COMIDA or, My love affair with neverending eating

Having just finished an outstandingly large almuerzo, I feel it is appropriate that today's post center around food and eating. Jesus Christ, they eat so much. I am in all honesty lying down rubbing my belly between typing right now, and concentrating on belly breathing. Our Spanish teacher laid out the eating schedule for us like this:
8-10 Breakfast
10-12 Second breakfast (usually coffee and/or pastries, or a little sandwich)
2-4 Lunch
5-7 Meriendas (afternoon snacking - she said she usually has a bit of cake or other pastries, but obviously tapas apply as well - but tapas continue into the night, until 9 or 10)
8:30-11 Dinner
So as you can see, it is a five-to-six meal day. And these are not small meals. Lunch is the main meal of the day, and at a lot of restaurants you can order from the menu del dia, which has a couple options and comes with bread, a drink, and dessert, for about 8-12 euros. The menu del dia comes with two courses, both of which are the size of a typical American entree.

Today I had gazpacho (about three cups worth) and baked chicken (an entire half of a chicken, plus about the same volume of potatoes), with a beer, yogurt for dessert, and bread. I ate and ate and ate, only had one little piece of bread and very little to drink, and still could only make it through about 2/3rds of the chicken and maybe half of the potatoes. The waiter asked me if there was a problem with the food. I tried to explain that it was so delicious that I was in danger of vomiting it up on his shoes, but he didn't appear to be convinced. It really was fantastic - the gazpacho in particular was really good, and the chicken was greasy and falling off the bone and amazing. But no, the fact that I can only eat about three cups of gazpacho and a third of a chicken is not good enough. I was studying for my ser/estar quiz during lunch today so I stayed at the restaurant for a while and watched the guy next to me eat an entire plate of paella, four pieces of bread, three glasses of wine, the entire half-chicken, and all of his potatoes, and then order a piece of cake which he was gleefully digging into as I left. I have no idea how they do it. This was no overweight guy, either, he was actually in good shape.
Lunch isn't included in our "meal plan" in homestays, so I have to eat it out or buy groceries with which to make myself lunch. I think Ana would probably make me lunch anyway, but I would feel bad since I'm not paying for it. I like eating out though, because up until today I had thought that there wasn't anyone to offend if I didn't emphatically lick my plate clean. Turns out the waiters think you're anorexic, though. Also, I can't eat out that much because even at the cheaper places, 5-8 euros a day for lunch adds up.

Mind you, even though lunch is the main meal of the day, dinner isn't exactly a light snack. It is also two big courses, with lots of little side things to be snacking on (and if I don't snack on them, Ana thinks I either hate the food or her). A typical dinner at the Huerga household:
Green beans sauteed with potatoes and covered in olive oil
Bread
Tomatoes in olive oil
Two hamburger patties served with fried potatoes
Lays potato chips
A piece of fruit
Yogurt and/or a little chocolate bar
And again, each of these portions pretty much fills your plate, or else you will be accused of lying about liking the food. We have also eaten lots of tortilla espanola, which is amaaazing, and lots of salad that is again, always dripping in olive oil. As someone who doesn't like salad dressing, it's kind of hard to get used to, but I'm adjusting. And inflating. Paula also said that Ana makes really good chocolate (a really thick hot chocolate), and that one morning we will have homemade chocolate con churros. I'm excited, but it seems like a pretty heavy breakfast food if you ask me.

On to tapas, my favorite topic ever. I don't know who decided that snack food isn't restaurant food, but they were so wrong. This is a concept that needs to spread to the US, and I mean immediately. To be able to duck into a cafe, bar, or restaurant in the late afternoon and order a few shrimp, or a slice of tortilla, or olives, or croquetas is without a doubt the best idea ever. Think how much more restaurants would make if they were able to serve little munchies all throughout the day. And I don't mean a gross bowl of nuts at the bar, I mean GOOD food. Ha ha, sorry, I'm really into wikipedia. As always. I introduced David to the joy of patatas bravas - fried potatoes with a spicy red sauce and aioli, and to tortilla espanola, which we found at one restaurant with chorizo in it too! Basically, I just spend all of my money on little delicious tapas. You can even go healthy and order vegetables like asparagus or a salad. All I'm saying is that everyone loves to snack, and putting it in restaurants would mean tons of profit for the restaurants and way more delicious gourmet ways to eat. So... I love tapas. Also, since tapas really go best with sangria, we should probably make that more widespread in the states too.

For breakfast, I usually have some sort of cereal (my options thus far have been Corn Flakes, Special K (red berry or chocolate), and Cinnamon Toast Crunch) and a glass of juice or water. Then after class I find myself starving and end up having coffee and a croissant. What I'm trying to say here is that I eat all the time. Special K Chocolate is the grossest thing I have ever eaten for breakfast, as chocolate is really not a morning food (any other time of day though, it's alright by me), and the combination of whole milk, chocolate curls, and crunchy flakes just doesn't do it for me. It's very overwhelming for the morning.

The other fabulous thing is that people really take their time with meals. I don't know about breakfast, because I usually eat it alone and in under three minutes, but all the other times the meals never take less than an hour - even when it's a cup of coffee or a soda in the afternoon, I see Catalonians lingering over their six ounce beverage for much longer than I am usually sitting there, which is rarely more than half an hour, and that includes the time I spend waiting for the waiter to take my order, bring my food, and bring me the check. All this time there are people sitting and talking with (for instance) a half-drunk Coke in front of them.

So in general I am loving the food, although I feel like olive oil is going to start seeping out my pores (if it hasn't already). It's really good and although it can be humongous, every time I feel like I am going to explode slash never eat again (like right now), I find myself inexplicably hungry again three hours later. Maybe it's all the walking? Or maybe I just can't say no to more delicious Spanish food.
To do: Go to Andalucia, the home of tapas, and snack the night away.
I should've had some paella while in Valencia, where it was created, but all I had was the weird hotel paella. Maybe I will just have to go back! Or maybe I will go down to Barceloneta and get some good paella here in Barca.

Now to go sleep off this food coma - I suddenly understand why they schedule a siesta into the day, because I can hardly move after lunch.