Jamon Serrano and Melon

There's a lovely Spanish restaurant in Menlo Park that Barnaby and I used to frequent when we lived in the Bay Area. We'd ride our bikes the one or so mile from our apartment in Palo Alto to the charming little bougainvillea covered building. We rarely sat in the main dining room, and instead headed to the tapas bar where we'd cozy up in one of the intimate two-person booths or sit back in a pair of the over-sized leather chairs.

We had a repertoire of tapas dishes that we'd always order, but one of my favorites was jamon serrano; gorgeous ham hand-sliced from a whole leg which, clamped in a beautiful wood and iron stand, sat upon the bar counter. Sometimes we'd have it on toasted bread rubbed with garlic and tomato (called Pa Amb Tomaquet in Catalan), other times we'd simply ask for a few nice slices to go with our olives.

Another favorite preparation, Italian-style with fresh juicy melon (called prosciutto crudo in Italian). Spanish or Italian, you can't go wrong with this ham.