Necessary Characteristics of Life in Spain - Part II

Just to review (in case you forgot or didn't read yesterday) the two essential characteristics of life here in Spain are 1) the ability to laugh at yourself and 2) strong legs.

If the bus story didn't confirm that, then let me tell you about my pig.  Yep - pig - the four legged animal that goes oink. 

NO I do not have a live pig, but I got a good portion of a pig yesterday.  On the menu for lunch today was pulled pork bar-b-q sandwiches.  I have found that most co-workers or friends use tenderloin to make pulled pork (no, bar-b-q is not a food that Spaniards eat).  Being the good southern that I am, I actually preferred to use the Boston Butt - more fat and thus juicier.

So first my lesson in butchering - a Boston Butt does not come from the butt of a pig, it comes from the shoulder.  Now my Spanish lesson - how to say shoulder (hombro - being careful not to say hambre for hunger or hombre for man).  Armed with my butcher and language knowledge I headed to the butcher shop.

Stop - you need a few more details for this make sense - Earlier in the day I had been to Madrid to look at a possible used car (liked the car, but it had been a smoker's car - so it is off the list).  I was running late getting back into town and had to get meat before they closed for siesta.  I decided to park as close to the meat store as possible instead of our apartment.

I went into the meat store and attempted to ask for the hombro de cerdo (the shoulder of a pig).  The meat guys are fabulous - they have a ton of patience and laugh with me.  We acted it out, we repeated it and finally he appeared to understand.  He headed into the cooler with his big knife, came back out with the big knife, propped the cooler opened, disappeared for a minute, and then my mouth fell open - he was carrying the entire leg (including skin and hoof) of a pig!  I mean the entire leg!  Had I just committed to buying more than I wanted?  Picture that conversation - me trying to tell Scott why I bought an entire leg of a pick?!

I sighed a huge sigh of relief when he pulled out his knife and pointed to the shoulder and asked how much.  I was cooking for a friend, so I asked for 3 or 4 kilos - between 6 and 9 pounds.  Then he asked if I wanted the skin or not - that was an easy question - NO!  He cut out the entire shoulder and weighed it - 3.75 kilos so I took it - the whole thing!  He was a little overwhelmed that I really wanted the whole thing.

He cut it apart, I ordered chicken for another meal, and headed out the door with the entire shoulder of a pig.  I went across the street for onions, tomatoes, and avocados.  Still needed to go to the bread store, but decided I'd rather carry it all instead of trying to move the car and find a new parking place.  Walked the 5 minutes to the bread store, ordered my bread, walked another 5 minutes to our apartment, set down my bags to get my keys out and realized my keys were in my coat pocket.  And guess where my coat was?

Yep, in the car.... a 5 - 7 minute walk back - and oh yeah, did you remember I was carrying the entire shoulder of a pig around this whole time?

Again, two necessary characteristics - sense of humor at oneself and strong feet (and strong arm and backs if you intend to carry around a pig's shoulder).  By the way, the bar-b-q today was fabulous!