Second day in Geneva; not yet bothering with full breakfasts, each morning I have gotten up and just wandered the city. On my first morning, I settled into a tea shop for a small pâté-filled pastry as well as one twisted up with bits of walnuts. But this morning, I stumbled on a farmer’s market and was entranced with the wild strawberries — something we don’t see very often and quite delicious.
These are a handful of pics of food from Barcelona. Well, that first shot is actually behind a closed window of a dry-goods shop and the towels which were decoratively displayed in such a delectable fashion. Most are from the market. What the Borough market in London does for cheese, the St. Joseph La Boqueria market in Barcelona does for fish…
Yes, there is a lot more available for purchase as seen by the bounty of fruits and vegetables and meat, but it is the quantity and quality of fish which astound. We talked about renting an apartment so we could just shop at the market and prepare our own meals and I think that next time, that simply must be done. Especially since I was unable to eat at most of the finer restaurants I was hoping to… Not that what I ate was especially bad (okay, the Kangaroo Carpaccio ranks up there with being incredibly regrettable), but I know I missed some truly stellar establishments by sufficing with what was convenient.
Anchor and Hope is a gastro-pub located near the Tate Modern Museum and the Old Vic theater. It has been written about extensively on multiple food sites and lauded often by bloggers. It was recommended as a final dining experience one evening by a London local and I honestly had forgotten that I had received previous recommendations. Unfortunately, what transpired almost ruined what could have been a stellar dining experience.
And can’t afford it?
Move to France…
This is very quick commentary which made me chuckle. As reported in this morning’s BBC news, the French government "says interest-free loans will be offered to ‘modest’
buyers to purchase works and it is expanding incentives for companies
to buy."
I love it. I want to buy art but can’t quite afford it. Full report here, but the gist, under the scheme, is that members of the public will be granted interest-free loans worth up to 10,000 euros ($15,000, £8,000).
Mrs. Christine Albanel, the French Culture Minister, said the idea was "to bring private individuals closer to
this act of buying a work of art" adding that the loan "was the price,
for example, of a flat-screen television".
Brilliant idea – replace very flat-screen television with a great work of art in everyone’s home!
On my last day in Barcelona, I was wandering the Gothic quarter’s area where the antique stores reside. Having mostly eaten my fill (okay, not really) of tapas, I found a restaurant intriguing enough to warrant dinner as there was Kangaroo Carpaccio on the posted menu. While I wanted to get to some of the more noted establishments like Rías de Galicia, I figured I would have decent luck getting my traveling companion somewhere relatively close to our hotel…
Well, it *was* an adventure, I will grant that. We ordered a 2004 Genium Priorat and proceeded to order. Gee, a salad with pine nut ice cream? That sounded promising! Look at the picture and note the addition of peanuts and raisins in the salad — it will become a recurring theme. Actually, the salad was not that bad; the addition of the pine nut ice cream was quite interesting. There was also sliced tomato, Asian pear, kiwi, cherry tomatoes, and a flower. It would make for an interesting interesting intermezzo in a large-coursed meal (well, the ice cream part, anyway).
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