Gone are sandals days

It's turning chilly here. For those of you who have visited me here, you know that most of Barcelona's buildings are not equipped with centralized heating. Apparently the homebuilders of the L'Eixample times had a more moderate climate back at the turn of the 1900s, when major urban-planning was done in the central part of the city. It's a shame because the temperature never dip too low. But as a result of the lack of heating, you feel even colder than you are in Michigan. (Becky, Pete, and Eric ;D, you can attest to that!) It's only 11ºC or 40sºF but I'm going "brr" indoors!

Saturday morning at Granja M. Viader

Lately I´ve been in the bouts of trying out different eateries. I guess the thought of leaving Barcelona in maybe as early as eight months has something to do with it. I´ve been catching myself chasing after the many things I´ve wanted to do here but have not gotten the time to do. Over the weekend, I had an amazing mid-morning breakfast bonanza at Granja Viader on C/Xuclá 4, situated on a tiny lane just a stonethrow´s from Le Meridian on La Rambla and Pintor Fortuny. A visit to this traditional dairy bar (granja) is like a trip down memory lane with the marble tables and memorablia displayed on the wall. The place has been there forever, and it still looks the same, I believe, since the 40s. I called for the Chocalate Suiza, a hot chocolate made to the pefect consistancy (not too thick, like the typical ones they serve in Spain) topped with an enormously generous scoop of homemade cream or nata. The cream is amazing. Just a tint sweet, completely casera, a far cry from the squeeze-out commercial versions. The best thing to go with the chocolate are little sweet cake fingers called melindres shown here in the picture. My companion Lionel and I also ordered a Flan de Mato which we shared happily. The mato cheese is a specialty of Barcelona, resembling ricotta in taste and texture. Apparently this is the only place in Barcelona that makes it and is certified by the Catalan government. This is also supposed to be the oldest granja in the city. Before you leave, you could even take back some specialty cheeses with you as they have a wide variety plus other desserts displayed near the entrance for sale. Apart from that, you can also bring back the mato, fresh nata, and honey if you fancy to make your own traditional Catalan desserts at home.

In the Know:
Granja M. Viader
C/Xuclá 4 Metro: Catalunya (Líneas 1 y 3)
Opening Hours: Mon-Thrs 9 to 13.45 and 17 a 20.45. Fri and Sat 9 to 14 and 17 to 20.45 (Closed on Monday mornings, Sundays, and Festivos)

Chocolate and Zucchini Cake

Inspired by a few food blogs I've been perusing, I had the impulse last night to bake a cake with very interesting ingredients (at least to me) since I have all the recipe called for at home. As I ended up droopy-eyed after reading Tintin, I adjourned the grand occasion to the next morning. So before going to French class this morning, I mixed together the ingredients for a Chocolate and Zucchini Cake with Walnuts, and half hour later I got a little fluffy and moist treat, fresh off the oven, for my teacher and the others in class.

Before I spill the recipe, here's a little on the origins of the cake, based on some online research. According to one of the theories, the cake could well be the inventive or rather desperate ideas of Midwesterners where the squash is abundant pretty much year round (near the Great Lakes). There were stories where children grew up leaving bags of zucchinis at neighbors´doorsteps because there were just too much of the vegetable around. There was even something about cars that are normally left unlocked in the Midwest (I can attest to that, having lived in Michigan for eight years, it was really that safe) would be locked during zucchini season lest someone leave a basket of zucchinis in their backseats.

The vegetable is extremely popular in Spain, where I live now. I always have a few in my fridge. Zucchini is known as courgette in the U.K. and France, the diminuitive term for " squash". In Malaysia, where my mum lives, every now and then she could spot some in the market, but it's a variation known as "japanese cucumber" in chinese. My Reader´s Digest Book of Healthy Foods claimed that 100g of zucchini (equivalent to one small zucchini), when gently cooked, provides half the recommended daily dose of vitamin C required for an adult. And voilà, the wholesome goodness of the cake of the day:

Chocolate Zucchini Cake with Chopped Walnuts

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa or 4 pieces of dark chocolate grated
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp orange peel
1 cup grated zucchini
1/4 cup milk
1/2 chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F
1. In a big bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and set aside.
2. Beat together butter and sugar with a mixer till smoothly blended. Add egg to mixture and beat well. With a spstir sitr in orange peel and zucchini. Lastly, stir in milk till the mixture is well combined.
3. Make a well in the bowl with the dry ingredients and fold in the wet mixture in the center.
4. Pour the batter into a greased and flour-dusted cake pan. Sprinkle walnuts evenly on top of batter.
5. Bake in oven for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick (or uncooked spaghetti) inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before transferring the cake onto a wire rack to cool thoroughly.

To store in refrigerator, wrap in plastic or foil for up to 3 days.

Rabbit + Pork = Chinese Dumplings

My quest for southeast-asian flavors resulted in a little surprise today at a local asian store here in Barcelona. Foraging down an aisle with rows of curious-looking jars, something vietnamese with a label featuring a scrumptious-looking bowl of noodle-soup caught my eye.

Pho -- the ubiquitous vietnamese beef-flavoured broth found in most Chinatowns in the states. Happily I went home with a bunch of extremely fragrant cilantro, and a pack of wonton skins. Just a few minutes ago I marinated the quater-pound ground rabbit and pork I have in the fridge. Don't ask me why I have such an interesting choice of meat, it was the only type of meat, besides red meat, left at the store. To make it even more interesting, they were sold as hamburger patties. Apparently all the Spaniards had already stocked up their fridges for the Día de Todos Los Santos (All Saints Day). So my dinner´s gonna be rabbit and pork dumplings with pho.

Here's the improvised recipe, or rather recipe-to-be, since I'll be finishing the rest of the cooking in an hour's time.

Vietnamese Beef-Flavored Broth with Leeks and Carrots
- one carrot sliced
- one leek slicked thinly
- 1 tbs of pho soup paste
- 3 cups of water

When the water is boiling, add veges and soup paste. Boil for 2 minutes covered and simmer for half-hour on very low fire.

Rabbit and Pork Chinese Dumplings
- a pack of fresh or frozen wonton skins/wrappers
- quarter pound of ground meat (chicken, pork, rabbit or turkey)
- 1.5 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
- a dash of white pepper and salt
- four chinese or shitake mushrooms (optional)
- 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro (other substitutes: chinese chives, spring onions)

Soak dried shitake mushrooms till soft. Diced them into tiny bits. Marinate ground meat with sesame oil, dark and light/normal soy sauce and blend in cilantro and mushrooms. Put aside for half hour before wrapping them up in the wonton wrappers. Place them in boiling water. They're done when they float...about 2 or 3 minutes. Drain and transfer them into the pho before serving. Add fresh cilantro for garnishing. I love to add some nice long julienned raw zucchini for added vege-goodness. And if you're craving for carbs, add some chinese vermicelli (thin rice noodles). Ok, here I go to check how my pho's doing. Have fun cooking!

P.S. You can freeze the extra dumplings in a container for later use in other noodle soups when you're in a pinch!