y’all are incredibly mad at me for being MIA from the blog for a month.
You have been visiting my blog multiple times a day wondering, “WTF, when in the heck is this *Dang* Ceci Sipper going to get a POST SOMETHIN’ ON HERE ?!?!?!”
Ya right. I know I’m exaggerating. Y’all only check this site once a day …
A girl can flatter herself can’t she?
Ok, so back to reality. It really was a month long hiatus and I feel horrible about it. But I have really good reasons for it :) Wanna read em? If not, see ya later. If so … then read on :)
Reason #1 -My Dad’s Crazy Obsession With BBQ
My dad has a side business doing BBQ catering. He really out did himself this time. He enlisted my services to help him cater the Windcrest Fireman’s Picnic. We had to make BBQ plates for 1600 folks. Yeeeehaw!! I was elbow deep in potato salad, beans, coleslaw and BBQ sauce! So that pretty much took up a good solid week.
Reason #2 – My Ever-Obnoxious-Yet-Totally-Lovable Siblings
Within this month long hiatus, both my sister and brother had graduation ceremonies and grad parties. My sister graduated from the University of the Incarnate Word here in San Antonio, TX and my brother graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School (he is going to be heading out to Southwestern University in the fall, woot, woot)!
Reason #3 – The Irresistible French Accent & Showing Off At The College Reunion
Not to age myself or anything, lol, but I went to Los Angeles for my five year college reunion (Occidental College). Frenchie le Boyfriend met me there and we spent a week eating at fabulous restaurants, drinking gorgeous wines, and soaking up the So Cal sun. Then the last three days I showed Frenchie off at my college reunion (and our dear friend Alvin joined us for that … Cake or Death? {Inside Joke} ). This LA trip and all its food and wines deserves a special post on its own, so that is what I will do later/tomorrow :)
Reason #4 – I was hired to spend a week on a pirate ship doing wine lessons for the pirate crew.
Lesson #1 for them … how to open a wine bottle with yer teeth … or at least the ones they still have :P
The last one may or may not be an exaggeration … but hey, it could happen. I could totally teach pirates how to properly taste the wine they loot :)
That’s right!! I am back home in the glorious LONE STAR STATE of TEXAS!!!! And more specifically in the awesomely, amazing city of SAN ANTONIO!!!!!
I wanted to tell you all soooooo badly, but I wanted to surprise my friends and family here who thought I would be moving back home on the 29th of December! My dad was the only one who knew as I needed a ride home from the airport in Houston. So after a bit of a drive from Houston to San Antonio, I pranced like a reindeer right into my parent’s home and scared the CRAP out of my mom, sister and brother, hahaha! Then I went to a friend’s Christmas party and pranced right into that too! You should have seen the look on all there faces! (I took video, so I will post it soon, don’t worry :)
I know I pulled a fast one on all you VS readers, but it was all in the name of love … and surprising the heck out of people! Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha!
I will post again soon to post the surprise videos I have and to catch you all up with my move here!
Yeehaw, I have been busy this last week! I am knee-deep in thesis and internship goodness. The good part is that I am enjoying it, a lot! The bad part … I lost track of the days and realized it has been a Hot Minute since I posted!
So in the spirit of it being Saturday, I will post about my lastest mini-vacation I took a few weeks back with Frenchie le Boyfriend to his family’s beach home in a town called ‘Erquy’ on the English Channel (or as the French call it ‘La Manche’). His grandmother, Frenchie la Grandma, spends her summers there and goes back to the big city, ‘Nantes’, the first weekend in September. We went to help her close up the house for the fall/winter and to go enjoy the last rays of summer sun! Here is the family beach house! Simply beautiful!! I love coming here!
We took advantage of some beach time! This is a chapel built by fisherman for safety and prosperous fishing. You can only visit the chapel when the tide is out, and you better not get caught when the tide comes in, or else you are sitting on an island for a while!
