Sugar overdose

A few words and a couple of images will be enough for you to get to this little charming shop/café at the Gotic District of Barcelona. It's called Caelum (C/La Palla núm 8) and you can choose between either eating the cakes there or taking them home. The sweets are extremely good itself, but it's worth to have them in this beautiful stone made salon de the.

You might choose among many different cakes such as empiñonados, tocinos de cielo, and many other home made pastries coming from different monasteries all over Spain and abroad. The spirits seem also quite atractive to me, though have never tasted them.

Warm in winter, fresh during the summer, there's no excuse to miss this lovely discovery.

Each pastry (or piece of cake) is between 1 and 3 euros.

¡Una de champis!

Zaragoza is the place where I was born. I can't avoid it, and, why not, I like it; maybe that's because I don't live there, but I really like it. As Longanice says, Zaragoza is an ugly town with very marvellous places. Well, maybe not marvellous, but just beautiful. And not all of them are hidden places... Probably the main reason of my love to this town are my memories; more than twenty years of them are kept among the streets and bars of this town.

Something I miss in Barcelona and I could do in Zaragoza is having dinner just with tapas. Of course in Barcelona you can have some nice tapas, but the verb "tapear" was not made up here. However in Zaragoza, you can taste really good tapas at almost any disctrict of the town; even at the most seedy, greasy, stinking bar you might find the best croquette or vinegary anchovy you have ever dreamt of.

And, like in any other matter of life, fashion exists in tapas. The most fashionable area to eat tapas right now in Zaragoza are the streets behind the old "Puerta Cinegia", now retrieved as a shopping centre. There are many bars you could choose at "Libertad" Street, but in case you hesitate, just go to the crowded one (this is a veeeery old advice, I know; but it's an advice nobody gave me but I usually try to follow).

However, I still want to talk about two bars I went to the last time I had tapas in this area. But I will only recommend one of them.

The one I love is the one where you can eat mushrooms. They're hot, too hot sometimes, but great. I could eat like ten of those. You can also find them in Logroño.

The other one, much more "fachionable" (yes, faChionable), is "Manjares: delicias en miniatura". Menos diseño y más chicha, por favor. The wine was scarce (2-3 € the glass), the risotto with foie was correct, but the waiter destroyed it when he served it, and the Idon'tknowwhat with artichokes was not even correct. Go to the seedy bars and avoid the "new comers" when you search for tapas.

Léon de Bruxelles

At the beginning of my last trip to Paris with my mother I spent the first day there all alone. Hopefully, I speak French quite fluently and thanks to Jack and despite my awful bearings, I can move well in the French Capital.

The plane had been late, so I didn't feel like moving further away from the Hotel. Then I remembered a place where I had been with Mr. Longanice two years ago at Saint Germain. Nothing special, but Jack seemed very pleased at that time.

Léon's speciality are mussels and french fries. For an illiterate Spanish girls as I am, the first time I went to Britanny (seven years ago; I'm afraid I'm becoming old and I don't really notice it) eating mussels with fries was a nice exotic combination. Until then, I had only eaten mussels as an appetizer or in a paella. But in fact, it is quite a typical meal at the Atlantic coast of France and Belgium.

It's cheap (14 € p/p), the mussels are very fresh and plentiful (take into account I was in Paris, not in a restaurant at Guilvinec port), the fries were also fine, and I was as pleased as Mr. Longanice was two years ago. The meal also helped me to recall the lovely days we spent in Paris.

There are many Léon restaurants all over France and Belgium, but I have always gone to the one in Saint Germain, in a corner right in front of the rue Dauphine.

It is very important to drink a beer with the mussels, otherwise you'll miss one of the most typical meals in Belgium...

Brasseries de Paris

Once again, about Paris.

The best way to eat something really good, not at all expensive at any time of the day in Paris is going to a brasserie. Brasseries are usually more elegant and expensive than bistros, where waiters are not professional and the choice is not so wide.

