From Spain to Brazil in a Day

My weekend was packed. Saturday morning I ran the Color Me Rad 5k. The popular race has runners wearing white as they are pummeled with brightly colored chalk-ish powder. After a long shower, and one of the few times I followed the “wash, rinse, repeat” instructions on the shampoo bottle, I spent my afternoon learning Balboa, a type of swing dance characterized by close embrace and small movements. This worked up my appetite for the tapas and paella party I attended after.

With almost 20 people attending, there was a variety of dishes. I started with the braised chorizo. The sauce was smoky and dark, the sausage only mildy spicy and softer from the wet cooking method. Of course, there was a cheese plate with manchego, iberico ham, and another softer cheese that had the texture of mozzarella but with the slight sour notes of goat. Continuing my circuit around the table(first of many), I sampled a ceviche the featured avocado, onion, garlic, and conch. The lime, paired perfectly with the slight saltiness and herbaceousness of the cilantro and my cup was soon empty. The last tapa was a simmered shark. The cubes of fish held together with a firmness that like tuna, but softer and yielding. The shark was paired with a cucumber and mango salsa, which brought out the freshness and brightness of the fish.

For the “main course,” there was a selection of four paellas. Two versions of the classic had chicken, shrimp, and chorizo as proteins, complimented with saffron infused rice, onion, and tomato. My favorite was the paella made with duck and rabbit. The minor gamy flavor of the darker meats  lended a welcome complexity to the entire dish.

Sunday, after volunteering at the Walk Against Hunger, my roommate and I ended our weekend at iD Brazil, a Churrascaria in West Haven. I found a Groupon for a tasting dinner for two, including a full buffet, two drinks, and a dessert. Unlike a regular churrascaria, the rounds of meats were not unlimited (because of the Groupon), but we did get to sample everything, along with a repeat meat. One of my favorite meats was actually on the buffet line, a roast pork that easily pulled apart. The skin was crunchy and the meat was tender. Of course the grilled meats were fresh and flavorful, if not a little salty. The buffet line was also complete with fried plantains, yucca, fish, guacamole, chimichurri, and anything else you could imagine complimenting an onslaught of meats.

Despite living together, my roommate and I are both so busy, this was actually the first time we went out to dinner together. It was great to catch up, and get to know each other better over some delicious meats.