I decided to shorten my posts, better than nothing. Plan was to have a little holiday story here. But this will anyway never happen. Here is saw hungry family having lunch, and I got hungry too. I shot probably 90% food related pics, and will upload soon some more.
Last week we went to Spain over a long weekend, just to chill out in the sun, good food and get some serious good sleep. The house is my parents and it is located on north of Barcelona, on a mountain with pine trees, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. We have been there several times in the last few years. It’s seriously relaxing and quiet, just with some birds singing and no other noises at all, the perfect location to re fuel after a really busy first quarter in London. A few small villages close by offer everything, from great food markets, fish markets, bars, restaurants, everything. My parents, whom we haven’t seen in ages, were also there and we spent a few great days together.
Our first lunch happened of course in a place that I would not miss out once on a trip to Palamos. It’s called Tragamar and is located on the small beach strip in Calella de Palafrugell. We started with a stroll along the small beach promenade which is in front of a picturesque village feeling quite bohemian and arty. The place is never overcrowded by “tourists” and mainly visited by “local tourists”, either Spaniards or foreigners like us. I like to consider myself a local tourist and try to avoid any places overcrowded with other foreigners, and blending into local communities, exploring neighborhoods and using the local language as much as the knowledge allows.
The lunch in Tragamar consisted of superb Jamón Ibérico, pan tomate, Gambas all ajilo, tiny small mussels (berberechos) cooked with some garlic, parsley and Sherry wine, some local rosato wine and escalivada with anchovies from the coast.
Berberechos with parsley, Sherry wine.
Gambas in olive oil, slow cooked garlic. The gambas release the flavor and color of the shell into the oil. Dip the bread in it, its just out of this world.
Jamon Iberico, Pan con tomate. The pan con tomate is a toasted white bread, similar to a baguette, rubbed with some garlic and tomato.
So what’s the deal about being a local tourist? I think its all about not sticking out like a soar thumb in the crowd, eating in restaurants when locals eat (at 9 or 10pm) and not at 6pm with the lobster red roasted crowd wearing sandals, or something like that.
Next weekend we are going to Spain for a long 3 day weekend. Today will be packing up a few things day because next week is hectic and I will have little time to do that.
But which cookbooks should I bring with me? Every time I’m in Spain there is lots of time for cooking, bbq, shopping on markets and I miss my cookbook library from home.
I think I will pack up the 2 books of Elizabeth David, Mediterranean Cooking and French provincial cuisine. That’s it. It’s a lazy rainy cold Sunday here in London and the 2 boring thoughts above are about all I can get on this blog today.
At least I found an inspiring photo which I took last year, looking down the village of Palamos.
Curry Wurst is the first thing I always go for when in Germany…it’s a national speciality and translates as Curry Sausage. The one who does not know about this delicacy would assume it’s a sausage made with Curry. It is not, it’s much simpler…a grilled sausage, topped with Ketchup and Curry Powder, served with French fries. Apparently Curry Wurst was invented in Berlin 1949 by Herta Heuwer, there is also a patent trademark certificate.
The secret of a perfect Curry Wurst lies in different and complex components.
1. The sausage: Sausage making is an art. In the UK there are lots of sausages and people are proud of these, but to compare them with German sausages is only for fools. For Curry wurst the sausage is grilled or roasted.
2. The Curry Wurst: The art of making sausage is a phylosophie for itself.
3. The sauce: real good curry wurst sauce is not Ketchup but a sauce made of tomato extract and spices, chili, curry, etc…
4. Curry wurst is a Imbiss (Snack) and the best ones are found on roadside grill shaks.
5. My favorite place so far is in Düsseldorf (im Hafen) and is called Curry. It’s a stylish young and hip place, the Düsselfdorf fashionistas also don’t shy back of having a bottle of bubbly Prosecco with the Imbiss. The fries are delicious and home made. Various additional sauces are offered.
6. Beer: Beer is another great asset Germany has, again, the Brits think the ales and bitters they have are the best…forgett about it, try a Kölsch (blonde beer from Cologne) or an Alt Beer (old beer) in Düsseldorf and you will instantly know the difference, it’s enough reason to cancel your flight ticket back to the UK, and if the beer is not enough, then its the beer and curry wurst…
7. Here are some fabulous links and places to explore:
Curry Wurst from Berlin, the whole story
Peters Brauhaus in Cologne for fabulous local food and Kölsch
Go and check it out for yourself, Cologne a nice old city with lots of charm whilst I personally prefer the more sophisticated small fashion town of Düsseldorf.
