Did we start a trend?

So apparently everybody is into Spanish cuisine these days, its not just me and Anthony Bourdain.  I recently heard about this show coming out on PBS, starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Mario Batali (world famous American chef and restauranteur) called ON THE ROAD AGAIN.  Basically they drive around Spain without itinerary but with certain objectives, which all involve food and eating.  Here’s the trailer…

I don’t think they’re nearly as interesting as Cole and me, who managed to do exactly the same thing with about a hundredth of the budget.  But I assure you our eating adventures rivaled even the most researched and fabulously wealthy celebrities on their show.  Why can’t we get paid to do this?

Here are some polaroids Cole took from our travels on the road; outside of Barcelona, from the north to the very south, high up on mountains and to hot sunny beaches.

These are from a cluster of towns on the Sierra Nevada called Los Alpujarras, which are famous for their altitude (this was the highest town in Spain), as well as their cured pork.  We visited one town where I had the best meal of my entire life.  Fish broth soup, ham, cured cheese and wine.  Hot, simple and delicious.  The heat was important because despite it being the middle of the summer, it was freezing up there!

We even managed to drive a BMW

VISA VACATION, some advice for future expats

Dear Readers,

Sorry I haven’t posted in a while.  I guess I have some pretty important stuff I’ve been neglecting to mention on here, but now I’m sitting in a very familiar, very comfortable cafe, so I’m ready to pour it all out.

Before I post about Christmas in Barcelona, or my last week there, I should first alert you all that I am currently in New York City (sigh) working out my visa because I somehow managed to acquire a job over seas and so its time to become legal.

I will begin working in March for a brand new restaurants that opens around the time of my arrival, in the Raval district.  It’s going to be a mostly vegetarian restaurant that offers not only Spanish cuisine, but some Caribbean and Latin American dishes as well.  There are four of us who will hold down the kitchen, and I will have to “learn a lot really fast.  And probably more than [I] can handle.”

So, my dream came true, and in two months time I’ll be a cook in a brand new Barcelona restaurant….

Now for the nightmare.

GETTING A VISA SUCKS.  It will take approximately 5 – 6 weeks and I have to fly to San Francisco in order to put in my papers because my permanent address is in California.  Something I’ve been realizing about myself these days is that I’ve had my crap all over the country for so long now that getting it all together to pick up and move across the world requires collecting the pieces I’ve dispersed in so many states.  Next week, Boston, then back to New York, and finally I fly to California.

So a word to future expats–> make sure you don’t stray your stuff too far from home before you fall in love with another country and decide to live there permanently.

There are several types of visas you can get as an American, but the easiest is a student visa.  In October, Spain (like several other European countries) chenged their visa and immigration laws for Americans.  Why?  Because we make it so damn hard for everybody to live and work here, they decided to give us a taste of the same sweat, blood and tears that goes into this process.  This means that getting a work visa is nearly impossible, and, unless you’re extrodinairily wealthy, good luck with a residency.  As an American you are legally entitled 90 days stay in any Shengen (EU) country without a problem. But I plan on staying for a long time, which means I’m required to apply for my long-stay student visa which with these materials…

1. Original acceptance letter from a school – I will be enrolled in a language school, probably the SprachCafe, for 20 hours a week (the minimum required).  I’ve heard rumors of schools costing 200 euro/ month, but I haven’t found anything that cheap yet. I will be enrolled for 6 months (to start), which could cost anywhere up to 2000 euros. I’ll keep you posted on that. The letter has to state that you’ve paid, the exact dates you are enrolled, the registration number with the Spanish Ministry of Education, etc.

2. Evidence of funds – If you have the money to support yourself (2,200/month) you need to prove it to the Spanish consulate in your state.  If you don’t you need a notarized letter from your parents that says they will support you.  I’ve heard nightmares from people who are attempting a similar visa for France, because they require w2′s and bank statements from anybody who you are claiming to support you.  But in Spain I guess swearing on the bible still means something.

