While in Spain last month I had many wonderful experiences. I captured many of them on film and am enjoying reliving them. The following photo accompanies the kind of story that is just weird enough to be true.

Our story takes place in a little restaurant in Segovia called Meson de Candido that's over 220 years old. That's right. 220 years old. Geez, we won't even go to the dumpy McDonalds, (blog whore, anyone?), that hasn't been renovated in 3 years. This restaurant was built in 1786. Now, the story goes that they have always prepared the perfect suckling piglet. The proof of a perfectly cooked piglet is that it can be cut with the side of a plate. That's right. A plate. Now you can't just go around claiming to be a master piglet cooker and cutting them with plates willy-nilly. Nooooooooo... only the King of Spain could authorize a restaurant to use a plate. He had to personally sample it, declare it perfect, and then bless the use of a plate to cut the piglet. (Of course, I can't help but wonder if piglet cutting fraud was a big problem back then, but it's really beside the point...) The King did sample and declare Meson de Candido to be authorized to cut the piglet with a plate. And the grandson of the man who received that blessing is pictured here, doing what he does best:



It was friggin' delicious. It ranks in the top 5 meals I've ever eaten. (Another post for another time.) The piggy meat just fell off the bones. I didn't need a knife to eat it. It was so tender and juicy that I probably could have used a straw. Oh baby! I got a hind leg. It was yummy. I also got the nads. I ate one. Not bad.

There's no impetus behind this post unless you stretch the rationale thus: Easter, Easter ham, ham, plate-cut piglet. And for my next trick...