One of the things I love most about coming here is ALL the yummy seafood Frenchie la Grandma cooks for us! And heaven help me when she feeds me lobster!! Lobster = Love! ATTACK OF THEY YUMMY SEAFOOD!! YEEHAW!!! The seafood here is super fresh! I mean it literally goes from the boats shown below, to the fish stand, maybe to the stove, and then my belly! Ohhhhhhhh I am mouthwatering!
Isn’t my Frenchie tres, tres beau!
We usually stay local when we visit Erquy, but this time around, we decided to made a day trip with Frenchie La Mom and La Grandma to a beach city about 45 min away from Erquy called St. Malo. St. Malo is famous for its ‘pirate’ history and also for being a fortified port city. Yup … there is a humongous grey-granite stone rampart that surrounds the city center. It is incredible! Photo Source
All of the buildings inside are built with the same grey-granite stone used to build the rampart walls. Those are some dang sturdy buildings! At a few points in the ramparts, there are some doorways that open to the channel! Awesome right? The city inside the walls is sprinkled with shops, restaurants, cafes and bars. This photo is for my sister! That store has your name on it … literally! So back to the ‘pirate’ part of this city’s history! St. Malo was the home of french privateers/pirates! They were ‘allowed’ to conduct raids on shipping of any nation that was at war with France all under the name of the French Crown. Because they were doing this ‘legal pirating’ on behalf of the French Crown, they had certain ‘special treatments’ such as being treated as prisoners of war if they were captured by the enemy as oppposed to being left for dead like pirates. They were actually referred to as ‘corsairs’ (but that is just the french franco-fying the term privateer/pirate. In any case, a good chunk of this ‘legal-pirate’ money went back to the city (the other, back to these french privateers), which is how St. Malo became quite the affluent city. Pirate paraphernalia is in just about every store here!
Also, St. Malo was the only French port city to receive rhum from the ocean trading routes. Go figure, it was the ‘legal pirate’ city. Hence the ‘rhum-only bar’ here.
After some beach time and walking around me taking pictures like a dang tourist, lol, we decided it was about time to find a restaurant for dinner ….
Did we want the Creperie (Crepe Restaurant) with convicts out front? Or the Creperie with witches and fairies covering the window? We thought about a seafood cafe … Or an old fashioned french bistro …. But then my eyes were immediately drawn to this place …. And largely in part to their sign …. “Les Buveurs de Lune” (The Drinkers of the Moon)! It was just not something I was going to let go, I told Frenchie Le Boyfriend, La Mom, and La Grandma that they did not have a choice in the matter … this was our dining place for the night. (It’s totally normal though … they deal with my American assertiveness all the time, lol … and they still love me … or at least they do a great job in pretending! hahaha. jk jk. I think? Frenchie La Mom, if you are reading this … you know I love you =P)
But seriously … how could you pass up a place that looked like this? We ended up asking for a seat on the terrasse! Great choice! I am going to give the ending away right now … this restaurant was a 100% success!! It was fabulous from start to finish, from wine to food, from deco to service! C’etait MAGNIFIQUE! The food and wine theme for this restaurant was bio/organic. They also serve as sort of a wine store … you buy the wine at retail price and then you either choose to drink it there with your meal or take it away and enjoy at home.
One of the things that really impressed me was the service! Now in the US, servers are paid mostly by tips, so their tip should reflect their service.
(Soapbox time: As a veteran server of 8+ years and 10+ restaurants … I know a thing or two about reading tables and knowing the best tactics to providing excellent service so that I can pay my bills, lol … but I am going to take this moment to put in a shameless plug for all you restaurant patrons out there … please, please, please don’t be a cheap tipper. If the service is poor, by all means you do not have to be generous (but do remember everyone has bad days) but if there is one thing that irks the living day lights out of me … that would be cheap tippers … its rude, tacky, and just plain lack of ettiquette. I am a firm believer in every person should work in the service industry at some point in their life. It will change your outlook entirely! Okay, I am off my soapbox!)
