February

Well last month certainly blew the cobwebs away! Windy and sunny but with very little rain, again. Fear not March is making up for it! I’m embracing my wrinkles in this mugshot taken by my son in a biting wind on the exposed front in L’Escalla.
We stopped for lunch on the relatively new bay front in a new restaurant that has popped up despite Covid, we are a hearty lot over here in the Costa Brava and I guess our hospitality has fared better as we eat outdoors in all weathers, albeit with covers and see through wind blinds!Strolled down through the old part of town to get to the front and noticed lots more new business popping up, I love that they keep the old with the new, the designers aren’t too precious about mixing modern materials with old, a practice I much prefer than trying to recreate the past. Far more effective and aesthetically pleasing imho. Signage is often simple and effective, I might have to do a whole blog on the design style of modern Catalunya. Shop fronts are notoriously difficult to photograph without getting all the reflections in.It being Sunday none of the shops were open so a trip out here mid week is going to be a must as there are so many nice places opening up. I love me a decor shop and am always looking for coastal style for my little cabin at the coast.
You and I are more used to seeing sea urchins like this, divested of their spikes and used for decor but here on the Costa Brava sea urchins or “garoines” are a delicacy and only available at this time of year when the coastal restaurants serve them like oysters at the festival La Garoinada. Eaten raw they are served belly side up spikes still intact their orange flesh drizzled with a squeeze of lemon. This year there has been a shortage, no explanation, but where normally every restaurant serves up hundreds they have none. I am a big fan of seafood and apart from octopus, another really popular seafood dish “pulpo”, I will give most things a go not a huge fan of them to be honest, its the texture but then I don’t like oysters or snails either for the same reason. I do, however, love the shells. When we were children our parents took us on our first foreign holiday to Playa St Joan, near Alicante. There were rocks off the little beach and dad showed us how to prize them off the rocks, dig out the flesh with a lolly stick and rub the spines off, when dried this was the result. Never realised we could eat them! So whenever I see them I think of family holidays and singed shoulders and warm lemonade, chupa chups and pippas.One last snap with our Andy, the sunny day was rapidly becoming less sunny as the dark clouds gathered in from the mountains but we still had sunny smiles. It has been the best weekend for a very long time not least because after two years of avoiding and shielding and vaccinations etc I managed to catch Covid last month. Luckily I had the mild version although it did lay me low for over a week and am still fighting off after affects but very relieved to have come out the other side realtively unscathed. Not emboldened but a little less anxious now and ready to face the world again. Seeing Andy, hugging and being with friends this last couple of weeks has made my life happier.I’ll leave you with a foody photo it’s a Bengal Banging Curry made by Darren’s fair hands, he actually volunteered! I bought him some curry spice kits for his birthday, it’s the one food he is passionate about and it was delicious. All the more so because I had zero involvement, after a weekend with our youngest, who also made dinner the evening before (lemon stuffed chicken) and two evening meals made without my help I felt suitably pampered. Until I saw the kitchen after Darren’s wonderful curry!