Hampstead

Erin and I recently took advantage of a nice and sunny London Saturday and grabbed the Northern Line up to Hampstead to check out what is described as a village within the city. We arrived, walked around the city and poked into random markets, gourmet food shops, pubs and art dealers. The town center does indeed have a village feel to it and its worth exploring for a day if in London for an extended visit. Nearby Hampstead Heath park is also a relaxing escape that all visitors should take a walk through. There is a building on the massive park that was supposed to have a highly touted restaurant/cafe. However, it was closed for repair and replaced by a less exciting sandwich kiosk. Hopefully it'll open back up this summer. 

We of course made our way to two different pubs during the day to break up all the walking around the village and park. The first pub we went to was the Spainard's Inn and had a pint of Hooegarden and cloudy cider. The bar has been around since 1585 and is on the street that bisects the park on the way to the main building in the park. It is definitely on the tourist map (rightfully so). There is a huge beer garden in the back for warm summer days.

This is the park very close to the village center with great views of London in the distance. It's a great place to escape the city and enjoy the fresh air. 

The second pub we made it to was the Holly Bush, a brilliant pub up the hill from the tube stop with a great selection of beer on tap (Fuller's selection I believe, but they have some good alternatives to London Pride). The pub was one of the best we've sipped at since coming to London and I highly recommend it.

Calcotada

Last weekend we flew to Barcelona to participate in a traditional Spanish calcotada - a festival that combines the calcot and (al)ada wine.  Colcots are green onions that grow between the end of winter and April in the Tarragona part of Catalonia in Spain.  They are mild, look like leeks and are barbequed over an open fire and then served with romesco sauce and wine.  

You show up at about 1pm and there is no waiting. The second you arrive (in our case at Mas Boronat, near Tarragona), its off to the races with calcot's, wine, cava, olives, etc. To say this is messy is an understatement.  You eat the onions with your hands, stripping off the charcoal with your fingers.  

And rather than the common glass, you drink wine family-style from a perron - a wine decanter with a long spout.  Perron and twenty-something American's = dangerous combination. It was like 11th grade physics class experiments (substitute wine for water)!

Transport a us to the middle of Spain and give them a perron and competitive pouring, spring break style begins.  Pours from great heights, trust pours, double blind red-white vertical pours, and even the blow pour.

Keep in mind this is at about 2pm.  Then lunch at 2:30-4, capped off by a long walk through the vineyards and a dance party in caves dating back several longer than you can remember.

After dinner things obviously started heating up courtesy of our great planners, Lee and Laura. This is the Catalan rendition of Thriller. After several more songs, more Perron (aka the Rooster), initiations that consisted of wearing an ancient Flemish battle helmet...

...and drinking from the Perron simultaneously, and a failed worm dance, we decided enough is enough and hit the hay (but not before some fellow Calcotada-goers made it back down to the caves before getting sent to bed by our wonderful hosts at Mas Boronat). 

Thanks again Lee and Laura for the great weekend, to Keith (top left), Joelskie, Funenweisen, Strauss, Todd, Carol, Lizzy, Kristen, Cuni, Jim, Monica, and any others I missed that contributed to the terrific weekend!! Big props to Mas Boronat for letting us hold it down for the night!!!

Night on the Hill

This past Friday Erin, Kate, Stu and I had a great dinner at Assaggi on Chepstow Place in Notting Hill. Its an unassuming Italian restaurant with about a dozen tables, menu in only Italian, all Italian servers. The place screams character and delivers just that. The only part about our meal that wasn't so memorable was the mains (though Erin's pasta was delicious). But the starters that ranged from fresh mozzarella eggplant to scallops to high quality parma ham were a hit, as was the chesse and dessert courses. The food was great but perhaps the best part was the manager who explained the menu with passion and detail, giving us a better idea than our rough translations would have otherwise. 

After dinner we did what any other rational Notting Hill based-diners would do, go for a post dinner dance at the Notting Hill Arts Club. The theme was caribbean-indie with a hint of turkish influence. Regardless, it was good to dance the 6 courses off!