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Tapas and Cava
Last summer while we were in Prague we got a phone call
from a friend. “Come to Spain!" they said. We had
Istanbul on our minds as our next destination. But it
didn’t take much arm twisting to convince us to go to
Spain. The next day we were landing in Barcelona. Our
idea was to start in Barcelona and then explore other
regions of Spain. While in Barcelona we stayed in Lali’s
apartment, a quirky red-headed actress, who lives in the
El Born, near the Picasso museum. She offered to let us
stay in her apartment while she went to New York for a
few weeks.
A couple of days after we arrived, Lali’s family invited
us to their country house for Sunday dinner. In the
vineyard they served an incredible meal including a
local wine with each of the four courses. They called it
a simple summer supper. We called it “delicious”. After
lunch, Lali’s father brought out the guitar and they
sang some traditional songs. We sat on the terrace
overlooking the rows of grapes and the rolling valley
and marveled at our good luck. We’d been in Spain three
days and here we were in wine country enjoying the
generosity of this family.
Back in Barcelona, Lali’s friends met us for drinks in a
medieval courtyard. They offered ideas on the
restaurants we should try, the sights not to be missed
and their favorite places. When Lali went to New York
her friend Marta introduced us around. One night we met
a group of friends at a bar in the hills with views of
the city lights. That’s the night we met Eva. Eva
arrived with a bound copy of her favorite restaurants
and food shops. Eva owns an olive grove and produces a
fine boutique olive oil. She took us to see her kitchen
at midnight and offered to share her grandmother’s
recipes in a cooking class.
We were lucky to be invited to have a summer supper of
gazpacho and peppers stuffed with tuna on the terrace in
the city. I was so enthralled by the complex flavors of
these simple dishes I had Marta’s mother write them all
down for me. Another night we were invited by Marta (a
different Marta) up four floors to her tiny hip
apartment with views of the rooftops. She served a
perfect “tortilla” made of eggs and potatoes. It’s
served at room temperature and is the perfect light
supper. In between these dinners, rounds of tapas bars
and beach lounge bars we managed to see some of the
Gaudi architecture, went to the beach and explored the
old town. We stayed for a whole month instead of a few
days.
We went to the market everyday with a list of sausages
and spices to make recipes the locals had recommended.
Barcelona is known for its markets. The most famous is
La Boqueria off La Rambla. The markets were piled high
with fresh seafood. Some of the seafood we’d never seen
before like six inch long clams and barnacles that
resembled dragon claws. We were lucky to be shown down
little alleys to food shops, filled with candies,
roasted nuts, and chocolate. The cheese shops and
bakeries made our simple meals special. Aged Manchego
cheese rivaled our favorite Parmigianino Reggiano from
Italy and the jambon was as good as any Italian
prosciutto we had tasted. We ate green melons with milky
interiors with tasty jambon everyday. To drink with all
this food we discovered Cava, a sparkling wine that a
local told us was copied from the French champagne and
improved. We won’t try to compare the two but the light
refreshing Cava certainly was the right drink on a warm
summer night with a plate of tapas.
We’re excited to return to Barcelona in June with
friends. We’ll have loft apartments in the El Born (the
hip historic area of Barcelona), market and food shop
tours, a trip to the breathtaking Montserrat monastery
and wine country. We’ll be sure to see the Gaudi
architecture and have a local show us around to the best
tapas bars. We’ll learn recipes from their grandmas and
local chefs. I’m sure we’ll still rate people watching
during the evening stroll as one of our favorite things.
Ah…good food, good wine, good friends. Life is … well
…good.
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