Roses & Figueres, Spain

We drove about 2hrs from Barcelona up the Costa Bravo coast to a small seaside town Roses. We enjoyed a lazy afternoon with some local tapas before our dinner reservation at El Bulli.

After our late night, we decided to laze around on the day bed enjoying the Spanish sun before heading to the town of Figueres, the home of the famous surrealist painter Salvador Dali. The queue was long, took 1hr before we got into the museum. Since we were tight on time, we sped through all his art works and was a little disappointed to find out the famous 'Melting Clocks' was located at MoMA in NYC!

Our El Bulli Journey

We flew into Barcelona for our El Bulli reservation which we had secured back in Dec 2008. We stayed at an old school Spanish villa, Hotel Vistabella @ Roses, a small quiet coastal town.

We arrived a little past 7.30pm having battled through traffic and twisty roads on the mountain side. Taking a right turn down the driveway, we were greeted by a house perched right on the water in the middle of nowhere. As soon as we set foot into the restaurant, we were warmly welcomed by at least 10 waitstaff that made us feel as if we were the only diners in the restaurant. This was followed by an offer to tour the kitchen where we met Ferran and had a sticky beak at 45 chefs preparing for the journey ahead. We met with the head chef and I saw a few smiles when I whipped out my big lens! We were seated by the window in the formal dining room overlooking the lake. As the sun was setting, it was the beginning of our El Bulli journey...

Starting with (left to right, top to bottom): Cane: mojito & caipirinha, Crystal of parmegiano, Coniferous, Spherical olives, Mimetics peanuts, sesame crackers.

Moving onto: Vanilla chips, Cherry Umeboshi, Coconut sponge, Flower nectar, Black sesame sponge cake with miso (softest sponge cake EVER!), Oyster leaf with dew of vinegar (a natural leaf from Holland that resembles oyster but without the slimey texture)

And then: Ham & Ginger canape, Truffle surprise, Osmanthus accompanied by prune on cracker(to me, it looked like thread worms, but tasted like noodles in snot), Fried shanghai, Mimetic almond

Followed by: Kimchee raspberries, Mushroom-CRU with hazelnut (did not know cactus was edible), Pumpkin and almond sandwich (it was totally layered with fresh white truffles), Sea anemone with te, Pinenut shabu shabu, Trout roe risotto.

On to the mains: Abalone (very chinese way), Parmesan ravioli, Cartilage (kinda reminded me of Pho Dac Biet), Rabbit canape with your giblets (this dish consist of fried rabbits brain, thyroid, tongue and kidney + snail eggs!) Suckling pig tail accompanied with ham soup, Pond (palette cleanser)

For desserts: Cherry with kirsch, Coco (it came out looking like an ostrich egg, then it was cracked with a spoon with added curry powder, turned out it was coconut icecream to be eaten with our fingers..MMmmm), Puff pastry of pineapple, Roots (looked like dirt, but made with choco cake & mousse, mando sorbet and black sesame rocks), Shellfish and last but not least the Morphings. This came in its own box that had at least over 50 piece of chocolate that we could devour between ourselves! Unfortunately we were both so stuffed that we could barely manage 10 pieces. Best petit four EVER!

It was about 12.30am as we made our way out of the restaurant when the wait staff stopped me and handed us a gift. El Bulli's Spanish version of 'A day in El Bulli'. We were very grateful and we do hope to visit again soon. A very memorable experience.

Barcelona

Hola. Just got back from our trip in Spain that was probably a day too short. Our first 2 nights were spent in Barcelona. We were able to visit the mesmerizing Gaudi architecture of Sangrada Familia and Casa Batllo, indulge in some tapas, visit the Picasso museum, and finish off with some paella at the marina. Even with driving our Seat Leon around town, we were still only able to see a small portion of what there is to see. Will have to revisit as part of our roadtrip.

The time has come...El Bulli..mMMmMm

We apologise for the lack of updates. Our internet should be up and running soon. We have settled into our new place, freshly painted walls, brand spanking new carpet and wayyyy closer to the tube station makes this place feel more and more like home.

We will be flying into Barcelona later this evening and will be around the area for the next 4days. We heard some horror stories about pickpocketing, fingers crossed my camera will not fall victim to those losers! We are very excited about El Bulli on Monday 10th. We hear it is 5.5 hrs with 34 dishes, hope it lives up to expectations!

Have a great weekend everyone. Miss you ALL!!!

Love

Trent & Marisa

Settling into our new place!

We have finally moved into our new place with a sniffle here and there as we said farewell to Porchester Square. After 10 months, we definitely grew an attachment to the place. It became our home away from home with us knowing each and every squeak and creak in the place. There is definitely a bit of doubt about whether our new place in South Kensington can live up to its predecessor. It is bigger with a private terrace, but it is only time that will show whether we will have the same emotional attachment.

Time to move

After 9 months of living in Paddington, it is time to move on. We will be moving across Hyde Park to South Kensington. It has a more cosmopolitan feel than Paddington, so it should be interesting to live another part of London.

Even on the short time here, we have discovered there is so much stuff we have accumulated. I wonder how many trips in the Ford Fiesta it will take to move everything.

We will also have to cope with internet withdrawal for 3 weeks now until we get setup. Time to read a book?

Italy Part 4 - Rome

Having pried ourselves away from the Amalfi Coast, we marched onwards towards Rome with a brief stop in Vietri Sul Mare for ceramics shopping and a stroll through the ruins of Pompei. Rome is a great city to explore on foot. Every 5 minutes you turn the corner to be overwhelmed with a piece of history that you recall from documentaries or movies you have seen. The old charm of Rome may be down to the laid back Italian attitude to life that has flowed into the apparent neglect for the buildings? More Roman ruins? We did brave the 30+ degree heat and humidity for us to tick Rome off the travel checklist... Next!