Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Sambal Olek rocks. We were in Indonesia last year and brought back six small plastic bottles of it. It goes on eggs now, mixed into chicken salad, most everything.

Yes, a tortilla espanola sandwich is the bomb. At parks and other places in Madrid you can find them often. We add a tablespoon or two of chicken stock to the eggs, that seems to add some lightness, or taste. We also use a bit less oil, and don't drain it away. Putting the frittata under the broiler also works fine. Serve with some fresh grated parmesan too.

I went with a group for dinner at Marea last week. The food was excellent. Pastas were just superb. Having said that, readers should be aware of one thing for sure: the portions are miniscule. Not small as in "I could have eaten a bit more." They are small as in, "where is the other half of the dish?" Our crudos consisted of one or two pieces of very small fish. The fried starters each had three small bites. Full orders of pasta were as small, or smaller, than a half size order elsewhere. Even after ordering the fritters to start, separate appetizers and pasta or fish mains for each diner, our waiter said he thought we weren't ordering enough food. What else should we have ordered, two of everything? Service was Ok, they are still getting their sea legs. Room is beautiful. Its a very luxe crowd. Whether Marea can survive in this environment, serving those portions, will be interesting. We all left hungry.