Minnesota

... is no longer the land of the bland. Spain is. Well, in particular, the autonomy of Extremadura, of which Cáceres seems to be the heart. I am in the middle of tastelessness here people!

Now, some of you might know that I quite enjoy the taste of foods for what they are. I don't use a lot of extra spices, and it doesn't take much for something to be spicy. However, that being said, I like my food to taste like something. What you get here is salt, garlic, fish, jamón. There do not exist any other tastes. Except for the non-taste of olive oil which drenches the aforesaid, barely-existent flavors.

What boggles me is that Portugal, the country which directly borders the oddity of Extremadura, has amazing food. I would eat there any day. So then how is it that one side of an imaginary geographic line lives in the luxury of flavor while the other side has seemingly never been introduced to a spice in its history? Both of these cultures set out to conquer the Americas, yet only one could figure out how to use spices??? Spain is a culture I fear I may never know all the ins and outs about.

Just so none of you freaks out, the food is actually good here in Spain. I'm just a little bored with it and craving more flavors than the four I mentioned above.