Barcelona has a secret place in my heart because it was the first destination on my move to Europe and Italy. You can read what exciting thing happened to me the moment I landed. Years later, the things that stick in my mind aren’t the museums and sights of Barcelona but the time I spent with other people, and how I was getting to know myself in an unfamiliar place.

Here’s an excerpt from a post when I first landed in 2003 (now private, I have to keep some secrets!) on a day when I wandered in Barcelona and found Gaudi:

I have hours to kill before I have to be back at the train station, so I stash my big bag and head out to see Parc Güell, where I was eager to see all of Gaudi’s designs. I am armed with a metro map and a guide book with no metro indicators or information. I take the metro stop that looks to be the closest, get off, and start walking. After missing a few signs, I finally find one that says Park Guell and I follow…follow…follow. I see the last sign pointing to the right, and then a dirt path. I start walking up it, and then stairs, and more stairs, and then some more stairs. Each level of stairs I get to has a dirt path running off each side, around the mountain I am scaling. After a while, I imagine the mountain beginning to taunt me.

Pretty soon, I’ve done more stairs than a Power Hour of Buns of Steel, and I’ hot and thinking that I am not lost, but hoping I will end up somewhere in the vicinity of where I am trying to be. I see not a single person, so at least I won’t get mugged. After getting my day’s exercise, I stumble out onto a clearing, of a breathtaking view of Barcelona from up high. I am actually above Park Guell, and I get a great view of the city as well as the undulating bench that I love.

This is close to what I saw after an hour of wandering (from this latest trip):

That said, my first trip to Barcelona was full of the things I was experiencing at the time: utter freedom, lack of direction, and fear of making mistakes that led me to hang out with four Irish guys for a few days while we took in the sights, drank beer & absinthe, and tried to stay up all night and lose myself in the party that is summer in Barcelona.

I had a great time. Barcelona showed me a side of herself, the fun-loving, party side.

This trip to Barcelona was completely different (much like my second trip to New York City…seeing a pattern here?). While before I stuck to easy questions like “What’s your favorite color?” and “Name 3 places you’d like to visit before you die,” our second date was completely different. We got inside each other’s heads, shared embarassing pictures our moms had been saving, and leaned on each other while we waited for the bathroom. Like old girlfriends.

I lost a few pictures of my first trip to Barcelona, but I’m sure the majority of the photos were like the one above – looking at what was around me, thinking it was making an impression on me, and using those pictures as reflections of what I thought was the makeup of the city.

This time around, I have very few scenic pictures, and a whole lot of people pictures. A lot of people like me, taking in doses of the city as background settings for the real memories they’ll have – of the people they met, shared a moment with, and absorbed their impression of Barcelona through reflections in their eyes.

I was lucky to be there with two of my favorite people in the world, who were visiting Barcelona for the first time, and who were also so cool that I didn’t have to play tour guide or pack a week’s worth of sightseeing into a weekend. We threw away the Top 10 lists and pared it down to a Top 3 with a whole smattering of eating, drinking, and enjoying the city thrown in. A short weekend, but at such an easy pace we enjoyed ourselves.

That’s how we found ourselves in a bar in the middle of the center filled with only locals who drew us into their jokes, their love stories, their amazing 3-piece band, and had us stumbling home after 4am after passing an entire night with new friends.

That’s how we found ourselves in the middle of Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria (or La Boqueria), all crowded around a small corner of a bar table and one bar stool, sipping Cava and munching on fried artichoke chips, and waiting for the time when we could all sit down and eat at El Quim and stay there for the next 3 hours, without a care in the world.

I can’t wait to share that meal with you, but for now I’ll share my second impressions of Barcelona with you.

What’s a city you gave a second chance to?

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Related Articles at Ms. Adventures in Italy:

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• 2011 Year in Review in Pictures
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These particular fried artichoke chips, or in Spanish chips de alcachofas fritas, (even more fun, in Catalan: xips de carxofes fregides) we devoured (and then savored when we ordered them a second time) when I was in Barcelona a few weeks ago at La Boqueria Market. More on that soon.

That’s what I’m craving. What about you?

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Whew. (that confession has lifted a weight off my chest)

Honopu Arch, Na Pali coast

With that being said, I’m not made of money and I don’t like to waste it, but time is money for me. Living in Italy I sometimes use travel agents (gasp!) to book flight/hotel combos (Istanbul & Berlin are examples of travel agent trips, as well as Thailand) because I prefer to spend the majority of my time focused on what I’ll do, eat, and see while I’m there instead of how I’ll be getting there.

