The Great Churro Hunt: La Churreria

I've been thinking about churros non-stop since I got back from Spain. I've tried quieting the craving by stuffing cupcakes down my gullet, but to no avail. I'm a churro addict. Kristin also became addicted by reading our blog posts. We couldn't sit idly by hoping our churro desire would dissipate on its own, we had to do something about it. So today we began the Great Churro Hunt.

Luckily Cat didn't have to work today so we all got to take part in the hunt together. We met down in SoHo at a place called La Churreria. We figured a place named after churros would be our best bet and it got good Yelp reviews. While waiting for a tardy Cat we witnessed three young boys skipping school to get churros. "This is it! This is it!" They yelled, smiling, pointing at the churros in the window. Had they been a bit older I might just have fallen in love today.

First we ordered food. Me and Kristin shared a mediocre sandwich, in true Spanish fashion. Cat got a few tapas, which were no extravaganza for the taste buds, but okay. Then for the churros. The excitement! The expectations! The dipping chocolate was good, no pudding, but that was quite an exceptional treat. The churros, however, were not so good. They were too chewy and dense.

The churro hunt continues...

- Megan Leigh

The churros made my mouth feel funny. They were so chewy. They made my mouth feel itchy in a not-so-itchy kind of way. I was not very impressed! Also, the place did not have a bathroom. And it is a sit-down-restaurant. C'mon now. And the place was only rated B, which we realized AFTER we ordered our food. Not to be a gloomy gus, but I was not super impressed! I did like the dipping chocolate though.

-Kristin

Update on my street-gardens

Everybody has been asking me, "Kristin! How are those bulbs doing--the ones you planted last winter? I'm just dying to know!" So I'm giving you an update on my little gardens.

OK, nobody has actually asked me about my bulbs. But I'm still doing an update. Because these flowers make me happy every time I walk by them!

Here are photos of my two little flowerbeds. What do you think?

Apparently we have gotten a flower donation for the street, and we are going to try planting perennials. That should be exciting!

-Kristin

Read More: Nim Chimpsky

Last summer a few of my friends and I instituted a yearly book giving holiday. Josh's gift book for me was Nim Chimpsky: The Chimp Who Would Be Human by Elizabeth Hess. A few years before this, for one reason or another, I made a vow to make Josh cry. I'm assuming he secretly decided to reciprocate the challenge and that's why he sent me this book. We had previously discussed the heart wrenching This American Life episode with chimp island, so he knew exactly what gets this shriveled old heart aching. Although he didn't succeed in making me cry on the outside, my insides were shuddering in paroxysms of anguish.

Nim Chimpsky is the story of a chimp who is raised by humans and taught sign language for research purposes. He continually bonds with his human families, teachers and handlers who all abandon him at some point or another. After a few years the research project ends abruptly and sends poor little Nim back to the chimp farm where he was born. Having grown up in houses with furniture, brushing his teeth in the morning and wearing clothes, he is thrown into a bare, concrete floored cage and forced to figure out how to act like a chimp. At his new home he is again used for ASL research, until they run out of money and Nim is sent to a medical research facility. Eventually he is rescued (he is luckily a famous chimp by now) and sent to a sanctuary where he faces more troubles. His ending is better than I thought it would be, but still a far from desirable life.

Had Jane Goodall not already convinced me that monkeys and apes are not supposed to be pets, this book would have convinced me. Not even a little spider monkey for me, no matter how much I yearn for one.

All of this took place in the 60's and 70's, I believe. I figured biomedical research on apes had been illegal for some time, but I decided to go to the PETA website to check on that. And there on the homepage was a link to a video stating that the US and one other teeny country in Africa are the only countries in the world that still conduct invasive experiments on chimps.  Of course.

- Megan Leigh

Day Eleven: Barcelona

I'm sad that this is our last day in Spain. Although I'm getting tuckered out, I'm still not quite ready to go back to the real world.

We had a few things to do left on our list, so we woke up early and got them done. First we headed out to the Sagrada Familia. Now I understand why it's taken so long to complete. It's huge and incredibly intricate. It'll be amazing when all the windows have their stained glass in.

After that we crossed the street for our last churros con chocolate. Barcelona, or at least this place, does it different. Instead of hot chocolate we got hot pudding. We thought they couldn't get any better and then they did.

