Madrid: The Stress-Causing "Forest Man"

Confused? Don't be, because I'm about to explain.

Our tapas bar crawl with Sal the Blogging Legend was going along swimmingly; great company, weather, food, and wine. I think we paced ourselves very well in that my stomach never felt too full (at least not until the very end of the day), and I never felt like the wine/beer had produced more than a pleasant buzz. The three of us just meandered up and down the streets of Madrid at a calm pace, popped into a bar for a drink and a few plates of tapas, and then we'd amble off to the next place.

At one point, I recall that Sal told me that he had given our blog address to a Finnish colleague of his who works in Espoo so that she could, oh...I don't know, maybe see what a 100% Finnish person who lives in Switzerland looks like. Apparently, she told Sal that I looked like (...and I'm pretty sure this is how Sal put it...) "...a forest man." I thought this was really funny, and I kind of had a chuckle about it. It wasn't until we were flying home the next day that it dawned on me what the lady meant. Metsämies is the Finnish word for hunter. However, the word metsä translates in English to "forest", and the word mies translates to "man" - she had done a literal translation from Finnish to English. So, for whatever reason, this lady thinks I look like a hunter, which is kind of funny since I don't hunt (although I did once, rather impressively, shoot a bird...at about fifty yards...between the eyes...with a pellet gun when I was a kid). Actually, I kind of like "forest man" better. It kind of sounds like a monster who lives deep in the forest and only emerges at night...

The afternoon gave way to evening, and darkness began to wash over us. "Oh NO!! So many places to go, and so little time!" We looked to Sal for guidance, and he pointed us in the direction of a nice little bar called La Castela - which just happens to be his favorite tapas bar in Madrid. The three of us - Sal, Mrs. TBF, and the "Forest Man" - made our way to La Castela and found a cozy spot in the corner where we proceeded to order what would be our last tapas of the day.

I'm pretty sure that it was at La Castela that Mrs. TBF and I ("Forest Man") began telling Sal of how appreciative we were that he had taken the time, not only to spend the day with us, but actually conduct tapas research in advance to help ensure a successful crawl. At this point, Sal said something like: "Do you know how much pressure you guys put on me when you said that you were coming and wanted to do a tapas bar crawl?"

"Huh? Us?"

I was startled, and Sal assured me that it wasn't like he lost any sleep over it, but he did feel some pressure to show us a good time. Now, I kind of feel bad about this, because I think Mrs. TBF and I are about the easiest people in the world to host for this kind of thing; I mean, we'll eat pretty much anything (MMmmmmm, pig ears!), and we'll go just about anywhere. I would have been happy meeting up with Sal at a Burger King, but...I'm glad that he made the effort.

So, there you have it - I'm a stress-causing "forest man"!!! Who knew?

Sal: Thanks again for your hospitality. You are (as I've said numerous times) not only a blogging legend, but also a great host. We had a terrific time, and we really appreciate the efforts you made in setting up the tapas bar crawl. Hopefully, we'll be able to get together again soon. How about in Basel next time? Sure, it's not as exciting as Madrid, but I'm sure I could find something of interest for us to do.

Maybe, I'll even do a little research!

Madrid: At A Loss For Words...

Wouldn't you know it? Sal did such an all-encompassing recap of our meet-up in Madrid that...I'm kind of at a loss as to what I can add to the story. I think I'll just post a few pictures, and we'll see where things go from there.

My first impression upon laying eyes on Sal in the flesh was that "...not only is he a blogging legend, but the guy doesn't have an ounce of fat on his body. He looks like he runs two or three marathons a week!!" I like this picture, because I'm imagining that Mrs. TBF is thinking: "...I've gotta feed this guy some pasta!" Then, he whipped out a map with the locations of tapas bars highlighted in neon yellow ("...organized...like me!"), told me that he had his GPS in case we got lost ("...borderline obsessive...like me!"), and...off we went! We were in good hands. We were in SAL'S hands!

I took this picture after our second stop. Mrs. TBF and Sal didn't really have anything between their teeth, but I thought that it would make a good picture and I asked them to pose. Of course, I strategically told them that I would take the picture of THEM; thus, avoiding looking like a dork!

This picture isn't very good, but it's the only picture I took where the three of us are together in the picture. We were at the little tapas bar that wasn't on Sal's list into which we had just randomly walked on impulse. Standing in front of this little neighborhood place, I said, "...I'll know it when I see it, and...this...is...it!" We decided to try it, and it ended up being very good; a real find as far as I was concerned! I loved the razor clams, snails, peppers, sweetbreads, and pig ears.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM...pig ears! I've had pig ears at a fancy restaurant in Paris and in the little local neighborhood place in Madrid. The Madrid ears were much better; and, they were a fraction of the cost of the Paris ears. I'm not totally sure, but I seem to recall that I was nearly weeping when this picture was taken as I ate my last pig ear.

More pictures to come...