Most of the places I want to visit have spent months or years on my “To See” list and when it comes time, I have a budget in mind already. If I find a solution in that budget, I go!

Thus is how Hawaii happened this summer. I didn’t have a traditional honeymoon, or any honeymoon, when I got married, and so we toyed around with the idea of going to Hawaii years later. I put this call for help on the Ms. Adventures in Italy Facebook page and got some great suggestions, but my mom ultimately sent me a few package options in my budget. Less than 24 hrs later, we were booked for Kauai. (If you’re curious, we went through Costco for a flight/hotel/car rental)

My good friend has a condo in Princeville that he rents out (definitely check it out – it was unavailable when we were visiting, so be sure to book early!) on Kauai so I had wanted to visit for years. I had been to Maui twice and enjoyed those trips but was looking forward to visiting “the Garden Island” and the supposedly quieter atmosphere.

It was exactly what we wanted – fewer tourists and very few crowds, very green, and plenty of relaxing and beach. At the airport on the way home, we even got a celebrity sighting when I ran into Evangeline Lilly (Kate from LOST) with her newborn and husband.

What more could you ask for?

Ha’Ena near Hanalei Bay

The definite highlight of the trip was our helicopter ride, which I strongly encourage everyone to try on the island. So much of the island is completely unreachable via car that you really get to see the island this way.

Doors off helicopter ready for takeoff

Manawaiopuna Falls (from Jurassic Park)

We chose the doors-off version of the helicopter ride (you are strapped in) and I couldn’t have been happier. Not only did you really feel “in” the experience, you didn’t have to worry about reflections or angling for great shots. PS: for the future, the right side of the helicopter on average gets better views, though he often does a complete 360 in place for those “money” shots.

Doors off helicopter ride

Kauai from the helicopter ride

We went on the helicopter ride on our second-to-last day, and I think if we’d had a little more time, and of course money, we would have booked another helicopter ride immediately. Props to Inter-Island helicopters – not only did we feel safe, their pilot was an expert tour guide and gave us a ton of great information. We wished it was longer!

Two waterfalls on Mt. Waialeale, one of the wettest places in the world

Below, a little video I made about some of the things we saw – fish while snorkeling, a double rainbow, and some video from our helicopter ride. Big thanks to Kodak Italia who gave me the PlaySport video camera which I used for all of the filming – my review of the camera will be going on my tech blog, When I Have Time, very soon.

Click through to see the video or go directly to my Kauai break video:

Disclosure: Nothing to see here. I didn’t receive compensation from any of the companies mentioned in this post. I received the Kodak video camera for free.

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Of course, I think about the absolutely fun time I had with Elise of Simply Recipes, Kathy of Panini Happy, Jaden of Steamy Kitchen and Deb of Lunch in a Box – their company made every course fun and we spent a lot of the time laughing.

But I remember the food, too. As Jaden said, it was a “Splurge of a Lifetime.” Definitely check out her pictures which are much better than mine – I left the DSLR at home for once, so I included some pics from my point-and-shoot below and an epic video of Grant making us dessert. Click through to see each photo bigger on Flickr.

I also reflected that I don’t want to eat like that often. Grant Achatz, the creator and chef, calls his type of dining “an emotional experience” and compares it to going to the theater or listening to a symphony.

I have to agree.

But it’s also a strong reminder that I rarely want to eat like that, so I can savor the times that I do, and continue to focus on how I want to approach food: real, simple, healthy.

Molecular gastronomy is at the opposite end of the spectrum of how I like to cook (with the exception of Parisien macarons and a few other sweets that definitely take some intricate steps), and it’s definitely the opposite of Italian food: simple, natural, and unpretentious. For fun, ask both an Italian and a French what they think of each others’ cuisine and sit back and be entertained (bonus points for doing it with them in the same room).

But.

But.

Much like being the guest at a very elaborate wedding, I was very pleased to be there but very glad that I wasn’t responsible for creating those dishes. And further confirmation I don’t want to go into the restaurant business. At least not doing that. (Hats off to those who actually attempted the Alinea at home cookbook)

And I admire people that put such passion and creativity into cooking. Grant Achatz’s memoir “Life on the Line” came out in March and I really enjoyed listening to his recent interview with Terry Gross on NPR’s Fresh Air – if you didn’t know, he was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2007 and lost his sense of taste for quite some time.

