Aubergines = Eggplant

Last night, Friday, we went out to dinner at our favorite spot, Don Benito. If it were socially appropriate to take pictures of the amazing food at this small, very Spanish restaurant, believe me I would have. But since I don't have pictures I will have to try and describe the deliciousness. And if your lucky enough to visit you can try it for yourself.

The first dish we ordered was tomatoes with olive oil, sea salt, and a bit of vinegar. Its simple, fresh, salty, and a nice way to start off the meal. Next we ordered "Cazón en Adobo", which is basically marinated fried fish. This is a very typical dish and one that we have ordered in other restaurants, but it seems to be the best and most fresh here. It comes out of the kitchen hot and sizzling, and we just stare at it, ready to eat even at the cost of burning our mouths. It has the perfect combination of crunchy on the outside tender on the inside. And the taste is overwhelmingly limey and fresh. One after another we pop these little fried fish balls into our mouths. They taste even better with a nice, heavy Cruzcampo beer to wash them down and cleanse our palettes.

Since this was our third time at the restaurant, we decided to take the suggestion of our waiter and order the special of the night, "Berenjena con Gambas". We had no idea what this meant in Spanish, so in an effort to help us understand the dish our waiter tried to speak English and said "Prawn", "Aubergine". Aubergine is British English. We say eggplant. Thankfully I learned this word from the 4th grade class I teach, who at the time was studying nutrition and reviewed the names of fruits and vegetables in English. So now that we knew what aubergine meant we decided to order the dish. From the moment we laid eyes on this beautiful dish we knew we would be back for a fourth visit to this restaurant. The eggplant, thinly sliced, was lightly fried and curled around a hidden prawn. The sauce was drizzled on top, a sweet brown sugar and soy sauce concoction with salt sprinkled on. When you bite into this mixture you taste my favorite combination of salty and sweet. And the eggplant together with the prawn is delicious. After we scarfed this down we realized that we may never have the opportunity to taste this again. So what did we do? We ordered another round. And it was just as good, if not better, the second time.

We left the restaurant full and happy, and a little bit tispy. After waking up today my mouth is still watering thinking about that amazing meal.