Castanyes everywhere-it must be Fires!

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Held in Girona this year but alternating with Santiago de Compostela, this gastronomic event has taken off in a big way considering it is not hosted in a large city. This week’s tragic news of the death of Santi Santamaria, one of the top chefs in Spain ever since being the first in Catalonia to get 3 Michelin stars at the Raco de Can Fabes in 1994 is being remembered by his public. He would have been at the Fòrum to comment and encourage the amazing progress of all things gastronomic in Spain and in particular here in Catalonia.

There are stands selling everything from fresh sea urchins or organic steaks delivered to your home as well as information on healthy diets. A perfect place to find products with a coveted local quality certificate and of course tasting the wide selection of foods on offer chased down with wines and cavas from all over Spain. The best part of the Fòrum are the dozens of workshops where you can learn about certain types of cooking and their preparation. There are general talks like blue fish from the Mediterranean and how to cook them or you can learn from top celebrity chefs like Charlie Trotter from Chicago who is here giving a masterclass.

Local boy Ferran Adria (El Bulli) is giving a presentation, the Roca brothers(El Celler de Can Roca) are here of course this being their home town as well as French and Japanese chefs to dazzle us with their skills and tastes.

If you have a chance to attend, the feast will continue until the 23rd of february.

Tags: Ferran Adria, food, Forum Gastronomic, Girona, gourmet, Santi Santamaria, wine

Ceret saturday market-best in area

January 22, 2011 by Admin
Filed under Activities, Local news and info, Wine and food

Sometimes we have to accept that the French do it better, not bigger or louder, just with more style. Such is the case of the saturday morning market in the streets of Ceret, which is just across the border some 45 mins from Girona.

The stalls are more varied, the products look nicer, even when most of the fruit on sale is Spanish. You can find lots of interesting things for presents like candles and soap, then there is the selection of organic bread, fruit and vegetables as well as wines, honey, cheese, which is also never seen, or at least not promoted as such in Spain.

Add in the fact that Ceret is a charming village with some interesting old squares, narrow lanes and plenty of terraces to sit outside and eat and drink and the whole experience feels somehow more satisfying.

Winter is not the best time to visit as there are fewer stalls, and thus selection, but it is also less crowded and if you plan well, after indulging in lunch in one of the many tempting restaurants, the local rugby team may be playing which is a real treat.

Vive la France, and having it so close by!

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Posted via email from Discover Girona

Tags: Ceret, charm, market, organic food

Worlds top 10 restaurants- 4 in Spain, 2 in Girona!

October 14, 2010 by Admin
Filed under Best of, Local news and info, Wine and food

The World?s 50 Best Restaurant Awards 1-50 (2010)

Rank	Change	Restaurant	Region	Awards
1	Up 2	Noma	Denmark	The S.Pellegrino Best Restaurant in the World, The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant in Europe
2	Down 1	El Bulli	Spain	Restaurant Magazine Chef of the Decade
3	Down 1	The Fat Duck	UK	The Chef's Choice sponsored by Electrolux
4	Up 1	El Celler de Can Roca	Spain
5	Down 1	Mugaritz	Spain
6	Up 7	Osteria Francescana	Italy
7	Up 3	Alinea	USA	The Acqua Panna Best Restaurant In N.America
8	Up 33	Daniel	USA	The Highest Climber sponsored by Cocoa Barry
9	Down 1	Arzak	Spain
10	Down 4	Per Se	USA

Tags: Celler de Can Roca, El Bulli, Girona, Spain, the best restaurants in the world, top 10 restaurants

Empordà wine tour

May 7, 2010 by Admin
Filed under Activities, History and culture, Tours, Wine and food, Wine tours

Spring weather is as fickle as ever this year but a trip to visit a Bodega (winery) in the Empordà is always a good option since the worst that can happen is that you get stuck in a cellar with plenty of wines to taste while you watch the rain come down in the vineyards.

If the sun shines this is a glorious time to wander around the countryside as everything is growing furiously and the shades of new green are startlingly vivid. After all this activity, or maybe in spite of it, a glass of cool white or rosado wine does wonders for looking at life in a more positive vein. Follow this with a selection of reds, some young and fruity and some with oak ageing and by the time it comes to taste the dessert wines things are positively wonderful.

Having activated the taste buds and got the saliva flowing the only possible follow up is a wonderful meal at a nearby restaurant with fresh fish and lamb with wild herbs dishes that seem to be particularily appreciated, washed down with a choice of wines, of course.

By now it is completely normal to feel a bit satisfied and even drowsy so either another walk is needed to explore some of the prehistoric burial sites which dot the area or it's time to have a doze in the back of the van for the ride back to Girona. Either way it's a day of pampering oneself with tastes, flavours and experiences that make visiting this part of Spain a fantastic experience.

Day tours to wineries in the Empordà inc all transport, tastings and lunch cost 125?/person, groups of 4-8 people.

Contact: gironaj@gmail.com for more info or to book.

Tags: Bodega visits, Emporda, Girona, Wine tours, wine walks, winery tour

Alimentaria Food and Wine fair

March 24, 2010 by Admin
Filed under Activities, Local news and info, Wine and food

The Alimentaria Food and Wine fair only takes place every two years in Barcelona and is one of the largest of its kind in Europe.

This year, although space reserved by exhibitors is down sharply, the numbers visiting seem to be holding up. It does mean that everything is in one place instead of spread between the old World Fair site at Plaza España and the new purpose built halls in Hospitalet which is far better for all involved.

Some interesting products and trends are emerging here such as alcohol free wines (like with beer convenience displaces taste) and an emphasis on better presentation as well as healthier foods to combat increasing obesity levels worldwide.

