Barcelona, Baby!!!

Well, we are almost half way through January and I have yet to blog about our long weekend in Barcelona.  I am finding it very hard to blog recently and have just been avoiding it.  Blogging is like the gym- once I get into it I am golden, but it is hard to pick it back up after a hiatus.  Luckily my 2012 gymming is going MUCH better than my blogging.  I promise, I will get better.  Now onto our little New Year's celebration. 

     

Kenny and I returned to London from Christmas in the States early on the morning of December 29.  Within 25 hours we were back at the airport and had boarded our flight to Barcelona.  Not like I am complaining, the travel is phenomenal, but... we were a bit tired when we got to London and almost let out a groan that we had to unpack, repack and return to the airport in under one day.  We are lucky that we have learned to minimize the effects of jet lag or we would have been miserable.

Our hotel was right on La Rambla (Las Ramblas), the main pedestrian street/walkway in Barcelona.  It is lined with kiosks selling all sorts of knickknacks and is a tourist magnet.  It is also in the heart of the city, which meant that we were able to walk just about everywhere we wanted to see.

         

 

We hadn't been to Barcelona since our first visit in 2006 and were a bit worried that we would wind up repeating many of the main attractions and be bored.  We could not have been more wrong!  The city is gigantic, and there was SO much to see.  We could easily go back for yet another weekend without ever revisiting what we have already seen.

   

Barcelona has become one of the culinary centers of Spain, so we did our best to successfully eat and drink our way through the weekend.  Between this and hopping around Barcelona to see much of the amazingly creative acthitectural designs of Antoni Gaudi, we were busy bees.

   

A local bar we visited for a glass of cava and cured meats

  

Touring a UNESCO Heritage Site- not quite sure a hard hat works for Kenny...

  

Not really my look either

    

La Sagrada Familia- one of Gaudi's most famous buildings
    

La Padrera- by Gaudi as well
  

Top of La Padrera

  

 Dancing (Magic) Fountain

     

  
One of the highlights of our trip was booking a wonderful 10-course New Year's Eve dinner at G.e.l.o.n.c.h.  It is no secret that Kenny and I are foodies and thoroughly enjoy our meals out.  We critique the food, compare courses, discuss how our wine pairs with the food, and on and on.  We also get to chat.  Kenny has an obnoxious work schedule, and these meals are one of our only times to sit and relax together.  The restaurant I chose was heaven for foodies, and it was funny to see how many diners were taking pictures of the courses as they were presented.  I was prime among the photo-obsessed just so I could share each and every course with you.  So here we go... 
   

 Oyster with grapefruit gin, tonic and mint

  

 Micuit of marinated vegetables in escabeche

   

Creamy potato, egg sous vide and sea urchin cappuccino

  

Escudella broth with spider crab ravioli and Iberian ham d.o. Extremadura

  

Red prawn with pisco, baked in garlic sauce, with chard and hibiscus

      

Red mullet with squash gnocchi, baby carrots and veal sweetbreads

        

Suckling pig (24 hour sous vide), sunchoke sauce and cashew viniagrette

     

Assorted cheese with honey-banana cream, caramelized endive and baked eggplant sorbet

          

 Black truffle and white chocolate ganache, macha tea spongecake and cocoa snow

      

Olive oil cake, apple sorbet, coconut foam, mint granita, and black olive

Of course Kenny took this picture... please enjoy the view of my girls!
    

All I can say is WOW.  We were seated at 9 and didn't leave the restaurant until after 2!  Each course was amazing, and the evening was perfect.  Our table was opposite the kitchen, so we were able to salivate over everything coming out of the very little window.  Every time the chef opened the window to peer out into the dining room, I was right there.  Thankfully I liked the food.  It would have been quite embarrassing for both of us had he looked out in time to see me gagging!    

  

     
New Year's Day and the following day were very relaxing.  We walked around, queued outside of La Sagrada Familia and basically relaxed.  And of course, we sampled some more food and wine whenever possible.  We finally made it back to London on the evening of January 2nd.  After eating only 4 home-cooked meals between our late-November trip to Marrakesh and our January 2012 return to London, all we wanted was fish and vegetables.  Eating at home has never felt so good:)

I'm Jonesing Here

Seriously, I am.  This Traveling Bandita has been travel-free for a month, and it is driving said Bandita nuts!  This is the longest I have gone without seeing anything new and without being on a plane in 2011.  So here I sit, planning our trips for the remainder of 2011.  I have a brief trip back to the States in November to visit doctors and will be staying with mom and Muldoon (always fun to hang out with two of my favorite girls).  Upon my return to London, Kenny and I will be spending Thanksgiving weekend in Marrakesh.  Thanksgiving is obviously not something the English celebrate, so Kenny will just take Friday off so we can be in Marrakesh in time for lunch and some touring around.  I am really not sure how much we will like the trip, but it is worth a try.  While we liked Istanbul, we had very little patience for people hastling us in the street and cab drivers charging us 4x the appropriate fare.  We have been warned that Marrakesh will likely be worse than Istanbul in this regard, which means it won't be the most leisurely of weekends.  In an attempt to make the trip as enjoyable as possible once we arrive, I have started researching restaurants and sights to see.  We shall see how this works out!  It looks like this is going to be a meat heavy trip- mostly pigeon and lamb.  I have never had an issue with meat when out in public, so I do not foresee any issues.  Again, it is only a weekend.
 
The following weekend we are off to Vienna to see some Christmas markets, and I am planning that trip as well.  My German girlfriend has given me some suggestions on places to visit and restaurants to try, and I am pretty sure Vienna will be much more relaxing than Marrakesh.  It will also be terribly cold in comparison.  This girlfriend told me I should have a floor length fur coat for the weekend- sorry darling, but that just isn't in the cards!  My long wool coat, fur hat and warm scarf will just have to cut it.  This will be another meaty weekend, but I suppose I will need all of this meat to keep me warm while walking around sans fur coat:)
 
Kenny and I then go back to the States for Christmas.  We will spend the week before Christmas in NYC and then stay with mom for about a week.  It is always fun to be back in NYC and catch up with our friends, and the City is so beautiful around Christmas!  And of course, Christmas wouldn't be Christmas were our family not all together.
 
Our last jaunt of the year is going to Barcelona for New Year's Eve.  We will be there for a long weekend, and I am planning this trip as well.  We have already visited Barcelona, so we will have less sightseeing to do on this trip than on the others.  The good and bad of this is that we will probably spend a long weekend eating and drinking (wine) our way through the city with no regard for reason.  At least I know I won't eat so much that I will invariably gain an obscene amount of weight in almost no time at all.
 
So yeah, there it is.  This has almost nothing to do with my band, but I really, truly feel the need to talk about travel... and your Traveling Bandita will soon be traveling again!