Here we are self pictured over an Alster Bier, at the Düesseldorf Neumark, a lovely vegetable, fruit and meat market in the middle of the city!
Recently I tried out Trader Vic at the Hilton on Park Lane, we haven’t been there for ages. This place is so old and kind of out of fashion that it by now deserves to be fashionable to have a drink here, again. Considering that various boutiques and shops are selling retro 70’s tables, home furnitures and chairs at astonishing prices, even in Selfridge’s, the type my grandma throw in the bin a few years ago. The waitresses wear long dresses with the sides of the skirts cut open showing a lot of leg, nearly up to the bum…and most of them are guess what, no not 55+ but late 20’s and quite gorgeous. The clients are according to the decor, some Samsonite businessmen from all age groups but mainly 55+ and various ethnic backgrounds, I noticed quite a large amount of “fruit cocktail boozers” from the Middle East, then there are, surprise surprise, some single (on business? hehehe) women, which also sit around, sipping on Perrier waters and fruit juices. The music band got stuck in 1970’s and the decor reminds of a Polynesian beach joint, from about the time when the musicians were born. Cheesy salsa, some known and less known hits, Brazil beats and some unidentifiable other tunes, but not to the point that it gets totally annoying. They also serve some food, but we did not go there, although the large Tandoori like ovens in the glass shielded kitchen look interesting.
ENOUGH cynicism, the history of Trader Vic’s is interesting and Victor J Bergeron is to be considered a pioneer. “It all started when Victor Jules Bergeron was a waiter at San Francisco’s Fairmont Hotel and owned a grocery store on San Pablo Avenue in Oakland. His son – Victor, (Jr.) – grew up loving the food business, living with the family in an apartment above the store and helping out downstairs.” so one can read on www.tradervics.com “In 1932, with a nest egg of $700 and carpentry help from his wife’s brothers – plus his mother’s pot-bellied stove and oven – the ebullient Victor built a cozy pub across the street from the store and called it Hinky Dink’s. His pungent vocabulary and ribald air made him a popular host, as did his potent tropical cocktail concoctions and delicious Americanized adaptations of Polynesian food.” Somewhere along the lines in 1944 the Mai Tai Cocktail was also invented by a Trader Vic. The customer was served the rum based drink and said “Mai Tai Roe Ae” which means “Out of this world” in Tahitian.
Images from Trader Vic’s
Trader Vic’s is located at the London Hilton Park Lane, 22 Park Lane, W1Y 1BE, England. There are several other Trader Vic’s around the world, from Dubai to Munich.
It all began with one of the first posts…and here we go, last weekend we flew to NYC to visit my dear friend Marco Burlimann for his thirstiest thirtiest birthday, the program was well planned and executed, a tough one, awesome and freaking expensive.
We started on day 1 with bagels cream cheese smoked salmon, then some culture at MoMa where I saw my favorite painting for the four seasons, also displayed at Tate Modern in London. This was followed by immense hunger sorted out in Chinatown for lunch, via Pastis for a few Bourbons on lots of rocks and watching beautiful people, then to Gin Lane which Robbie recommended for guess what, – not a GT but a bottle of Champagne.
For dinner we went to Tao, a huge buzzing and loud Asia Japan meets West food temple resembling a night club with the large Buddha statue and loud music. A power scene. Claudio passed out.
Dinner was followed by Pink Elephant Club for clubbing where Marco “in the know” organized a hard to get table (in the video below you see the two girls which passed out on our sofa and where just sleeping for an hour or so until security removed them…) Dom Perignon, a bottle of Belvedere Wodka, another bottle of Perrier Jouet Belle Epoque and lots of dancing! A gorgeous waitress and the quickest “private” waiter at the table for ice refills, fresh fruit, lighters, cigarettes, red bulls, you name it. The bill was quite steep to. (Thanks Marco-man, next time in London its on me, poor guy spent 1700$…)
That day and night it was so damn cold with polar wind gales hitting the pavement that our noses nearly froze. The weather channel was talking of snow! – which arrived on Sunday night only… 
Next day, Chicken Noodle soup and bagels in Carnegie Deli, then Greek Salad and Lamb Chops in Queens Astoria at Taverna Cyclades on Ditmars Boulvard and a visit to Marco’s flat, a local Greek Tavern, Schwarzwäldertorte in some neighbourhood cake shop and off we went for some shopping on 5th Avenue. Followed by drinks at Stone Rose bar at Time Warner building, Sushi in Wholefoods, then dinner at Gramercy Tavern followed by I don’t know anymore.