So yes, in US, servers work for tips. In Europe, as many of you know they do not. AND as some of you know the service is … well … generally not there. They do the minimum, but they are not there to entertain you or make you feel special. I mean, why should they? They get paid the same regardless. Well, at this restaurant … I felt like I was back in the US! The server was just a complete joy! He was extremely helpful, knowledgeable, caring and had a great sense of humor … I always love that in a server!
Our server guided us through the wine list which was filled with biodynamic and organic wines. He finally recommended ‘L’Arbousier Gaussan 2004′ from Corbieres, the largest AOC in the south of France’s wine region of Languedoc-Roussillon, producing mostly red wine from the main red grape varietals of Carignan, Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre …. (on a side note, if you ever want to sound really cool with some mad wine lingo … next time you have a wine made from the 3 varietals Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvèdre, you should refer to it as a G-S-M. See, I look out for you!)
Now, I fell madly in love with the waiter for bringing me my own special glass … But then my bubble was popped when I was informed that it was infact the decanter … sigh! I suppose I got excited by someone who I thought knew my wine needs … what’s wrong with a wine glass that fits the whole bottle of wine? I told Frenchie La Mom I was going to have this ‘decanter’ aka ‘my size wine glass’ at my next birthday party. She looked at me like … “well ya, if you can finish a whole bottle by yourself, then I suppose” … oh, little does she know, lol! **Drink Responsibly**
My first course was an Italian Salad of melon, italian cured ham, seasonal veggies with a heavenly vinaigrette and italian herbs. It was delicious! I was super jealous of Frenchie le Boyfriend’s starter though, a Salmon and Haddock Fish Tartare. He won that round. (Yes, Frenchie and I have contests when we go out to eat to see who orders the best plates … we are foodies like that!) For the second course, all four of us ordered the beef tenderloin with Indian spiced potatoes. YUMM! The beef was ‘melt in your mouth’ … it was organic beef … so the cows were hand fed and massaged daily with optional manicure/pedicures every other week. lol. Whatever … say what you want … but organic beef really does taste better. Next up was a cheese plate … I currently have a love/hate relationship with french cheese. I LOVE IT way too much that I have packed on a few ‘cheese pounds’ since living here in France. I blame the cheese for being too gosh darn good. I do not blame my lack of resisting temptation at all. The wine went beautifully with each course. It sang of beautiful aromas of dark fruits/berries with tannins like a huge bear hug and a perfect balance of acidity. I think I drank the better half of the bottle …. I was sad when it was over! The last course was dessert. If you know me, you know I DO NOT have a sweet tooth at all. I prefer an appetizer over dessert any day. I know, I know. I am not wired properly. I just like savory over sweet. Give me a break! But this time I ordered a Strawberry Panna Cotta …. it was not sweet at all … which was PERFECT for me … it was so good, I completely forgot to snap a photo of it!
The rest of dinner was rounded out by me finishing off the wine. A small sacrifice I had to make since French Le Boyfriend and La Mom were driving and La Grandma is in the ‘taste wine only’ phase of her life =P
You can tell it was a good wine! I do have to say I find myself more and more pleased with the wine coming from the Languedoc-Roussillon region. They are really putting in some impressive investments/improvements there. I am The Ceci Sipper and I approve this wine region!
I made a pit stop to the ladies room before leaving Les Buveurs de Lune … and guess what I saw!!!!! This resto does a ‘wine dating’ night. They match up single people based on their wine preferences!!!! WHAT AN AWESOME IDEA!!!! I know Frenchie Le Boyfriend and I are madly in love, but we both decided we would be curious to try this out, just to see what it is to be paired up by your wine preference! I am still flabbergasted with this! Does this exist where you are?
All in all I give “Les Buveurs de Lune” two thumbs way up, 4 stars, 5 jalapenos, whatever the new rating system is! It was fabulous! If you ever find yourself in St. Malo … YOU MUST GO HERE!
