I was invited to join Miquel and his friends for a Sunday lunch at his friend´s place, which he says would generally last through till evening.
We arrived at his friend´s place (Mariona and Fernando) at 12noon, and both of us couldn't believe that we ended up staying till 10pm before walking home! Miquel shared that this is not common, as they usually meet at a restaurant and will typically be chased out by around evening, but this is the first time they do it at someone's house and lasted much longer than he expected.
We had great fun though; the highlight of the day was eating calçots - spring onions barbequed over a fire. Miquel was the chef for the day as he took charge of barbequeing the spring onions. There must probably have been over a 100 spring onions, chargrilled to perfection in batches and keeping each batch warm by wrapping them in newspapers.
It was also the first time I see a hairdryer being used to start a fire!
Once all the spring onions were cooked, we unwrapped the spring onions from the newspaper and laid it out on the table, and that's when the feasting begins!
Everyone got their hands dirty with soot as we removed the outer layer of the charred spring onion, dipped the tender stalk into a calçot sauce, and plunged the juicy ends into our mouths. It was yummy as we devoured stalk after stalk of calçots, and drank wine catalonian style - pouring out the wine from a decanter straight into our mouths.
We also had good fun disfiguring our neighbour's face with our soot-covered fingers, and before we know it, the last of the calçots were gone :(
We spent the rest of the day talking and drinking more wine and some local liquer, and even dancing crazily to some 70s music, and before we knew it, it was already 10pm!
A great introduction to Catolonian culture and food, thanks to Miquel!
We arrived at his friend´s place (Mariona and Fernando) at 12noon, and both of us couldn't believe that we ended up staying till 10pm before walking home! Miquel shared that this is not common, as they usually meet at a restaurant and will typically be chased out by around evening, but this is the first time they do it at someone's house and lasted much longer than he expected.We had great fun though; the highlight of the day was eating calçots - spring onions barbequed over a fire. Miquel was the chef for the day as he took charge of barbequeing the spring onions. There must probably have been over a 100 spring onions, chargrilled to perfection in batches and keeping each batch warm by wrapping them in newspapers.
It was also the first time I see a hairdryer being used to start a fire!
Once all the spring onions were cooked, we unwrapped the spring onions from the newspaper and laid it out on the table, and that's when the feasting begins!
Everyone got their hands dirty with soot as we removed the outer layer of the charred spring onion, dipped the tender stalk into a calçot sauce, and plunged the juicy ends into our mouths. It was yummy as we devoured stalk after stalk of calçots, and drank wine catalonian style - pouring out the wine from a decanter straight into our mouths.
We also had good fun disfiguring our neighbour's face with our soot-covered fingers, and before we know it, the last of the calçots were gone :(We spent the rest of the day talking and drinking more wine and some local liquer, and even dancing crazily to some 70s music, and before we knew it, it was already 10pm!
A great introduction to Catolonian culture and food, thanks to Miquel!
Ahem, you look a little too excited in that pic with the weiners
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