Sunday, the greatest 4 hour brunch I had in my life, (bagels before…) at Artisanal. Start with Bloody Marie, Cheese Platter with 4 different Swiss Cheese an amazing selection of Swiss Cheese in this place from Appenzeller, Stanser Fladen, Gruyere and Vacherin you name it, then Cheese Fondue and Snails in Garlic sauce to end before desserts, wine and lots of water to rehydrate the body from the nights before. Walk in Soho to Noho, back to the Columbus Circle, more drinks in Stone Rose followed by Sushi in Wholefoods (again) and run to the airport with a nearly heart attack. SNOW flakes in the sky!
Marco & Daniela, Peter, Claudio: Thanks to all of you for an AWESOME weekend and Marco especially for the whole organisation. See you shortly in St. Moritz for the last of 3 birthdays in a series!!!
Popular demand and lots of interest I now add another recipe (my top mega favorite one) for a roasted Sea Bass with potatoes, olives, capers, white wine, garlic and tomatoes. This precious, possibly becoming rare fish due to high demands is also called Loup de mer in French, Seabass in English and Bar de ligne is Line caught seabass, so all the same. There are differences of provenance, i.e Chilean, Balck, European etc Seabass. A superb sea fish, one of the most precious and highly popular due to its firm and tasty texture, no small bones to fight with, fairly straight forward to grill, roast or steam and really nice and moist flesh. It is one of my favorites too, not a budget fish but a great hit on every dinner table with friends to impress or just a delicious Mediterranean (or oriental if differently cooked) dish. You can get wild seabass and seabass from farms.
read here more about seabass if you want to become a specialist on Wikipedia or on M&J Seafoods for a good weekly report of the situation, including availability and price guide (go direct to the weekly market report in the middle of the front page)
Seabass roasted with potatoes, olives, capers, white wine, garlic and tomatoes
ANYWAY, enough, here is my favorite way of preparing a lovely Seabass of about 1.6.-1.8 kg for 3-4, we usually eat one in two. Here is the recipe:
1 large Seabass, clean, scaled, some parsley inside
4-6 starchy potatoes, peeled, sliced 1.5cm
1 small glass of capers or caper apples
100 grams of Kalamata olives
Cherry or normal, sweet ripe tomatoes
Garlic
White wine, dry
Sea salt, pepper, the best fruity spicy virgin olive oil you can get your hands on
Baking paper, baking tray
Boil water for the potatoes, boil them in salted water a few minutes only so that they are still raw inside, strain, lay on baking tray, drizzle with good olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, about 1 dl of white wine, capers, tomatoes, garlic in whole cloves, and more olive oil. (not the olives yet).
Bake for 10 minutes at about 200 Celsius, then put the salt and pepper seasoned fish on top, bake in oven at 180 Celsius for about 20 minutes. Add the olives after about 15 minutes, if too early they burn / caramelize. Baste the fish with the liquid on the tray.
When cooked, the fish must come easy of the bones. Take skin of, fillet, serve, drizzle with olive oil and sea salt. The flavor of the fish, olive oil and white wine will make the potatoes moist and incredibly flavorsome. It is so simple but quite awesome dish.
Can you taste the sea? It just reminds me so much of the salty moist air when sitting in a fresh breeze on the coast in Spain…
…On Friday we went to Belgium to visit a Chocolatier, Galler. Mr. Galler a great guy, very passionate, personally with some of his business partners took us around for lunch to one of the cafes they run. Very stylish place, stylish packaging, great little jewels of pralines to chocolates, all packed in Hermes style orange. He opened delicious, special wines for lunch, 2 white 2 red. The selection proved to be extraordinarily intelligent with
Chateau Simon and Les Proquerolles, both whites from south of France, different characteristics and “off the beaten path” as a in the know traveller would say. Reds a were a Alsace Pinot Noir and Chateau Pibarnon from Bandol. Food was average, conversation good.
Now the cool stuff: a chocolate tasting in 3 variations, preparation methods 14th, 16th and 18th century!!! All lined up on a nice little tray, short description of characteristics. So good. Origianally, by the Aztecs, the chocolate drink was a thick, brown liquid of crushed cocoa beans, spices, honey, milk and water. With a kind of mortar whisked until foaming.
here you find Mr Galler, some info on him and a interesting web site. (note that I have no business affiliation with him and this is not advertising, it is just about the pure passion and love for chocolate)
