Celery stalks at midnight

Vegetables aren't so popular here. Salads are generally pretty boring, and entrees often don't involve vegetables at all. I'm not a huge fan of vegetables myself so I don't really mind, but sometimes I feel like I should be eating more of them. I was out for tapas last night and we were trying to decide on something vegetable-y to go with a plate of sausage and a bottle of wine (I do love Spain). We asked the bartender whether we should get asparagus or some other vegetable choice that I've since forgotten, and he got all excited about how we should try this other vegetable dish that's really good and comes with all sorts of sauces and it's really fun, blah blah blah. He really did describe the vegetable dish as "really fun" (muy divertido). So we ordered it. And we got a plate of carrots, celery, and broccoli, with ranch dressing, tomato sauce, and olive paste. More funny than fun, really. It was fine, and probably healthier than anything else on the tapas menu, but perhaps the least interesting thing I've eaten the whole time I've been here. But I guess since people here eat vegetables like that so rarely, it really was kind of novel. The bartender was still talking about it when we left.

And in all my rage at the evil bureaucrat, I guess I left out the punchline of my trip to the police station. The good news is that I did have all the right documents this time (although the evil woman tried to tell me that I didn't--luckily the woman working next to her intervened and told her she was a useless waste of space who doesn't know what she's doing an that I had everything I needed.... okay she probably didn't say that, but I like to imagine she did) and those documents are now being processed. In 30 days I have to go to another office and pay a tax of 5.48 euros, and then I'll get my residence card. Or something. Progress was made, anyway.