barcelona: day 2 (part 2)

One day I will finish blogging about our trip to Spain.  I promise.

I think we would both agree that the best thing we did in Barcelona was the motorcycle tour.  I found out about BrightSide side car tours on TripAdvisor.  If you travel and don't use TripAdvisor, you are nuts.  This website has changed the way I plan trips and we have stumbled upon tons of tours thanks to it.

The whole premise is you spend half a day to a whole day driving around Barcelona with a driver but you are on a motorcycle, or in my case, in the side car.  Daniel thought I should be on the back of the motorcycle but seeing as I was ten weeks pregnant and the roads in Barcelona are super steep, I thought this probably wouldn't be signed off on by any doctor.

Our ride.  You get a lot of attention in one of these bad boys.

We scheduled our tour for the beginning of our trip because we thought it would be a good way to see the city and decide if there was anywhere we wanted to go back to.

Let me tell you, we saw the whole city of Barcelona.  It was such a different way to see the city and our driver was amazing.  He answered all our questions and had lots of suggestions.  He suggested we both bring jackets which was the best decision ever.  I've said it before but Spain is cold in April.

Here are some of the pictures I took on the tour.  Be prepared because there are lots.

An interesting sculpture by the beach

And another

The beach

Santa Maria del Mar

El Born district

La Sagrada Familia from El Born

A cafe in El Born

Can you spot Barcelona Jack?

Crazy architecture

Waiting on an ambulance on a teeny tiny street

Riding dirty

Arc de Triomf

One of the only parks in the whole city

Casa Battlo, one of the most famous buildings in Barcelona

Not by Gaudi but more unique architecture

Casa Mila, also by Gaudi

Casa Vicens by guess who?  Gaudi.

Park Guell, which features lots of Gaudi's architecture

Houses at the entrance of the park

It was a hot spot

The city from the park

Lots of mosaics

Gaudi House Museum

Montjuic

The city from Montjuic

Olympic Park

The port of Barcelona

barcelona: day two

I don't think I have said yet how much I loved Barcelona.  I really enjoyed our time there.  The city is easy to navigate and the people are super laid back.  Almost everyone spoke English or could understand my broken Spanish and the food was amazing.


We went back to La Boqueria for breakfast.  The Spanish aren't so big on breakfast which was extremely difficult since I am three square type of girl.  Being nine weeks pregnant did not help the situation.  I had a very small window from when I realized I was hungry to feeling like I was about to melt down.

Moving on, we scheduled a motorcycle tour for the afternoon of our second day so decided to spend the morning exploring the Sagrada Familia.  The Sagrada Familia is a church and one of Barcelona's most famous landmarks.  Construction on the church started in 1882 and it's still not complete, hence the cranes.  We went on a Saturday and there were crews working.  Gaudi designed the church and there is symbolism everywhere.

The side of the church

The crucifixion 

Stained glass

The cross above the altar

The altar form the back of the church

Looking up

Carvings cover almost the entire facade 

Newer construction and older construction

Nativity

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus

We went early and didn't have to wait in a super long line, which is my advice to anyone going.  After we finished, I got to shop.  The two main items on my shopping list were a pink blazer and a red maxi skirt.  I found both.  I also bought the best purchase of the trip, a lined utility coat at Zara.  Spain is cold.  I don't care what people say, it is.  I didn't pack jackets and I'm not sure why I decided that I needed one since it was fairly warm, but that jacket saved my life.

barcelona: day one (part two)

After exploring the market and buying all the ingredients we needed for class, we headed back to make everything.  The classes at Hubbell and Hudson have definitely spoiled us.  They do all the prep work and all the cleaning.  That was not the way things were at this class.  We got to chop everything and plate it.  All the dishes we cooked were in season and typical of Barcelona and Cataluyna.

La Rambla

The cooking school

The set up

We started by getting everything ready for the crema catalana, which is a lot like a creme brûlée, but uses milk and heavy cream.  It needed time to set so we prepared that dish first.

Starting the crema catalana

Next we started working on the grilled onions, romesco sauce, red pepper soup and cod skins.  I got to help do all of that so I didn't get to take any pictures of the prep work.  We took the skin of the salt cod and put it in the oven to crisp.  The onions and peppers were both cooked until the skins were burned and then we removed the burnt flesh.  The onions weren't bad and I hate onions.

The romesco sauce was my favorite.  It is a red sauce that the Spanish usually eat with meat or vegetables and it is good.  I like to say it was the ranch of Catalunya.  It has peppers, almonds, hazelnuts, olive oil, and few other ingredients in it.  It's not spicy at all and was super easy to make.

I learned a lot about paella in the class.  Paella should really be brown, not yellow.  Saffron is what makes paella yellow and it is super expensive so restaurants often add yellow food coloring and not saffron to the dish.  I also learned that you should never mix multiple meats in a paella.  If you want chicken, just add chicken.  It's better not to add chicken, seafood and so on to the same dish.    

Cooking the shrimp for the paella

Next came the vegetables

And rice

Finally the stock.

Red pepper soup with salted cod skins 

Onions with romesco sauce

The finished paella

Ready to serve

Finishing up the crema catalana

And done

Overall, I enjoyed the class.  We learned about new food and tried things we wouldn't have otherwise.  The paella was definitely my favorite and I am looking for a paella pan so I can try it at home.  I will say that Hubbell and Hudson cooking class are still my favorite.

The Gothic quarter the school was in

The cathedral from our hotel roof