The GAIA Health Blog

Some Healthy Food Fun:    The Wanderlust Food Diaries (of a chronic daydreamer)

Baila Me!! (Dance with me!!)
...... In Granada, Spain

On the Menu "Tempting Tapas"
Music The Best of The Gypsy Kings
Video Anthony Bourdain, from the "Parts Unknown" Travel Series, in Granada, Spain

"Esta rumba a ta gitana, Que yo siempre cantare"    ("This rumba to this gypsy girl, that I will always sing")
    --The Gypsy Kings (from the song "Baila Me")

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We were a week away from booking a trip to Ibiza, Spain, the "Party Island", me and one of my best friends, and traveling buddy.....

Until I called an "audible", after I happened to catch Anthony Bordain's "Parts Unknown" travel show about Granada, Spain. After that, Ibiza wasn't gonna happen for me. Besides, someone commented on some Travel website that "Ibiza is one big hangout for drunken, rowdy Brits, who act like they haven't been in the sunshine in 2 years".

Now, I had to talk my boy into Granada, Spain, with it's architecture, Tapas Restaurants, its history......but he is married, and you know how married brothas' are, they use a trip with a single guy as an excuse...to get drunk, party, lust after "hoochie-mamas", you know, to "let loose". I knew Granada, Spain would be a tough sell...........

Thus, I tried to "mellow" my old homeboy out and try to sell him on Granada, Spain........Sales Pitch #1, there are gonna be Senoritas wherever we go in Spain...... Sales Pitch #2, Granada has such a rich influence of culture, a collage of history, from Moorish to Christian influences, an amazing place to travel for the modern man.

And, Sales Pitch #3, and most importantly, I tried to convince my boy, in all the places we traveled, what do we spend the most of our time doing? Eating local food, drinking wine, just hanging out. And Granada, Spain just happens to be the Tapas Appetizers capital of the world.............

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Tempting Tapas!!!.....(and other international appetizers)

Click on any photo for recipe


...and remember to keep it healthy, stick to Olive Oil (avoiding toxic oils like Canola), always use milk and cheese from grass fed animals, and avoid commercial meats, use only pastured meats and wild caught seafood....breads? Since I eat so few grains, I just concede the point and try to find a quality bread, and I utilize papaya enzymes in home made capsules after a meal to digest gluten

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Many years ago, someone gave me the "Best of the Gypsy Kings" CD at a Christmas "grab-bag" at work, and I thought, before I toss this into the trash, let me at least play it once.

........been play it ever since. "Volare" and "Escucha Me" are my favorite Tracks...... ENJOY!!!!

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Fast forward to yesterday, I tell my homeboy that I got cash to burn, checked prices on plane tickets to Granada for late summer, and found a really cool, luxurious, but quaint hotel overlooking the majesty of the iconic Alhambra fortress, near the Tapas bars...nice!!

In my excitement of the moment, I could sense that my homeboy wasn't feeling it. I kind of let him off the hook and told him I'd rather take this trip alone anyway, since I'm so comfortable flying solo these days.

And I told him, when I am hanging out at an open air outdoor bar, drinking wine and eating tapas, and that Flamenco music kicks up, I'll be sure to have someone snap a picture as I spontaneously grab some lovely Senorita by the hand, and say "Baila Me"!!

~stay healthy~

"Sail Forth. Steer for the deep waters only. Reckless O soul, exploring. I with thee and thou with me. For we are bound where mariner has not yet dared go. And we will risk the ship, ourselves, and all." --Walt Whitman

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