http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme A lover of Spain eats her heart out. Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:41:17 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en After so many years of romancing food technology, it sounds like the Catalans are getting their feet on the ground again. The incursion of genetically modified corn on an organic farm where local varieties were being grown got people's attention here last year.  Then a group of Catalan farmers ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/08/25/catalans-say-no-to-gmos/ Walking down Carrer Parlament in Barcelona’s Raval one day in June, I came across a place that brought back sweet memories of summers in that city. The neighborhood has become trendy, but Horchatería Sirvent is still there, righteously unhip. http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/08/10/leche-merengada/ Step away from the red gazpacho. Red means canned tomatoes or tomato juice have gone into the hopper. Both lend a distinctly cooked flavor to a soup that is supposed to be all about fresh summer produce. Here's the thing: Gazpacho's true colors range from pink to ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/07/23/gazpacho-shows-its-true-colors/ If you thought the pimientos you ordered in New York or Madrid this winter were good, belly up for another round pronto. What you get, especially if you happen to be in Galicia, in the northwest corner of Spain, will put those wimpy winter peppers to shame. Midsummer is the ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/07/08/midsummer-pimientos/ Those formerly Galician, formerly mid-summer-only, thumb-size pimientos de padrón have become, in a slightly skinnier incarnation, a year-round item at every tapas bar in Barcelona. Now they're everywhere in New York, too. Even though they weren't quite in season yet, I couldn't help ordering them on my first trip ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/07/07/boqueria-in-new-york/ The polyester patchwork jacket on their man at the front of the house says it all: "this place is so cool it hurts." http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/06/21/inopia-is-no-utopia/ As you drive into La Bisbal d'Empordà, your romantic image of what a historic pottery-making town ought to look like (quaint cottage workshops complete with artisans at the wheel) takes a withering blow. The place is dusty, for one thing -- sitting on a great big expanse of clay ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/06/08/shopping-for-ceramics-in-la-bisbal/ Barcelona chefs Jordi Butrón and Xano Saguer caused a commotion when they opened their restaurant, Espai Sucre back in 2000. This was before New York City's Chickalicious and other experiments in dessert-only menus were on the scene. They came out swinging with philosophical fervor about pastry chefs being chefs, ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/05/14/philosophy-of-desserts-101/ Getting to the Penedés wine country from Barcelona is as easy as last week's New York Times travel section article ("Catalonia's 'Champagne' Country") makes it sound. About an hour's drive gets you to the big-volume producers travel writer Sarah Wildman mentions. What she doesn't offer a clue about ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/04/25/cava-the-real-thing/ I have craved this salad off and on since my friend Juani's mother from Granada made it for a winter picnic ten years ago. We set ourselves up in a clearing just above the town of Rupit (in the province of Barcelona, all cobblestones and 16th century stone houses ... http://spanishjourneys.com/oliveme/2008/04/03/oranges-olives-and-cod/