Spaniards are known for eating dinner notoriously late, but I learned that dinner is not their main meal of the day. During my experience, dinner was a light meal, such as soup, salad, or my personal favorite, a tortilla española. Many people know a tortilla as the thin, slightly leavened bread from Mexico, however the Spanish tortilla more closely resembles an omelet. First, potatoes are lightly fried in olive oil. Afterwards, the extra oil is strained, and heavily beaten eggs are added to the pan to just fill in the cracks. Next, the entire omelet is carefully flipped instead of folded and served either hot or at room temperature.
Compared to the elaborate, multi-course lunches, dinners in Spain are much simpler. Occasionally, we also ate leftover meats from lunch or small portions of seafood for dinner. Having spent almost all of my life in the desert, living with access to the ocean has been incredibly exciting! One new food to me that I very much enjoyed was octopus (pulpo), shown below with cayenne pepper, olive oil, and boiled potatoes. Another dish I had never tried before was sardines cured in vinegar with parsley, garlic, and olive oil; they had a very strong flavor, but delicious for those who like acidic food and fish!
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