joyeux noël?*!

I hate xmas and I always will. I guess I would not if I owned a big chain of retail stores where people go to waste massive amounts of cash for no reason, but that's not the case. I do hate this retarded time of the year, and all the horrendous decorations invading cities, villages and even homes; it's like a plague. 

The only element that makes sense to me is the food, which usually happens to be exceptional, even if simple and primitive at times. This year the "turrones" I got at Casa Mira in Madrid, operating since 1855, were mind blowing; the "yema" (egg yolk) one was smooth as silk, and so full of intense flavour...

The meals of this end of the year seem to go all over the map, from the ocean to the deep mountain. I guess that's where the magic comes together, from the opposite extremes, just like our dining table.

A generous plate of "zamburiñas" (Chlamys varia) were probably my top meal of the season. We usually have "vieiras" (scallops), but some toxic bacteria made them unavailable this year.

Crab was also another highlight, under a very basic "salpicón" arrangement, which kept the full intense marine flavour.

A nice 2006 cava from RiB took our glasses during a half of our time at the table. Those Catalan bubbles seem to work extremely well with both crustacea and bivalve molluscs.

"Camino" was our 2008 red, also coming from Catalan lands, Girona to be specific. An interesting mixture of different grapes: Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Garnatxa and Tempranillo. This was the second time I had it, after our visit to Can Roca a few months ago.

Beef, chicken and a lot of delicious pork parts like "tocino", "lacón" (from Latin lacca) or "costilla" built this little universe of meats, which made that red wine relevant.

The mandatory counterpoint came from the unique "grelos" (the leaves of  turnips, or Brassica rapa), together with potatoes, carrots and white beans.

All that composed a quite decent plate of "cocido galego", ideal for cold winter days, like the ones we've been having this last week of the year.

Our sweetest entertainment started with a home made tart based on "cabello de angel" (angel's hair is the literal translation), a transparent threaded jam made from Siam pumpkin, aka cucurbita ficifolia.

In perfect synch with the turrones to come later on, fresh almonds were another crucial ingredient of that tart, which a few decades ago became quite popular in the small village of Mondoñedo (Lugo).

Turron blando, turron de yema, dates, combined with a plate of kakis, kiwis and pomegranate became the second part of our dessert, where cava was still a quite applicable drink to help swallowing such a sugar concatenation.

marcelo's without marcelo

After almost ten years today I was back at Casa Marcelo, or as Mr. Pedralonga called it, Casa Ivan, our chef of the day.

Mussels "en escabeche" on a base of mushrooms, was the first of our nine dishes.

Given the rainy season we are going through, although not on this first day of winter, mushrooms had a multiple presence on the menu. And their second arrival was under a very creamy "cappuccino" format.

A quite unusual homage to a local chef gave name to a plate of mackerel sashimi plate: Toni Vicente.

Oysters under a light couliflower cream became our fourth element of this gastronomic pilgrimage.

Fish "caldeirada" comes from the Galician word "caldeiro", which means bucket. That's where the local fishermen used to cook their fish meals. In this case we had five different types of fish, including a few of my favourites: hake and red mullet.

One more piece of fish came over to join this unexpected ocean parade: mero.

"Pichon" or pidgeon on a slice of kaki fruit was our meat moment of the day.

Meringue ice cream with lemon was our first dessert, followed by their very own Santiago Tart.

Walking back from a lunch that was finished close to 6pm, it was fun to see the xmas decoration lights hanging from the city hall building, in the Obradoiro square. Quite a different view from last time I was there during the Bendra & Ronphen Spanish summit back in September.

crab hall of fame

In case txangurro or paella were note enough, Lynne felt the urgency to expand her personal mud crab curriculum and moved into the delicate crab cake zone.

Its genesis is not too far away from all the others: "cleaning" the meat from the crab, which often becomes a risky enterprise, with finger cuts and even blood displaying their horrific nature through the process.

