Travel

My journey home

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Travelling in Britain when there are a few inches of snow is a good way to remind yourself why you are living in Spain!

What happened?  How was my journey?  Don’t read unless you want to know – here it is!

  • Monday morning receive text from Easyjet saying plane will be delayed two hours till 18.05
  • Decide to leave early anyway because of possible train problems
  • Get to Cambridge station early to catch 11.15 to Kings Cross
  • 11.15 to Kings Cross ‘delayed’ – no other information
  • Hope rises with announcement that 11.15 will leave from Platform 7.   Lug case over there.              Who would think that 16 kgs would be so heavy. It’s the haggis I suppose.
  • Platform 7 already has a crowd of people and a silent waiting train bound for Liverpool Street
  • All trains to Kings Cross cancelled because of an accident.
  • There is no-one giving information in person so we all try to intuit what is the best way to get to London. Much frowning and jumping on and off the quiet train as it waits for a driver to arrive.
  • Eventually we all set off  for Liverpool Street on this train.
  • Slow gentle ride to London stopping at all stations on the way. How pretty the snow!
  • Tube journey to Kings Cross and a short walk to St Pancras – how do old or disabled people manage with all these stairs?
  • Train to Gatwick is ‘delayed’.  There is still no-one giving information. But there are a lot of people with suitcases. We scan the departure boards anxiously. After the Cambridge experience I no longer trust the word ‘delayed’ which might without warning change into ‘cancelled’.         This is when I get that feeling of hatred for public transport in the UK. That sort of reaction I normally judge in other people. That ‘what is the matter with this bloody country I can’t wait to get out?‘ sort of feeling. Then there was one of those wonderful tannoy announcements made famous by Jacques Tati in M Hulot’s Holiday which was was like someone gargling under water and totally incomprehensible.  I began to laugh and felt better.
  • Should I wait patiently or go to Victoria for Gatwick Express? Yes No Yes No …….ah, the train arrives.
  • Slow gentle ride to Gatwick  – no toilets. But how pretty the snow!
  • Arrive Easyjet check-in 45 minutes before original flight time. The check in desk said  ‘No, there is no delay! The flight will leave on time’   She looked surprised that I had thought otherwise.
  • Departure lounge – no gate details yet so I go to the loo – at last!
  • Coming out again I look up and it says ‘Gate 46 Easyjet.  Gates Closed’!
  • Nightmare run along endless corridors alongside a hundred other panting and panicking passengers. Our gate is at the furthest end of the airport. No time to buy a paper or coffee or water.
  • Gate 46 – two bored Easyjet staff smile at us as we arrive sweating and dishevelled.  ‘No that was a mistake – the gates are not closed. Please take a seat!’
  • There is a vending machine – I lose £1.20 trying to buy a bottle of water.  So does another woman.  After that we stand guard to warn people off.
  • Sitting down, tired, hungry, thirsty and confused we all receive another text message telling us the flight is delayed and offering food coupons.
  • We get on the plane which leaves exactly on time – at 16.05
  • Lovely Barcelona airport.
  • I have a strong coffee and a potato omelette roll.
  • The walk to the train is so easy. There are escalators. The journey takes one hour and I am home.
  • Lovely welcome from dog and man.

Wine and Pudding

~ Kate Wilson ~ 1 Comment

A visit to Falset would be wasted if you didn’t buy some wine!
There are large Cooperatives selling direct from the producers

We bought a couple of large containers – I like how friendly it looks in the plastic bottle!

This one is a sweet wine – Garnatxa Dolça.  For drinking after dinner – or any other time!
And to further whet your appetite here are two puddings from our lunch at La Cassola, Gratallops

This one was called Pyjamas – no idea why!
La Cassola is the restaurant where the hunters of the wild boar ate – hungry work shooting animals!
I was letting Bonnie out of the car for a quick pee when one of the checker-shirted men called over to ask if she was a good hunter as he has a dog just like her. I told him she was more of a shepherd’s dog and got her back into the car quick!

 This restaurant has stunning views, lovely puddings and lots of meat in their green salad! Needless to say there are no vegetarian options and I ate a very nice fish – Dorada (bream) with baked potato followed by, guess what, Crema Catalana!

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.

Walking in the woods

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

It is Friday morning in Sant Nicolau. I took Bonnie for a walk down the lane.
First we met Bob, a great dog who was lost then found his new home here

As we walked further we were joined by Lucy

More and more she reminds me of Blue – her spotty nose and paws, her solid and comforting presence. She and Bonnie have sometimes been a bit suspicious of each other but slowly, given time, they have become, if not yet friends, pleasant companions.
We met a man with a huge basket filled to the brim with mushrooms and then another – same story!

At these moments it is a joy to be able to speak Catalan and have a friendly chat.
Mushroom hunters seem a little like wood workers – friendly quiet spiritual sort of people.
Then we were joined by Paddy and Trixie who bounded out of the woods to find us

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Home across the field, smelling the wild rosemary and the thyme

One of the best things about walks in Catalunya – the magnificence of herbs growing along the paths

 

Back home and Bob was waiting for us


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?