Spain, Barcelona Part 3: must-eat, must-do, must eat...

For the last installation of this trip, we made sure that we don't miss entering one of the tabernas around Barri Gothic.

you're sure that you're in the right place, when you don't mind if a leg of jamon or a few sausages hit your head upon entering the place.

and the first thing that welcomes you, is a cake of anchovies...*yum*

it's a point-point system, point which one you salivates on, and you'll get it.  The bread is toasted with tomato pulps and olive oil.  You'll get this anywhere even in restaurants as starters.  It gives the bread a fresher taste.

locals eat in front of the counters..standing.  Little did we know, that there's surcharge if you get a table.  (this is typical in Barcelona tabernas.  And if you want to sit outside, enjoying the sun and lovely weather of the city, you pay more...nothing is free nowadays. (average is about 10%).  Feel free to ask if you wanted your pennies worth.

don't forget to wash down your meal with cerveza

what else do you gorge in Spain?  Tapas!!!  Check out the galician style octopus(purple) and the black sausage.  Don't be shocked when you see in the menu the combination of meatballs(albondigas) and cuttlefish...it's a typical combination there (based on several restaurants/tabernas)

Spaniards eat dinner pretty late.  So we "localized" ourselves and jogged into this restaurant at 9 pm...famished!

Arroz negro, paella cooked in squid ink was the best dish that night.  It was lovely to the palate and the ink was not overpowering but rather giving a balanced taste to this arroz plate.

our yummy seafood paella!  The seafood was abudant and the rice was nicely cooked.

Cochinillo is a must-have especially for Flipinos visiting Spain.  It's just like home...our lechon.

One thing that HT couple loves doing aside from eating...exploring as much churches as we can wherever we are!

Barcelona cathedral

Iglesia Santa Maria del Mar

Picasso Museum "wowed" me.  The museum was done in such a way for the visitors to see the  progress of Picasso from the start when he's art still spoke "anybody can do that" until he has improved and found his own style.  It was very interesting...

check out the interesting facade of the museum...it ain't ordinary...

This ends our Barcelona trip...and before ending this post...

credits to my friend, Cindy :D

HT couple wishes everyone...a very Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays guys!  Keep the love in the air!  Love, love, love...eat, eat, eat!!!

Spain, Barcelona Part 2: Must-eat, must-do, must eat...

Barca wouldn't be a food haven without their infamous boqueria (market).  If you remember, in Madrid, I went to the mercado several times (aside from taking chance if i get my wallet back :D).  I just love walking around looking at the items being sold in the market.

i wish we have such market in NL

And for breakfast, go into any cafe and you can get these...

churros with cups of thick hot chocolate.  We got ours at Granja Dulcinea (carrer Petritxol).  One of the better ones around La Rambla/Barri Gothic area.

enjoying my churros

ensaimada @ Cafe L'Opera (La Rambla)

I made sure that I get ensaimada and churros in Barcelona to compare it with Madrid.  I think I prefer the ones from the latter.

Let's take a break from eating and explore the wonders of Barca.

Casa Batllo is a must-see. You're gonna adore Gaudi even more once you step inside.  Casa Batllo was a house designed by Antoni Gaudi for an aristocrat family.  Now, it's open for tourists to explore the wonders of Gaudi's design.  Check out the skeletons and skulls look-a-like in this structure.

just a sneak peek of what's inside...so you still have that excitement when you experience it yourself.

the modern design of the roof (colorful!)

You walk a little bit further from Casa Batllo in Passeig de Gracia, and you'll stumble into La Pedrera.  This is now a Gaudi museum. 

where all tourists flock, the infamous Sagrada Familia, which is still under construction.

take time to go inside and check out this extremely modern church architecture.  He made it look like a forest.  Even the way it's constructed is based on the force of nature.  He was not be able to finish this church, but the wonderful artists who's completing this church made sure that they continue Gaudi's modernist way.

I'd suggest to go to our next stop only if you're well-rested. From the train station Lesseps, it's a hike up to reach Parc Guell (15 mins).

You'll be welcomed by this colorful lizard.

the HT couple ready to go around.

friends having fun!  (we, Filipinos love "jump shot")

The Gaudi's magic design is visible in the park.  Even if it's too much walking, it was worth seeing every detail that our "architect idol" had done.

Just a suggestion, explore Gaudi's gems in several days...with other Barca sites in between...or else you might get Gaudi overload.

'till our next visit, sir!

More coming up...in the last Barca post!  Stay tune.

Spain, Barcelona Part 1: Must-eat, must-do, must-eat!

Yes, HT couple is back blogging and we also went back to Spain after a year!  If you remember our moments in Madrid, you know that we heart Spain *love*.  This time, we set foot to Barcelona which is the capital of the Catalonia region.

