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.
...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).
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!!!
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