Overnight in Siurana, March 5, 2011

We enjoyed our second annual "calçotada" in Cornudella de Montsant with Pat's colleague from Coty, Joan, his wife Marie-Angels and sons Joan and Oriol at the summer home of Joan's parents. Joining us again were Enric, Mary and their baby daughter, Lucia, as well as some other friends. Joan booked us into the very beautiful Hotel Mirador in Siurana on Saturday night, at the top of the hill overlooking Cornudella and the valley. The view was amazing and the weather perfect! What will we do without calçots when we have to leave Spain?!?

The Hotel Mirador from a distance














And from the driveway














Front entrance of the hotel from our bedroom window

























































The sunny restaurant overlooks the valley




























The area is popular with rock climbers...you can see why, given the surrounding terrain!










































Hasta luego...

Can Fabes Restaurant, Sant Celoni February 27, 2011

Living in the Barcelona area means enjoying fine dining just about everywhere you turn! There's no excuse for just a "mediocre" meal. We'd been reading about the famous Michelin star restaurants in our area and decided to splurge at Can Fabes in Sant Celoni one Sunday for lunch. Getting a reservation meant nearly signing away your life...150 Euros was instantly charged to our credit card, in case we didn't show! It was worth it though...we were treated like royalty, taken on a tour of the kitchen and restaurant, located in a 300-year-old building belonging to the Santamaria family, then wined and dined in 3 Michelin star style! Sadly, the owner and chef, Santa Santamaria, had passed away from a heart attack while setting up another restaurant in Singapore just two weeks before we were there. His co-chef, Xavier Pellicer (below), accepted our condolences and admitted it had been a difficult time adjusting to the untimely loss. One of the young chefs we met was from Montreal and was doing his "stage" here for a few months.

The kitchen at Can Fabes, Chef Xavier Pellicer














Our table beside a liquor cabinet














Looking into another room from our table






































Pat on the appetizer course...spoonfuls of such delicious delicacies!














The bread man slicing up no less than 5 different types of breads to try!














Pat's venison dish...excellent! I enjoyed shrimp two ways: ravioli and with fresh peas.














Dessert...this appeared AFTER our chosen "chocolate 5 ways" dessert...whoops!














You can check out the current menus on: www.canfabes.com and yes, it is pricey, but with your chosen main course, you also get all the amuse-bouches and appetizer samplings of the day, an endless supply of bread, water and coffee plus dessert (above). We'll know better for next time...it was amazing!

Hasta luego...

Milan, Italy February 17-20, 2011

After a business trip to Parma, Italy to check out the perfume bottle-making industry at a couple of glass factories, Pat and I spent a lovely weekend in Milan! We had last been there in the 1990's and what a difference we noted since then! The Duomo had been totally cleaned up...who knew it was really "white"?!? It literally "glowed in the dark"! The streets were clean, busy and there were lots of tourists, even in the middle of winter! We stayed at the very lovely and central Hotel Spadari, and walked all over the area: http://www.spadarihotel.com/eng/home.html. We had some lovely meals, enjoyed great Italian cheeses, wines and coffee and did a little sightseeing as well!

The famous Duomo (Cathedral) in the sunshine














Inside the Duomo














Galleria Vittorio Emanuelle II...found a wonderful glove shop here and went a little crazy!














Inside the Galeria



















Via Spadari outside out hotel



















Windows of Peck's, a wonderful delicatessen, restaurant, wine bar, etc. right next door to our hotel!














The best Parmesan ever at ~29.00 Euros/kg














A highlight was a tour of La Scala Opera House-below is one of the old posters which line the staircase up to the museum.



















The Pinocateca Ambrosiana, located close to our hotel. The adjoining Biblioteca Ambrosiana, houses Da Vinci’s Codice Atlantico. About 1200 pages of his notes, drawings, ideas are in this building shown about 30 pages at a time! Pretty impressive viewing some ~500 years later!














The Courtyard at the Pinocateca














Around the corner from the recently restored (1977-1999) "Last Supper, or "Cenacolo" in the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Grazie. We had a quiet 15-20 minutes to gaze in awe at this masterpiece on a timed entrance ticket obtained for us by our hotel. Amazing...



















The two restaurants where we enjoyed dinners were:
-L'Osteria di Brere on Via Fiori Chiari, 8
-La Dolce Vita on Via Bergamini 11

We thoroughly enjoyed our getaway weekend to Milan and hope to visit again sometime!
Hasta luego...

Saturday in The Garraf, February 12, 2011

A Saturday "walk in the park" with the International Women's Club of Barcelona, including friends and spouses, took us from the train station at Sitges (south of Barcelona on the coast) by local bus a short distance towards "The Garraf", the hills overlooking Sitges. From the end of the bus line we walked to a little restaurant-bar in the hills, run by a Swiss man. He has his own vineyards, raises bees which produce honey from the flowering almond trees (see pictures) and served us a delicious Catalan lunch of grilled "botifarra" (sausage) and "mongetes" (white beans).
It was a lovely sunny day, almost spring-like and the whole group enjoyed our outing, thanks to our leader, Liz, who lives in Sitges! Muchas gracias, Liz!

First off, breakfast with Pat at the Sitges market!














A glimpse into the hills of The Garraf














A local farm in the area, note the almond trees in bloom














Our destination for lunch al fresco!














Liz, our leader (striped sweater), Belinda and Bing














Marion, Jaffa, Haanah and Therese














Marion, Ann and Marlies














Spring has sprung...














Fresh lemons...



















Daffodils














Calçots, a cross between a spring onion and a small leek, best eaten grilled on the BBQ with Romanesco sauce! Yum!



















View from our hotel room at La Nina in Sitges














Our lovely outing in the hills ended with dinner at a great restaurant along the boardwalk called Fragata with Liz, Mike, Sara and Paddy and an overnight stay at a seaside hotel in Sitges!
Hasta luego...