Sisters, Easter and a foodie break in Madrid

So it's Easter and my sisters are over from the UK :-) There they are above in the Plaza Mayor. We've had a pretty laid-back few days, and as usual with us, our time has been entirely arranged around the places we've wanted to go to eat. On the first day we had lunch in the Mercado de San Miguel, a place which I've blogged before. We did a little 'stall crawl' here, first a bar serving small flatbreads (I think they are Basque but I don't know their name) topped with jamon and butifarra sausage, then a croquetas kiosk where we had prawn, squid (with its ink), jamon and chorizo croquettes. The next day we went to one of my old favourites for pinxtos - Txirimiri in La Latina - wild mushroom and truffle croquettes, baby fava beans with foie and a goat's cheese and tomoto confit salad - followed by a kind of chocolate fondant cake and, best of all a tarte tatin with a toffee ice-cream which was almost salty - very very good and service with a smile. Today we were thinking about having a bit of a cultural diversion (as this is Mimi's third time in Spain and she hasn't been to the Prado museum yet), but after a very late night yesterday we were fit for little other than lying in this morning... The evening started out with some dear friends of mine at Eucalipto, a cosy Cuban place at C/Argumosa 2 where they serve great South American and Caribbean cocktails and delicious tropical juices. Next was a midnight dinner at Melos - a scruffy, loud Galician stand up bar near my house where you get the creamiest, most bechamel-liquidy croquettes (these little deep fired balls of delight have played something of a starring role this Easter) and really good pimientos de padron (griddled slightly spicy baby green peppers with sea salt) plus Galician Ribeiro wine served in little white bowls. This was followed, rather embarrassingly, by dancing to Black Eyed Peas in my flat - and there is an unfortunate video documenting this event which is not going to get posted here! Tomorrow, and weather permitting, we will have a picnic in the Retiro park - we're thinking baguettes, pate, cured meats and cheeses, olives and something sweet for afters - can't wait :-)