Just like Madrid, the food scene in Barcelona is huge. In every step, you can see a restaurant, cafe or shop drawing you to go in or grab something.

Spain is known for its small bites/tapas. 

Barcelona is known for its pintxos(pinchos) which is a staple in Basque region that is near to Barcelona. 

What are pintxos(pinchos)?

Pinchos as per babelfish are "thorns" in Spanish which signifies the toothpick.  These are tapas placed on small bread and stuck with a toothpick to hold them all together.  I've read in http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/, that when taking pinchos, hold the bread and support the toothpick with your forefinger as you don't want to create a mess when picking it up.

Usually pinchos have a common price.  The sticks are used to count how many pinchos you have upon payment.  A friend of mine told me to behave and advise me not to throw the sticks on the floor (*bummer, she knows me well*)  :D)

a wide variety of pinchos

We were looking around how many pinchos the locals were having.  That night, on average, they had 2 or 3 sticks per person.  HT couple had 12 (*wuhoo) :).  Yes, we were hungry and thanks to the self-service, they just made it easy for us to grab as much as we can.

This taberna charges 1.80 euro per pincho and is near the Picasso Museum (street~carrer montcada)

Barcelona facing the Mediterrenean Sea is known for its seafood.

Friends of ours were able to get tips from a local on where to get good Catalan dishes with decent prices.

Arroz Bomba (Rice bomb) - a soupy paella starter.  Yes, it was pretty big to start with.  But i was satisfied that I ordered this.  (Ht hubbie had the same :D)  It was my first time to try out a paella this watery but i was surprised how delicious and tasteful it was.

For main course, I got kokochas.  This traditonal basque dish was inherited by Barcelona having basque as a neighboring region.  Kokochas is made of cod pieces and clams (at least in the version I had).  The cod is gelatinous because it's taken from the chin part of the cod (which i think is their cheeks already) and the clams were just so fresh and its sweetness and juiciness were inexplicable.  The clear sauce is salty and I think with the main ingredients, this was just cooked with oil and garlic(any maybe with white wine).  It was amazing how such simple ingredients bring out a great taste of the sauce and of the meat.

It was nice that they show it to me first how it was cooked, and transferred it to a plate. :)

HT hubbie's main dish - scallops wrapped in bacon.  Since there were only 3 pieces of scallops, I just let hubby enjoyed every piece of it.  He described the scallops as perfectly cooked, juicy and delicious!  Even without the bacon, the scallops were very tasty.  And the bacon just made this dish more than perfect.

this is not part of the normal menu and was their special dish for the night.  Callos which is spanish dish and also a filipino dish (we inherited it from our spaniard ancestors) is a stew of meat and ox tripe (stomach lining).  What was amazing in this dish is that there were more tripe slices than meat which in our version is the other way around.  This was an order of a friend but i was lucky to get a taste of it.  This has more intense taste and quite oily due to the abudance of tripe.  It goes well with garlic rice which my filipino friends were amazed that it was available in the restaurant.  (Filipinos eat garlic rice usually for breakfast and having it for lunch or dinner is just great).

Fonda restaurant resides in Hotel España.  This is in one of the small streets intersecting the famous La Rambla.  (street ~ carrer de Sant Pau) and in the Barri Gothic area.  The starters cost between 8-16 euros and the main courses are between 12-20 euros. 

Outside the hotel, they recognized Filipino's national hero, Jose Rizal.  He stayed in the said hotel during his stay in Barcelona during the late 1800's. 

You wonder why would Barcelona do such thing?  Yes, there is a significant number of Filipinos who lives in Barcelona. In the same street, is where most Filipino immigrants lived.  They called this street
"filipinized" .

Filipinos have a special bond among the spaniards, after all, the spanish colonization left traces of their culture, their language  and most especially their love for food to Filipinos like me. :)

More Barcelona post...coming up!

Netherlands, Apeldoorn: Pizzeria Sardegna

HT wife is fortunate that she can work from home at her own discretion.  She tries to go to the office at least twice or thrice a week.

You might ask the question, why would she bother going to the office if she can work from home the whole week?  Aside from saying 'hallo' or 'hoi' to my colleagues, there is a very important reason to go...(definitely not the canteen)

That is...a good pizzeria situated near our office!  For foodies, i'm sure your would agree this is worth the travel and giving up few hours of sleep. :)

HT wife and HT hubbie are pizza monsters!  We've been eating here for months now and finally, we're sharing our happiness with you.

check out the 2 angels behind the brick oven look-a-like kitchen

Pizzeria Sardegna is the only pizzeria we've been more than once for almost 1 1/2 years living in the Netherlands.  We've tried a few places in Utrecht but so far nowhere has touched our hearts as much as this place did. 

