Last Monday's barbeque was without doubt of the best ever meals I've ever eaten - there again I am easily impressed. Having one day left of our Bank Holiday weekend in Sitges, Tommo had decided to entertain the remaining guests with a barbeque lunch in one of Sitges's beauty spots - a religious retreat half way up a mountain with spectacular views over the Med. So we shopped in the morning. picking up salad, tomatoes, charcoal, wine and botifarra - one of the most important dishes in Catalan cuisine - it's a type of sausage!
Our short taxi drive took us to a track that ran diagonally and dangerously up a mountain side - we were assured by the birthday boy that we would arrive at our destination after a short 10 minute stroll. He lied - blantantly and unquivocally, he lied - after 20 minutes of hard panting, we stopped to find our host quaffing a cold can of beer - admittedly he shared it with us but then hared off up the track leaving the rest of us still gasping for breath! 30 minutes after leaving the safety of the taxi we arrived at our spectacular destination - a small white church with a barbeque area and tables - only one problem - the barbeques didn't have grills!
Undeterred by the absence of anything to cook on, we proceded to light the charcoal and improvised a grill with two large sticks - that as until Matti came up with a better idea and sharpened a stick to act as a skewer. The meal was wondeful, beef tomatoes to start with and then the botifarra with bread and salad - simple food under a hot sun with great views over the sea. This was a day to remember!
A late supper with Tommo and Catalina in a local restaurant that night and it was time for us to bid farewell to the party weekend. We had had a ball and our thanks to Richard and Catalina for being such fantastic hosts. At least when we got back on Tuesday the weather had become more like the weather we had experienced in Spain, so for the rest of the week we over dosed on barbeques - trying to regain that authentic taste and smell that can only be obtained by trying to cook Catalan sausage over 2 pine logs! I did manage a trip to the Welsh Open Golf tournament on Thursday at Celtic Manor, home of the 2010 Ryder Cup. I also managed to get a glare from Colin Montgomarie when I inadvertently scatched my leg just as he was about to putt on the 14th green - it couldn't have bothered him too much, as he holed the putt. I did think the food on offer at Celtic Manor was vastly over priced - £5 for a bacon baguette and £3.60 for a pint of shandy! Outrageous. When the Ryder Cup is hosted in October, I would expect even those prices to increase - I'll be taking some of my home made pasties and perhaps a slice or two of lemon tart!
Happy eating!
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