Food and Drink

Everything about things to eat and drink. Recipes and restaurants and cafes too.

A small travel and a big decision

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments


We went to Falset, just for one night, to see an aunt.
They are becoming very rare these aunts of ours, though of course we are the aunts and uncles of the next generation.
Falset is famous for wine and olive oil and for me it is always a great pleasure to visit this particular aunt because she likes to eat out. Every day. Breakfast and lunch. It’s heaven!
Why?  Well, my vegetarian sensibilities can make eating in other peoples homes rather awkward in such a meat eating culture. (I say sensibilities because although I was 100% vegetarian for 30 years I began to include first fish and then chicken and even beef when necessary, in my diet.
But from January 2013 I intend to renew my vows and go 100% again)

In a restaurant I can chose what I want and don’t need to eat everything for fear of offending my host.
Today we had lunch in the swimming-pool restaurant in Falset. There was a Menu for 9 or 10 euros, depending on if you had three or four courses

Here it is translated into English:
Starter 
Green Salad or Fruit juice
First Course
Macaroni(with minced beef)
Caesar Salad with chicken and parmesan
Meat and vegetable soup – a consommé
Chickpea stew with pigs stomach
Second Course
Nuggets with vegetables – no idea what this was but I’m sure it was meat
Steak with vegetables
Hake with ratatouille
Knuckles of pork with potatoes
Pudding
Fruit or crema catalana or ice-cream or yoghurt

You get bread, wine and water included in this price which makes it very reasonable and a great way to eat your main meal – if you eat meat!

So what did I have?
First the salad, after checking that it didn’t include lots of ham and sausage as happened the day before in another lovely but very traditional country restaurant (there was a van outside loaded up with a huge and very dead wild boar!)
Then I asked for just the ratatouille with chips, minus the fish, which was utterly delicious

I finished off with Crema Catalana of course.
As I am going to be totally vegetarian again very soon in a very carnivorous society I am looking at ways I can continue to eat out cheaply and well without feeling hard done by. Vegetarians are very invisible in Catalunya – it reminds me of Britain in the 1970’s when you were seen as very eccentric and cranky if you said you didn’t want to eat meat or fish. People here have told me they don’t know any vegetarians! (Is that a bit like saying you don’t know any gay people without realising they probably are just keeping quiet in your presence?) I remember in the UK things began to change gradually until now of course it is unusual not to have some dishes marked with a V.
Did it really all begin with the restaurant Cranks?
Traditional food here is pretty ‘hearty’ and I get the feeling that not getting stuck into a side of pork is sometimes seen as a bit namby-pamby. I was too comfortable in my vegetarian-friendly world of Hackney and then Penzance. Now I am going to get a bit more animal-conscious in a not so understanding environment. Hopefully with a more mature ability to accept the dietary decisions of others than when I did this the first time round,  I am going to start being a more visible vegetarian!

PS and to celebrate my new committment I have created a hashtag on Twitter in order to share information about restaurants in Catalunya which offer vegetarian food #veggiecat
If you know of anywhere interesting please add it there.

Amma is in Granollers

~ Kate Wilson ~ Leave a comment

Here are two images from my day.
I set off at 7.30am to queue for a ticket to receive a hug from Amma and here is the photo of my bike ride home at 3am

Granollers is heaven for cyclists being so flat and it is especially wonderful at night when there is no traffic and no people getting in your way on the main shopping street.
Amma is here for three days and the sports centre where she can be seen is right down the road from our house. It is a long straight road with a breast shaped mountain at the end.

It was a good day.  I felt more at home there than the first time I went two years ago.
It is hypnotic watching the people receiving their embraces.
She is incredible – I left just now around 3am and she was still receiving people, still smiling.
There is live music and chanting throughout the day – again it felt more familiar and less alien than last time. Something has changed for me in these two years! 
I found myself thinking that perhaps at last I am ready to visit India!
One thing that has not changed is my love of a masala dosa.

All the food was wonderful.  Made by volunteers in huge kitchen tents.
Some women sitting opposite me smiled across the table seeing how happy I was to be eating it in Granollers.   The drink is a mango lassi. Oh Indian restaurants – I miss you.

