Culture and Customs

Virtual Vermut

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

It’s Friday and time to wind down and relax.
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!

El Clàssic or Yet another football post

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

Tomorrow evening there is a football match between Barcelona and Madrid. It’s called El Clasico or El Clàssic in Catalan, and is the name given to any match between these two teams. It is one of the most watched football matches in the world – hundreds of millions of people glued to their TV screens, as well as the lucky ones who are actually there to see it live.
As I’ve said before, I don’t know much about football, but it is easier to learn about it when it grabs your attention like this does.
To show how ignorant I am in general I will embarrass myself by admitting that I didn’t know there was a  Barça/Madrid match tomorrow night until I just saw it on TV.  Then I noticed something interesting – I felt nervous!  I realised it makes me anxious thinking about it and I know that when I am watching the game there will be butterflies in my stomach.
Weird isn’t it?
Five Things I Have Learnt About El Clàssic
1/   Real Madrid has more supporters in Spain than Barça does while Barça has more support in Europe. Worldwide, Real Madrid appears to win the number of supporters competition with over 228 million fans according to some studies. Perhaps if you keep expanding your horizon to include the universe,  Barça would come out top!
2/   Barça has won more Classic matches than Real Madrid.  Barça 103 – Real Madrid 90 (I’ve never seen them lose which is one reason for my pre-match anxiety)
3/   More players have switched from Barça to Madrid than the other way around with 17 going to the Spanish capital and only 4 coming to Catalunya. I wonder why? More money offered by Madrid?  Barça preferring to get new players elsewhere?
4/   The other rivalry is between the team coaches – Guardiola and Mourinho.  They share a first name but for Guardiola it is the Catalan version Josep/Pep and Mourinho is known as Jose.  In English? Joseph or Joe.

5/  When they speak in the after match discussion it is impressive how easily Guardiola slips between languages but I have just read that Morinho too speaks English, Italian, Spanish, French as well as Portuguese.  Guardiola speaks English, French, Italian, Spanish and Catalan so in this match there is a draw!

Meal time

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

I was thinking tonight about the difference in eating habits here and how easily I have settled into a new pattern although there was much I found strange when I first arrived.
I want to try and describe those things which are typical rather than idiosyncrasies of this family I have joined.

Breakfast
Many people don’t eat too much first thing in the morning. A coffee and perhaps a little muffin or Madeleine will do.
Around 11am many people take a break called Esmorzar which translates as breakfast. Now is the time to have a sandwich or a pastry or croissant.

Lunch
This is eaten much later than I was used to. I remember the first time a friend invited me to lunch with her at 3pm I thought all the restaurants would have stopped serving. But no – lots of people sit down to eat anytime after 2pm and before 4pm. This is the largest meal of the day and if you eat from the Menu in a restaurant (often the best way to get good value) you will have three or sometimes four courses followed by a coffee. The menu price includes bread and wine but not the coffee at the end. In many local restaurants the bottle of wine will be left with you at the table so you can refill your glass at no extra charge. But I think it would be thought rude and uncouth to just guzzle your way through the whole thing!

Teatime
This is a little snack called Berenar which is taken around 6pm, and not everyone does it but it’s amazing how often you fancy a little something around this time!

Supper
This could be as early as 9pm or as late as midnight. When I first arrived, used to eating my main meal at the end of the day, I would cook something complicated for supper. Gradually i realised that it is fine to offer pizza or soup or a toasted sandwich. I like eating lighter at the end of the day and the late hour doesn’t bother me at all. This however is the meal most visitors complain about when they arrive. Having eaten their lunch far too early and not eaten enough, the stretch until 9 or 10pm feels unbearable to them and they end up making something to eat around 7pm and can’t understand why everyone else isn’t hungry.

I didn’t mention the siesta or migdiada or as it is called in Catalan. If you have the time and are in the right place there is nothing nicer than eating your full lunch then settling down on the sofa with a friend and perhaps a book, to rest and let your digestion do its work in peace. It is a little time out when I feel that god is in his heaven and all is right with the world.

Kings

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

Today just lots of photos. It is the day before Epiphany – when the Kings arrived to greet Jesus with their gifts. This is a big holiday here and in fact perhaps more happily anticipated than Christmas.  I went out to watch the parade in Granollers and on the way home bought the cake of the Kings.
I started off at the corner of our street

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

saw Gaspar

Melchor

and Balthazar

on their tractor driven floats.
Got pelted with sweets from the lorry with all the pages

almost was trampled by the people fighting over said sweets

(some people brought umbrellas to catch as many as possible)

and then finally we ate the cake after supper

This year I found the little figure of the king hidden inside.
This means I am King for the day.
If I had found the little bean it would have meant paying for the cake
But what does Kings mean?  Kings means presents!!!!!

The Resident Adolescent got a new snowboard and boots.

I got a brand new CD by Anna Roig with this wonderful track which translated means  ‘I will draw a moustache with a red pen on the photo we took in Paris’.  It’s in Catalan by the way – not Spanish!

 

Santa Susanna

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Such a strange place – a lovely long beach and a caravan and camping site right on the edge of the sand

Then a railway track. Then the main road and then a large nothingness and further inland a very new town which seems as if it was plonked here just to serve the coastal tourist part

But if you just stay close to the beach it’s very pleasant and I can imagine coming back again and trying to get a beach side plot so I can put my breakfast table outside the van to sit there watching the sea and the sun rise.
And it’s only 32km from Granollers.
There are hundreds of camper vans – some enormous – some even more basic than mine. Mostly they have come from Germany and Belgium. Because of this it wasn’t too noisy on New Years Eve – about an hour of petardos thrown by local children and then peaceful silence

Petardos are firecrackers and I wasn’t aware of them before coming to Catalunya where they are commonly used by children of all ages to celebrate such things as the feast of St John in midsummer, Barça winning a football match and on New Years Eve. I just discovered that firecrackers were invented in China in the 9th century and were banned in the UK from 1997. They are designed to make noise rather than light and some of them are mini explosions which you just have to get used to if you live in Spain!
Blue is pleased to report one great advantage of being deaf – she is no longer bothered by fireworks!

One of the closed restaurants has a resident colony of cats

Bonnie enjoyed the beach but continues to have battles with Duna who is struggling to accept the changes this last month has brought to her life