València, Spain 5
It was J's birthday. One of his birthday wishes was to have a nice tortilla for breakfast. It was easy to make it come true by revisiting Restaurante Pizcueta. This time we tried a potato omelet with onion. It was pretty good as well. Happy Birthday J!
It was supposed to be our last full day in Valencia. In the early afternoon we found out that our flight on the next day was cancelled due to strike, and we ended up with an extra day to stay in the city. Anyway, we hadn't known that in the morning, so we started shopping things (mostly foods) we would like to take home. First we checked out Mercado de Ruzafa, located in the Eixample district. It was the second largest market in Valencian, after the Central Market. It looked less touristy, providing an authentic local shopping experience.
We bought three kinds of Jamon Iberíco: Bellota Joselito, Jamon Bellota Salamanca, and Jamon Cebo de Campo, from a vendor that appeared to offer a wide range of decent Spanish cured meat.
The fishmongers were located in an adjacent hall so that they could keep the hall cooler and their seafood fresher, I guess. All fishes, shrimps, and more looked delicious!
The Central Market was our next stop. Most of the shop stalls were open by then. The market was getting busy!
J chose two Spanish cheeses from a cheesemonger. 4 Picos Goat Cheese “Hoya de la Iglesia” (a creamy goat cheese) and Peña Blanca (a very strong sheep milk cheese).
From another cheesemonger, J got two kinds of local cheese: CARMEN Queso Oveja Semicurado (semi-cured sheep milk cheese) (I think) and Queso de Cabra con Romero (goat milk cheese with a touch of rosemary).
Then he added two more from a different cheesemonger in his cheese collection: Tetilla Pazo Do Queixo (a traditional, semi-soft Galician cow's milk cheese) and (a semi-hard, smoked Galician cow's milk cheese).
Papúa Chocolates, a local chocolatier that I was interested in was also located in the market. J kindly bought me a box of 24 pieces, which included all the flavors available at that time. Thank you J! We also picked up two kinds of orange marmalade (sweet and bitter) as well as Membrillo, a classic Spanish quince paste.
We revisited Casa Montaña for J's birthday lunch as he wished. I think he couldn't fully enjoy it because he had to handle the sudden flight cancellation by phone during the meal... Nevertheless, the restaurant was as wonderful as the first time.
J chose several tapas to share, including Mediterranean bluefin tuna marinated in 7 spices,
anchovy-on-toast with smoked butter,
tuna and potato salad,
codfish croquette, again,
goat cheese (?) stuffed peppers,
chorizo from Zamora,
And then, he ordered another tuna potato salad. I guess it was his best tapa of the day.
Instead of catching a tram, we walked back to the city center this time. It was a long but enjoyable walk, guided by bright oranges on the street trees.
To be continued...
