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.