The Food of Barcelona

I travel to eat good food, but because I have decision paralysis it can be the most frustrating part of our vacations. I have learned to book food experiences to make it easier on myself and less annoying for my husband. 

During my research phase, I saw numerous recommendations for the Paella Club and it was not a disappointment! First rule of the Paella Club, said our host/chef, is TALK about Paella Club! He has an amazing energy and is so passionate about Catalan food and music that you cannot help but have an amazing experience. Plus, the Cava is seemingly never-ending, so come prepared to drink! 

We had a full class and were at the vegetarian paella station. But at the end of the class, we all sat down at a long table and were able to try all the other versions that were made at the stations. My favorite was the pork paella. I have never made paella and had only eaten it once before, so this was a great introduction and I feel confident that I could replicate it at home. 

And because the food experiences were a 'plenty in Barcelona, we also booked a tapas tour through Airbnb.

At the first stop we tried vermouth. I don't think I have ever in my life tried vermouth and I was not confident that I would really enjoy it since I'm not a big liquor drinker. But when in Barcelona, you must try vermouth and it was surprisingly tasty! I did not eat the olive, though, since it was stuffed with anchovy. 

Our first stop also included some Manchego cheese (yum!) and pickled fish. The fish I did not try. Sorry, not sorry!

The crochets, though, at the first stop were quite delicious!

This beautifully displayed dish is tuna loaf. I tried it.

This was my favorite bite of the night--fried green tomatoes and fried Camembert cheese. It reminded me of the South!

At the third stop we tried a bunch more things. Bread smeared with tomato (a Catalan staple), fried Cod balls (my absolute LEAST favorite bite), fried Calamari (I tried it so I could tell my father-in-law that I did) and a cheese, potato and onion quiche-like dish. We had this at the hotel for breakfast, too, so it was neat to find out that it's a local dish. 

At our last stop I completely forgot to snap a photo, but we tried another croquette and dessert. 

We had a fun group with us. One guy was from the Northeast (came across as a privileged white dude), one couple (a cop and a nurse) was from the San Fran area, one couple was from Italy and then us. I don't know how, but near the end we ended up discussing America's 401k system and gun control. Call me a nerd, but I loved every second of it!

Barcelona

After our one night in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, we drove back to Barcelona to spend the rest of our trip. We dropped off the car rental (you can easily forgo a car in Barcelona) and checked in to our hotel. This was hands-down my favorite hotel I have ever stayed in. I booked it mostly, if I am honest with myself, because I love the way it was decorated. It has beautiful pieces of furniture in the common areas, coffee table books, demi-johns, cool lighting, amazing vintage tile and plants. It had other perks too like A/C and a really great breakfast! If I could stay in this hotel for the rest of my life, I would be one happy lady. It was architecturally interesting, beautifully decorated, quiet and in a great location. 

Breakfast included a ton of options--meats, cheeses, pastries, yogurt, fruit, juices, coffee and more! While on a food tour (more on that in another post), we also realized that some Catalan favorites were included in the breakfast each day. 

Walking around Barcelona and taking its metro was great! We walked around La Rambla and had a fresh fruit juice. Check! We walked through some parks and on the boardwalk. We walked by two of Gaudi's other buildings, but sadly did not visit inside (next time!) Pictured above is their Arc de Triomphe (Paris isn't the only place that has one!)

I love finding fun graffiti in Europe. I kept my eyes peeled for the "one" I wanted to remember and came across this on a walk before our paella class (more on that in another post). The nostalgia of this graffiti won me over and reminded me about how my sisters and I BEGGED our parents for Tamagochis when they came out. I even remember shopping at Toys 'R Us to pick them out when my parents finally caved. 

The main draw to visit Barcelona was to see Gaudi's work. I was first introduced to it when watching a travel show (probably Rick Steves). During my research phase for this trip, I read a ton of posts and saw a bunch of pictures. We visit Park Guell as our first introduction to Gaudi. The Park was not as easy or convenient to get to as we originally thought. We easily hopped on the metro near our hotel, but once you get off the train you still have to walk a good distance (partially uphill) to arrive at the park. We had pre-purchased our tickets for the 5-5:30pm window and were so worried that when we arrived about 5 minutes late that we would have to buy all new tickets. Not to worry, though. They scanned our tickets and there were no issues. 