3. International Health Insurance – cheap, easy, no problem, a million and a half websites that make it easy for students to get insured to study abroad.

4. Medical Certificate – I expected this one.  Of course, being a recent college graduate, I have no health insurance!  Thankfully, my new international health insurance works in the United States as well, so I will be covered for a check up.

5. Certificate of Absence of Police Records – This one is really my favorite.  As I was explaining earlier, I’m pretty much a permanent resident of nowhere.  As a matter of fact the only place I’m paying rent right now is in Spain.  When I learned that in order to live abroad for at least six months I was going to be required to get a ‘letter of good conduct’ from every city I’ve lived for at least six months in the past five years, I knew I had to go back to Westchester county,where I studied in University for four years.  It’s the only place I’ve resided for that long.  NOW FUTURE EXPATS PAY ATTENTION because this is really the worst part of the whole Visa ordeal.

a) first I had to go to the Yonkers police department in order to get my letter.  No problem.  If you are getting the letter from NYC it takes two weeks, so make sure you get that taken care of early.  It’s also $25 and make sure to get the original letter plus one copy.  The letter must have the originial seal (city of Yonkers) AND it must be notarized.  It also has to say you aren’t a criminal.

b) after you get your letter you have to go to the County Clerk.  If you’re in a predicament like me it means you have to go somewhere far away like, yes brace yourself, WHITE PLAINS!  That’s right, the capital of Westchester county.  Here, they will authorize your document with yet another seal (proving it is cleared by the county), so that you can take this piece of paper to its final destination.  Another 3 dollars and not too long a wait.

c) For me, this was the financial district of Manhattan.  Why?  Because in order for any government or legal document to be official in another country it must bear the APOSTILLE OF THE HAGUE CONVENTION, which can only be done in the office of your secretary of state.  Another 10 bucks and an afternoon in a waiting room.

I can only imagine how horrible this would be if your records were coming from NYC to begin with.  Everything takes longer and is far more expensive in NYC, but at least you don’t have to take a 2 hour trainride to get your stuff together. But hey, that’s nothing compared to the SIX HOUR PLANE RIDE I have to take in two weeks!

6. Flight itinerary – Yes, you have to prove to the Spanish Consulate that you are only going to be in the country for the exact dates you are enrolled in school.  But you are not supposed to have purchased your ticket already, just in case your visa takes longer than expected.

and then some other silly things like the Visa fee ($100), copies of your passport, etc. etc.

So, this week I’m clearing my name in NYC, next week I’m off to collect my things from Boston, and then I fly to California to hand it all in.  Wish me luck!

El Vaso de Oro

Queridos amigos,

Estoy en mi cama ahora, porque anoche yo tenía demasiado divertida con mi amiga, Lori Ann, y después, tenía ‘una fecha’ (bad translation I’m sure) con un hombre Catalán.  Una cena, mucho baile, y un poco demasiado vino. Hoy, estoy cansado.  Pero tengo muchas cosas que sobre escriban (bad Spanish).  Primero, mi restaurante favorito (por Tapas), que se llama EL VASO DE ORO, en Barceloneta.

The first thing you need to know about this place is that you better figure out what you want, and fast, because as soon as you sit down at the bar (if there is room of course) these big, burly men come up and shout, “Dígame!” or, if they recognize you, just “Dime!”  This literally translates to “TELL ME” and is used as a way to answer the phone, take someone’s order, or really begin any business transaction in Spain.  At first I was a bit startled by this method of introduction, but now I’ve come to appreciate the way that, despite the amount of time spent in Siesta in this country, Spaniards know when NOT to waste any time — when they are ready to eat.

There are two things that make this place very special to me.  The first are the characters behind both sides of the bar.  On my side are mostly regulars (old men) from Barceloneta.  They come here to sit, to eat, and to drink the homebrewed beer called Vaso De Oro Amber, which is really delicious.  Many of them bring a newspaper, or just chat with the cooks on the other side of the bar, who are also very special.

