CUBA - Keep the seafood coming!

Later that night we have some free time so a bunch of us went out to dinner. We just ended up wandering around and found ourselves at this nice place called El Rum Rum. What a perfect name. A few of us decided to share dishes and I ordered a roasted garlic butter calamari. 

It was incredible. I was a little too chicken to order the calamari in squid ink but one day I'll have a dish with it. 

This was still really great though. A little small but still sizzling as it came to the table which was pretty impressive. They calamari was really tender and full of flavor. First time I've had it prepared this way but it's definitely not going to be the last. 

CUBA - Seafood Take One

We spent the next day in Havana visiting Photo Techa the cute little photo gallery, followed by this really awesome graphic design studio where workers were making the coolest screen printed images. 

Anyways!, we finished with the studio visits just in time for a late lunch and the whole group of us walked around and found a place to eat, Don Giovanni. We ended up eating outside under some umbrella tables (because Cuba in January is sunny and 80degrees and beautiful all the time). They had a really good group of 5 girls dressed in matching outfits and shoes singing and playing little instruments. We even had a cute little stray puppy hanging out with us and napping under my chair. She followed us on our way home and I was a little worried but also wanted to keep her forever. I hope she's doing alright.. 

About the lunch! This meal was really good and fresh. Rice with black beans, shrimp, fish, and I think squid? I forget... I love seafood so having this meal fresh from the water of Cuba was great. Not the best of my life, but good for sure.  

CUBA - Roast Chicken for Days

About half of the days in Cuba we had free time to walk around and photograph but we are art kids on a school trip so we did have meetings. One day before some art gallery visits our professors took us out to lunch. Excitedly, we all run onto the bus and ended up at this cool restaurant - 'El Aljibe'. (We really did get excited about these trips and things, we're all little kids on a field trip and we were having way too much seeing all the art and new places in Cuba). So when we pulled up next to the restaurant one of this guys on the trips with us quickly explained that Anthony Bourdain went to this place and it was really cool. Now, I'm kind of a foodie (why else would I dedicate time to a food blog...) so once he said that, I was pretty excited. 

El Aljibe is a really nice restaurant not far from Havana. Its a very open restaurant with very few walls and a solid roof of leaves. Turns out they're pretty famous for their roasted chicken which is exactly what we had for lunch served family style.  

Of course being in Cuba, we go another round of plantain chips (so good) and the best roast chicken and rice of the trip. They even have an awesome gravy they make from the chicken drippings that they pour on top of the rice. I need that again. Right now. Yummmmm

CUBA - Breakfast Time!

The hotel where we stayed offered complementary breakfast which at first was pretty cool, and then quickly became not so great. Oh Cuba, you tried. 

Of course being a broke college kid, I still did eat breakfast almost every day there.. free food is still free food so what does that say about me... 

Each morning we would go to the top floor (the 6th) and we would have this beautiful view of Cuba. We would sit down where a nice hotel attendant would ask us if we wanted an omelet, scrambled, or fried eggs. While we waited we would get a mystery meat plate with hot dogs, cheese, and a random assortment of vegetables. Bread and other pastries were up for grabs along with some pineapple and other fruits. Typically I would pour myself a glass of orange/guava juice and by then the eggs would be at the table. Unfortunately, a lot of the fruit and veggies were frozen before hand and bread in Cuba is not the same as bread in America. Really Cuba, thanks for trying. Food is food though so it did the job well enough to give us something to run on for the rest of the morning. 

Cuba Cuba Cuba!

This January a group of us went to Havana, Cuba for class for 10ish days. It was wonderful and warm and pretty and the Cuban people were so nice to us. They're such happy people and it's crazy to see colorful buildings and retro cars that are falling apart while everyone walks around with a smile. 

We got there pretty early in the day and three of us ended up walking around for a place to eat. 

We ended up in this little square and at first we walking into this Restaurant that Ernest Hemingway used to go to or something to do with him, I'm not awesome at history, I have no idea. But 'Floradita' was crazy packed and was full of tourist drinking and while we did take photos, we decided not to eat there. 

Instead we went right next door to 'La Pina De Plata' which had the cutest decorations. Our first taste of Cuba on our own, and it was great. This meal was when we realized that Cuba takes it easy. Meals are slow going and very social. Turns out you don't go to a restaurant when you're hungry, you go before you are because by the time the food gets to you, you're starving. 

La Pina De Plata was delicious and was such a great experience. Of course the food was relatively cheap for us and came with more than enough food. I ordered chicken and rice because...Cuba. It ended up coming with plantain chips which turned out to be a favorite with my friends and me. First meal in Cuba: Success!