I will have to admit that I was slightly let down about Park Guell. The main viewing area with the mosaic benches was crowded with people lounging on the benches. The lounging is great and what parks are intended for, but it made it very difficult to get some decent pictures. Plus, the pictures I had seen in my research must have been super edited with colorful filters because the in-person perspective was not as dramatic. Do yourself a favor and don't look at all the pictures and just enjoy it in person!

Andorra

On our most recent trip we were able to cross off two new countries--Spain and Andorra. We flew into Barcelona, rented a car and headed up to Andorra for one night. It was not the most convenient nor affordable of side trips, but it was a must to visit the small country that is nestled between Spain and France. 

Andorra is known for shopping (duty free, of course) and nature. We spent our first evening walking down the main shopping street. If you love perfume, this is the place to come. I think every other store was a perfume shop (a bit hyperbolic, but there were soooo many). 

Our hotel room had the best view! There was a rushing stream right outside. It was especially perfect for white noise at night. 

I keep forgetting to look it up, but this statue is based on Salvador Dali's work and it was in the main shopping area of Andorra la Vella. 

One benefit of our hotel was their spa! Andorra has a lot of spas (much like Germany) and we wanted to spend a least a bit of time there. Our reservation included time in the hot tub which we did not realize until check-in. We were fully prepared to pay extra for it, so that was a very pleasant surprise! 

The other nice thing about our hotel was the in-house restaurant. We chose a half-board reservation which means our time included dinner. We enjoyed our first taste of Cava at dinner. Cava is a sparkling wine, similar to Champagne, that is unique to this region. It is very popular in Barcelona, as well.

Breakfast was included and it was so darn good! They had an amazing selection including a full piece of dripping honeycomb. We were definitely fueled up for a little hike and journey back to Barcelona. 

As I said earlier, Andorra is known for nature. There are tons of hiking trails, skiing opportunities (in the season) and outdoor activities of all kinds. Throughout the country are wooden creatures called Tamarros. They are protectors of nature and the forests. There was one close to our hotel that we set out to find. It was a dreary morning, but we started on our trek, nonetheless. However, after thunder, lightening and hail started coming down and no Tamarro Andy in site, we turned around. We still do not know exactly how much farther we had to go to find him, but maybe we will return one day. 

Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad

 At work we have a tradition of holding a potluck lunch on an employee's last day. We had an opportunity for one last week. Another co-worker offered to bring gorditas. Having never tried them before, I was looking forward to it! Knowing what she was bringing, helped me pick what to bring. I scoured my saved recipes on Pinterest and saw this one for Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad. 

The recipe was super easy to put together and turned out really good! I even received compliments from my two Mexican-American co-workers. Yes! 

Because this dish is served cold, it is a perfect one for a potluck. Bring some extra cotija cheese for everyone to sprinkle on top of their portion and your serving bowl will be empty before you head home. Or if you're lucky like me you'll have just enough to have a portion later. 

*Because I'm not a fan of onions or cilantro, I left those out and it still tasted really good.

Bolesławiec, Poland: Food and glass blowing

On my recent trip to Poland with the spouses' club, we stayed at The Blue Beetroot Hotel. It is a charming hotel with a lot of character. Our room had beautiful wooden beams on the ceiling and the in-house restaurant had delicious food. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast buffet each morning. 

We spent two nights, so we had two opportunities to eat dinner at the restaurant. For my first night, I chose the pumpkin cream soup (yum), goulash (delicious) and apple cake. The apple cake was slightly disappointing, especially compared with my own apple cake. But it was a great meal with good company, nonetheless. 

Another stop in town, aside from the plethora of pottery shops, was a glass blowing studio. We were all immediately drawn to the fun, whimsical pieces scattered around the entrance. 

Once inside, we browsed their shop where it was hard to decide what pieces to take home. I ended up with a blown-glass ornament and a kiwi (pictured below). The kiwi was a bit of an impulse buy. They reminded me so much of Disney's Alice in Wonderland, one of my all-time favorites, that I had to take one home with me. 

