Potato Chips Revisted

The array of available potato chips in Europe (and I assume around the world) is seemingly endless. Americans seem pretty satisfied with the regular ones plus sour cream and onion, barbecue, salt and vinegar, honey mustard, and a few others. I wrote about my potato chip taste test in my “Chips Ahoy” post (link included) a few years ago, and I’ve commented on a few other ones since then. A friend shared photos of some really crazy ones from Asia! My all-time favorite weird flavor is hamburger! I tasted the separate flavors of beef, onion, tomato, maybe pickle? It was surprisingly good!

On my way to Spain through France this September, I discovered some more luscious varieties, others when I was in London, and even more here that I hadn’t seen before! I haven’t tried them all, but I’ve listed the ones I did try in order of preference:

• ketchup (#1)
• grilled beef (#2)
• camembert (#3)
• yakitori (#4)
• pepper roasted chorizo (#5)
• bacon & cheese (#6)
• pili pili
• Paris mushroom
• French fries and sauce (?)
• pesto mozzarella
• aioli
• summer truffle
• cheese and black truffle
• curry sauce
• blue cheese
• mushroom
• Tex Mex chicken
• Thai beef
• cheese naan
• goat cheese with espelette peppers
• tapenade
• Sobrasada and honey (sobrasada is a raw, cured sausage made with ground pork, paprika, salt, and spices)  
  

I wish I could have bought and tasted them all, but my car was already packed tight and there was no room for bags of chips! I expected that bacon and cheese would be the winner, but it was pretty gross and the ketchup variety definitely won this round!

Toward the end of my journey to Begur, I spent a couple of nights in Sitges, a beach town just south of Barcelona. To my surprise, it was Bears Week. If you don’t know what it is, look it up. There was quite a party atmosphere in the streets. But I am glad I missed the partying at the nude beach!

When I got back to Barcelona from a jaunt to the UK, I discovered that my car, which I’d left in the airport garage, had been ransacked. This is the latest in my list of petty crimes experienced in Barcelona. (See my post “Crime and Punishment“). Everything was strewn on the seats and the floor that had been in the glove compartment, the console, and the door pockets. There was nothing of value and they didn’t even take my mini boxes of Werther’s caramels. But they took one thing – my car title!! I had been told not to leave it in the car, but I really thought it could be a problem only if the car was stolen, and I didn’t expect that to happen, especially with all its dings and dents. My immediate worry was that I would have to make a Police report, and I am scared of the police. I don’t have a driver’s license for one thing. Well, I have my international driver’s license, but supposedly after six months here you are supposed to get a Spanish license. I’ve heard it is expensive and difficult to pass, so I’ve been avoiding police as much as possible and gambling on not being caught. The police are often stopped at the side of the road by a roundabout – usually at least two or three of them and a couple of police cars. They pull people over, presumably for having expired registrations or maybe just looking funny, but I always hold my breath and so far I’ve always been waved on. When my registration was out of date (actually this happened a couple of times for perfectly good reasons), I would take another route if I saw them ahead.

I haven’t seen any evidence of my Russian neighbor/spy since my return. No movement of the window shades (closed) or cars on the street or in the garage. I don’t know if he’s moved or is just away. If he’s gone, I wonder if I blew his cover!! In addition, his next door neighbor, a German, is also gone and there is another family living in that house. I always expected that he and the Russian were colluding. The German told me he had a wife and a baby but I never saw them. Hmmm….