uptempodemonplumsauce: "Meat sweats..."

...Stella groans when I ask her if she's okay because she looks a little peaked. We have just shared the most incredible, richest meal in Madrid so far at Juana La Loca, culminating with a steak burger that was so decadent it gave Stella the 'meat sweats'.

Churros & HOT chocolate

September 25, Monday

A new home brings new opportunities. Mine is the opportunity for back pain. The couch bed is not great. But we're back in our own space on our own time and we're rested.

Since we left Menorca I've been quizzing Stella on what she wants to do and see in Madrid: museums, monuments, markets?? See a show, find a park, take a day trip?? Go clubbing, eat gelato, souvenir shopping??

I've been to Madrid a few times and seen all the big sights so I'm graciously giving the reins to Stella and letting her be in charge, for once, of my schedule. The thing is, she's been very demure about her personal list of things to do and see in Madrid, and when I hound her will respond, "I'll look up some things."

Werking Calle de Toledo

This morning Stella reveals we have no agenda. She just wants to wander and be and soak up the city. I remind her about how stressed out having no agenda makes me.

"I know," she replies.

No agenda it is. It's lovely. Within our no agenda day, she lets me mini-plan and navigate the foreseeable future ("Churros & chocolate, then we can walk toward the pasta place, then look for my face soap, then shoes...") which scratches my control itch.

Highlights from a No Agenda Day:

-Chocolateria San Ginés for churros & chocolate. They've been using the same chocolate recipe since 1894! Though I preferred Cafe Fútbol's chocolate in Granada, I still got goosebumps.

-By accident, Stella and I go to La Bola, a restaurant opened since 1870 that features

traditional Madrileño cooking. We thought we were getting pasta at a place our friends recommended with a name that also started with a B and had similar vowels (turns out it was Ouh Babbo, not La Bola). We get gazpacho and a stew and it's effing fantastic!

-Impromptu photo shoot in front of Plaza Mayor is rad.

-I finally get my espadrilles and they BLOW MY MIND. I love these shoes.

-Stella and I find this random feminist bookstore and spend forever inside combing through everything they sell. Stella buys gifts for friends, I buy gifts for myself.

-Dinner at Juana La Loca, a tapas place Maria recommended to us. It's our best meal in Madrid, starring Stella's "meat sweats" burger and a dulce de leche volcano that takes an hour to cook. We eat til we're suicidal, and now I'm craving a vegetarian diet.

Tomorrow is somehow our last day. I feel like we've got a whole lifetime left here.