By all that is holy in my family, that would never, never happen.
While the orientation for this trip was not gastronomic there were certainly plenty of gastronomic highlights.
Cockles – A bowl of cockles in Barcelona – steamed with nothing,- just the cockles themselves – incredibly sweet and done to perfection.
Oysters – twice, once Fine Claires from France and once Dutch (I don’t know the variety). Super fresh, nothing but mignonette with them. The Fines Claire more briny and the Dutch tasting more earthy (mud flatty???). Great.
Whole Grilled Sea Perch – That was it except for some herbs inside the cavity, no sauce, no melted butter, just fresh fish.
Catalan Home Cooking including:
Lentils – cooked with various sausages including blood sausage
Pork Cutlets – smothered in onions cooked in red wine
Grilled Rabbit
Grilled Lamb Chops
Cabbage and Chickpeas – cooked together with potatoes and carrots, served warm with oil and vinegar as a garnish – sounds weird but was very tasty.
Wonderful Canneloni
Cruising the market looking for cheese, jamon, fruit, veggies, bread
Inexpensive Spanish table wine – no pretentions – just a nice beverage
Really good French Wine that I could actually afford!
Cheese – Unpasteurized, live cheeses still not squelched by the EEU bureaucrats – heaven.
Frites (French Fries) made in Holland – always fresh out of the fryer, totally crisp and tasty. Must have had frites a half a dozen times – even once in the airport – and they were always good.
Chocolate – Get a big bar of dark chocolate with almonds or hazelnuts and it has twice as many nuts as a similar bar at home.
Most interesting eating experience? Going to a Catalan lunch place that catered to a the office lunch crowd. No hand out menu – just a menu on a blackboard and only in Catalan. I wish I could have gone there four or five times to figure out what was on the menu because I saw a bunch of neat stuff coming out that I couldn’t figure out how to order.
10 comments:
I really need to travel if for no other reason than to expand my culinary horizons. I'm embarassed to admit that many of the items on your menu are things that I have never had an opportunity to try.
Note to self: Step outside your box. Be adventurous with your food!
None of this looks like pizza to me. I am therefore, mostly unfamiliar with most of these. Guess I need to get out more.
Sounds like this is on vacation that you will never forget.
I was wondering when the food report would appear. Now I am waiting for Mrs. de-I's photos.
Oh man, that cabbage dish sounds really good. Any idea what it was called?
So many new culinary delights and so little time!!! It all looks very good!
All of it looks very yummy.!! That cheese dish is like Xmas..
Terri and Mike - A trip of thousand dishes starts with the first bite - remember that the next time you are in any ethnic restaurant and try one thing 'out of the comfort zone'. Appetizers are best as if you end up hating them you can fall back on familiarity for the main course.
Stef - no I don't but I really think it was just cabbage, chickpeas and potatoes cooked together. Maybe the cabbage was put in later because it wasn't over cooked.
Bernice - If you have any idea about Wife's usual turnaround time on pictures expect a link around...December?
Seems like a good number of the dishes were just by themselves with minimal spices or additional flavoring. Cool. Cockles! Sounds scrumptious.
My children had green eggs and ham today in honor of Dr. Suess! :)
As usual, your photos and descriptions make my cooking look lame. Heh.
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