Eat your heart out

Today I’ll share a gastronomic discovery that we’ve done when in Barcelona. It is no secret that I love everything about food; shopping groceries, reading cook books and recipes, cooking and of course eating delicious meals. Back in august when spending our summer vacation in Barcelona we passed by the restaurant 99.9 % origen(s) but it was full. We decided to make a new try on our next visit and this Christmas we did and succeeded at getting a table.

What makes this restaurant special is that it changes its menu with the seasons, and the kitchen mainly uses ingredients that are typical to each season. Their menu is like a magazine where you can read about the different ingredients and how and when they first were introduced in the Spanish and Catalan kitchen. History and gastronomy in one sitting; can it be better?

I’ll share what I ordered to let you get an idea about the place and why I'm in love with it. For starters I chose toasted bread slice with “almadroc”. The menu says that “The almadroc sauce comes from a medieval recipe and is done from grated cheese, garlic and boiled eggs (see photo). All the ingredients are chopped and mixed with olive oil. This recipe is found in the Sent Sovi book (s. XIV)”.

I ordered rabbit with sweet potato as a main dish. The menu says:” The ancient Romans raised rabbits and hares in the open. Rabbit meat is one of the healthiest due to its low fat content. In this recipe it is cooked with another autumn fruit, a tuber, the sweet potato is a protagonist of the All Saints Festival along with the chestnuts and the “panellets”.

And last but not least I had to have some dessert: Creamy Turron of Jijona (almond paste with whipped cream), with pieces of chocolate cake soaked with rum and crunchy chocolate biscuits.

Eat your heart out!

Origens
Passeig del Born 4
Tel. 93 310 75 31

Barcelona garn - Barcelona Yarn

The sign on the door of "La Barcelana". More photos in my flickr

Dagen etter at jeg hadde vært sammen med jentene I ”Barcelona Knits” kjøpte jeg et kart og begynte jakten på de to garnbutikkene M hadde anbefalt meg. Det jeg trodde bare skulle ta noen timer endte opp med å ta en hel dag, både på grunn av at jeg gikk meg vill et par ganger, men også på grunn av alle de fine butikkene jeg bare måtte en liten tur innom. Da jeg endelig fant butikkene var det begynt å bli mørkt så bildene er ikke veldig bra, men nok til at du får en liten titt. Den første butikken jeg besøkte var "La Barcelana" (”lana” betyr ull/garn). Dette er både et tekstilverksted med store vever og en garnbutikk. De impoterer garn fra Argentina og det morsomme er at de selger garnet per 200 gram. Jeg kjøpte to nøster a 200g. Den argentinske damen som jobber der er kjempesøt og vil hjelpe deg med det du trenger. Men hvis hun sier at det holder med et nøste hvis du skal strikke et skjerf må du vende det døve øret til og kjøpe to (tips fra en erfaren Barcelona strikker)!

Den andre garnbutikken jeg besøkte var ”Persones Llanes”. Her hadde de større variasjon med garn som Lorna’s Lace, Malabrigo, Sara Silk (resirkulert silke) og til min store overraskelse hadde de også garn fra garnstudio. I tillegg har de tilbehør for å lage pon ponger, maskeholdere, strikkepinner m.m. Jennifer og Miquel som er eierne av Persones Llanes er utrolig hyggelig, vennlig og hjelpsomme. Jeg anbefaler et besøk til bloggen til Miquel for å se noe av gerilja strikkingen de har gjort i Barcelona. De har til og med en flickr gruppe hvor du kan poste dine egne geriljastrikke bilder. Og mens vi snakker om geriljastrikking: har dere besøkt Pinneguris blog for å se hennes fantastiske geriljastrikking i Bergen?


The day after I spent some time with the “Barcelona Knits” Girls I bought a map and went in search for the two yarn stores that M had recommended. In between the times I got lost and all the nice shops I just had to peek inside, what I thought would take a couple of hours took me a whole day. By the time I found the shops It was already becoming dark so the photos are not the best, but enough for you to make yourself an idea. The first shop I visited was “La Barcelana” (“lana” means wool/yarn). This is both a textile workshop with large free-standing hand looms and a yarn shop. They import wool from Argentina and the fun part is that they sell it by weight. I bought two 200g skeins. The Argentinean woman working there is very sweet and she will help you out. But if she tells you that one skein will do for a scarf don’t pay attention to it and buy two (tip from an experienced Barcelonan knitter)!

The second yarn store I visited was “Persones Llanes”. Here they have a wider variety of yarns, like Lorna’s Laces, Malabrigo, Sari Silk (recycled silk) and to my surprise they also had the Norwegian yarn “Garnstudio”. In addition they have a lot of accessories like pom pom makers, stitch holders, needles and more. Jennifer and Miquel, the owners of the Persones Llanes are very nice and helpful. I recommend a visit to Miquels blog to see some of the guerilla knitting they have done in Barcelona. They have even made a flickr group where you can post your guerilla knitting photos. And while we are talking about Guerilla Knitting: have you visited Pinneguri's blog to se her excellent guerilla knitting in Bergen?

