Europe Tour. Part 2. What we ate

Hello, Internet friends! I need to do a bit of virtual catching up. Things have been a little teeny bit hectic lately. I've been the kind of busy where I throw my clothes on the bathroom floor and don't pick them up for over a week, but hardly notice them because I don't have time to do things like pee and shower anymore. 

But, now that things are slowing down a bit, I need to pick up where we left off... Europe. Which is where I wish I could be right now. Actually, I would rather be here for Thanksgiving, because Europeans don't understand the whole Turkey and cranberry sauce like we do. Then, on Friday, I'd be pleased as punch if someone would ship me off to Europe until the crazy holiday shopping craze is over. 

One of our favorite parts of Europe was eating our way through it. At one point I thought it would be a good idea to take a photo of every pastry we shoved in our mouths, but sometimes it takes waaaay too long to pull the camera out and turn it on when there is a delicious baked good in front of my face. 

Warm gooey chocolate and churros.  I'm pretty sure this is banned in the states because people would abuse it and we would have an even bigger fat epidemic than we already do. This is why I cannot live in Barcelona, oh and the fact that I would probably die from lack of sleep.

Boyfriend is selfishly devouring a chocolate croissant in Barcelona, which according to a French tour guide we had are, "CRAP!" Apparently the Spaniards make their croissants with animal fat and the French use butter. Therefore, we were advised to stay away from Spanish pastries. Boyfriend and I weren't hearing that crazy talk. We ate on...

 Welcome to Portugal. When it comes to pastries, the Portugese know what's up. We were told to go to a specific town called Belem and find the pastry shop that sells the Pasties de Belem. It sounded like a wild goose chase, but when you get to Lisbon, everyone is bragging about these custard morsels of deliciousness. The thing about Portuguese is they like to introduce you to Portugese culture by saying "This here is the BEST..." or "This is the BIGGEST..." or "That right there is the WORLD'S GREATEST..." So, of course these pastries were introduced as the best pastry in the world, and I honestly have no reason to argue otherwise. 

This right here is another piece of Portugese pride which have to be purchased from the bakery in Sintra to be authentic Quijadas de Sintra. They're made with cheese, but they're sweet. I could eat a couple dozen of these babies. 

I don't even know what this is, but I know it was savory and delicious and made me consider moving to Lisbon. 

Meet and cheese and bread all in one! Brilliant. Those Portugese people are the SMARTEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD. Also, boyfriend ate one of these every day. 

I was a little sad leaving all the uneaten pastries in Portugal behind, but then we headed to Germany and celebrated my birthday. My dear friend, Maxi, baked me her famous birthday cake. This cake was coated in melted chocolate and quite possibly the best birthday cake in the world (take that Portugal). 

And, if my friends weren't amazing enough already. I got this Weckmann bear for being a sad pathetic sick girl in bed all day. Weckmann is traditionally shaped like a gingerbread man and eaten on Nov. 11. Listen up America, could we please declare a pastry eating day?!!? Let's work on making that happen.