A less harming ingredient and visually more engaging is the spring onion, always handy to introduce a little bit of energetic power, together with the always extremely tempting red capsicum.

Such long process requires a good companion that reduces the tension and fuels the efforts. For the first time a 2007 Pyramid Valley cabernet franc from Hawkes Bay made a phenomenal debut in our landmark. 

Asparagus with garlic were meant to join this complex equation, and they did it to public acclaim.

A generous number of golden round entities made it to the table, and all palates could do nothing but reaching a legendary climax of flavours. Without any doubt, this was the ticket for Lynne's induction into the crab hall of fame.

Not to disappoint her loyal fan club she came up with a perfect dessert based on the always irresistible essence of peaches, which she wisely combined with vanilla.

And a little bit of vanilla ice cream together with roasted pineapple completed this successful dessert, which brought a little closer that never clear notion of heaven. 

the lobster effect

I really find quite intriguing how such an unattractive crustacean can be an object of endless adoration, at least in our tiny jurisdiction. 

This one was seriously alive by the time I was planing to cook it, so my schedule had to be postponed a few hours.

Another Victorian wine came our way. A nice 2008 Sorrenberg chardonnay, which was up to the positive response generated by the Sorrenberg gamay we tried not too long ago with Rocket Ron.

After many years of renovated devotion, we can say this dish is now a classic on our menu.

Fresh gigantic cherries, even those without the recommendable Kakawa chocolate second skin, can be a quite honourable ending. So trying to follow our believes in natural simplicity, we enjoyed the pure and naked flavour of these elegantly dark cherries.

"txangurro" down under

In case you haven't tried "txangurro", one of the many Basque amazing dishes, you must do it. Otherwise your live will never feel complete.

An interesting discovery from the Yarra Valley became our wine of the day: a 2010 Jamsheed Silvan syrah.

Unfortunately it takes a lot of work, but as we all know by know, good stuff takes time and effort, doesn't it?

A proper atmosphere is crucial when overtaking such a challenging activity. Lynn found beautiful pin cushions, but not the red ones we had during our carnivore times, the yellow ones.

So after a few hours of diligent manipulation our crabs were ready to go into the oven.

I guess the lychee season has started about a couple of weeks ago, since I can now find them regularly in the market. A very convenient match with the Kakawa world was easy to arrange because they have their own lychee bon bon.

mon petit déjeuner

I'm not sure this would be my ideal breakfast for very long, but yesterday it certainly was. It looked great, it tasted great and it made me feel great...

Tarts from Victoire in Rozelle and Rocket Ron Bakery in Waterloo, a cold drip "Angel Wings" coffee from Proud Mary in Collingwood, stringy bark honey from Ilford, plus exquisite silver from Bousquet & O'Leary in Ottawa provided a glamourous and strong way to start the day, before walking down to Potts Point.

The blueberry tart with mascarpone cheese and lavender was the novelty of the day. An interesting alternative to the sweet morning tarts I usually look for to help the igniting combustion.

royal ron

Mushrooms on Sunday, why not? 

A great combination of starters ignited another wonderful evening in front of the always fascinating view of Syd City's cbd/harbour/botanical gardens/surry hills...

My first, and very nice, bottle of 2010 Sorrenberg gamay drove this evening, after an initially aborted test of an unknown pinot noir from Mudgee. For whatever reason, there is a clear affair going on between my palate and a number of Victorian wines, chapeau! 

Rocket Ron was the only lucky one who got "txangurro" filled red capsicum. And this time Lynn topped it with Japanese panko, instead of regular bread crams. He has clearly reached the top of Club 904's list of VIPs.

Large papardelle "al dente" with tasty mushrooms was our main, although I'm not sure there was a clear main per se. Our evening felt more like an amalgamation of distant, but complementary flavours.

The stellar part of this dinner was a fabulous almond/orange cake delivered by no other than Mr. Rocket Ron himself, who has by now confirmed his incredibly  sophisticated baking talent.