I included this photo, not to show you the individual characters, but the liveliness of them all.  The man on the right side is singing, here.  Yes, many of these men sing, loud, and with deep, operatic voices that almost make me think of a very popular and traditional form of Spanish music, you may know it as Flamenco.  Perhaps the origin of Flamenco is not with the Gypsies (ROMA) from Andalucia (Southern Spain), but the cooks at Vaso De Oro in Barceloneta.

Cole and I discovered this place when we were visitors here in June.  I heard about their Tapas from a very reliable source, and after a day at the beach we came.  Well, we kept coming and, eventually, on the night of my return here in November, this was the first place I ate.  Some of the things I eat look like this:

So of course the first thing are those non animal treats you find at every Tapas Place.  To the left, Pimientos de Padron and to the right, Patatas Bravas.  The Piemientos are small green peppers, which are fried and covered with a mountain of pyramid-shaped salt.  (Cole and I ran out and bought some mini pyramids when we found a jar in a market somewhere).  Patatas Bravas are spicy fried potatoes named after the wild coast that claims Barcelona as its capital… The Costa Brava.

I read a review of this place that said to choose a snack here is to have a ‘truly Catalan experience.’  I guess because all the seafood was probably caught fifty meters away and fifty minutes ago, you know what you’re getting is good, and that is ‘truly Catalan.’  Let’s continue.

On the left, Grilled Fois Gras with Onions, and on the right, Anchovies with Green Olives.  These photos are from somebody’s flickr account, as I am always too busy eating my food to photograph it, but I’ve had all these things and can assure you they are as good as they look.

See, Lori Ann is enjoying her Pimientos.  And on the right you get a small glance and a feel of the place – One long, long bar full of Tapas plates, and its very narrow and easy to bump yourself against the guy next to you who is shouting out his order to the very charming cooks, who by the way, dress kind of like they’re part of a ship crew.  The whole scene kind of reminds me of being on a boat, now that I think about it.

What’s this thing called Cafe Culture? (Part 1)

Everybody talks up coffee in Europe, cafe culture and all that.  And while there are things I appreciate about cafes here (paying after you finish, sitting as long as you want, fabulous people watching), good luck finding a decent Cappuccino, if you’re into that sort of thing.  Today I will profile, for you dears, my favorite cafe(terias)/granjas/etc., as well as the popular drinks in this region in Spain, and try to capture their “vibe.”

LA GRANJA is my favorite cafe in Barcelona.  La Granja literally means ‘the farm’ and there are several places with this name all over Barcelona.  But there is no place like this Granja, on Carrer Banys Nous in El Barri Gottic, which you will never be able to find without a knowledgeable tourguide, like me

They seem to pride themselves on being so close to the tourist part, but with little tourist presence.  Probably because they’re tucked away and there’s no sign on the door.  There is one on the floor just before you walk in, but when you’re strolling tiny little streets you’re too busy looking straight ahead.

La Granja is famous for their Xocolate (that is, Chocolate in Catalán), which is served hot and thick and with a variety of other ingredients that you may desire.  Xocolate is a very popular breakfast drink here, sometimes with Churros, and has also become something akin to gelato in Italy, or hotdogs in New York.  Everybody that visits promises they’ll at least try it before they leave.  I like the one with mint, or the one with coffee (left).  Cole likes the one with Chili peppers, and Loriann likes them sin algo (right).  (I think my Spanish is bad here)

They only play old American jazz music from the 40′s.  It’s quiet in the morning hours (8 – 2) and then busy in the later hours (5 – 9).  But its always a relaxing place to hang out, read a book, and get sick from all the sugar you ingest. Their croissants and pastries are great too.

CAFE PARIS is the kind of place you go any time.  I mean that because they’re open 24 hours a day.  I don’t go there very often because its in a very residential part of L’Eixample, which is expensive and not my scene, but when I have a reason to go I always make a stop because this is the dive-yest place for miles.  The coffee is cheap but its pretty good, and if you can stand the loud obnoxious music they play, get some cheap greasy food while you’re at it.  The busiest I’ve seen this place is on weekends around brunch, when hungover Barcelona kids come for their Patatas Bravas, or at night when there is a futbol (soccer) match on.