Frenchie and I kissed Frenchie La Mom and La Grandma goodnight and we headed out for a little bit more wine before calling it a night. We shared a Syrah varietal wine called “Arrogant Frog” (not so great) and a red Bordeaux from the Graves region (much better) … Wine makes me make funny faces =P On a completely random side note, we passed a fantasy figure shop on the way back to the car with fairy figurines in the window and I think I found myself if I were a fairy, minus the glasses … What do you think? I think it is totally me in fairy form! (Totally random, I know … but totally necessary!)
Hope y’all enjoyed the mini-vacation and hope you are having a fabulous Saturday!
Vinously Speaking & Vinously Yours, The Ceci Sipper!
Howdy there, all y’all Vinously Speaking readers! Hope all is fabulous on your end of the internet! Here we are, at the post I promised you … about the new french town I am living in since moving from Dijon back in the beginning of July.
Now, I am sure you are asking, “Why would you leave Burgundy!?!”
Well folks, it had a lot to do with love =) Love will make you do crazy things,
… like leave Burgundy!
Way back before I had applied for the Masters In Wine Business Program in Dijon, Frenchie Le Boyfriend was on a job hunt and one of the places he was looking was in Dijon, that way if I was accepted we could be together in the same city! All together now … “Awwwwww! How cute.”
As luck would have it, he found a job as a corporate lawyer for an insurance company called Groupama. *This is the Groupama mascot. Her name is ‘Cerise’ (pronounced ‘sir-eez’), which means ‘cherry’ in french.
Not even a full year later, he was offered a promotion … impressive, I know! But the catch was … he had to move to their offices in a small town about an hour away from Dijon.
Now, when Frenchie Le Boyfriend received this promotion offer, I was still under the impression I would be returning back to the US to do my Master’s thesis/internship. Naturally I made complete fun of him for needing to move out to the country. But, as you all know a whirlwind of events transpired leading me to stay in France to do my internship/thesis with Catavino, so now the joke was on me, because now I was going to be moving to this small town with Frenchie Le Boyfriend.
So as you may have gathered from the title of this post, we are living in the small town of: Pronounced “show-mone”
Pop. 31,000
Somewhere between here: and here:
I know, I know, there are smaller towns out there, and I’m from Texas, so I should feel a bit more ‘at home’ about the whole thing… I mean Dijon was small as well, but Dijon had a population of around 150,000 … and that my dear VS readers is where I draw the limit. In any case, I’ve always been an optimist, so after a few days of sitting in a catatonic state, I decided it was about time I put on my ‘big girl pants’ and made the best of things. First off, I get to spend more time with Frenchie Le Boyfriend, my little doggy, Miss Dolce, who is totally in love with nature and there is a lot of that here in the country. It is also kinda cool to be able to say I lived in the french countryside, not many people get to say they did that. There are a lot less distractions here so I have LOTS of time to work on my thesis/internship/blog. I have also been able to get back on my exercise routine, so all those cheese & wine kilos I had gained in my time here are beginning to melt away. And the best of all is that Chaumont is located in the region of … Champagne! Yes folks, that is right. I moved from Burgundy to Champagne. And let me tell you how awesome it is to be able to drink ‘veritable Champagne’ at such ridiculous prices … it would make a grown, wine-loving man cry.
Wanna know how you know when you live in the Champagne region? Check this out … What a dilemma, Happy Hour is on wine and champagne ONLY! =D haha! I suppose I can live with that!
So here it is folks, my post to ‘Chau’ Off Chaumont!
Now since I am dedicating this post to a VS reader named Karen from Manitoba, Canada … I decided to go around Chaumont taking pictures wearing Canadian flag colors! =) Hope you enjoy!
