Barcelona!

SO excited to be in Barcelona in less than 24 hours. I already have my bag packed and ready to go after lunch on Friday.

Yesterday was great. We went to a risotto factory and saw all aspects of how the rice is grown, produced, packaged, etc...(the factory itself was kinda boring, and REALLLY loud.) We were all cranky and hungry by 2 oclock and could not wait for lunch. Little did we know we were being taken to a little trattoria outside of Milan that had the best risotto on the planet. We were served about 8 courses, starting with a charcuterie platter of different cotto and crudo meats, then a slice of cured beef topped with a mixture of mayo and tuna (very common in this region) and roasted peppers with bagna couda. This was all accompainied by a sparkling off dry white from Asti. Next, we were served the first risotto, a red bean and lardo risotto with beans from the chef's garden, they tasted a lot like kidney beans but where paler in color and a little smaller. After, we were served a fontina and grana podano risotto with fresh zuchinni, zuchinni flowers, and cherry tomatoes. (YUM) This was all accompanied by a rosso frizante that is perfect for lunch, not too dry and not too sweet, with the bubbles getting you ready for the next bite. After both of those I was thinking it was time to sleep, but NOOO, we then had a roulade of veal stuffed with spinich, a slab of roast beef with french fries (really random, maybe they were worried us stupid Americans had no palate? I'm not too sure) But they were hand cut and fried to perfection none the less, after all of this, the freshest tasting vanilla gelato with fruit and a much needed espresso.

I guess the rice factory didn't suck too bad afterall.