ikea! squid! blue!

on saturday, i went out "early" and did some shopping in terrassa. i made some great finds, but my favorite find was in this book store, "reading & co.". books are always one of my favorite things, so when i walked in and saw all the spanish books it made me happy. i bought a book for a friend of mine, then i found "alicia en el país de las maravillas" (alice in wonderland) for myself. i wish the store had had the next one, "through the looking glass", because it is a whole lot more fun and there's the adorable knight who can't ride his horse and who does things out of "his own invention". 

oh, i also bought an ice cream treat while i was out. i've been walking by store fronts packed with pictures of ice cream treats all month, so i just had to get one. 

after i got home, we had a yummy lunch (beans/potato mix, rice and avocado), and made for barcelona. while we were walking to an ikea store, we passed a few cool buildings. the big red leaning-tower-of-pisa-esque building is a hotel. a fancy hotel for international conferences. after walking for quite some time, we arrived at ikea. i'd never been to one before...and let me tell you, it was insane. i loved it. stores that sell nice things for homes always fascinate me, but when the items are all laid out and set up by rooms, it makes it infinitely better. i will always remember this one bedding set. it. was. gorgeous. 

it made me feel so calm, restful, trusting, honest, comfy, rustic yet clean. what on earth?!? who knew that a few pieces of cloth could have such an effect? well, apparently ikea's cloth does. i'm going to have to get a bed like that someday. 

hotel

after shopping at ikea and a mall, we started the trek home, only to stop before boarding the first bus to get a bite to eat. it must have been around 9:30 when we found a little colombian café. the food was great! ruben had ordered an appetizer, so it arrived, was sprinkled with lime, and people started digging in. i had no idea what it was: they looked kind of like onion rings to me. i bravely stabbed one with my fork and took a bite. it was really good! but i still didn't know what it was. after consuming a couple of them i figured that it had to be squid, or squid's cousin or aunt or brother. i asked what it was and yes, those babes sure were squid. the only two/three times i've had squid have been out of country...do we not eat it in the states, or what? i think we should. 

the main meal was great too. seated outside in the lovely night breeze, we were served things in slight shifts. first, we were brought a dish full of steak, pork sausage and some other meat. then we were brought a dish of patata bravas, a popular potato tapa in spanish bars. the potatoes were in slices and fried, then you usually dip them in a sauce. the sauce we had was some kind of mayonnaise or buttery thing with garlic in it. then, we were served a dish full of grilled chicken (YUM), and then a plate of curried rice. i think that's all. and yeah, it was all really tasty. 

calamares a la romana (not my picture though) 

after eating, we made the longish trip home. it would have been about 15 minutes by car, but we had to take a bus and then a train, so we ended up getting home just before 1 am. it was a lot of fun, but i was ready for some rest. today and sunday were like that too...more posts to come, hopefully rapid-fire style. or not. i may just decide to veg-out with a movie tonight. 

something old and english sounds about right. 

this is big, because i love it. hope you guys do too :)