Food in the Canary Islands

When Mr X and I first arrived in the Canary Islands we were both really looking forward to a break from German cuisine. It was going to be nice to devour something other than sausages and other pork products. No more gravy overdoses or sauerkraut or German salads, etc. (Not that I'm saying that German food is gross - It's not - we were just looking forward to a change.)

So here is a small sampling of some of the typical things you might find to eat in the Spanish islands:

I'm not sure on the exact name of this but at restaurants it was referred to (on the Spanish menu) as a Spanish Tortilla, but if you looked at it on the English menu it was called a Spanish Omelet. Basically it's some sort of this potato and onion pancake-ish thing. I liked it a lot so I had it a few times.
We picked up some famous Spanish olives at the grocery store. They were powerful tasting but delicious. Kids probably wouldn't like them much.
This was from the "tapas" menu, because when you are in Spain you have to try tapas, right? Well anyway, this was goat cheese that was from goats from the Fuerteventura island. I was expecting it to be a bit more harsh but it was mild and delicious, I really enjoyed it.
Speaking of goats - right after we finished off the goat cheese, Mr X decided he'd eat the whole goat too. So what you see on his plate here was called "cabrito frito" - or "fried baby goat" - isn't that awful?!? (The name is catchy though....cabrito frito) I was expecting it to be something akin to a slice of veal. But no, it was a plate full of pretty much just goat spine. Blech. Mr X gave me a little piece - I was kind of bothered by the fact that there was still goat hairs on it here and there.

I have to tell you about one other thing that I ordered while there. I was trying to be adventurous so I opted for a very authentic Canarian appetizer one night. On the menu it was simply called "gofio" but it wasn't simply gofio. Gofio is sort of a corn or wheat flour, but in this particular dish they mixed the gofio with fish stock until it made a thick paste. It pretty much looked like re-fried beans. Then they give you a dish with a very powerful yellow onion cut in wedges so you can scoop out the gofio paste and eat it. Canarian chips and dip, I suppose. Anyway. After one bite it was obvious to me that my palate wasn't refined enough to be able to handle this dish. But I felt bad and didn't want the waiter/cooks/etc to think I hated it. So I got Mr X to have a couple bites, after which he flat out refused more. So I gritted my teeth and forced myself to keep eating it. After about 6 or 7 bites of the stuff my stomach rebelled and I felt as though I might toss it all back up on the table so I quit. My stomach hurt the rest of the night and then I was sick in a "Montezuma's Revenge" sort of way for the rest of the trip.

This was a pastry that I got from a French pastry shop that we found in El Cotillo. I wanted something that I knew was going to be delicious and hairless that wouldn't make me sick and when you want that kind of treatment, French pastries are a good solid bet. Yummy.