Catalonia – Too Cool For Spain

by Iva Skoch on

Blogging from Blanes, Catalonia: A sun-drenched, beautiful, Mediterranean coastal area of Spain, Catalonia still thinks it is too cool for Spain. A friend who has lived here for 8 years says that the Catalans consider themselves the hard-working ones, whereas the Southerners are supposed to be the slackers. (Californians – sounds familiar?) He says they are all equally relaxed about getting anything done.

An area of 6.5 million (16% of Spain as a whole), rich in its own history and a language distinct from Spanish, Catalonia now pines for independence from the rest of Spain (in part because they are angry they send more in tax revenue than they get back), apparently willing to forgo the substantial (150B+ Euros) monetary support from the EU, even though its GDP is less than the support the country gets. A recent vote showed this willingness to secede. And, not too surprisingly, this wouldn´t be the first time.

Maybe it is the food. Catalonia boasts one of the world´s most heart-healthy diets. Rich in fish, bountiful vegetables and the freshest fruit sold daily at bustling local markets, it sets the standard for the “Mediterranean diet,” whose birthplace, arguably, is the famous La Boqueria market in Barcelona.

Yet, it´s also home to a sometimes strangely liberal lifestyle, as evidenced by the fact that it´s one of the few places in the world where cannabis-derived drugs are available over the counter at the many farmacia. It´s also bucking age-old Spanish tradition, by moving to banish bull-fighting. Better get here fast.

Basque Food without the Bombs

by Neil Woodburn on

I had never heard of the Basque Country until I visited a wonderful old dive in Eagle Rock, California called The Bucket. The Bucket was nothing more than 8 seats around a bar, behind which Julio the proprietor cooked garlicky, mustard-infused burgers that brought tears of culinary joy to my eyes and left me stinky for the next 24 hours.

Julio was a grizzled old man who heralded from a place he called the Basque Country. We used to argue that such a place didn’t exist with the hope of provoking him enough that he’d bring out a plastic club he kept behind the bar and whack us over the head.

Of course, the Basque Country exists. It is a part of Northern Spain and for the last forty years, it was home to a rather nasty separatist group which fought for the region’s independence and killed more than 800 people in the process. At the beginning of this year, however, the group officially disbanded and threw down their arms.

The cease fire is great news for those who avoided the area out of fear for their safely. Now, they can visit without worrying that a car bomb might ruin their holiday. The reality is that it was never too terribly dangerous to visit. I did so shortly after college and lounged for a few days in the bars and cafes of San Sebastian.

It was Julio who inspired me to go, or rather, his cooking. Basque food is phenomenal. And, although I was never able to replicate my garlicky mustard sauce, Bucket Burger experience while there, I did not leave disappointed. Nor will the new wave of tourists who are returning to this region. Simply step into any bar around happy hour and the most delectable assortment of tapas will quickly seduce all your senses. Culinary nirvana is just a few bites away

Snakes on a Plate

by Neil Woodburn on

Okay, I stole the catchy headline from the post I’m linking to, but it was so brilliant I couldn’t resist. Thanks go out to the culinary adventurers over at Deep End Dining who were inspired enough by the recent Snakes on a Plane movie to seek out “snakes on a plate” and eat them.

The location, no surprise here, was a Vietnamese restaurant in Rosemead–a suburb of Los Angeles that has a very large Vietnamese population. Phong Dinh Restaurant caters to this population by bringing a bit of Asia to mainland America–the strange bits of Asia, mind you. Indeed, food critic Eddie, describes how the restaurant’s “menu reads like an inventory list for a small zoo.” In addition to snakes, the restaurant offers Kangaroo, ostrich, alligator and numerous other two- and four-legged animals for your eating pleasure. Yum yum!

Eddie, however, stuck with the snake theme out of homage to the film. He ordered “charbroiled, grounded snake in la lot leaves” and was woefully disappointed by the overpowering flavors of the dish. Hoping for a better experience, he switched to a close cousin to snake and was equally disenchanted with the over-seasoning of his “eel with lemon grass and chili” entrée.

Sadly, it can be said that the food was as much of a letdown as the movie which inspired it. If you really want good snake, get on a plane and fly to Vietnam where there is plenty of “mother****ing snakes!”

Salmon Festival

by Erik Olsen on

I love to point out things that are happening in my old stomping grounds of the Northwest. One of the more interesting cultural events that really speaks to an icon of the area is the Wenatchee Salmon Festival. The festival runs September 28 to October 1 this year. Salmon is big in the Northwest. Big business, big in the cultural/historical sense, and big in the dining sense.

The red meated silvery fish are a big part part of the rich heritage of the region. And even though many of the biggest salmon runs have been decimated by dams and pollution, the salmon is still revered and, well, eaten. And I’ll tell you, if you’ve never had salmon at Ivar’s, well, you don’t know what you’re missing.

The Wenatchee festival is having its 16th anniversary this year with live entertainment (the Jude Bowerman Band), and a live reptile demonstration with Reptile Man Scott Petersen (what reptiles have to do with salmon is beyond me, but hey, that shouldn’t dissuade you from going.

Red Corner: Jonesing for Czech Goulash

by Neil Woodburn on

After living in Prague for two years, I developed a love/hate relationship with goulash.

Although Hungary normally comes to mind when most people think of goulash, the Czechs lap up a slightly different version which they consider as much of a local culinary tradition as their fine pilsners.

I ate a lot of goulash while living there, and sopped it all up with pasty dumplings (another Czech specialty). I eventually grew tired of it but still found myself wolfing it down while frequenting hole-in-the-wall pubs that have been ladling the stuff out for seemingly hundreds of years.

After returning to the states, I found I actually missed the stuff. A short-lived restaurant in Los Angeles, Czech Point, briefly fulfilled my cravings until it eventually closed after changing ownership. I haven’t had good goulash since.

Thanks to a short article and a long recipe recently published in the Prague Post, I can now relive my culinary expat adventures. Of course, I won’t be able to replicate the smoky pubs and surly waiters, but I can close my eyes, take a bite, and be magically transported back if I try hard enough. Mmmm….