Which is what we did. We went to La Garriga to the Balneari for a few hours of swimming and floating and steaming and cleaning. We had invited a friend from Barcelona to come as a birthday present and it was even more special as we had the place to ourselves almost all the time
We were there over two hours and it cost about 30 euros each.
It was my second visit there and next time I must try the other one – Termes de La Garriga. Then there is the Victoria in Caldes, several in Santa Coloma de Farners and the special one in Puigcerda. If I am ever to write the English guide to Catalan balnearis (mineral bathes) I better start exploring.
If we sat together for a vermut today I would probably show you my photos of the wall near our house
I love the colour of this door. The notice is about the Grua which is the lorry that comes and tows away your car if it is parked in the wrong place. Here they are taking a coffee break near the Toy bar.
It’s easy to be in the wrong place as almost every second door is an entrance to a garage and you can’t park or even stop there. It makes Granollers a nightmare for parking
Also I always hesitate before saying ‘I am sorry’ as the words are too close for my liking. An apology is Em Sap Greu. Greu and Grua – not so different. The literal meaning of Grua is a crane. Then there is the word Gual as seen above. What on earth does that mean?
I have been in a cooking phase this week. Is it something to do with the absence of resident adolescent? It is heart sinking to cook when he is around as he won’t eat anything that isn’t simple meat, pasta, pizza or chips. Somehow it takes the fun out of it. And he hates anything spicy.
So this week I have made
1/ Nut and Vegetable rissoles
2/ Rice Pudding
3/ Mexican Tortillas
4/ Baked salmon with potatoes dauphinoise
5/ Fideua`
This last you do in a paella pan – the sort with little holes in them
I hadn’t made this dish before and it is typically made with seafood and a fish stock. I was experimenting with a vegetarian version and it worked better than expected, especially nice with a little alioli on the side. And a glass or three of cava.
And now as I am trying to watch Pa Negre on the TV why not drop by Bodhi Chicklet and see if she has dug out her bottle of vermut. I need to concentrate to understand a film totally in Catalan. It was put forward for the Oscars this week as Spains foreign language film and almost got nominated. Imagine that – and it’s not in Spanish!
I’ll be right over. I have just a few “i”s to dot and “t”s to cross and then pick up Riley at the train station…save me a glass!
I will say my bones are aching for those “spas” and mineral springs and my stomach for that paella-like pan of delight. I have not fed myself well today, having been, extra ordinarily on-my-own and so looking at that pan has my mouth watering and my belly growling. grrrrrrr! I will have to send you a photo or two of some of our more perplexing parking signs – we often have one pole with four or five signs stating when you can park, and only if you have a special residency permit but only in a month with an “R’ in it and when the moon is waxing and not waning….Ooooo – maybe we can start a new challenge to find the most crazy parking sign!
That spa looks HEAVENLY!!!!! Hmmmmm……
A gual: http://www.diccionari.cat/lexicx.jsp?GECART=0071814
This is actually a great dictionary but it’s catalan catalan, I think you’re level’s high enough now, and if you double click on a word you don’t understand, it’ll take you to the entry.
OH! And a friend of mine gave me a sandwich that she’d made, as in she’d made the bread…and it was AWESOME!!!! (that is very good, my brit family is confused by the word). She gets the flour pre-packaged at Lidel – one of the supermarkets here, it’s German, and it was for ‘pa de pipes’ and it has – get this – not all white flour!!!!! All you do is add water, knead, let it rise, repeat, and cook!
I am ridiculously over excited about this.
It was very very good bread.
Love those spas! Would like a weekend at one of them about now.