Tenth Post!

[hoisinsauce]

I TAKE IT BACK, GO BACK TO FUCKING THE HOUSE!

(https://secretfanspace.dreamwidth.org/2511.html?thread=3560655#cmt3560655)

Welcome back! Chat fandom, weird internet stuff, creative work, games, books, anything! Meme listens, and sometimes even replies!

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Comments

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Making a containment thread so I can vaguepost to my heart's content about my vacation in Hesperia.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Tried vermouth! I could drink this all day. Not big on wine usually - I am a girly pink cocktail enthusiastic - but the upfront taste isn't bad and the aftertaste is incredible. My friend who doesn't drink kept stealing sips.

Also tried churros and chocolate! Chocolate was good. Liked how it wasn't too sweet, probably should've tried it with whipped cream on top. Churros were, as dan warned, a disappointment. We checked out reviews for half a dozen chocolate places and it seems like disappointing churros are a universal constant.

Surprise favorite dish so far - calcotada, which are grilled spring onions. You slide the soft centers out of their charred outer shells and dip them in romesco sauce, usually with grilled meats on the side. Was expecting the flavor to be unpleasantly strong, but they're actually very mild and sweet.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

> Churros were, as dan warned, a disappointment

Churro-warning dan here! Popping by to mention that literally every place I've got churros in the UK has been great. Idk why the UK is uncharacteristically excellent at making food when that food == churros, or why it's apparently the one thing no establishment in Spain can make, but maybe that'll be helpful in case you end up somewhere rainier sometime in the future!

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Oh my god, we forgot to buy Parc Guell tickets. How do you sell out of tickets for a park? It's a park!

Considered just confidently walking in through one of the back entrances but we just look too foreign to pull that off. Apparently the trick is either to dress sporty and jog in or have a dog.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Dress like a sporty dog and jog in; foolproof.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Got shat on by a bird.

Friend says 'like attracts like.' Not sure if she's talking about me being a birb in spirit or me being shit.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

I'm actually still so 'wtf?' at this. This bird managed to poop on my hair, on my favorite jacket, and all over my backpack in one fell swoop.

I genuinely do not know how a single bird could contain so much poop. Wish I could at least see the face of the one who victimized me, but alas, it was dark and I really needed to catch my train so I could stew in silence, covered in poop, for the next five hours.

Things are going great for dan! Thanks for asking!

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

In less shitty news, I went to Montserrat. Did not visit the museum because I'm cheap and you have to buy tickets for it now. Did not see the Black Madonna because only one person can see her at a time and my travel buddy took one look at a photo and went 'no way am I going to be alone in a room with her.' Did not find dan's fabled chocolate vending machine.

Did, however, climb up Sant Jeroni, and that was absolutely incredible. Took about five hours for the full loop (no cheating with the funicular!), but we went fairly slowly and made lots of long stops. View from the summit was incredible, but too windy to really enjoy for long. Upper portion of the loop was scenic and even featured a few wild goats.

On our way down, we followed a side path out because we saw a silhouette in the distance, and that turned out to be one of the best decisions we made this trip because it brought us out to a tiny cross overlooking an incredible view of the valley. Apparently the figure we followed out there mistakenly thought it was the Sant Miquel cross (which is much larger but far less chill), so serendipity all around. Ended up just sitting out there enjoying the view for a good half hour. Just two girls and Jesus, eating sour patch kids and enjoying our time together.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Get thee some haribo and some maoam!

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

This museum charges 1.5 euros for admission if you're not from the EU, but they don't actually check your ID!

A curse upon Brexit! Now this English-speaking dan can no longer unconvincingly pretend to be from an EU member nation.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Churro update: Tried them again in Granada, where the churros resemble no churros I've seen before but look and taste almost exactly like youtiao. They're wide, fluffy, and slightly salty.

Actually tastes pretty good with chocolate. My travel guide says they're actually mislabeled porras, but it's hard to find any English sources on the difference in taste and style.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

https://longreads.com/2020/07/23/marmalade-a-very-british-obsession/

Was curious why no one was eating all the oranges lining the streets in Andalusia, and it turns out they just all get sold to the UK for marmalade???

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

It's so we can make dizzying concoctions like this:

https://www.marksandspencer.com/food/collection-scottish-malt-whisky-marmalade/p/fdp60575321

We have some on the shelf (hamper gift) and I'm too scared to try it. Smells like it could fell a man.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

The oranges used for marmalade are inedible in any format other than marmalade. They're nast unless combined with a fuckload of sugar. 0 out of 10 stars. Do not recommend.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

The two great cultural treasures of Granada are the Alhambra and Malamiga's orange custard croissants. We were there for two days and I ate three of them.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Oh my god, the gardens in the Seville Alcazar are closed because it's 'raining.' I have seen two drops of water and they might just be an overly aggressive tour guide's spit.

It's just water! Let me out! I paid twelve euros for this!

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Like Californians, the Spanish appear to forget how to do anything the moment water starts falling from the sky.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Was walking along the waterfront when we saw that someone had drawn a picture of a dick on the ground and an arrow saying 'nabo para otakus.'

Being certified weebs, we of course followed the 'dick for weeaboos' arrow. At the end of it we found a nice pier and a guy on it with his dick out.

Not sure what we expected.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Wtf. Though I guess we can't say it's false advertising

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Time for the last leg of my trip! Can't believe I have to go back to work soon.

Dicks aside, Seville was pretty fun. Had to improvise quite a bit because my original schedule involved visiting the Alcazar Gardens, which were closed because the weather was cloudy with a chance of killer oranges, and the Cathedral, which my godless travel partner has summarily banned me from.

Ended up trying to recreate that Padme and Anakin scene from Attack of the Clones at the Plaza Espana, which was rather awkward until we ran into an American couple trying to recreate that exact same scene at the same time.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

In an archeology and paleontology museum and there's a section on how archeologists gender skeletons based on anatomical differences. Nice.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Spent thirty euros on nun nuts today. These nuns know their market.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Think the thing I dislike most here is how many cars there are.

In Spain, the public transit is always packed like sardines in a can, because everyone uses public transit instead of driving. The streets are so full of pedestrians that we have to queue up just to cross the street, because everyone walks everywhere instead of driving.

So in that case, why are there cars everywhere? Why are there random cars driving on pedestrian streets?? Why do the cars drive at me aggressively when I'm in the middle of a crosswalk with the walk signal on???

Mystifying.

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

Also, no water fountains. We went to the Prado and they confiscate your water bottles - even empty ones! - at the entrance, and there's no way to get more water inside unless you buy drinks at their cafe.

We spent six hours there. It felt like playing an endurance game. How many paintings of Jesus and portraits of inbred Spanish monarchs can you see before you dehydrate and die?

Re: How's Life? - Dan in (S)pain

[(Anonymous)]

I find this hard where I live atm, and I don't remember it being this bad 10+ years back. There were busy places and quiet places. Now it's nonstop traffic everywhere, and people having cars in places it makes no fucking sense. Wonder if Spain has changed the same way.