Duvel
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Posts posted by Duvel
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10 minutes ago, KennethT said:
What type of power outlet do you have there? Is it Swiss? I always thought Spain's outlets were similar to those in Germany...
Exactly the same as in Germany. Why there is a third hole in the middle I can’t tell you …-
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“Lunch” happens a bit later in Catalonia. Around 16.00h, to be precise …
We went to one of my wife’s aunts, a very lovely person and a good cook. My wife stayed at her house for some years while studying at the UAB in Barcelona, which is too far from her hometown for daily travel.
After salty snacks and a glass of vermouth we started with Esqueixada, a salad made from salt cod (desalinated, but not cooked), ripe tomatoes, peppers, good oil and vinegar, served with raw onion. It is traditional and fits perfectly to the temperatures …
Main course was rap amb cloïssas (or monkfish with clams), served in a sauce made from olive oil, garlic, roasted almonds, a bit of chocolate and parsley. This was fantastic. Each of us got a small monkfish - the little one finished his portion alone, much to the surprise of our hosts …
Drinks included (cooled) red wine, water and a 0/0 version of the wine/lemonade mixture - no calories and no alcohol …
For digestif #1 a strong coffee with milk & brandy …
And digestif #2 was a herbal liquor called orujo de hierbas …
The little one was happy with the food, but even happier with the pool ☺️
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1 minute ago, weinoo said:
But if I drink 3x the amount of Radler...
A healthy choice - just think what those 6 liters of Radler do for your kidneys 👍-
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17 minutes ago, weinoo said:
Not too much different in its effect that a Radler, wouldn't you say?
Except it has triple the alcohol 😆-
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27 minutes ago, rotuts said:
why cook
when you can go out
possibly on foot
and bring so many tasty things home
and perhaps safely visit selected
local restaurants
eating outside.
That’s certainly true, but of course there will be a bit of cooking in the holidays … here is a view on “my” cupboard & “my” nightstand*/** 😉
* sorry for the watch - I know there was a (short-term) member that liked to leave his Rolex in his pictures. I can assure you this is a cheap Garmin and not meant to be a hidden product placement
😉
** a big thanks to @JoNorvelleWalker for suggesting this year’s holiday read - it is a great book !
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6 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:
@Duvel, did you pack the Ooni?
There were more than one heated argument about that. In the interest of a happy marriage and because my wife is very persuasive (“think how much stuff you can bring back to Germany if that thing is not in the trunk”), it stayed in Germany.-
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1 minute ago, rotuts said:
they wine picked for the mix , was improved
by adding lemonade .
the lemonade was not given a choice.
That sounds pretty much apt as far as the origin of this drink is concerned. But I have to say it is tasty and very refreshing.A few years ago I was touring the Basque country, and after some bar hopping in San Sebastián I noticed that quite some bars there have Kalimotxo ready made coming from a dispenser, just as soft drinks do, due to its popularity there …
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A light breakfast, as we will visit one of my wife’s aunts later for “lunch”.
Canya de crema (puff pastry, filled with crema catalana) for my wife, ensaïmada for the little one and a spinach-stuffed pastry for me (there was a two for one deal obviously - couldn’t quite get her as she spoke Spanish) …
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3 minutes ago, Shelby said:
I've never heard of red wine mixed with lemonade. I'm off to google.
It is maybe the lesser known cousin of Kalimotxo, which is equally popular here, but huge in the Basque country. Definitely a suitable drink for temperatures above 30 oC …
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6 minutes ago, rotuts said:
fantastic job
throughly enjoying the pics.
Kudos your way.
what do people do w a ' sliced head ? '
I’d say head cheese or soup, but I’ll ask next time to be certain …-
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2 hours ago, weinoo said:
Looks like you have an nicely appointed house to vaca in! How far from the beach is it?
About 900m. This town is in between some of the major tourist spots on the Catalan coastline, just south of the Costa Brava. It has (at least to me) the same nice beach, but completely uncrowded.