The view behind me is “Old Town” (Vieille Ville) Chaumont. A plaque that explains what ‘Old Town’ structures you can see from the viewpoint
The name Chaumont came from its original Latin name, ‘Calvus Mons’ meaning ‘bald mountain’. It was called this because it is situated on a bare plateau overlooking the Marne Valley. Its citizens are called, “les Chaumontais” (pronounced ‘lay-show-mone-tay‘) and the town was constructed in the 10th century. It is about 100 km (62 mi) north of Dijon and about 260 km (162 mi) south of Paris.
A view of the Chaumont countryside! It is pretty isn’t it!
The structure on the left of the picture above are the remains of the 12th Century castle that was once home to the Counts of Champagne, (the castle’s keep, known as the ‘donjon’ and the ramparts), however there are a number of other ancient structures throughout the town (the town hall, Jesuit chapel, the Basilique St Jean) that have survived in their entirety. This is the ‘Donjon’ (the oldest relic in Chaumont) which was built between the 11th and 12th centuries. It served as a fortress, then housing for soldiers, and then a prison. Now you can take a tour of it and it also houses a small Museum of Art & History.
Here is the view looking from the ‘Donjon’. Breathtaking no?
This is ‘La Chapelle des Jésuites‘ built in the 17th century. It is no longer a ‘functioning’ chapel, but is now used as for art expositions. Next to the chapel is the Collège des Jésuites I don’t know what this building was before, but now it’s a bank. Pretty fancy building for bank right?
Some street views of Chaumont: This is their Town Hall … fancy for a small town. The famous Basilica of St. John the Baptist (Basilique St. Jean-Baptiste), constructed in the 17th century, is not as famous for its outside architecture but rather for its high-relief interiors as seen below. Photo Source
Chaumont is also known for its impressive Viaduct =P The viaduct was constructed in 1857, it is now a railway and “the symbol for the town’s cultural and geographic link to Paris” (kinda stretching its importance a bit no? haha) Regardless, it is pretty impressive to look at. Photo Source I found this cool photo looking down the passage way of the ‘foot’ traffic level of the Viaduct. And someone also put up a video of the Chaumont Viadcut, lol. Naturally I just had to share ;P
For the most part, those are all the historic sites of interest here. What else is there to say about Chaumont …?
Well, here is THE movie theater of Chaumont, lol.
Chaumont is also one of the 12,000 towns in France to particpate in the “France in Bloom” competition, meaning that is has been “chosen after a rigourous selection process, based on both the care they have taken with their floral decoration and the beauty of their parks and gardens, and the work they have done to improve the living environment and give visitors a friendly welcome.” The best ‘floral towns’ are awarded 4 stars (205 of them last year), Chaumont was awarded 3 … not bad, not bad. I must say, it is nice to walk around and see flowers everywhere.
I have also noticed Chaumont has an obsession with blue doors … during my Chaumont photo shoot, I snapped some photos of a few … I wonder why?
Yes, I made Frenchie le Boyfriend dress in Canadian colors too! =P
Chaumont also has an incredible amount of spiral stair towers, apparently there are like 70 around the city!
Other random facts about Chaumont …
It was formerly the French capital of glove making.
It is the home to the oldest police academy in France (1945)
They have a top-ranked professional Volley Ball Team and they host the national horseback riding championships.
They have a Nativity Museum which contains a large collection dating from the 18th century, both from France and from around the world, of wax, blown glass, shell and ceramic. (My mom would go crazy, she collects Nativity scenes)
Chaumont is known as the ‘poster town’ and it hosts the International Poster and Graphic Design Festival each summer, attracting visitors from all over the world. It is also internationally known for its center for book and poster art. The collection currently holds over 20,000 posters and adds over 1,500 each year.
One VERY interesting thing about Chaumont was that it was home to a US Airforce Base during the World Wars!! Crazy huh?!
Many people here still remember the ‘good time’ as they refer to it, the days of the Americans with their big cars, jazz and rock and roll, and all the dollars that were flowing through the city! There are even 2 ‘American style’ neighborhoods here that were built for the American officers back then. It is crazy to drive though them! The houses are very different from the french styles of housing. I feel like I am back home!
