market. I'm not interested in the vendors there who have stuff that's wrapped in plastic, made in China, and bulk ordered. But oh, the junk vendors! I didn't buy anything, because i don't have a home to decorate, but if i did... The stuff there was just amazing. One of my favorite things was the boxes and bags of old coins. Rubbed flat pence, pesos, the old European currencies, probably things older and more foreign. Lots of stuff salvaged from old buildings. I just love the sense of all the stories laid out there on the tables. One man had a massive pile of old silverware for sale, and he stepped right in the middle of it to get to the other side of his booth! At one point, i wandered out of the "official" market area and into the street market, where there were lots of people selling things from blankets on the sidewalks. Definitely a more eclectic range of things, but just as interesting. The most interesting and hilarious part was at one point, someone at the end of the row shouted "Agua!" and there was a sudden scramble as all the sellers scooped up their things into their blankets, tossed them over their shoulders, and shouted, "Agua!" to each other. The cops had shown up. I was amazed at how fast they'd moved! I suppose you have to have a permit of some kind to sell things that they didn't have.

Now, the bakeries. This is something i never really experienced growing up in small town USA. We had a local bakery, but they were, in my memory, mostly donuts and cakes and sweets. The bakeries here are every ten feet and they have baguettes, croissants, magdalenas (kind of like cupcakes), meringues, and depending on the place, different varieties of sandwiches, pastries, pizzas, and so on. Palmeras are one particular kind of pastry that seems to be "native" to Spain, they're everywhere and probably my favorite. Same kind of flaky dough as a croissant, but shaped into a heart and crunchy/chewy with some kind of glaze on. The one closest to school, Forns Enrich, is the one i've visited most often. Forn is Catalan for oven, and pa is bread, so most bakeries are called some variant on one or both of those words. Anyway, Enrich has incredible stuff, including whole wheat bread, which isn't always easy to find. They also have a house specialty pastry called a Tarragonina. The dough is like a cross between a palmera and a croissant, in a braid or a twist, and both ends dipped in chocolate. It is incredible.

Now here's the problem. I seem to have some kind of intolerance or allergy to gluten, the protein found in wheat. I had stopped eating it for seven months before i left the states in order to get a skin problem under control, and when i would eat it, the skin problem would flare up AND i would get feeling bad, with particular problems of heartburn. Ick. Since i've been here, i've been ignoring those two things, eating gluten in moderation, a few times a week if that. Unfortunately, the other day it got so bad i couldn't ignore it, so i'm going to have to lay off for a while. I did find some gluten-free stuff in El Corte Ingles, but it's expensive and not very good. Sad. Maybe once a week would be a reasonable amount to have a sweet pastry. Ironically, it seems to be the whole grain stuff that results in the worst reaction! Fortunately, there's a sandwich shop right around the corner from my house that sells gluten-free bread with their entrepans - the best Catalan word ever. It literally means "between bread."

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's Saturday night and i have some serious dancing to attend to!