Gracias hermanito

My brother Chris gave me a few packs of jamon serrano for Christmas, which is an awesome present.  I have had tapas a few nights in the last week (with olives with pimientos and crackers) and then yesterday I bought a baguette from Target, so I just had a bocadillo with jamon serrano for lunch.  It was amazingly good.  Is it wrong to want another whole sandwich right away??

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Further making me think of Spanish food, last night the Travel Channel show with Anthony Bourdain played an episode he filmed in Spain recently.  Of course, he visits restaurants that serve more elaborate food than just tapas, soups or regular meals, but I saw enough bacalao, tortilla, gambas, and lomo to make my mouth water.  Even though I haven't been to Spain since my semester abroad in 2000 (it is definitely past time to try to make another trip there!), I haven't missed out on Spanish food that entire time.  Thanks to my friend Laura's original recommendation, I was fortunate to know a good, hole-in-the-wall Spanish restaurant in D.C. since I started visiting and then living there, and Mike and I made a fair number of trips to Adams Morgan over the years so I could indulge in jamon, champinones and sangria.  It's the place he took me the night he proposed, too, so happy associations all around.  I haven't found a Spanish restaurant in Dallas yet, though, so my brother's present was the first time I had jamon in a year or so.  Yum!