Here’s what I always order: a Cafe Americano, meaning espresso and water.  I don’t bother with milk when I come to Cafe Paris, I like it good and strong.

Here’s a bunch of college kids watching a game.  One of them spotted me!  There are several TV’s on all the time in Cafe Paris, but they all turn to the sports channels at night, especially when Barça is playing.  By the way, we beat Madrid on Saturday!

They also have tables outside, which is very nice in the warm weather.  Of course now it’s freezing and raining so there’s none of that.

LA CLANDESTINA is a cool place to go if you need to sit down with your computer and use free wifi ( people here pronounce it wee-fee).  It’s also in El Barri Gottic.

It’s open every day, and doesnt close during lunch hours, unlike almost every other establishment in this part of town (and pretty much the whole city).   Their coffee is pretty good too.  I always get a cafe con leche, or tea, which happens to be great here.  It’s all loose leaf and they serve it in beautiful little pots with these lovely little glasses.  The best thing about Clandestina, however, is that every table has a bowl of white AND brown sugar for you to use.  As my dear friend Nomfundo told me once, “you need brown sugar in your Earl Grey tea to bring out the bergamot!”  Well, tea snobs should hang out here.

Cafe con leche, y té con azucar marron

They play terrific music, mostly Brazilian, and a lot of travelers come here.  I’ve even encountered several private English tutoring lessons take place on some of their comfortable couches.  Brooklyn readers, this is the Barcelona version of Smooch cafe.

Stay tuned for: Cafe Babel, the Lillipep Cafe and bookshop, and my favorite coffee in Gràcia

Bones Festes, Bon Nadal!

It’s Christmas time and so the lights hang above every street.  They are especially beautiful in the old parts of the city, where you often struggle to see what’s ahead of you at night.

This is Carrer Ferran, a main street in El Barri Gottic.  As you can see there are lights hanging, holiday balloons, and my friend Loriann.

At the end of the street were all these wonderful people dancing, all of them of the elderly variety.  I guess people ‘age like fine wines’ here.  Actually the music and the movement all seemed very Jewish (hey nana) and reminded me of other ceremonies I’ve seen in my life.

I haven’t decided if the next post will be about cafes, markets, or all the fabulous places I’ve been dancing in the past week.  If you feel strongly let me know and I’ll go out and do my homework.

Happy Holidays

Pizza Napoletana

I’ve been trying to update for the past couple days, but everything’s just been so crazy lately that I haven’t known where to begin.  I had an interview for a job, an amazing job, cooking for a restaurant that opens in January.  It seems like they liked me and ‘would love to work’ with me, I just have to sort out my visa situation, which may mean that I return home to the United States for a couple weeks…

That’s been taking up most of my time and energy, because even before I return to New York I have to find a proper language school in Barcelona and enroll in classes so that when I show up at the Spanish Consulate in the U.S, I have proof that I am here to study for, at least, six months.  I guess this is what a ‘travel’ blog is for, huh?  Letting people learn from my chaos here, the secrets to moving to Spain… well we’ll see.  Keep you fingers crossed for me.

So first I sat down and wrote a post about my house, with pictures and all that, but it was kind of boring, pretty uninspired.  Then yesterday we had an impromptu dinner party here because three Italians (from Napoli) came over and made SO MUCH pizza!  It was beautiful and you’ll get a chance to meet my roomates too.

But first, meet the Italians…

Well, actually none of these people are Italian.  They’re Catalán, Swedish, American, Serbian.

These are the Italians.

Gianluigi, Gianluca, y Mireilla

They’re too busy cooking

And cooking

They made three huge Pizzas.  The first one, a simple ‘margarita.’  The second, which you see here had (on the left side) Potates, Jamon, y Mozzarella and (on the right side), Champiñones, Cebollas, y Sobrassada.  The last pizza had black olives, two kinds of meat, and cheese.