One of the ‘American style’ neighborhoods. I snapped a photo of one of the houses =P I am sure it may not seem like anything, but I kid you not. They don’t make these style homes here in France.
Unfortunately, or fortunately?, there aren’t any Americans here anymore … or at least I haven’t met any. But the you can still see signs of the ‘American influence’ … you still see a few of the ‘big cars’ being driven around by the soldiers who probably sold them to town folk for a pretty ‘franc’.
They recently started an annual ‘Country & Line Dancing Festival’. Here is a video from the festival 2 years ago. You have to admit, they make a good effort!
Also I do have to say, Chaumont does earn some major points for having this restaurant Photo Source Woot Woot! Texas represent!
Well, I am sure that is a lot more than you wanted to know about my new little french town of Chaumont. (I know its more than I did, lol). I need a glass of Champagne right about now, lol!
All jokes aside, I believe that things happen for a reason. I am thinking the reason I am here is to really buckle down and bust out an incredible thesis, drink Champagne at an affordable price, and show these Chaumont folk how line dancing is really done!
Hope you have a great day VS readers! Spoil yourself and go buy some Champagne (or some Cava, Prosecco, Cremant, or other yummy sparkling wine)!
See you on the next post!
Vinously Speaking & Vinously Yours, The Ceci Sipper
or for all you non-Spanish speakers out there ... “What’s happening in Terrassa?”
As I am already back from my Spanish voyage, I should be using the past tense, but I can’t because then it won’t rhyme with Terrassa. =P
So yes, I was chillaxin’/chillin’ like a villain in a town on the outskirts of Barcelona, called Terrassa!
I landed in Barcelona on Thursday (Aug 5th) late afternoon and took a shuttle bus from the airport to the city center. I felt like Superwoman as I was attempting to navigate the public transportation system of Barcelona all by my lonesome! Woot Woot!
I played up the tourist card and took photos from the shuttle bus …
The shuttle bus dropped us off at a main plaza in Barcelona called Plaza Catalunya.
I wondered if Catalunya translated to ‘an insane amount of pigeons’ because that was seriously the case here. The melody ‘Feed The Birds’ from Mary Poppins popped into my head. ‘Toppins a bag’ anyone?
Once I reached ‘Plaza Cata-Lots of Pigeons-lunya’, I was instructed by my hosts to find the nearest entrance to the underground subway system and then look for the S1 and take it to Terrassa. Well, go figure there was all this construction and I was getting all sorts of flustered, so being a woman, I decided to ask a transport officer for directions … and he told me not to take the S1 but another line instead, so I assumed it was due to the construction that the S1 was unavailable. I am a bit rusty on my Spanish, but I figured I got the gist of what he was saying.
Apparently I found all the right trains because I ended up where I needed to be … in Terrassa.
… OR SO I THOUGHT !!
As you can tell, from the video, my hosts were no where to be found. I was waiting and waiting and waiting. Then it dawned on me … there might be two different stations in Terrassa, one serving the S1 and one serving the one I took.
So I harassed this little old Spanish man sitting outside the train station I was at. Of course he didn’t speak any English, so I had to dig deep to find the Spanish I learned back in middle/high school. I probably sounded something like this:
Friend me tell take line S1. I no take S1. Man tell me no take S1. I no see my friend. Where to be other station in Terrassa.
There may or may not have been some SPAN-FR-ENG-ISH going on in my attempt to find out if there was in fact another train station, but the old man totally got what I was saying, because he walked me over to the nearest bus stop and told me what bus I needed to take to get to the other train station.
So the bus came, took me to the other train station, and there was my friend/host for the trip!!
Well ‘one half’ at least. The ‘other half’ was back at the apartment preparing the welcoming feast on their rooftop garden!
AND FINALLY, after me being a ‘bit’ late due to transport/language issues, the welcoming dinner was served!!