The place is very casual but they made sure that it still exudes that dining charm that the dutchies love!

Now, i'm featuring the star of all our pizza nights. 

Pizza tarantina - Looks can be deceiving.  The bolognese sauce with minced meat and the tasteful parmesan are the only ingredients on it.  But once we sink our teeth on a slice, we were brought to paradise.  There's something with the bolognese sauce that we can't explain.  It was heaven! 

now, how can you resist such pizza...(*drooling*)

Pizza Grandiosa - ironically from our first pizza, this has EVERYTHING on it!  From bell pepper slices, mushrooms, asparagus, artichokes...this pizza sounded healthy...until we read the meat selection...ham, salami and bacon!!  Every carnivore like me will have a big grin reading this.  This pizza had been accompanying us for our several pizza nights and it never failed me.  This time, I asked for zonder uien (no onions) and i'm loving it even more!

check out the abundant meat, meat, meat!!! (*happy*)

HT couple might not be actively sharing our hobby lately but we're still the same old HT couple who still loves to eat, eat and eat.

Ta ta!  Now heating up the left over pizza from last night!

HT Couple will be back in the travel scene.  Watch out for our food journey...only here...The Hungry-trotting Couple goes...Anywhere!

Tot zo!  (See you!)

Pizzeria Sardegna

Van Kinsbergenstraat 7 7311 BL

Apeldoorn Nederland

60+ pizza selection

10 euro - 12 euro for a big plate

Bambini (small sizes) are available

TIME OUT: Wine and Cheese

In this time of the year, when the days are getting shorter and the weather is getting colder, people in this side of the world tend to be less active and less outgoing.  HT wife confesses that she'd rather stay at home, be a couch potato, hide under a blanket and stay warm.  It ain't healthy though.

One night, friends of HT couple changed the gloomy season into something interesting and (healthy...ahem!).   We ended the daylight saving time with a blast...

A wine & cheese party!!!

Brie, goat cheese, blue cheese, etc.

Cheese wouldn't be as healthy as it looks without these..

Bottles of red wine from Australia, Italy, France, South Africa, Chile and of  course, from our very own...the Netherlands!

HT wife is not a wine connoisseur.  But she drinks 1 glass of red wine every night (she has a mindset that a glass of red helps to keep her doctor away. :D).  HT hubbie goes along with this healthy habit. 

As a tip from the connoisseurs, we drank the wines from the lightest to the strongest.  This is a good way to savor each drop from the bottle without overpowering each other.  I learn from a French friend who loves wine next to his wife, that when you take a sip of the wine, let it roll all over your tongue up to the back of it so it goes through all your sense of taste.  I saw a few of them looking at their glasses too, but I skipped that for my next wine and cheese *wink*.

This quiche made of pear with gorgonzola and walnutswas a good complement for the evening's event.  It was simply delicious!

to go with our dessert wine, we had smurf popsicles to go with it.  :)

We planned to do this every 6 months...to keep us warm at the start of our gloomy season and to celebrate the sunny beginning of the year.

'Till the next 6 months!  Cheers! (Proost!)

Thanks again for the wonderful evening guys (you know who you are!) 

Netherlands, Utrecht: De Goedheyd

Who would say no to save a few euros or dollars for a degustation?  Not us!  Restaurant week have been in the scene for quite sometime and for 27,50 euros for a 3-course meal, HT couple decided to try out for the first time the restaurant week here in the Netherlands.

After choosing from a number of restaurants, we decided to go to De Goedheyd.

When we arrived, we were informed that their restaurant week menu is a surprise menu unless we have dietary requirements.  Sínce we eat basically almost anything...here's the standard menu we got:

Starters/Voorgerecht: roasted beef on a bed of quinoa with truffle sauce

Main Course/Hoofdgerecht: Seabass in saffron sauce

Desserts/Nagerecht: (from left to right) Mango cheesecake, fruits(pineapple, strawberries and grapes) and mango sorbet

Overall, it was a good 3-course meal.  They provided a few pieces of fries on the side (excluded from the set menu) to fill you up. 

Will we go to this place again for another restaurant week offering?  Hmm, maybe.  I think it was not enough (maybe i was just hungry :D).  I also can't help but compare what was offered here and that in Singapore.(check out:Brasserie Wolf).  I just think Singapore takes restaurant week more seriously(I maybe biased :D) but I guess it's a factor as well of how the residents take part in the event.

PS: HT wife is (finally) busy with work.  So, i'm apologizing for having no updates for a long time.  Nevertheless, I am still around to share with you HT couple's love for food and the wonders of their travel with their hungry tummies.

Enjoy eating (Eet smakkelijk!)