I was in a bad mood at the Sénanque Abbey when we visited with friends during our week in Provence. I was hot, hungry and hungover from a tad too much rosé the night before. Dizzied by both the heat and blinding glare of the August sun, piqued by quarrels with the beau (that were no doubt also aggravated by…
At El Diset (formerly Disset 17 Graus) smooth Mallorcan sobrasada sausage meets honey and goat cheese atop a round of crunchy bread; baby arugula and pine nuts are sprinkled over the top in a combination of flavors and textures worthy of its own post. The marriage between honey’s natural, floral sweetness and paprika’s herbal depth and heat…
When I took my guy to Barcelona’s only Hungarian restaurant, Hungaryto, a few months back he made very clear his favorite dish of the meal: Harcsapaprikás túróscsuszával. This is catfish cooked in a creamy paprika sauce, served with a side of pasta turned in Hungarian sour cream (tejföl), ewe milk curd (juhtúró) and crispy pieces of smoked fatback (szalonna). He learned the…
July 4th of 2014 found me in my nation’s capital drinking Blue Moon’s in a bar on 14th street and watching Germany beat France and Brazil beat Colombia in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. I saw the fireworks from a friend’s rooftop downtown and crashed a GWU frat party that raged all through the night. As my taxi zipped up 16th…
In Barcelona, a terrace in a plaza or down one of the ramblas (except the main Rambla, just don’t go there…) is a great place to catch up with a friend or two, to people-watch and discuss the comings and goings of one’s work or love life. Another good options is a night out tapeando on Carrer Blai.…
In December I visited Albert Adrià’s Bodega 1900, the go-to alternative to Tickets across the street. I was new back then to the world of vermouth with canned things, and thus very lucky to have stumbled upon one of the best representations of this Catalan dining tradition at Bodega 1900. It’s where I first learned an important…
Reus. It’s where Gaudí was born. It’s also home to the market where my coworkers and I used to buy fresh produce, the laundromat where I had my clothes sent for dry-cleaning, the hospital where my tooth was filled when I chipped it on a fork eating a fresh summer salad with figs and mató that one time. I…
The pristine, blue gem that is the Siurana Lake offers a wonderful escape from the sticky, salty seawater and looming influx of summertime tourism on the beaches of Barcelona. It’s a place to get away and enjoy fresh mountain air, while sunning on a dock, surrounded by silence. Every once in a while a family or two will set…
A few days into my father’s visit to Barcelona we had grown a bit weary of tapas. We were craving the opposite, a thoughtfully assembled entrée complete with a protein and a side or two. No more bar snacks, no more homogenous mounds of just one thing, no more small plates designed to share. Of course, our relationship…
Further south of Calella de Palafrugell on the Costa Brava is the town of Blanes, perhaps best known for hosting a spectacular fireworks competition during the Santa Anna festival in late July. I’ve heard there are also some neat botanical gardens there to visit and, of course, beaches that stretch far and wide. We didn’t see too…
That Best Bite 