El día después de haber estado con las chicas de “Barcelona Knits” me compré un mapa y empecé la busqueda de las dos tiendas de lana que me había recomendado M. Lo que en principio pensaba que iban a ser un par de horas acabó siendo un día entero. Tanto porque me perdí un par de veces como porque hay tantas tiendas bonitas que es difícil resistirse a entrar en ellas para echar un vistazo. Cuando por fin encontré las tiendas estaba empezando a oscurecer y las fotos no han salido muy bien, pero suficiente para que os hagáis una idea. La primera tienda que visité fue “La Barcelana”. Esta es una tienda de textil con telares enormes donde también venden lana. Importan lana desde Argentina y lo gracioso es que te la venden a peso. La mujer Argentina que trabaja allí es super simpática y te ayudará con lo que necesitas. Pero si te dice que con una madeja tienes suficiente para hacerte una bufanda no le hagas caso y comprate dos; (¡es un consejo que recibi de una tejedora barcelonesa!)

La segunda tienda que visité fue “Persones Llanes”. Aquí tienen más variedad de lanas como Lorna’s Lace, Malabrigo, Sara Silk (seda reciclada) y, para mi enorme sorpresa, lana noruega de Garnstudio. También tenían varios accesorios, pero excepto las agujas de clover desconozco el nombre en español de los otros accesorios. Podéis leer la versión inglesa y así podréis sacar el nombre en español. Por favor, dejadme un comentario con los nombres en español, así aprendo. Jennifer y Miquel, los dueños de la tienda, son muy simpáticos y amables. Recomiendo una visita al blog de Miquel donde podréis ver el punto guerillero que han hecho en Barcelona. Hasta tienen un grupo de flickr donde podéis dejar fotos de vuestros propios puntos guerilleros. Hablando de punto guerillero: ¿Habéis visitado el blog de Pinneguri para ver sus fantásticos puntos gerilleros en Bergen?

La Barcelana
Calle Brosoli 1
# 933 198 451
Metro: Jaume I

Persones Lanes (They are changing their name to “All you knit is love”)
Plaça de la llana 7 (The plaza of yarn)
# 93 310 7180
Metro: Jaume I


Miquel in "Persones Lanes" (All you knit is love)

A summer afternoon in Barcelona city

Etter å ha vært på stranda en hel dag tok vi sykkeldrosje opp til bydelen Borne. Carlos fra Tenerife var sjåføren vår. Han har bodd i Barcelona de siste syv årene og snakket om hvordan byen har forandret seg i takt med den økte turismen. Han satte ord på noe vi selv har lagt merke til de siste årene; at byen ligner mer og mer en attraksjonspark for voksne som vil spise tapas, shoppe og være kulturell. For hver nye tapas bar som popper opp mister byen dessverre noe av sin opprinnelige sjarm. Heldigvis er det en stor by og mange bydeler har fortsatt sin autentisitet.

After being on the beach a whole day we took a bike cab to the part of the city called Borne. Carlos from Tenerife was our chauffeur. He has lived in Barcelona the last seven years and talked about how the city has changed in pace with the increased tourism. He put words to something that we have been noticing ourselves the last years; that the city resembles more and more an amusement park for grownups that want to eat tapas, go shopping and be “cultural” .Fortunately the city is big and have lots of areas that still have its authenticity intact.

Vi stakk innom Sagardi for et par pinchos og litt xacoli (baskisk muserende vin). Det var tidlig på ettermiddagen og ikke noe problem å finne ledig plass ved bardisken. Derimot var det et problem å begrense seg til kun et par pinchos. På baskiske tavernaer står godbitene på utstilling, og man betaler ikke før etter at maten er spist og tannpirkerne er telt.

We went by Sagardi for a couple of pinchos and some Xacoli (Basque sparkling wine). It was early in the afternoon so we didn't have a problem in finding space along the bar. However, we did have a problem with limiting ourselves to only eat a couple of pinchos. On Basque taverns the goodies are lined up on trays, and you don't pay until after the food is consumed and the toothpicks have been counted.

Origen 99,9% var desverre fullt, men vi gjør et nytt forsøk neste gang vi er i Barcelona.

Origen 99,9% was unfortunately completely booked, but we will go back next time we're in Barcelona.

Vi endte opp ved "La Vinya del Señor" hvor vi fikk anbefalt to fantastisk gode viner, samt ost og serrano skinke som tilbehør. En rolig kveld ved St. Anas plass.

We ended up at "La Vinya del Señor" where we were recommended to fantastic vines together with cheese and Serrano ham. A quiet evening at Plaza de St. Ana