La Molina

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

We took the train from Canovelles Granollers Nord on Saturday, risking snow and freezing temperatures to go to the mountains to look for mushrooms.
Ah the mushroom hunt!  It always takes place in wooded areas and you can’t walk along the main pathes but must bend and twist under branches and through thickets.
All very slowly!
For me it is an act of love to go along as I want to walk fast and forward, especially when it is so cold.  I don’t think I am a natural mushroom hunter and I am not crazy about eating them either.
But the colours were lovely

 The area around La Molina where we got off the train was almost deserted

 Except for fierce looking cows with large horns which would appear as if from nowhere to scare us

 The town itself is hardly a village and almost all the houses were shuttered up as it’s not skiiing season yet. I suppose this is what a resort looks like in the low/dead season

 There were three lonely cafes open and when we went into the one by the station we were the only customers.  When we came back to catch the train home the temperature had dropped radically and the station was as totally empty as the town. For about 20 minutes I considered the prospect of being marooned there – freezing to death without even a hotel or a taxi to save us.  But the train arrived and we were warm at last and Bonnie slept all the way back.
Bonnie had a lovely day and we found many mushrooms, some of which we ate on getting back home…..and survived.

And there was a Dolmen -always a nice reminder of Cornwall.   Next post will be more on the mushroom theme but here are some crocus I found on the way – such a surprise!

More cake

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

A lovely family lunch today and someone brought cake!
The one with nuts on top is made from a kind of squash and is called Coca de Cabell D’Àngel’.

Cabell D’Àngel means Angel Hair.
The fruity one has crema inside – no need to tell you that there isn’t much left of that one! They were both delicious.

Interesting family fact of the week……here the word for parents is ‘pares’ which is also the word for fathers. The word for siblings is ‘germans’ which actually means brothers. It is a common mistake for people learning English to ask about your fathers or your brothers, regardless of gender.

Lunch in Borassà

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Before arriving in Sant Nicolau I usually go to get some shopping in Borassà.  It is the nearest village with a friendly supermarket. So friendly that this time, although we arrived late and they were closed, when they saw me trying to open the door, they let me in and waited while I did a speed shop – butter, milk, wine, dog food, chocolate.

Then we went for lunch in the village restaurant, Mas Pla,  which has a menu for 14 euros. As I usually come here alone I hadn’t been there yet so it was good to give it a try.
It’s a very traditional Catalan restaurant – what do I mean by that?

Well it is partly the decor which is old world country cosy and comfortable. It is also the relaxed atmosphere that I have usually found in these places – they let us bring Bonnie inside to lie under the table and later when families started to arrive for lunch, their children came over to talk with us and to try to talk with Bonnie. If you know Bonnie you also know this isn’t a great idea. She’s not very child friendly until after half an hour of playing ball with them.
But she was quite patient, so long as they didn’t get too close she confined herself to lifting her lip.

Back to the restaurant. The other characteristic of traditional Catalan cooking is that it doesn’t include anything vegetarian. It’s not that they don’t care about their vegetarian clients, it’s more that they aren’t aware of their existence. And I don’t help – now that I eat some meat and also fish, I never ask for vegetarian food so I am another invisible statistic.  I could have had ensaladilla russa for the first course but then what?  I really must try one day so see if they would make me an omelette to have with chips, or perhaps give me a selection of vegetables with rice.  But would this be charged at a separate price or allowed as part of the menu?  I will do research and get back to you.

So, at last, here is what we ate.
Kate
Tarta de verdures i gambas (of course there had to be something to stop it being vegetarian!)

Bonitol amb samfaina ( Catalan ratatouille)

Pep
Amenida d’advocat amb gambas

Orada al forn amb patates

Puddings -which we were so busy eating I only took one – pre-nibbled – photo

Pastis de xocolata
Pastis de Matò i poma

Bread and a large carafe of red wine included in the price, of course!
We were wondering if British diners would be happy to be presented with a whole fish like the Orada?  Personally I prefer my fish headless and when possible without bones but I am sure I am not typical.  Any thoughts?