A FABULOUS time at Barcelona Cooking: Walking to class on La Rambla; Prepping veggies and making stock; teaching a handful of kids who were VERY eager and VERY good how to make creme brulee, including the torch; super duper burners!; setting up the first course — soup with flowers and tomato bread; working on the Spanish Omelet; Paella; and a group of very happy girls.
All in all we learned to make paella, Spanish omelette, tomato bread, crema catalana, and sangria. Perfect for those interested in cooking with organic and local produce.
Remember when you were a kid and loved to play games in the park like hide and seek or some mangled version of hop scotch? Remember those days when you were a teenager and loved to hang out in the parks for, well, other reasons? Parks — gotta love em! But if you haven’t been to Barcelona, I bet you haven’t seen one like this.
Once a rocky hill with little else in sight, this area that would soon become famous was known as Muntanya Pelada (Bare Mountain). The first plan was to build a residential area for affluent families … and then Antoni Gaudi got hold of it and magic followed. Inspired by the English garden city movement, the original name for this ethereal tract of land was Park Güell. In Catalan the name became “Parc Güell”, and in Spanish, “Parque Güell”. Gaudi’s luscious public park was begun in 1900, officially opened in 1926, and was recognized as an artistic monument in 1969 and a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984. There are spaces both large and small, ornate and calm, the quiet and the raucous. The park is 12 hectares, or roughly 2.5 acres, of magic.
Do you travel for adventure? Scenery? Meeting new people? Architecture? Exploring? Food? All of the above?
I’m most definitely all of the above, but I did fall madly in love with the local food and Barcelona’s fascinating Mercat de la Boqueria, which is open Monday – Saturday, 8:00 AM – 8:30 PM.
From top to bottom and left to right:
Dragon Fruit; Mixed Fruit; Rambutan; Mushrooms; Olives; Chives and Greens; Oysters; Ummmm, no clue; Percebe and Langosteno ( ; Fruit; Market Entry; Veggies on Strings; Colorful Popsicles; Clams; Ice Cream Sandwiches; Veggie Chips; Calamari?; Eat your Veggies!; Clams and Friend; Stacked in Blue; Dinner!
P.S. Percebes, known as goose barnacles in English, are a Galician delicacy from Spain and are among the most exclusive seafood in Europe. Customers in Spain and Portugal pay up to 200 Euros per kilo for superb quality Percebes. This extraordinary price results from the extreme circumstances in which the rare barnacles are harvested from the rocky cliffs off the Galician coast.
The edible part of the goose barnacles are the stems. These are usually boiled for only a few seconds in salt water with a bay leaf. The leathery skin is then removed with a rotating movement to reveal the flesh. Percebes are most commonly eaten without any other ingredients or side dishes – maybe some olive oil at most.
I’m heading back to Barcelona in June with a group of fabulous women. It’s one of those cities that I just can’t spend enough time in for oh so many reasons. A few, and only a few, are listed below.
1. The first thing you’ll notice about Barcelona is that she’s raucously colorful, and I do mean COLORFUL. From the exteriors to the ceilings to the street art, Barcelona is vibrant, shimmery, and alive.
2. She’s her own self, legally separated from Spain proper, and proud of her independence.
3. Barcelona reeks of art, from the galleries, to the buildings, to the streets, to the people.
4. Don’t get me wrong — everyone still wears black of course, but they’re too nice to snub you if you show up in chartreuse.
5. She’s easy peasy breezy — fully walkable with a mild Meditteranean climate.
6. And of course, it’s smack dab on the ocean. You can walk a few blocks and stick your toes right in that gorgeous sea.
7. Did I save the best for last? Food Heaven. Lots of bits and bites everywhere you go, and the restaurants are top notch and inventive. You should know that restaurants open at 10:00. P.M., of course.
See below for descriptions of the images above:
1, The Rooftop of Casa Battlo, otherwise known as The Dragon. And yes, they do have events up there!
2. The face of Casa Battlo. After a tour, have your photo taken from one of the balconies.
Pam Goode Writes 