The Yum Yum Factor

I don't know about you, but the first thing I do when I get to a new country is visit a grocery store or outdoor market because I truly feel that our first connection to other cultures and their people is through food.  It follows that the next thing I try to make happen is a cooking class. It’s a great toe dip into the food you will be eating for the remainder of your trip and if you are wise, you will suck up to the instructor and hit them up for restaurant recommendations, their favourite markets and shops that sell spices etc. Choosing a class to take in Barcelona took me a day or two of research because there are quite a number of highly rated schools as well as popular, private instructors who will make paella for you on their rooftop patio while you get lit on Vermouth. On my next trip, I will try one of those rooftop classes but for my first trip, I wanted to make more than one dish and ultimately, I chose Cook and Taste Barcelona.  ...

I lived in Madrid a million years ago when I was in my twenties and I admit it - I was a tortilla addict. I ate tortilla in the morning. I ate tortilla mid morning. I ate tortilla at lunch, at dinner and again in the evening as a tapa. I also gained an alarming amount of weight which only made sense AFTER I watched somebody making it. Potatoes cooking away in a big pan of simmering oil was all I needed to see to understand why my steady diet of tortilla and beer was also responsible for my waist white wall tire. DOH. After I got home, I could never get the hang of making it myself, almost always resorting to just popping it in the oven to cook the top instead of flipping it because it constantly fell apart. I understand that this was also probably because I was constantly trying to lighten it up, make it a bit less fattening and leaner so I could eat more of it, more often. I have now given up on that and I am making it properly - poaching the potatoes in plenty of olive o...

brightly coloured facades of the houses overlooking the Onyar River If you are in Barcelona more than a few days, you are missing out if you don't plan at least one day trip, depending on your interests. It's literally a hop, skip and a jump down to Sitges, 35km south of Barcelona by train and it's truly the place to be if you want to get a little taste of non stop festivals, beach life and all night parties. We JUST missed carnival so we didn't go this time but it is worth planning your trip around that week in order to experience what is considered to be one of the world's top ten carnivals. Sitges is also  one of the hippest,  LGBTQ friendly places you can visit in Europe, so if that is important to you, it really should be at the top of your list. On the other hand, if you are really into breathtaking scenery, sweeping views and want to take a cable car ride up to an austere monastery nestled high up in the mountains, with hiking opportunities galore...

It would be an understatement to say that we probably ate some of the best food in recent memory while we were in Barcelona. Unlike Paris, where I found that between the fabulous sandwiches that we would grab from any old boulangerie and some bazillion dollar 2 Michelin star restaurant, the food was inconsistent and often not very good although always expensive. Sorry people, you can send me all the hate mail you like, but all three of us agree on that point - the restaurant food was expensive and disappointing more often than not. This cannot be said of Spain in general and in Barcelona, you get the added bonus of eating the delicious, regional cuisine of Catalunya. You get a bit of anarchism, Catalan pride and beauty in every bite! Like Rome, even the worst food we ate was still great but we were there for ten days and I don't have the energy to tell you about every single thing I put in my mouth so I will share my favourites with you. Oh and if you a...

I've gotta be honest, I have not loved my attempts at making Thai beef curries in my pressure cooker up until now. It just always felt like the sauce was a little too thin and it lacked body but I didn't want to add more coconut milk and then dilute the red curry flavour. What to do? This time, after it was done the initial pressure cook, I threw in some potato and sweet potato and when it was done, much of the sweet potato had kind of broken down and melted into the sauce, thickening it up nicely without diluting the intensity of the red curry paste. I also really like the sweetness it adds - it really balances out the heat of the red curry beautifully and kind of mellows it slightly without diluting the flavour, which is exactly what it was missing. BAM Another recipe finally converted to work in the Instant Pot (you can make it in any brand of electric pressure cooker, of course). This curry usually simmers for at least two hours on the stove top so cutting that...