Next we headed up Montjuic. For a bit of the trip up we got to ride in an aerial tram and see some nice views of the city. It looks huge from above. Then we headed down on foot, exploring castles and gardens and playing gin rummy on the way. We happened along these big slides, which take home the prize for best slide ever. And I believe I saw my first Eurasian Magpie up there, which was exciting because I've been a bit sad seeing all of the same birds as in the US.

We ate at an Italian place that was the best meal we've had. Super pizza and cheesy noodle surprise.

We ended our night people-watching on La Rambla and having a mug of sangria. Unfortunately it was American style, so not quite a perfect end, but pretty good!

I decided every year Cat and I will take a long trip. I'm not sure if she agreed to this or not. Any protestations were ignored. Today I said 'One day we'll be old married ladies taking trips together'. She responded 'Maybe it will be enjoyable then'. I just spent two weeks with a jerk and only found out her true nature today!

- Megan Leigh

Pretty good end to a wonderful trip! I look forward to my own bed,but hate the thought of no longer waking to Megan's creepy/longing gaze. Maybe she'll spend the night at my place tomorrow- just to ease back into reality. Back to life...

- Cat

Read More: Seven Gothic Tales

I picked up Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dineson when we were in Ithaca. There is a big, wonderful used bookstore downtown, just like every college town should have. I have always thought that Isak Dineson is a pretty fascinating woman. I loved Out of Africa (I know Megan probably thinks it's just another dumb memoir of a white person in Africa), and Isak Dineson/Karen Blixon seemed to have such a fascinating and tragic life.

This book was completely different than Out of Africa, but it did not disappoint. The seven short stories in the collection are haunting, the language and images are beautiful... it's really a masterpiece. I guess in Blixon's native Denmark, this is a pretty famous work of literature, but I'd never heard of it before. Now I think it is a shame that it's not better known here. I don't think I can really do justice to the writing, so I won't say too much. However, I will warn that the first story is probably the hardest to get into, so I would just encourage any curious reader to keep going. It's worth it! I know that I'll be thinking about these stories for a while.

One of the stories reminded me of another eerie, gothic tale I heard recently on Radiolab (one of my favorite podcasts). It's definitely worth a listen, and it's not long at all.

-Kristin

Special Report: Where's the Filth?

The night we ate Pringles on the sidewalk we carefully looked down and around before we sat down on the curb looking for glass, roaches, gum, rats... The sidewalk was immaculate. At one point I dropped a chip in the street and almost popped it right back into my mouth because it looked so clean. It was then we realized just how clean this country is.

In the states at night roaches and rats come out to play - not just in overcrowded New York, but in Florida and St. Louis as well. Here we haven't seen one. We rarely see bugs at all.

The trash cans are always empty instead of overflowing with rubbish The subways look as if they've been freshly swept instead of coated with a trash filled ooze. It's amazing.

- Megan Leigh

Day Ten: Barcelona

We left Mallorca and headed back to Barcelona today. Just as you would expect the weather turned nice just after I left. I don't know what I did to deserve this. I'd say it was because of those couple times I ate muffies in front of Kristin, neglecting to get her one of her own, but this bad luck began even before that! Why???

We dropped our stuff off at the hostel and headed out to Pull & Bear in search of these pants I've been pining for since Sevilla (like the hippie pants, but more refined). They had my size. I tried them on. They were awful. Tarnations.

We headed over to Parc Ciutadella and walked around. Cat made me take stalking pictures of a man on a bench. It felt like old times. The park had an amazing fountain that wasn't working. The park also had an amazing smell because it housed a zoo. There were a lot of Quaker Parrots hanging around so I did the creep and got up close for some pictures and noticed that they all had big circular tags around their necks. Poor little guys - let's tag Conrad!

Hunger rumbling our bellies, we went in search of a tapas restaurant. We found one and were again not impressed, but the waiters were joking men so that was a slight redeeming factor.

- Megan Leigh

1. At least today was our first day of rain, and it was just a light drizzle
2. The man I wanted to stalk seemed very familiar, and was talking about hanging with directors and producers, so it was for work purposes- I just got too nervous to bug him.
3. So many joking men in this country- how could you not love it!

- Cat