We have been eating (and eating and eating) many yummy things. To recap:

Breakfast pastries

Or second-breakfast pastries, if we have eaten some egg and toast in the apartment before going out. R maintains the croissants and pastries here aren’t as good as those in France, and he may be right, but they’re still mostly pretty tasty. There was a bakery right by the school that made excellent empanadas with a multi-grain crust that managed to be robust without being dry or leathery. They also made delicious tiny croissants and passable chocolate chip cookies. We enjoyed an oversized cookie that I thought would be an almond meringue, but was more like a snickerdoodle with almond flour. Very sticky base. We were trying to peel it off the paper, and leaving quite a bit behind, before I realized the paper was rice paper and edible.

Our (and València’s) favorite coffee is the cortado,  espresso with a little steamed milk usually served in a glass.

Fartons and horchata

If there is a signature sweet of Valencia it is a farton, usually served with a cup of horchata. Honestly, didn’t really work for us. A farton is a stick shaped pastry that resembles, more than anything else, a very cottony hot dog bun, dusted with powdered sugar. They are meant to be dunked in horchata, which here is a sweetened drink made from ground tiger nuts and cold water (in Mexico, horchata is made from corn). I can see how maybe this would be a nice sweet in very hot weather (its very light in the stomach), but otherwise I feel like there are better options.

Bocadillos

A signature Spanish snack. Very plain crusty bread (think baguette) made into a sandwich with thin shavings of ham. Maybe a thin slice of cheese. Filling, and the ham is excellent, but overall it’s very dry and hard work. No pic here.

Tapas and “El menu”

And here’s where things start getting especially yummy. “El menu del dia” is the preset lunch option at restaurants. Usually 2 or 3 courses, with a drink included. A budget friendly way to eat a variety. Artichokes, asparagus, bocarones, patatas bravas (roast potatoes topped with aiolli and spicy red sauce), olives, paella. And in the non-Spanish, but still excellent, category, are pizza Napoli, Moroccan tagine, and pastas.

Cheesecake

Cheesecake is a big thing here, and one of R’s favorite things. Usually it’s made without a crust. Basque cheesecake is usually cooked until very brown on top, while other styles are judged by how much they ooze across the plate when sliced. R is trying as many as he can squeeze in. Still hasn’t found the perfect one, so experimentation will continue.

On the left, above, is the best use of a farton I’ve tried–fartonmisu, a tiramisu made with a farton. Yum.