I am not very much into beach & sea, but the little one goes absolutely bananas here (as does my wife, so another proof of genetics at work) …-
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After the surprisingly filling lunch, the small amount of walking around and briefly visiting the beach was not enough to work up an appetite. That, coupled with a rapidly increasing feeling of laziness (as mind & body are getting into holiday mood) led to a simple, yet tasty dinner.
Fresh bread (w/ tomato, salt & olive oil), topped with goat cheese, thinly sliced head cheese and bull blanc. Accompanied by a beer from Barcelona and shortly after enjoyed on the terrace in a cooling breeze …
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1 minute ago, weinoo said:
If you could send me a few kilos of percebes (at that price!) I would be most happy.
Let me check the rates from here, and I’ll get back to you … 😉 -
3 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:
I especially like this nice sagittal slicing job:
Exactly - free anatomy lessons with your butchers visit 🥳-
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On the drive home my wife asked what we will have for lunch, and …
While we bought a lot - a lot - of nice things, I didn’t purchase any protein or vegetables, to eat right away 🙄
Not wanting to stop at another supermarket, we dropped by the shop that is literally two houses down the street (the pink one on the right). A small enterprise featuring Catalan food (like grandma would make it) for taking home.
This was their current offer:
We got a slightly carb-heavy selection: lasagne, potato gratin with bacalau and meat-filled aubergine. Served with some crisps and a cooling gazpacho …
I bought a beer from the local microbrewery as well - it was tasty !
And the best thing - after that I went to make a siesta ☺️ !-
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Because the house in which we are staying was mostly empty, we went to a local (larger) supermarket. It is not very photogenic, so you’ll have to cope with my selection of points of interest (or oddities, for that matter) …
In the entrance, where the special offers are placed, they had a stand of Salsa Espinaler. This is local condiment used to spice up tinned clams, sepia etc. They make fantastic tinned products as well.
A similar, but less fancy version is made by Dani, a company featuring other items for the very important aperitif (for e.g. Sunday lunch) as well …
I would have loved to get this Vermouth bottle, but then again I prefer other drinks for aperitif …
This visit I want to stock up on two or three paella pans. Just maybe not here, although the selection was decent …
These 1.5L bottles contain a mixture of red wine & lemonade, premixed for your convenience. I like the idea & it is cheap …
Some pork rinds (which I had to purchase, of course) …
The cookbook section was a bit disappointing, although they covered most regions. Plus all of them were in Spanish. I’ll need to look elsewhere …
Got a nice whiskey for the vacation: Chivas Regal Mizunara 12. Decent price as well, although …
… in Spain, Gin & Tonic reigns supreme ! This is just the “pink section” of their products.
Combined with myriads of tonic waters …
… and the odd “dry add-ons” that are immensely popular to doll up your G&T.
Seemingly white canned asparagus is a thing, too. My wife was a bit puzzled …
Beans are very important to the Catalan people. One of my goals for the vacation is to prepare the prefect pot of beans. They have great varieties, but I am looking for the elusive “Mongetes de St. Pau” variety. I might drive up there …
Cargols (or snails), precooked. I’ll get them in the restaurant instead …
Callos (or tripe) …
And (befitting maybe the products that @liuzhou can find imported into China), the “paella” section.
This I found cool: the “broth” section - essentially all meat products you want to make a good broth (sausages, fat, bones, feet, …) wrapped conveniently in packages. And many of them. I got some for my beans …
Lamb - baby lamb at that. Look at the size of that leg …
On the lighter side - fuets (a kind of salami) …
And this you know …
The meat counter, where I purchase some nice ultra thinly sliced head cheese …
And the fish section …
We purchase goods for about 300€ and went home happily …
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3 hours ago, rotuts said:
if you are able to take pics
in markets and the like
as you have w the bread etc
Is appreciate it.
