La calçotada

Colin Beacom is an API student contributor to our Tumblr blog, and will regularly report on his adventures in Barcelona, Spain.

This semester really just seems to be flying by, I used to be pretty good at writing a blog by every Thursday but I seem to have been distracted and busy in the past few weeks by some very great people and intercambios (also people). Let’s get this blog started by showing you some photos of my API-directed day trip of last Saturday.

This is a photo of the onion that is called in Catalan, the calçot. The event of getting together and eating these onions with a sauce called la salsa romero is called la calçotada.  Here is what you do, sign up to study abroad in Catalunya, go on the day trip with your program. Or if you would like to cut right to the chase, you get a bunch of this type of onion that is in season from late January to early March, I believe, and then start a fire, I would suggest a campfire-like fire. I do not in any way condone arson. With the fire going strong, get some sort of wire contraption upon which you spread out the onions, turning and moving them to make sure each gets a good and charred outside. The next step is to have some salsa romesco at hand. This sauce is made up of sun-dried tomatoes and roasted almonds and other ingredients that make it more sauce-like, I suggest looking up a recipe and putting it on every food item you ingest. With the onion, you pinch the bottom to separate the roots from the now softened inside. While still holding on the the root-y part, you then pull straight down effectively peeling the charred skin away and leaving the tender and sweet innards which you then dip in the sauce, dangle the onion above your mouth until you are sure that upon lowering the onion, it will be lowered into your mouth. Like a sword swallower, but with less likelihood of perforating your diaphragm!

We also went on a tour of a bodega or wine store/wine making place. It wasn’t quite a vineyard, but they did make wine and cava there and we got to sample the products and tour the facilities. The integration of these two activities made for a wonderful trip. Here is what I want in tunnels under my house someday (look left ;).

Racks upon racks of cava that had to be turned 90º once every day during a certain period of time is what this photo depicts. I am becoming a huge fan of the smaller towns outside of Barcelona because food and drink is always cheaper and it is nice to be back in the mountains. While we were waiting for people to finish up the dinner and gather around for the tour, some friends and I went to a small bar across the street from the bodega where we each ordered a glass of wine. The bartender sets a large glass down in front of us and proceeds to fill it to the very brim. We are very pleased and it is a delicious house wine from the bodega across the street. After some wonderful conversation and reddened faces, we are pulling out our euros expecting to pay at least 3 euros for such a wonderful and profound glass of wine, but when the bartender tells us that it is 1.20 euro, our appreciation for having a winery in town went to levels never before reached.

Earlier in the day, we had taken a tour of a monastery in the town of Poblet. It was partially built as a castle to protect the ancient kings of the past that wanted to be buried within the walls.This is a picture of the cathedral portion of the church and the awed face that it gave my friend Jill.

Since then, there has not been a whole lot of incredibly exciting stuff that is relatable in blog form other than buying tickets to Brussels and hanging out with wonderful people. Also, school. Which is going pretty well, I actually wrote a composition today and it isn’t even due until Monday! So, miracles do happen. Also, there is yet another person from my past here in Barcelona this weekend. A girl that lived really close to me growing up, my family knows her family from a church that we went to growing up, she is studying in Alicante and is friends with Emily who I spoke about in the last blog whom she is visiting. We have been trying to show her and her friend some good places in Barcelona and it is all coming along quite nicely! It has also revolved almost entirely around food. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So, Brussels on the 10th, Rome with API the weekend after that, and then we will have to see what my limitations to borrow money are. So, thank you dear reader, I hope you are better informed about my week now. To say goodbye, I leave you with another photo. This one got us some funny looks from people on the bus behind us:

Adios!

Colin