We dined on a MEAN BBQ-ed stack of lamb chops ‘a l’Espagnole’
I was then ‘forced’ to drink massive amounts of this GORGEOUS INCREDIBLE Bubbly Wonder known as Cava.
This Cava in particular smelt like you walked by a bread shop in the morning with a zest of lemony goodness thrown in for good measure. ‘Whooooaaaa Nelly’ this CAVA was FREAKIN’ GREAT!! It is made from Chardonnay and Parellada grapes. Here is a link to the winery’s site.
For those of you wondering what CAVA is exactly:
It is a Spanish sparkling wine.
It is made in the traditional method used to make Champagne.
It originated in the late 19th century in the Catalonia region at the Codorníu Winery, the world’s largest producer of sparkling wine made by the traditional method.
Around 95% of Spain’s total Cava production is from the Catalonia region.
It was originally known as Champaña until the term “Cava” (cellar) was adopted in 1970.
The primary grapes used to make Cava are: Macabeo, Parellada and Xarel·lo, but some producers experiment with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes.
The next wine I was ‘forced’ to drink was literally HEAVEN, CLOUD NINE, AND PARADISE in a bottle!!! HOLY MACKEREL this wine knocked my socks off and then some!!
2000 Vina Bosconia Red Reserva – Bodegas López de Heredia (link to wine)
This is one of the wine producers you have to know about to be part of the ‘Wineaux’ Fraternity. If you don’t, you better get to knowin’ it son, cause this is THE stuff!
This wine had hints of watermelon jollyrancher ;), spicy strawberries, that sweet/spicy Mexican lucas, and even some Chinese candy. I know that sounds strange, but trust me … IT WAS ‘LIKE WHOA!’ This wine could definitely be ‘part of my balanced breakfast’! YUMM!
I actually had the pleasure of having another of these wines a few months back from 1991! I am moving up the ranks in the ‘Wineaux’ Fraternity!
Well I am sure you are dying to know who my hosts were in Terrassa and the reason for me going to Spain.
[DRUMROLL PLEASE] ….. RddRddRddRddRddRddRddRdd ….
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HERE THEY ARE FOLKS ….
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The hosts of my Spanish adventure!
Please give a round of applause for the ‘Infamous Wine Blogging Couple from Spain, Ryan and Gabriella OPAZ of CATAVINO.NET!! A couple of rad Americans who bought a one way ticket to Spain a few years ago to live there for a while …. just ’cause they could =P Check out my previous post about them for more info.
And as for the reason I was there to see them, well you have to wait for that. I can’t give away all my secrets this early in the post =P
So after severely intoxicating me with OUTSTANDING wines and DELICIOUS food … they finally let me get some rest =P But it was an early wake up call because we had some BIZness to take care of in Barcelona the next day.
Woke up early, took the ‘right’ train into Barcelona and headed to a fancy-shmancy hotel to ‘have a coffee’, but really it was just to use their free WiFi. Hahaha!
Isn’t the architecture of the hotel neighborhood gorgeous!?
The swanky hotel lobby!! Fact: True bloggers always know where there is free WiFi and are not afraid to use it!!
Me being swanky =P We tried to stay the whole day in the posh hotel lobby, but they caught onto us. One can only nurse a cafe Americano for so long. But do not worry, we had a backup … ‘Free WiFi Location #2′, Muahahaha! Fact: Do not mess with a True blogger. We will find your free WiFi and we will taketh over!!!
We set up camp at a hip art gallery/cafe in Barcelona called Galeria Cosmo.
This place was very welcoming to us WiFi squatters. Fact: If you provide bloggers with Free Wifi and do not push us out, we will love you long time!
So we dealt with our BIZness and then it was on to do some sightseeing in Barcelona and get our vinous action on and do some tapas/vino bar hopping!! Hope you enjoy the photo journey!
This St. Josep open market is said to be world famous!
