camino de las meigas

lazy summer days

Surprise on a Spike or a Mouthwatering Trip to the Basque Country

I'm sure no one would be able to object if I say the Basque Country is the motherland of Spanish culinary gurus. This unique creative community is situated on the Northern coast of Spain, sharing a frontier with France. The Basques are known for their own (completely incomprehensible) language, stone-throwing sport, delicious white Txacoli wine and extraordinary culinary skills, particularly expressed in a mind-blowing variety of "pintxos".
"Pintxo" (can be translated as a "spike" from Spanish) is a typical small snack served in bars, an immense variety of ingredients, normally served on top of a piece of baguette (and fastened all together with a spike). Nowadays one can try the typical ones almost everywhere in Spain, but it will be nothing compared to Euskadi*, where in no bar you will be able to find the same ‘set’ of pintxos, where they come in all (un)imaginable forms and ingredient combinations. Here is just a tiny bit of the "reportage" on the symbol of Basque culinary creativity:

some pintxos found exploring Bilbao old town, among them, smoked tuna with cherry&mango sauce

3 in 1: 2 small pintxos mounted on top of the bigger one. Neat! 

 ‘Irrintzi’ bar with great pintxos and a bit of Japanese flare in Bilbao 

However, the first prize, undoubtedly goes to a Donosti** bar ”Zeruko”, whose chefs managed to bring the creation of pintxos up to a level of art.

Each pintxo is an eye-candy, each of them a surprise, being it the ham-flavoured jelly balls with the egg gently exploding in your mouth, gold-plated artichokes with warm foie gras, or freshly smoked codfish with some effervescent salad… in a flask.

Each single one is promised to be a discovery. 

The star of the menu – “Bob Limón”, chef’s desert looking quite like a fried egg with bread (thus should be eaten the same way: dipping the bread in the ‘yolk’!), while it’s in fact a delicious mixture of cream, jelly-like jam, berry toffee, cold spongy sweet ‘bread’ and, to top it all, special Chinese flowers, that provoke mild tingling and refresh your mouth. Exceptional indeed.

 * Basque Country in the Basque language
** Basque name for San Sebastian

Gothic Quarter: feel the sound

The special charm of Barri Gotic or the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona lies in 2 phrases you usually say (to yourself) when there, ‘Hmm I didn’t see it here before!’ and ‘Damn, I got lost again’.
This time’s discovery was the church of St. Ana which made me gasp with ‘I didn’t know it was there!’ It was a perfect place for the concert of a Spanish guitar duo, Ksenia Axelroud & Joan Benejam. Passing through beautifully lit, arch-lined cloister you get in a tiny chapel. This intimacy once you enter makes you feel like an initiate.
It was delightful to see all the exchanges of understanding looks of the two musicians, smooth candle-lit profiles, hands flying over the stings. It was even more delightful to hear the masterful play: the guitar looked forming part of them, they helped it play with all the body.
I once read somewhere, “She danced so inspiredly that even the dress sang along”. This time the walls sang along. The sound bounced off them and the cupola, filled in the space while you breathed it in with air.

amazing 4-hand guitar play - something new to me