Good eats

I had tapas for dinner, which is possibly the most perfect way to eat a meal. Tapas is the Spanish style of eating many small plates of appetizers over a long period of time, and if you are in Spain, you start at 10 or 11 o'clock at night. We being in the United States started around 6:30 or so and went into 9, amassing about 5 or 6 plates and finishing up with a luscious dessert of tres leches cake -- which is possibly the most sinful and delicious treat around.

I first had tapas in Madrid a couple years back. We went from restaurant to restaurant, drinking sangria, and eating whatever the restaurant's speciality was, whether it be marinated mushrooms or tortilla -- the Spanish version is a thick omlet with potatoes. I felt the heat in my face and the lightness in my head as the sangria took hold, and then there was the rush of people around me as we walked out into the night, heading to the next culinary adventure. It was, in a word, perfect.