Las Cuatras Vegetarianas do an American Thanksgiving in Madrid

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It was a quad-continental re-union. Meg flew from India to hang out with MC and I in Fes, and then the three of made our way (via Barcelona) to Madrid, where we met Katie Wang, recently arrived from New York. The four of us set about to explore the city that lives in the shadow of Barcelona; we found it more charming than we expected and spent most days wandering the streets and navigating the metro map. The trip was made possible by Katie Wang's Thanksgiving break from teaching, so we set about to have a (somewhat) proper Thanksgiving at our hostel and with wine and two slices of pumpkin pie, gave thanks for reunions of old friends in new places.

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Photos

Churros con chocolate
The question that remains is whether the churro is originally Spanish or Mexican. Instead of doing theirs thick with sugar and cinnamon (the way we know it), Spaniards dip theirs in melted chocolate.

The spread
Roasted vegetables, cornmeal pancakes (because our hostel didn't have an oven to make proper cornbread), bread, fruit, cheese and two slices of pumpkin pie (that cost us $10!).

Vino Madrileno
We spent a long time in front of the wine selection at the grocery store, and eventually picked a bottle that was ideal in both price and style: it was a $4 bottle of cab sauvignon with a picture of an iconic Spanish bull on the label. Class.

The joy of hostel living
The four of us were not so into making hostel friends (we were content with each other's company), but were unable to avoid the inevitable extravagant friendliness of other hostelmates.

Peace in the park
We nearly died trying to get to this park (Madrid is not so bicycle-friendly), but the reward was sweet.

Palacio Cristal
Inside the Palacio Cristal was a piece by Andy Goldsworthy, an artist known for using natural materials to recreate experiences in nature. In the Palacio (which is an extension space for the Museo Reina Sofia), Goldsworthy constructed several domes entirely out of tree trunks that had been felled in the forests outside of Madrid. He was inspired to make the piece after he spent a period of time living in the trunk of a tree and his intention was to extend that experience of living in the womb of nature. He used no artificial materials (except for a few pins for the doorways), and all of the materials would be sent back to the lumberyards and forests where they were found. Photography wasn't allowed inside, but you can make out the shape of the structure in this photo.

Museo Prado
Madrid is famous for its museums, and is fabulous for its offering of regular free museum nights. We hit the Prado on one of these (moonlit) nights to see collections of Velazquez, Picasso and other classics. Among other things we saw two fantastic interpretations of the Final Judgment as well as portraits by Velazquez of the royal midgets.

At last!
We finally found a real hip-hop club and taught the Spaniards a thing or two about how to dance to E40.

Bums on Display
In further quest of art we went to a photography exhibit on the subject of butts. It was actually a wonderfully diverse exhibit (showing Sebastio Salgado images from India and more contemporary/borderline pornographic images) in a creative space. Afterwards we posed for our own bum photo.

Comments

[Rawaan]

Churros
http://thepassionatecook.typepad.com/thepassionatecook/2007/06/churros-con-cha.html A recipe for Mexican churros -- but it seems pretty excellent nonetheless. I miss you all and am glad to see you had a lovely Thanksgiving.

[Chris]

I want churros con chocolate like that