Here is Gianluca serving the first pizza “MAKE WAY!” he screams.  Behind him is Valentino, my flatmate from Budapest, and in front Jakob, from Sweden.  To the right is Oliver, from Barcelona, another one of my flatmates.  We are cooking a giant dinner around Christmas for his whole family, as they will all be coming to our flat for dinner!

Ora stiamo mangiando…

Mmm…

Dinner and Dancing

I didn’t put my head to rest until the sun came up on Sunday morning. I was literally out salsa dancing alllllll night. It started like this…

Cole and I made another terrific dinner..

Remember that Turkey, we boiled it down into a stock.

We used it to cook onions, mushrooms and asparagus and then made a risotto.

And then baked the risotto inside of green tomatoes and topped it off with a thick slice of Parmesan cheese.

Afterwards my friend Lorianne came over for a Vermot and then we went to BIG BANG a bar/dance hall tucked away in the Raval district.

Big Bang has been open for quite a while now, and only plays 1950′s swinging American music. Everybody dresses up rockabilly style and dances all over the place. We managed to steal a little table in the corner where I learned more about Loriann’s life on Broadway (which she left to come to Barcelona). About an hour later my friend Deanie arrived with some friends.

About an hour after they arrived we decided to go to a ‘house party’ at an apartment nearby, which I’d heard about from my flatmates. The house happened to be one of the buildings Cole and I looked at during our apartment search, and it was so cramped and full of sweaty people, smoke, and crazy music. It kind of reminded me of parties in Allston that my friend Jaclin used to take me to in high school. This strange mix of university students and other kids that were too cool for school. Well,

One of them was named Claud, and was the spotlight in everybody’s attention. Claud is very tall, slender, and from Senegal. He speaks Wolof, French and Castellano fluently, some Catalán and English. He had that fantastic disheveled faux-Basquiat hairstyle and overall look that so many people are sporting in Brooklyn these days. He apparently liked our gang and invited us to, yet another, ‘house party’, this time in El Born.

It was a twenty minute walk and along the way I met Josep, an architect and aspiring chef from Barcelona. Well, he told me he was a cook, told Cole he was an architect, but told both of us he was studying at Hoffman, the prestigious culinary school in El Born that was present in the street festival I wrote about. We discussed all kinds of traditional dishes, including Capipota, which I love but cannot find in any restaurant or cookbook at all. We agreed I must host a dinner party and he would come bearing the ‘old soup,’ as he called it.

We arrived at the party, and I’m still kicking myself for not carrying my camera because the view.was.fan.tas.tic.

Because El Born is so near the ocean, you noticed only about fifteen rows of buildings and then nothing further, because it is simply the sea. Directly in front of our balcony, however, was the rooftop of the Mercat de Santa Caterina, and I’ll steal a photo off the internet so you can see…

http://www.mercatsantacaterina.net/

Actually we were higher up than this, which meant we had a full view of the roof and the last rows of buildings before the ocean. But you get the idea.

The party consisted of about 20 – 25 people, many from Latin America, and everybody was salsa dancing! Actually, I spent most of my time learning how to salsa, until about seven in the morning when I left with the ladies and came back home. Today I’m going to go print out my CV, recharge the minutes on my cell phone and then go hand out flyers for my friend’s bar for a little bit of money. Some other stuff is happening but my superstitions are forcing me to keep my mouth closed!

THIS IS WHY I CAME TO SPAIN (Part 1)

It’s true what he says, that it can be overwhelming to be in this country for any kind of culinary investigation. Whether you’re here to learn to cook, to study wine, or simply just to eat, you soon realize that truly visionary people are mixing the ‘unthinkable’ with the highly ‘traditional.’

Just below my apartment balcony are several restaurants that are always full of people. They have fancy fusion names and fancy fusion menus and none of them are appealing to me. But stuck between Picus and Petit Bankok is LA NOVA FONTANA, a dinner gem that takes simple ideas very seriously.

