It’s a really beautiful day and I don’t have a ton of work, so I decided to walk to La Cañada to pick up coffee rather than getting some at the little shop here. I can’t believe how fast I’m going through coffee here, but since it’s cool, I’m having two cups every day, which explains it. Thankfully, good coffee is not expensive in Europe! Lunch at the Chinese restaurant was also hoped for, but not expected.

I set off just past 12:30 and got into La Cañada just shy of 1:00. I was struck by how many shops were having Black Friday deals! Talk about a very American concept that has spread.

I decided to pop into the produce place to get a couple of potatoes to make leek and potato soup this weekend (bacon may also be involved).

The Chinese place was open! I was seated promptly with a huge menu and brought a bowl of edible polystyrene chips that smelled vaguely fishy and were addictive.

The server asked if I knew what I wanted to drink and I requested a beer. He brought me a bottle. I’ve heard people say San Miguel is crap, but I really liked it!

I found a menú del día at the very back of the menu, three courses, dessert, and a drink, including beer, for 7.65 euros! I figured that my big beer would have a surcharge, but that was fine. I’ve really slacked on the beer since I got here and was due for a nice big cold one!

For my first course, I asked for a spring roll. This is their idea of a spring roll:

It was about twice the size of an average egg roll! They had sweet and sour sauce to go with it. The inside had what I consider to be egg roll filling, carrots, cabbage, and onion. Very good!

For my second course, I asked for fried noodles with pork:

This was yummy, but like in Mexico and the Balkans, they used linguini instead of Asian noodles, which really isn’t the same.

My third course was pineapple chicken:

It wasn’t particularly special, but at least the chicken wasn’t fried. It was very sweet, so I asked for soy sauce:

The very good soy sauce (so thick!) helped immensely.

I wasn’t able to eat everything, of course, but when I was told dessert was ice cream, including chocolate, I couldn’t resist/found room. The scoop was tiny/perfect sized.

The restaurant had WiFi, so I caught up on emails between courses since I was in no big rush. The server was very patient in making sure I understood the password and inputted it correctly. I asked for the “internet” password and he replied that the “Wee-Fee” (Wi-Fi) password was such and such. So that was my Spanish education for the day. In Mexico, I’m sure they would understand Wee-Fee, but I always asked for the “inalámbrico” (wireless) password. I haven’t seen that word used in Spain so far.

When the bill came, it was for 7.65 euros — no surcharge for the big beer. Wow!

This wasn’t an amazing meal, but it really hit the spot and was very good value. I am pleased. And stuffed. 😀

It looks like I may not have any work this weekend (!!!), so I’ll probably head into Almería tomorrow to explore the waterfront. This guarantees that work is going to come in. 😀