Sure thing - I’ll try to capture as much as possible 🤗-
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7 hours ago, rotuts said:
Catalonia is an autonomous province, and all the official signs etc. are either in Catalan or sometimes bilingual. I’d say 90% of the rest of the public lettering is in Catalan as well. Here in this town very little Spanish is heard, most people talk in Catalan, albeit to me as a foreigner they try to speak in Spanish first (until they realize that I don’t speak Spanish and try to talk to them in Catalan, which usually they find odd …).-
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1 hour ago, weinoo said:
I mean very lucky you.
Is your plan to be making any excursions into Barcelona, or might you be trying to avoid the potential for crowds?
I think we will skip extended shopping trips to Barcelona this year … we will visit some family members there, but visiting La Boqueria for example will need to wait.-
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Good morning from Catalonia !
After a (slightly longer) good nights sleep we started the day with a local breakfast. Little one and me headed out to pick up bread, tomatoes and some toppings.
We are staying at my wife’s parents house (who are not living there right now, story for another day), which is just off the central street of this town of ~15k people. The street is not busy and the 500 m leading down to the central square is dotted with small shops including five (!) bread shops.
(… you get the idea)
Of course my wife prefers the bread from the shop farthest away from the house - a small local chain that has a very high turnover and more often than not you get your bread still warm from the oven. There is always a queue …
Options include several baguette varieties …
… and sweet items, but filled and unfilled (sorry for the lousy pictures).
Little one was so enticed by the smell of the warm catalana (a rustic local baguette variety, that has a bit of whole wheat mixed in), that he had to sample on the spot).
Back at home, the bread was sliced up, rubbed with a halved ripe tomato, sprinkled with salt and olive oil and served with choriço, serrano ham, goat cheese and truita de patates (with onion, of course).
Sweet options included a brioche and this puff pastry item with chocolate.
A good start into the day !
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1 minute ago, rotuts said:
but can't of course fine what the
three ' jugs ' mean to the R of P
That is an indicator whether someone is sitting in the rear (three seats) and if he/she/it is using the seatbelt …-
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1 hour ago, weinoo said:
Preference here is for a nice off-dry Riesling with much Chinese food, especially spicy. Or even a nice, fruity young gamay.
Or - as witnessed at far too many banquets in China - either ice cold red wine (of dubious origin) or baijiu, served from little 100 mL carafes, that magically refill themselves …In both cases, I’d happily go with whatever diet soda they could offer (hint: none) …
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In these challenging times, a full summer vacation is not an easy task. For the last 1.5 years we have been mostly at home with the clear plan to visit Catalonia (or more precise my wife’s family) latest this summer. And it looked good for a while. Unfortunately, the recent rise in case numbers in Spain have resulted in …
OK, let’s skip this part. Long story short - my wife and me are fully vaccinated, as are >90% of the people we care about in Catalonia. After some discussion (after all, Germans tend to prefer to be on the safe side of things) we simply fueled up the car, got each a test (for the transit through France) and started to drive …
After a leisurely 11h drive we arrived at a small fishing town somewhat north of Barcelona around 3.00am. We unloaded the car and my wife an the little one went straight to bed.
I found an expired beer in the elsewise pretty empty fridge and enjoyed the cool breeze on the terrace. Holidays, here we come …
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16 minutes ago, MetsFan5 said:
@Toliver that’s exactly what I drink. It’s delicious and I have mixed it with various juices.
It sounds even better if you add some lime and a generous splash of vodka …-
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Cerveza, Cargols i Covid - a summer in Catalonia
in Spain & Portugal: Dining
Posted
In this case, there was a 40 min drive involved (plus a looooot of catching up), so no nap in this instance. But usually yes. After lunch plus wine 😊
Dinner is around 22.00h, with kids a bit earlier. For me this lifestyle is fine during vacation, but to work with this schedule (there is a 3-4h break during siesta) would not be agreeable …