Food and Drink

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

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!

An early swim

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

FRIDAY
We had a lovely day. First we went to meet up with Oreneta who is another blogging friend, i.e. we met first through our blogs and eventually got together face to face too.  These connections are very important to me here and it was great to see where she lives as well as meet the famous Chuck!  As well as being beautiful he was totally charming in spite of having three four legged females arrive in his home

The dogs all had a walk together round the village and then while Blue rested on the patio we went up into the hills which are easily accessible without having to drive or cross a major road. Not surprisingly I had a long fantasy about living there but unfortunately there is not a good connection to Granollers and for the moment at least we need to have access to school.
Afterwards we drove down to the coast to have lunch – early!  It was about 1.30pm

There is a lovely restaurant right beside the sea in between Premia and Vilassar. (If you are wondering how we managed with three dogs – we left Blue and Duna sleeping in the car and took Bonnie inside for a treat. It is a dog friendly place)

Then we all walked down to the sea. It was sunny, the water was aquamarine and unusually calm, I went for a paddle with Bonnie and suddenly realised it wasn’t too cold. Without taking time to think I threw off clothes and dived in. That must be the earliest swim I’ve ever done

Not long after the shadows started to lengthen and we made our way back up the beach

I wonder if you are thinking ‘how idyllic’?  If so then let me add that the less than wonderful part of the day was the fight that Duna and Bonnie had on the beach

Bonnie gets excited playing and that seems to wind Duna up so she pounced and teeth were bared and blood drawn. This time it was someone else’s turn to get his hand bitten as he tried to separate them. It’s a worry – it’s not something I have had to deal with ever before. Or not with dogs anyway

We are now keeping Duna under close supervision and she is always either muzzled or on the lead in the house. There is always something interesting to deal with here! Something new. Something challenging. As a friends aunt once said “You have to laugh!”

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.

Virtual Botifarra

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

After the vermut perhaps you’d like a bite of botifarra?

It was in a bagette and almost filled the whole length.
I know I have relaxed my vegetarian-ness but not this far and I had one with cheese in it!
Botifarra is an important presence in Catalan cuisine – it is a sausage – obviously – and comes in various forms such as white with no blood in its mix, black and botifarra catalana.
Botifarra i mongetes is a classic Catalan recipe of sausages and white beans.
Perhaps this time next year I will be munching on my own sausage sandwich!
Animal news
We went for a walk in the hills and there were no fights or even growls. We are trying to become leaders of the pack and keeping the two combatants separate – if not in different rooms at least one of them is on a lead and under control. So far, so good.
The pigeon is at the vet – we found one  local practice that helps abandoned or wild animals and birds. They get a payment from the Protectora de Animales which I think is a kind of charity which receives grants from the council as well as donations from the public. Amazingly they were happy to include a street pigeon in this scheme and we are waiting for news of her wing and if she has hope of flying again.

In the current financial crisis many of these groups have had to close their centres including the one near Granollers and the animals were dispersed around the region. At first it looked like they had been ‘disappeared’ but it seems they were taken to other centres.  And it seems a new centre may open around here again soon. There was a big protest about the closure and perhaps it has had a positive outcome.

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!