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Back to Barcelona

February 23, 2013 •

image of Barcelona in February

Poble­nou Dis­trict in Feb­ru­ary

Despite the win­try weather I’ve fallen in love with Barcelona again. This morn­ing we woke up to vis­tas of snow-cov­ered hills, a rare event, as it’s only the sec­ond time in 9 years that it has snowed here, accord­ing to the locals. Yes­ter­day we wore down jack­ets and gloves while strolling the streets of the Poble­nou dis­trict where our hotel is located. It’s hard to imag­ine that last year we wore spring clothes and basked in the sun­shine.

We’re so far from the usual tourist main­stream des­ti­na­tions that our hotel’s loca­tion is lit­er­ally off the maps, out­side the areas depicted within the fold-out maps that grace most tourist guide­books. One advan­tage of stay­ing in a neigh­bor­hood away from tourist attrac­tions is that we can get impres­sions of daily life for peo­ple who live in Barcelona.

Treats for Foodies

No mat­ter the weather, the food here is inven­tive, crafted from sea­son­ally fresh ingre­di­ents, treats from the daily mar­ket. Last night we dined at a tiny neigh­bor­hood restau­rant called La Forquilla, a short walk from our hotel in the north­east Poble­nou dis­trict. Every dish was skill­fully pre­pared; a few were truly mem­o­rable (espe­cially for food­ies).

This is not an upscale restau­rant, and it’s well off the beaten track. We dined there on a Fri­day night, but only two tables were full — at a restau­rant that deserves peo­ple wait­ing in line to get in…

Oysters served in Cava foam with lime

Oys­ters served in Cava foam with lime

Catalan bread pudding

Cata­lan bread pud­ding

I started with oys­ters served in a Cava foam lime-zested may­on­naise — one of the best seafood dishes I’ve ever had in my life, despite the fact that I’m not usu­ally enam­ored with oys­ters. My entrée was suck­ling pig, served with with sev­eral pear coulis vari­a­tions that graced a rec­tan­gle of slow-cooked pork. Pear + pork + a hint of Szechuan pep­per­corn. What a sym­phony of fla­vors!

The waiter per­suaded us to try the “win­ter dessert,” a typ­i­cal Cata­lan bread pud­ding. His descrip­tion did­n’t do it jus­tice. This pud­ding was light as air, suf­fused with cin­na­mon and other spices that I could enjoy but not name. Next to the pud­ding there was “a crum­ble of cin­na­mon” fla­vored pow­ered nuts and maybe a hint of cocoa, and a dab of yoghurt ice cream on the side. It may sound odd, but it was deli­cious.

My hus­band dined splen­didly on the prix fixe menu for 30 €, whereas I had to dine à la carte in order to get the oys­ter starter.

Tonight we’re head­ing to Osmo­sis, another din­ing des­ti­na­tion for food­ies. Today we’ll hide from the rain by tour­ing the Fon­da­tion Joan Miro, a museum located on Mon­tjuic, near the Olympic sta­di­ums on the other side of the city.

We’ll be bun­dled up in down jack­ets and hats. Mucho frio, as they say here.

About This Blog

Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

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