I started off the day with not just a chocolate croissant, but a maxi chocolate croissant. Why wouldn’t I!
I had lunch outside on Plaça de la Reina. It’s a touristy area, so the restaurant was likely a touristy place. But I was a tourist. So, so what! I had tosta de jamón ibérico. Ham is not something I would normally ever eat, even if I did eat red meat when I’m not traveling. But Iberian ham is something completely different. Jamón ibérico comes from the black Iberian pig. And from what I can tell, the black Iberian pig is tastier than your average porker. The ham is sliced razor-thin and it has a rich flavor. And check out that mouth-watering presentation!
For dinner, I had to get the dish Valencia is known for–paella! Valencia is the birthplace of paella, so it would be a crime to go to Valencia and not get it. But first, I had clams marinière for my starter. After all, I was along the Mediterranean and I had to get seafood at least once that day, right?
Okay, on to the main event. Some people would say my paella wasn’t traditional because you should only have paella for lunch and only tourist places serve paella for dinner. Some people would say my paella wasn’t traditional because paella is only served for 2 or more and it was just me. I say screw ’em! Most people think of paella with seafood. And I would have loved to have gotten that. But I went for the most traditional style paella of all: Valencian paella, which is made with chicken, rabbit, green beans, and garrofón (a type of lima bean essential for Valencian paella). Yes, I probably would have like seafood paella more. It was only the second time I’d ever had rabbit. But I wanted to go for the most traditonal. And you can see how scrape-the-pan good it was.
I think we can all agree I ate well on my 1st day in Valencia.
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