First, a welcome to any new StumbleUpon readers – quite a few visited yesterday. I hope you enjoy the site and stick around.

I apologize for the lack of posts recently – I haven’t eaten out much. I do have a slew of posts brewing, including, but not limited to:

• A review of the amazing new limited edition Amano bar (did you ever buy the other one?)
• A review of the floral line of Richart chocolates
• A book review of Tsukiji by Theodore Best
• A movie review of The Future of Food
• Interesting road trips (re-cap my 47 Michelin Stars in 24 Days and Road Trip Across America trips from last year)
• How I turned 20lbs of fat into 10lbs of muscle using the Body by Fish Workout #1 routine
• The long, hard road to the infamous 300 workout (I am just beginning.)
• My AirCombat USA adventure complete with video
• And meal reviews of Marinus, General’s Daughter, maybe Quince, surely more Manresa, hopefully Bin 8945, and more.

The posts will begin trickling into the blog beginning next week; some are longer-term projects (it may be a long while til you read the 300 post.)

Meanwhile, I’ve been planning a short jaunt to Spain in Fall. The basic schedule reads “fly into Barcelona, race to San Sebastian on the cop-free desert road, run down to Madrid, stop & eat at El Poblet, and return to Barcelona.” Restaurants/food on the itinerary include:

• Etxebarri – This has the potential to be my favorite meal of all-time – a man, his grill, and perfect seafood. A few key blog posts have mythologized this place and I hope it meets my very high expectations.
• Mugaritz (redux) – The first meal still ranks as the most unique meal I’ve ever had with a trio of desserts that outshine even Sam Mason.
• Pinxto in San Sebastian – Gunbara for mushrooms, Txepetxa for anchovies, and Astelena for slightly upscale tapas. Does anyone have other recent recommendations?
• Combarro – This will be added for the Madrid portion of the tour.
• El Poblet – The Opinionated About review is thoroughly convincing; the Living Forest and Abstraction of the Sea dishes sound quite different.
• Hispania or Sant Pau – perfect ingredients or another facet of the Spanish cutting edge? There’s no time for either one.
• Rias de Galicia – old school seafood that some say will be the benchmark.  Chez Pim recently ate there as did the New York Times.
• Jamonisimi – My ham-loving friend says their Salamanca is a life-changing event. See some recent beautiful pictures at Foodite.
• El Quim de la Boqueria – it’s tapas in the middle of the bustling market but the langostines from my trip last year were nearly as good as those found in the French 3 star restaurants.

These restaurants were considered but left off of the itinerary due to time constraints:

• Can Roca – My second meal there last year gets better and better in the memory bank. Meanwhile, Foodite has some excellent recent pictures. There is always next year.
• Elcano – It is probably better than pinxto but this just can’t be squeezed in despite these stunning pictures and this review.

And these restaurants are being considered to fill in the remaining gaps (2-3 meals in Madrid and 1-2 in Barcelona.) If you have any opinions, or additional suggestions, please leave them in the comments:

• Abac (BCN)
• Gaig (BCN)
• Hisop (BCN)
• Ot (BCN)
• Santa Maria (BCN)
• Kabuki (MAD)
• O’Pazo (MAD)
• Ca’Sento (Valencia)

- chuck