Down with the Man!

Why cant we all find jobs? -The Man!

Why is rent so high? -The Man!

Who's responsible for trash in the streets? -The Man!

Who's to blame for your unhappiness? -The Man!

Who needs to go down? -The Man!

Who needs to to take him down -We do!

How are we gonna do it? -Sit in! Umm... sit in?

In a scene that would have made my dad flashback to Boulder in the 60's, Plaza Cataluyna has become a shanty-town... I mean, center for out of work individuals and like minded civic activists like myself to gather to promote change.

We'll take the man down by having poetry readings, and making sure every voice is heard, but since snapping is too beatnik, it's better to do a mix of jazz hands and the miss america wave, seen by my friends here.

But you know, it's not easy fighting the man. Some people have to take their mind off the rigors of daily life by, what else... juggling. While others seem to be less mentally strong, and I think are contemplating giving it all up.

The Man needs to stop holding us down. It is time for the government to step in and help us, so get out and vote for a government that is looking out for you, and not for the man. One day, maybe things will change for the better. For those that say that this type of behavior can lead to no good, and that we are the problem, remember this (translated below):

-We are not anti-system, the system is anti-us

-This isnt a recession, it's fraud

-Passive resistance

-Unknown, misspelled sign about violence

Boulder or Barcelona? Only the language is different.

Barca Futbol

I read a good story recently about just how passionate people are in Tuscaloosa about the Alabama Crimson Tide. I suspect it has a lot to do with what you grew up watching, as well as what else there is to root for. In Alabama, there are no professional sports, so everyone ends up watching college football. Well, here in Barcelona, it is the same for FCB Barcelona. New Yorkers just cant match the rabidness, after the Yankees, they have the Giants, then the Knicks, and Rangers. Here, soccer is a year round sport, where people count down the days between the last game of one season and the first of the next. Matches against Real Madrid are Yankees-Red Sox x 10. And maybe most telling of all, the majority of women even follow the team. Before I get a bunch of sexist comments, I know there are many diehard women sports fans, but even they would admit that it is rare for a majority to follow the sport.

For those that dont follow soccer, Barca is generally considered the best team in the world right now, if not the best team ever. The best player in the world, Leo Messi is incredible, evident even to non-soccer fans. See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vokEFFCtpBY&feature=related and see the 35 second mark of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noBIs80Ra-A.

There are many leagues here in Spain, the Copa Del Rey, La Liga, and Champions League. The first 2 are Spanish only leagues, while Champions includes all of Europe. Recently, Barca clinched the La Liga title. Unlike US leagues, there is no playoff, if you finish the season with the most points, you win. Even though this is the third year in a row that they won, and even though the final of the Champions League is not until the end of May, it is a big enough deal that they held a huge parade and event at the stadium.

After work on the day of the fiesta, I headed down to the stadium. Even though the parade had not started, the streets were packed with people. And fortunately, they have come up with new instruments that make the same sound as the ever-prevalent vuvuzuelas of the World Cup, but even easier to play! I stopped at a small bodega to grab a beer to take in, because they do not sell alcohol inside the stadium (I have a theory that there is enough rioting without throwing drunk idiots into the mix, probably a good idea). Making my way up towards the top of the stadium, I realize that it is still an hour before the players will end up here, but Camp Nou is packed. It is an amazing thing to sit in the stadium and listen to almost 100,000 people cheer and chant and sing for an hour, before anyone even showed up! I have no idea what they were singing, it was all in Catalan, but I did learn a bit of the Barca themesong.

For hours we chanted, and sang and cheered, and did the wave. Then, the players showed up, and the cheering really began. They came up 1 by 1, and even I can tell athlete fluff in different languages. "We're not a team, we are a family" "Thank you to all of you fans, you are amazing", and the ever popular "Visca Barca, Visca Catalunya" or "Long Live Barca, Long Live Catalunya".

Overall, it was quite a spectacle, and a lot of fun to go see. Everyone should root for Barca to beat Manchester United on Saturday, May 28th. I have heard that the celebration will be monumental if Barca wins that title too. I am excited to find out!

Peanut Butter

In case you hadn't heard, peanut butter is very American and is very hard to come by in Barcelona.  I considered this issue heavily when debating the move to Barcelona.  Life without peanut butter...is it even worth living?  How was I going to survive? 