One of the things he said about the small portions they serve really resonated with me, especially since you know I’m eating better all around. His courses are often just one bite, sometimes a handful of bites. His reasoning?

“..by your fifth bite, you’re done with [the thing you're eating]. You know what it’s going to taste like, the actual flavor starts to deaden on the palate. If we were to make you take 10 more bites, by the time you got to bite 15, [it's] just not that compelling anymore.”

I think this is absolutely true and something to remember especially with our indulgences, which we should still have – complete deprivation is not the answer (as long as it’s not making you ill in some way). We probably only need a few bites to really enjoy it, and it’s a great feeling to stop before you get palate fatigue. Moderation, and keep your palate fresh.

I won’t walk you through the entire menu (and I sheepishly can’t remember all the ingredients, there were so many) but here are a few highlights. Where I could remember I included the course name in quotes and bolded.

The first course “Roe” was obviously several types of roe – fish eggs. I admit my stomach dropped into my shoes as I’m not a big fan (though I’ve eaten roe) and I didn’t want to admit having problems already at the first course. But down it went, and it was helped by the wine pairing served with the course.

Luckily for me, everything only got better from there.

I loved the presentation of “Pork Belly” but couldn’t describe the taste after so long.

“Lilac,” “Crab,” and “Hot Potato” were also nice but didn’t leave a lasting flavor or emotional impression.

“Wagyu Beef” was one of my favorites, a sort of deconstructed barbecue: pieces of wagyu beef, a fried potato concoction, and powdered “A-1 steak sauce.”

The piece de resistance, a stone vase that had been sitting in the middle of our table until this course, and when water was added, barbecue/smoke-scented smoke came out from the dry ice within.

I loved the concept of this course, “Tomato“, a summer garden filled with many vegetarian delights – the Parmesan snow in the lower right was cold and melted in your mouth…

…but what affected me the most was the bowls of basil and tomato branches and the dirt they were sticking out of. That really made me feel like I was in a garden (and I love smelling tomato branches when I buy them from the market).

“Black Truffle” with one of the ingredients listed as “explosion” is one of the most known dishes (or perhaps at the time). Notice that the spoon is resting on a bottomless plate – you had to put the entire thing in your mouth, close your lips, and bite down to get the hot broth explosion which was as good as we’d hoped.

One of my favorites which I didn’t expect it to be – “Pigeonneau” which was, you guessed it, squab (young pigeons raised to be eaten). I’ve had pigeon before – in Tuscany it was cooked in a cast iron pan and I kept reaching for the brown sticky leftovers – but it reminded me how much I liked it. The meat was very tender and the rest of the pastry had little surprises like the onion you see there (love onions).

Two of my favorite courses served together: “Bacon” which wasn’t, on a swing, and “Sweet Potato” stuck on smoldering cinnamon sticks that smelled delicious!

We had a lot of fun with these dessert “cigars” called “Bubble Gum” and rocking our raspberry “Transparency” shards in their appointed rockers, as well as the cool “Watermelon” ball looking thing in a glass.

“Mustard” has been forgotten…

…but “Rhubarb” is notable because the plates were set on pillows filled with lavender-scented air that slowly deflated as you ate (Grant talks about this in his NPR interview).

The “Chocolate” dessert course was my favorite, of course. Where else can you get a chef like Grant Achatz to cover your table in silicone and spend several minutes creating the dessert directly in front of you? Thyme, tobacco, blueberry, maple, and freeze-dried chocolate mousse were the flavors in this dessert and we had a lot of fun eating it, but perhaps more fun watching it get made – art in progress!

All the ingredients ready to be used in our “Chocolate” dessert.

And we got to talk to him the entire time. If you pay close attention, he explains it all as he’s doing it and answers some of our questions very patiently. (Click through to see the video below on my site or YouTube]

I told him thanks in my own way.

We got Grant to sign our menus which have become a fun keepsake for that night.

Grant explaining to us how a masterpiece works

The lovely ladies: Elise from Simply Recipes, Kathy from Panini Kathy

Biggie from Lunch in a Box, and Jaden from Steamy Kitchen

I’ll be speaking at BlogHer 2011 in August in San Diego, so hopefully I’ll get to see these ladies again, and we can have some more emotional experiences together in the form of food :)

What about you? Have you eaten at Alinea, or somewhere similar, and do you dream of this type of dining experience?

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• 2011 Year in Review in Pictures
• Heading to BlogHer 11 in San Diego
• Where to Find Great Italian Gelato: Tour del Gelato