We were also treated to a glass-blowing demonstration. I have watched the Netflix show Blown Away, so I felt more educated on the process and terminology with glass blowing, but nothing beats seeing it in person. 

The oven behind the glass-blower holds only clear glass. He would have to visit it many times throughout the process to add more and more glass to the piece. They add color by rolling the hot glass in colored pieces of glass. For the piece they are working on, they also had to add a swirl of another color. It was really neat to see the technique. 

Glass-blowing is a team job! It was really cool to see them work together. It was like watching a choreographed dance as each person knew that the other would be there when they needed them. 

The little cup around the hot glass is made out of wood and is used to help shape the glass into the desired shape. They have to replace these often since they wear out from the intense heat. It smelled really good, too. It was like being at a campfire!

I have not eaten a lot of (or any???) Polish food. Our lunch stop on day one was to Opalkowa Chata which had an extensive menu in addition to a selection of specialty vodkas. It was hard to decide what to order and I ended up with way more food than I could handle. I tried both the beef and the blueberry perogies. Both were so delicious! One of my friends ordered the cheese and potato perogies. We traded each other one, so I was able to try that type as well. So yummy! One thing I thought was interesting was that on the menu the cheese and potato perogies were originally called Russian Perogies, but they marked through "Russian" in solidarity with Ukraine. 

The exterior of the restaurant had some great folk art pieces! 

Bolesławiec, Poland: pottery shopping

On a recent trip to Boleslawiec, Poland with the spouses' club, we visited a bunch of pottery shops! While I am not a huge fan of Polish pottery (blue is just not my color), I was intrigued to see the many patterns and find out what all the hype is about. 

At one of our stops, we had the pleasure of seeing behind the scenes for a little tour. Ceramika Andar showed us the process, starting with the big slabs of clay they begin their work with. They use the clay to make slip (a watered down clay) to use in slip-casting their mugs, plates and other pieces. 

We walked through the drying room where pieces are drying out in anticipation of their bisque firing prior to being glazed. 

The ladies were hard at work getting the pieces cleaned up so they would be ready for the kiln. 

One of the ladies in my group took this picture and I just loved the close up of the plaster molds and some of the little creamer jugs. 

This ceramic shop is a family affair. The father, wife, son and daughter all work in the shop. This is the wife. She was hard at work painting Christmas trees. It was really cool to see how quickly she was able to finish each one. 

This was our guide through the workshop. 

Another popular shop in town is Andy Polish Pottery. This was actually our very first stop of our shopping excursion. They had a wide selection of pieces. I picked up some Jack o' Lanterns, Christmas ornament and little sleeping kitty figurine here. 

This is a small snapshot of the selection at Andy's. In addition to this, there was a whole other room filled with pieces. 

Elim Christian Center in Poland

For the spouses' club Trips & Tours in March, we visited Boleslawiec, Poland. The purpose of our trip was two-fold. One was to enjoy time together and shop for Polish pottery. But our second purpose, in light of the current situation with Ukraine, was to bring some much needed donations for Ukrainian refugees that are currently being housed in Poland. 

Our community donated a ton of items like bedding, clothing, toiletries and more. We packed as much as we could in our bus and headed off to the Elim Christian Center. 

Emily, our host at Elim, greeted us and gave us a tour of the property. The center is in an old Polish castle that has been restored for the Center's purposes. Emily is an American whose mother escaped Poland during the Communist era, so Emily has a passion for the Polish people. Through tears, she expressed how grateful she was for our visit and for all the donations we were able to collect for the 70+ refugees they are currently providing shelter for. 

When we arrived, this room was completely empty. We quickly got to work sorting all our bagged and boxed donations into this room. Emily told us the donations would only last a couple of days before they were all claimed by their residents. 

After we finished putting things away, we were treated to lunch at the Center and were able to see their Nativity Sets that the Center crafts and sells to raise money for their mission. They are sewn and are the most adorable sets that include the typical Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus but also camels, sheep, donkeys, wise men and more. I brought home a Mary, Joseph and Jesus set to remember my time at Elim. They sell them through area reps, so if you're interested in checking them out visit their website and send them an email!