1/22/10

Local time: 4:30 PM
Iowa time: 9:30 AM
Today's high: 61° F, cloudy
High point: Meeting with Noemi and Co. tonight.
Low point: Eating another "ham" burger.
Lesson learned: Eat food if drinking sidra with people.  That, or have less than a bottle per person.

Story: Sidra vs. Salad dressing

Last night I tried sidra for the first time.  Sidra is a sour acidic alcoholic beverage made from apples, and is a popular local drink.  Good thing about it is that its alcoholic content is lower than sangria, I think.  Abigail and I went to a sidrería (sidra bar) and because it isn't very alcoholic, were able to finish one bottle between us without feeling any effect.  Thankfully that's all we had was one bottle, because when Abigail went home, she said she was starting to feel a bit tipsy, and I felt it took me a little longer to concentrate on activities that would have been automatic if I were sober.

The thing that's cool about sidra is that it has to be poured from up high into a glass nearly on the ground.  The waiters at the place we went would hold a glass down low and take a bottle and pour most of the drink into the glass without looking at the glass.  Will add photos on Facebook, because it's hard to explain without looking at a picture.  Also another cardinal rule with sidra: you have to drink it as soon as you have it poured, otherwise it doesn't taste very good.  Not that it tastes very good to start out with; it's really, really sour.  Imagine sour apple candy times a thousand plus a little of alcohol, and that's what it tastes like.

Then my madre always feeds me a huge bowl of salad with lunch, and she always puts too much dressing (olive oil and vinegar) on it, so it too is really sour.  I once told her that it was too much for me, and she understood, but I think she forgot.  It's not a big deal, so I probably won't complain about it and just mop up excess dressing with the mountain of bread they feed me as well.

The competition here is which is more sour: sidra or the salad dressing?  Let's see, on a scale from one to ten (ten being very sour), the dressing would have to be a face-puckering seven.  And the sidra, with its natural sharpness, cuts in with an eight.  But that's just my opinion.  Which one do you think would win?

All for now!  Hasta la vista!