Watermelons carved in the shape of a rose and hiring some human statues from the Ramblas to promote your stand is one successful way of attracting attention this year.

Spanish gastronomic tradition is alive and well with pata negra hams, seafood, cavas, wonderful cheeses, olive oils and of course wines of all styles and regions are what makes a trip to Alimentaria a true Spanish fair with flair!

Tags: Alimentaria, Barcelona, Fair, food, olive oil, Spanish wines, wine

Tasting 44 Catalan red wines

March 1, 2010 by Admin
Filed under Activities, Wine and food

Some would imagine a really enjoyable experience, others would savour every drop but the reality is that tasting so many wines is hard work for the palate, and you come out with teeth looking like you have been to dinner with Dracula.

True professionals spend more time with their nose pushed deep into the glass than quaffing the wine, and even then it is swirled around the mouth and spat out. Trying to capture what you have seen, smelled and tasted in words is possibly the hardest part and "I like this one" is not acceptable wine terminology.

When the wines you are tasting are all from the same region (Catalonia) and the same grape varieties are present in most of the wines it tends to emphasize the defects present very clearly and the 8 tasters were pretty unanimous on which were the worst wines. Worst in the sense of not technically correct, either through lack of balance, too much wood, lack of acidity or both which in Spanish wines seems to be a constant problem.

At the end of the 3 hour session a few wines emerged in both the under and over 15? division.

In the under 15? bracket:

2 wines from Cadaques (Empordà) which is more famous for artists than wines but these are both new wineries and interesting to taste- Pirata and Perafita; from the Montsant l'Alleu and l'Heravi; from Terra Alta Sola d'en Pol and Templari and Sirsell from the Priorat where most wines are more expensive.

In the above 15? category(some wines went up to 80?):

From the Empordà, Perelada wines were represented with both Finca Malaveina and Finca Garbet; from Montsant a Kosher wine Peraj Ha' abib; from the Priorat the Trio Infernal and Akiles

Undoubtably the most dissapointing showing were for some the expensive wines including Finca Dofi and Vall Llach which just goes to prove that tasting blind means your palate is not biased!

Tags: Catalonia, Emporda, Montsant, Priorat, red wines, Spanish wines, Terra Alta, wine tasting

Cycling around wineries in the Empordà

November 23, 2009 by Admin
Filed under Activities, Activity tours, Cultural tours, Guiding, Wine and food, Wine tours

Tags: bodegas, cycling, Emporda, tastings, wine visits, wineries

La Gola del Ter

November 22, 2009 by Admin
Filed under Activities, Activity tours, Wine and food

La Gola is where the river Ter flows into the Mediterranean Sea, having started in the Pyrenees mountains around the ski resort of Vallter 2000 some 220 kms away.

The fields on either side of the Ter are very flat, fertile land where cultivation of fruit, wheat, corn and rice takes place. There are also wetlands which although cultivated, are also part of the Aiguamolls Nature Reserve, famous for a wide range of migratory birds.

There are many paths signposted telling you where to go and being flat the area is perfect for cycling and walking.

Of course no exercise is possible if at the end there is not a meal contemplated and in this case the local specialities involve rice and seafood which is one type of “arroz” and in other parts of Spain would be called a “paella“.

A delicacy called “angulas” are found where eels breed in fresh water rivers producing millions of tiny eels which are caught at night in nets and currently retail for 500? to1,300? a kilo depending on season, if you can find them.

The small restaurants around La Gola are some of the few places you will be able to taste this amazing dish cooked in olive oil and garlic and hot peppers, once tried never forgotten!

Tags: Aiguamolls nature reserve, angulas, arroz, cycling, La Gola, La Gola del Ter, Mediterranean Sea, paella, Pyrenees, river Ter, Vallter 2000, walking

Harvest updates from Girona

August 23, 2009 by Admin
Filed under Activities, History and culture, Wine and food

Summer is almost over and yet some people have been busier than ever; my 90 year old friend Lluis is one of them. First he was busy sorting and platting the onions and garlic and now he is working on this years hazelnut harvest, by hand of course.

All of these products come from either his veggie garden or the woods he has near the village of La Pera which is where he has lived all his life. The tomatoes were late but tasty although not particularly abundant and the onions were bigger because of the wet winter/spring we had.

Next will be the beans which are dried and stored for the winter in his cellar along with the potatoes and soon it will be grape harvest and the new wine will go into the casks to keep them jolly through the winter months.

When you ask about the weather he tells you how much colder and wetter it used to be 30 or 40 years back when they had a river at the bottom of the village where they could swim and fish which is now just a dry ditch. There was occasional snow and it froze every night from December to February contrasted to now when even bougainvillea survive in sheltered spots and they die when it gets close to zero.

Like in many agricultural areas the end of summer is celebrated with a harvest festival to give thanks for the bountiful (or not depending on the year) crops and to prepare for the shorter, colder days ahead.

Living in complete harmony with the seasons is amazing, there is always something important to do whose benefit you will not see for several months but on which your life could depend before the arrival of modern logistics to supply shops in even the remotest villages, or transport to reach them.

Sion, Lluis’ wife still gets a thrill when she hears the horn announcing the fishmonger who comes through their village twice a week, she still thinks it a real luxury to eat fresh as opposed to salted fish.

Talking with them makes you realise how much us city dwelling folk take for granted every time we go food shopping!

The first picture is of an old traditional food served in Camprodon called “garru”, boiled ham on the ubiquitous toasted bread with olive oil and tomato rubbed in with optional garlic. A great way to start the day!