At a brasserie you might be able to choose between eating "coté restaurant", more expensive and elegant, or "coté brasserie", cheaper. I always choose the last one, because I love the sandwiches and salads they offer.

In my last trip to Paris I found a new Brasserie that I specially liked. We found it the day we went to the Marmottan Museum (Monet museum), at the 16eme arrondisement: La Rotonde de la Muette (m: La Muette; 12 Chaussée de la Muette). Great Caesar Salad, lovely french hamburger and chicken breast with tomatoe sauce which really seemed home-made. It was about 12 euros p/p.

Café de L'homme

Before going to Calafell, I spent some days, also with my mother in Paris, to get our anual dose of macaroons from La Durée (it's a pity it's almost run out... but Jack has chosen as his favourite the rose flavour). I have some new places to show you, such as the "Café de l'homme".

It's a fancy café (and a mediocre restaurant) placed in the Musée de l'homme, at Trocadero Square, right in front of the Tour Eiffel. The view of the tower is the best thing you'll find in the Café, so try to get a table at the terrace; there you might find some Parisian friends enjoying their chat with a club and a coffee. The inside is beautiful, although you won't find anything you couldn't find in any other restaurant or café in Paris. Waiters are not very professional, but I must admit they're all lovely.

The restaurant has a poor choice; it's rather a brasserie than a restaurant. However, the prices are over 12 €. A tiny piece of cake costs over 10 €. A coffee costs about 5 euros, more or less like the soft drink. Cocktails are on its 12 €. Not cheap, but some people think the view is worth it.

L'espineta

Having passed a really hard year, I have just spent a few relaxing days with my mother in Calafell, at the Meridian Ra Beach Hotel and Spa . When our friend Marconi Lunasanta knew I was going to this place, he quickly said we had to go to L'Espineta, the restaurant belonging to the Barral's family.

It's a very small sailors tavern (in august you'd better book your table the day before), where you can taste lovely fishes and seafood. The paella and the soggy rice are absolutely delicious. We also had razor-sells, cockles, orelluts (like baby squid), mussels made L'Espineta way. Everything was unforgettable.

The tavern is decorated with some old photographs and saling tools, which make the place lovely warm. The whole meal for two, was around 60 €, but we had a bottle of white wine (Raimat Chardonnay, a Costers del Segre) and we definitely ate too much. Please, don't miss it if you pass around.

Telirium: awful design

Sorry for the delay. I've been quite busy these last months, but I'll try to be back at least for a while, and to be regular in my entries. This entry will be a kind of appetizer, but not a tempting one, I'm afraid.

I think I've told you I live and work in Barcelona. I work in the high district of this town, and don't have time to go home and have lunch, take a nap and rest for a while. So I have to find some restaurants around to keep hunger at bay...

One everybody likes and I hate is the Telirium (Diagonal 656). It belongs to the "Cacheiro Grup", a group that owns several restaurants all over the town, such as the correct "Trovador", which Jack and I have visited a couple of times. But the Telirium is another thing, which has absolutely nothing to do with it.

Both the Menu and the "carte" are fine. The Hamburger is very tasty and it's made of fine beef. Avoid the salads, which have nothing special to remember. The desserts are said to be lovely; I don't know, I always have to leave the place before I taste them...The menu is about 9 € and in case you chose to eat "à la carte", it will be around 25. The terrace looks very cosy, but I have never had the pleasure.

The problem with this restaurant are the waiters and waitresses which help you, who are everything but professional. They are bad-mannered, unpleasant and slow, very slow. It's not strange to find a waiter wandering, while you are waiting for the bill; I also hate that kind of waiters who come twice a minute in order to see whether you have finished your dish or not. I feel like saying: "leave me alone! I want to enjoy my risotto without you looking over my shoulder!". Ah!, you'd better not change your mind about what you were going to eat, otherwise you won't eat nothing at all. It can also happen that you ask for a brochette and you will eat steak. And remember: once you decide to leave, usually later than you wanted to start your job, you will have to chase the waiter to let you pay...