Eventually, I decided that Barcelona was a good move...with or without peanut butter.  A suitcase full of peanut butter isn't that heavy...right?

We brought enough peanut butter to tide us over for a while but I still hoped to find some here.  The search went on for quite a while, but we eventually found several brands at an asian grocery store!  You can always count on the Chinese to capitalize on gaps in the market.  The next logical step...peanut butter taste test of course!!

And the competitors are!!!....

• SunPat Crunchy - "Think peanut butter, and the chances are you'll think Sun-Pat. It's the UK's favourite brand - the filling or topping of choice for 300 million sandwiches and rounds of toast every year." - SunPat Website
• Calvé Crunchy - "Eerst een potje bouwstoffen..een pot Calvé Pindakaas zit vol onmisbare voedingsstoffen. Eiwitten, onverzadigde vetten, voedingsvezels, vitaminen: als je groeit, heb je ze nodig. Iedere dag." - Calvé website (anyone know dutch?)
• Pate d'Arachide Creamy (Brown Lid) - Product of Holland.  Note: pate d'arachide translates to paste of peanut...but I just can't help but think of spiders.
• Pate d'Arachide Creamy (Yellow Lid) - Imported through France, product of Malaysia.

Objective: Mimic Trader Joe's Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds

Method: Add peanuts + flax seeds to creamy brands and flax seeds to the crunchy brands.  2 rounds of single blind taste tests: PB alone, PB&J sandwich.

Metric: Subjective judgement and preferences

Observations: During sample preparation, I noted a surprising amount of variation in color, texture, and smell amongst the brands.  SunPat seemed unnaturally consistent and JIF-like.  I wasn't liking the looks or smell of Pate D'Arachide (brown lid).  But on to the taste testing...

First round tasting.  A couple had a really off/stale flavor that tasted somewhat artificial.  But surprisingly, my guinea pig didn't seem to mind it.  (Note to self, consider new guinea pig.)  The Sun-Pat was horrible...just goes to show that no good food comes from the UK.  We individually ranked them from best to worst.  We had some differences but the first round went to Pate d'arachide (yellow lid) for the both of us.

Phase II, bread + jelly.  My rankings were pretty consistent with the first round.  Jeff made a couple changes but we eventually came to a decision...

::DRUMROLL::  AND THE WINNER IS.......  ::DRUMROLL::

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PATE D'ARACHIDE - YELLOW LID!!!

And the sun beamed brightly and life in Barcelona seemed worth living again.

Now what were we going to do with all the other competitors?

This may take a while.

Cinco De Mayo

One of the hardest parts of leaving San Diego to come to Barcelona is the drastic difference in quantity and quality of mexican food. There are benefits of Spanish food, such as the fact that nobody laughs at how much I sweat while eating it. But alas, I really miss the excellent california burritos, and tacos, and all the other interesting salsas and sauces that only those lucky enough to live near the border get to enjoy.

So, I had a thought, in honor of Cinco De Mayo, I should make Mexican food. So, I pulled out one of J's 4 mexican cookbooks, and settled on a pork tacos recipe. We went out in search of all the ingredients. Jalapenos? dont even think about it... Black beans? we found some canned in the 5th store, after I had already settled on pinto. Pork shoulder? hard to tell...

I ended up buying something called "cuello de cerdo" which literally means pig neck, but the cut of meat seemed similar, so I said, "let's roll with it" (with J's approval of course... I am

like the little kid that wants to help his parents out in the kitchen, but needs supervision and approval for each step, before moving on to the next. Those that know J's cooking know why I can't live up to her standards on my own!)

It took me 2 days, and only a few mistakes (somehow I manage to read directions 10 times, but still miss little things like leaving the garlic unpeeled, or cutting the meat into cubes before putting into water, instead of just dumping the whole chunk in). After a few hours and getting most of the way there, I was fortunate to have J step in and do a quick fix to get me back on track, while still letting me finish so that I can take the credit! Overall, I think it was pretty successful. We found a style of tortilla we really like, the best way I can describe it is a flour tortilla with the taste of cornbread.

Moral of the story: I know where you can get a good burrito in Barcelona... mi casa. The finished product...