XOXO

In the majority of Spanish bars, with most cold drinks, you will be given some sort of accompaniment. A few olives, a handful of nuts or a nut mix, a few crisps, maybe some panchitos (generic for cheesy puff, Monster Munch sort of crisp type things that aren't crisps) or even sugary sweets. You won't, generally, get anything with a coffee or tea, except maybe a biscuit. Obviously only the insane drink hot drinks with anything but bakery products. Some bars are more generous than others and some only serve the extras at given times. Something that used to be common, as an accompaniment, but aren't so much nowadays, are altramuces, lupin seeds. 

To digress, as I so often do, as I mentioned frutos secos (the nuts or nut mixes) I remember that they caused me problems when I was teaching English. To me it looked like a direct translation - dried fruits. So I'd go into a long spiel with the students about how the things that had a shell that had to be broken to get to the edible kernel inside - almonds, hazelnuts, peanuts, walnuts and so on - were called nuts in English while things like sultanas, prunes, raisins and the like were dried fruits. I could never understand why Spaniards were so slow to grasp the concept; in fact it was me. The Spaniards recognised the two different words - fruto and fruta - and I didn't. The first is the idea of produce or product and the second is fruit. So they were wondering why I was babbling on about why frutos secos - for nuts and the dry mixes - were different from frutas secas - dried fruit when exactly the same distinction is made in Spanish.

Back at altramuces, lupin seeds; they're shaped like large smarties or the flying saucer shaped M&Ms (and, if you're old enough, the all chocolate Treets of yesteryear). They get called chochos. Now chocho is a word used to describe a part of the body that (at least in the old two sex days) was specific to women. I've heard chichi too. Indeed someone asked Maggie if XOXO at the end of a greeting in a birthday card spelled chocho - I suppose the suggestion was that it was some sort of sex code. I quite like them, the plant seed snack that is. Spaniards generally separate the outer skin from the inner kernel. I can't be bothered and usually eat the whole lot. They're salty and a bit slimy. You can buy them in supermarkets in jars usually, stored in brine. They can be cooked but usually they're eaten cold alongside a drink as an aperitivo. Unlike edamame beans they are not, at all, trendy.

Mossets it is

Mossets is, apparently, the Valencian language equivalent of tapa, or, in the plural, tapas. I presume that you know about tapas, it's one of those words that is now as English as coup or zeigeist. Tapas are little snacks.

Normally, around these parts we're not big on free tapas. You often get a handful of crisps, a few olives, or some nuts with your beer but it's an optional extra. It's not the same in Andalucia. The last time I was in Guadix I forgot that we had crossed a frontier and I made the typical foreigner abroad mistake of telling the waiter that I hadn't ordered the mini hamburger that he had just put down in front of me. In Andalucia substantial tapas alongside your drink are still dead common.

I think of the town I pay my rates to as being called Pinoso but, just to continue the Valenciano lesson, lots of people refer to it by its Valencian name of el Pinós. And the publicity says El Pinós a Mossets or something like Pinoso out for a bite to eat.

Tapas trails are a bit old hat nowadays. They've been around for ages. A bunch of bars and restaurants sign up to produce a tapa or two for the trail during a set period. Some organisation, like the local town hall or the chamber of trade, puts together a little leaflet or booklet which lists the participating establishments and what they have on offer. Usually it's a set price offer for a drink and a tapa. People do some or all of the route and usually vote for their favourite tapa with a prize draw included.

In my opinion Pinoso has never quite got this right. The first year of the route participants had to go to every bar if they wanted to vote and enter the prize draw. Not only did this make full participation relatively expensive and time consuming but it also meant that there was no real incentive for a bar to be innovative. Good for you if, as a bar, you mixed tastes and traditions in your tapa but punters still had to go to the bar offering a bit of ham on bread if they wanted to vote. It also took no account of personal likes and dislikes - you don't eat fish - tough luck, you're a vegetarian - forget it. A couple of the participating eateries were also out of town which was a bit of a snag if you didn't have transport. Actually living away from town is a disadvantage too. The set price is 2€ and includes a beer or a wine. If you want a soft drink it costs more. I'm sure though that the town hall has no interest in incentivizing drinking  and driving.

Despite my moaning we've been out of course. We've been to half a dozen places so far and one of the major improvements this time is that you "only" need to go to a dozen of the seventeen places participating. It's still too many but it is a step in the right direction.