By Kira
Since I started working at Charles Communications Associates at the beginning of 2013, I’ve been immersing myself in food and wine culture with every possible opportunity—and what better way to dive further into the culinary and beverage world than by exploring Europe? To bring in the new year, I decided to visit a close friend who currently resides in Spain.
The first city I visited was Santiago de Compostela, located in the Galicia region in Northwestern Spain. In Santiago de Compostela, along with many other Spanish cities, tapas are complementary with each round of drinks ordered. In fact, the Spanish even created a verb – tapear – to describe this very activity. As a result, this was my first opportunity to really learn more about Spanish wine. We visited various bars and tried many tapas and of course, some unbelievable wine–Albariño, Tempranillo, Rioja and Mencia, all of which were grown in the appellation of Bierzo, just a few miles outside of Santiago de Compostela.
On a different evening, we decided to take what we learned (and tasted) in the restaurants and make a traditional Spanish dish. After a trip to the local farmer’s market, we had all the fresh ingredients for a Galician specialty – baby squid sautéed with white wine, garlic, onion, cayenne pepper and squid ink over Basmati rice, which we paired with a nice peppery Mencia. ¡Buen Provecho!
More adventures of my trip to Europe coming soon – next stop: Portugal!