For 2 – 5 euros you can order a ‘slice.’ There are no whole pizzas here because each slice is a carefully composed thin crust with any infinite combination of toppings, folder over, and wrapped in thick paper that you can take “para llevar” or to stay.

Rows of long tables fill up at lunch and dinner. Since we’re in Gràcia there is hardly any Castellano spoken here, but they do offer a dual menu for the non Catalán customers. Most people here are families from the neighborhood, a younger crowd on Friday and Saturday nights getting ready to go out.

They offer cañas (beer on tap), of course, as well as wine. Mostly I was just impressed by the options… Queso de Cabra con Roquefort y Manzanas (I’ll let you translate that); Jamón curado con piña; or just a simple Margharita.

On the other side of town, in El Born, is a restaurant that blew my mind the first time I came to Barcelona (thanks nana!) and would totally humble all you other so-called foodies reading this blog. It’s called Comerç 24 and head chef, Carles Abellan, uses molecular gastronomy techniques he learned while studying with Ferran Adrià at El Bulli. Adrià is probably the most famous person every to pick up a knife, and his El Bulli (which is about an hour North of Barcelona) is rated #1 restaurant in the world.

At Comerç24 you have the opportunity to enjoy very traditional dishes like, in its more familiar Italian name, ‘Prosciutto Melone’ except its served two ways. First, as the traditional strip of cured ham in a piece of fresh melon. Beside it on the plate you have ham, cut in strips, fried and glazed and served with a frozen melon jelly. Abellan calls this dish Mélon y Jamón, Origen y Evolución. Or you are welcome to try the Tasting menu of tapas, which we did, for 54 euros, which includes things like: Cuttlefish with artichoke and pine nuts,which sounds tradtional, but the fish was sered in two ways; first, as a scoop of ice cream that sat beside, second, a warm fish foam. The dish of Macadamia nuts was covered in gold dust, and the Ox Tail stew was one of the richest and most delicious things I’ve ever put into my mouth, probably because it had cauliflower cream and truffles in it.

Abellan recently opened Tapas24, which I haven’t visited yet. From what I understand the chef here gets too take a break from his scientific experiments and serve tapas in their ‘traditional’ form. There is certainly no shortage of incredible Tapas bars around town, Quimet Quimet (which I wrote about in an earlier post) and El Vaso de Oro in Barceloneta (I’ll write about that one soon) are two of my favorites so far.

Sorry I forgot to include pictures in this post, I was too busy enjoying my food

It’s 3 in the morning!

and I’m boiling the bones of a Turkey skeleton. My roomate made one for “Thanksgiving” dinner and Cole and I are attempting to make a DIY consumé. Tomorrow we’ll go to the butcher and find “the shin of a cow” plus some vegetables and then we’re going to make some “stock” for ourselves in preparation for a fancy risotto.

Teaching myself to cook, in my new kitchen, in this new country, with a partner, and with the Escoffier cookbook, is truly opening my world. I notice things about myself, my intuition, and my style as I move about in this space. Cole knows more than I do about chefs, Michelin restaurants and knives. But I’m comfortable with food, with pots and pans, gas stoves, and chopping onions. Cooking with Cole is one of the more pleasant experiences, too, because we have different sets of skills. We balance each other well and successfully leave our egos out of the kitchen

Cooking in España is another story.

How lucky am I to have fresh ingredients for cheap, but what the hell are they? To learn the name of every fruit, vegetable, meat, etc. in not just Spanish but Catalán… it’s difficult. Today I had an itch for pinenuts, and had no idea how to ask for them. So I ran into the aisle of sauces, found some pesto, and went through every ingredient with the produce lady. piñones! haha, so we cooked them with escarole.

We also made homeade sauce and meatballs for macaroni, which will cook overnight and be perfect tomorrow.

The meatballs needed breadcrumbs so we made some!

Now we’re just sitting, waiting, drinking beer, translating recipes into Spanish so we know how to buy the proper ingredients… does anybody know how to say “shin of cow” in Castellano?!

Love Pascale

La mer, Il mare, El mar, O mar Mediterráneo

Barceloneta