Spices? Spices? We don't need no steenkin' spices!

[April 25, Granada]

When you think of Spanish food, you tend to think of spicy Mediterranean fare, at least until you travel here. In fact, the Spanish have a remarkably narrow range of spices in their food, relying mostly on onion, garlic, and parsley. (Ham is also considered a spice as well as an entire food group.) But for Houstonians, or anyone raised in the American culinary cornucopia, there is a sad lack of variety and a desperate lack of picante. Pizza without red pepper? It is not civilization as we know it.

We brought this bottle of Cayenne pepper with us from Houston; as Karl Malden would say "Don't leave home without it."

Donde esta Subway Sandwich por favor?

[April 24, Granada]

The Subway sandwich chain is not our favorite in the US, and we stop there only when we want a simple reliable meal. But frankly, Subway's offerings are better than most sandwiches we find in Spain. The Spanish bocadillo or commonly available sandwich (pictured here) is a poor thing of meager ingredients (usually ham, cheese, a slice of tomato if you are lucky) on a hard baguette-wannabe.

The rain in Spain stays, mainly

[April 19, Arcos de la Frontera]

We are in Arcos de la Frontera, and so is the rain.

The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plan

[April 8, en route Santiago de Compostela]

We show this rather poor photo shot from a window of a moving train for two reasons: