CWT Journal – August 26, 2026 / Barcelona

Today Mom and Dad headed to Fitness Park while the girls came along for a much more appealing workout: a huge outdoor playground with a three-story slide, climbing ropes, jungle gym, and mini waterpark. Before they could possibly get wet, however, they discovered the neighboring mall and bought new bathing suits—a troubling habit they seem to have inherited directly from their mother.

After a couple hours of good old-fashioned kid play, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed home. With the girls finally tired out, everyone got to work: homeschool for them, and Army and BIOMEND work for Dad.

That evening Dad made the girls dinner, and Mom and Dad escaped for a three-hour market tour and paella class at Paella Barcelona Cooking School. Our host, Matteo, first took us shopping for the night's ingredients: mussels, small lobsters, shrimp, and cuttlefish. We learned an important mussel survival tip: closed is good; open is suspicious—but give it a tap. If it closes, it's alive and usable. If it stays open, don't eat it.

Then came our crash course in Spanish food lore. Matteo told us that tapas supposedly originated as little plates placed over glasses of wine to keep out flies—tapa literally means “cover.” We learned that paella is actually the Valencian/Catalan word for the wide, shallow pan itself, with the dish eventually taking its name from the vessel in which it is cooked. And we heard the colorful tale that sangria grew out of an era when questionable drinking water made diluted wine a safer choice—even for youngsters—although the modern drink we call sangria came much later.

Finally, Matteo introduced us to the porrón, a traditional glass wine vessel with a long pointed spout. The challenge is to pour a stream directly into your mouth from increasingly ridiculous distances without touching the spout—or wearing the wine. Apparently red wine is traditional, but after assessing our technique, Matteo wisely downgraded us to white.

Somehow, despite all of this, we actually cooked an outstanding seafood paella and enjoyed a fantastic meal together.

In Spain, apparently even learning to cook involves drinking wine from across the room.