Barcelona Food & Drink Favorites

In case you're going to visit Barcelona, here are some restaurants I really liked located near Las Ramblas:

• Takoline - tapas
• Sagardi - tapas
• Maoz - falafels
• Bogas - Italian
• Made in Italy - Italian
• Salamanca - seafood
• La Veronica - pizza
• La Champañeria - hot sandwiches & champagne

and some bars (most have music & dancing):

• La Fiana - comfy bar
• Cafe Royal - jazz bar
• Pipa Club - smoking bar
• Les fades del Bosque - decorated like a forest
• Princessa - comfy bar
• Bar Manolo - skater bar

and types of food & drink to try:

• Clara con limon - 1/2 beer and 1/2 lemon Fanta
• Gofres - waffle covered with warm cholocate syrup
• Gelato - Italian ice cream
• Sangria - wine with fruit mixed in
• Croissant con cholocate - chocolate croissant
• Empanada con atun - pastry filled with tuna & tomato

Birthday Birthday Fun!

This past weekend I had a great time celebrating the birthdays of Coleen as well as Wei's friend, Yiyu. I first went to dinner with Wei and Yiyu at Mangarosa, a really good Italian-Brazilian restaurant. My favorite dishes were the steak which was delivered to us still sizzling on a little grill, as well as the two deserts we had: friend bananas with chocolate and caramel sauces, and warm chocolate cake with ice cream. Yum!

After that we went to Coleen's party. She's so cool. She rented out the Crimson Lounge which is a nice little underground club, decked out all in red. This is good because it hides the "Asian Glow" that we get when we drink. It is also the location of the infamous paddle party I attended previously.

This all made me start thinking more about what I'm going to do for my big birthday coming up this year. I was thinking of either finding a cool venue around here, or else having a party in a fancy suite in Vegas, or both! I'd love to do the Vegas thing, but I want everyone to be able to make it.

Coleen had a really cool slideshow running with pictures from her childhood, of friends, and portraits taken of her. I think I'll do something similar for mine. I'm also gonna look around for other interesting party ideas.