I didn’t know what was more ‘off ‘ … store your wine near your dried pork products or storing your dried pork products near your wine?
The famous European food tradition of dried salt fish, in Catalan it is called bacallà and in Spanish bacalao. FYI, in french it is called morue.
Yes folks, she is handling your fish!
Fish heads … it’s what’s for dinner! :/
If that isn’t a kissable face, I don’t know what is?
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!
Ooooooo! Endless shelves of yummy Spanish wine! I was in heaven!
Cava as far as the eye could see!
Barcelonan architecture is incredible!
Tapas at a Galician Tapas Bar!!
I forget the names of these bad boys, but they were hushpuppy-like with a spicy tomato and cream sauce! Delicious!
Next up was some steamed octopus with some spiced olive oil drizzled over it! Yumm!
Due to their Celtic origins, the Galicians use cider cups to serve their wine!
Got Wine … in a cider cup? As a matter of fact I do!
Me battling the tapas fork!
If they replaced library books with wine bottles it would look like this!
I felt like the wineaux version of Belle from Beauty and the Beast when she discovered the library in the beast’s castle! … I know I’m a dork. Don’t judge =P
Do you think this wine tastes as vulgar as its label?
I was professing my love to all the Spanish wines.
The Santa Maria del Mar Church
Tapas Bar #2 … movin’ on to some Cava Sangria!
I don’t really remember much after the sangria, it was all a bubbly haze. Apparently we went home on the train and had MORE Spanish wine?!?
The next day was a workin’ day for us, but when evening rolled around, Ryan and Gabriella set out again to continue spoiling me … we had an appetizer of delicious Spanish cheeses, while waiting for ….
‘Chef Ryan’ to make some HOMEMADE PAELLA!! Being a fellow lover of the kitchen, I just had to bother him with cooking talk and taking photos of the Paella-making process!
Making the chicken stock…
First the Chorizo …
Then the fish, carrots, and onions!
Add in the stock, saffron, and other spices …
Throw in some cheap dry white wine …
Verify that the wine is in fact cheap …
Yup, tastes like 99 cents. I think it even whitened my teeth and stripped my stomach linings, but it was all in the name of having wine blogging material !!
Final step, throw in the shellfish, calamari, and shrimp … then wait for it …
and VOILA!! Ready to go in my belly!
IT WAS Deeeeeelicious!
To pair with the Paella, we sipped/gulped down on the next two wines made from the Xarelo-lo grape. You can read a delightful article by Gabriella about these wine on the Catavino wine blog, by clicking here. You can also read our reviews of these wine on the social tasting notes/wine tracking site we use called Adegga by clicking the link underneath each photo.
I encourage you to sign up for Adegga or another social tasting note site that suits you. I had always been old school, soaking labels off my favorite wines and placing them in a wine tasting notebook with my notes, but it was on this trip that I saw Ryan and Gabriella inputting pretty much all the wines they tasted into this site. After browsing around Adegga I realized it would be a neat idea for me to do the same. I could build up my ‘wines tasted’ portfolio, I could link up the wines I show/taste here on my blog to their Adegga tasting note site, it is a great way to remember the wines I have tasted, to see what others think about the wines, meet new people, and they support the AVIN system to identify wines. AVIN is to wine what ISBN is to books. An AVIN looks like this AVIN6452997073019. The AVIN uniquely identifies each wine and eliminates the problem of referring to a wine by several different names. Pretty cool huh?!
So now for the reason you kept reading all the way to the end of this post for … What was my reason for visiting Ryan AND Gabriella OPAZ from CATAVINO ?????
I think I will keep teasing you until the next post … I am not THAT nice ;)
Also this post is already a bit lengthy so its best to split it into two posts =) And its a sneaky way of getting you to come back =) I wouldn’t be a woman if I didn’t at least play a little game of ‘hard to get’ … tee hee!
See ya on the next post!
Vinously Speaking & Vinously Yours,
The Ceci Sipper
