What are your thoughts on going back/ never go back?

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Been back to Southern Spain.

My God, those Spaniards love their sticky cakes for breakfast.
At one particular hotel in Segovia, I could see the doughnuts filled with custard were flying off the breakfast plate faster then they could be brought out.

Now I used to love these doughnuts with a cup of coffee 3 decades ago.
The custard isn't like any other I've tasted really - Spain really knows how to make a good creme pat.
So I went for it - sticky sugar doughnut with loads of vanilla custard inside. For breakfast.

Mistake I'm afraid.
Sickly, sweet, raw sugar.

T'has ruined the memory. I should have left it be I guess.

[Alexandria Profile]

Gilthepainter,

I am Spanish, and a native of Barcelona and I have never eaten sugary doughnuts or pastries for breakfast in any city !

However, I do enjoy toasted baguette with Spanish Olive Oil and a sprinkle of salt with my Espresso or a Croissant with butter and marmelade .. But not toasted when in a bar..

At home I prefer 2 fruits and a piece of local farm fresh goat cheese and a slice of 9 cereal black bread which I buy from the Health Food Market from Switzerland ..


As far as travelling to Segovia or any other part of the Iberian Peninsula, it is filled with jewels of history and gastronomic gems .. So, enjoy your next trip ..




Have a nice day ..

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Afternoon, Alexandria.

Now something I've mentioned before here is tortilla with toppings.
That I thought was across the north of Spain, but I saw it in Merida. Cheese and ham on this occasion. Jolly good.
The lady was so proud of her home made cooking, and so she should be.



My choice at home tends to be eggs. Which I can get in Spain with tortilla very easily.

We made our way down to Cadiz.
I had worries of it being military still, lots of young 18 years olds were sent on conscription in my time down there.
But it is a bustling, friendly place.
We liked it so much, we changed our ferry, and stayed on an extra 5 days.


Talking of Switzerland, when I lived in Lausanne, my cup of choice was hot chocolate.
You could eat it with a spoon.

And as we are talking about whether you should go back for something, I would leave that as a memory, and not order hot chocolate if I were to revisit.
I have a feeling it's not the same.

Restaurants can be like that I suppose.
Fabulous the first time, but you go back and it isn't quite as good.

[Amyw Profile]

That's a shame Gill. I love a pastry on holiday , feels part of the whole indulgence of being on holiday. I had similar hot chocolate to you about ten years ago in Spain, best hot choc I've ever had. Been eyeing up in M&S they do a bar of choc especially used for mixing with hot milk for hot chocolate .

I find really dissalounting when you revisit childhood favourites and they taste totally different. Whether that's a change in recipe or palate? Tried ArticRoll a few months ago,horrible and synthetic

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

You are a brave soldier giving arctic roll another go.
I did with wagon wheels - my niece had a stash. And they are synthetic now, I didn't enjoy it at all.

Love the idea of having a go with chocolate from M&S. Can't go wrong really, surely.
I make brownies occasionally, and Waitrose has excellent own brand Belgian choc, which I also use for the sauce, melted with butter.

[Petronius Profile]

Pastries on holiday? Of course. I'm an expert on pain aux raisin round the world - well a few bits of the Northern part.

But the best ever was in a café at the top of Tate St Ives. In fact it was the only good thing about the Tate there, though some of the Leach pottery was interesting. I'm obviously a heathen, but would never go back. The Barbara Hepworth museum I'd go back anytime.

For reasons that I don't understand, it's years since I've tasted macaroni cheese. Our local deli opened its own caff, twas on the menu but little taste. I did tell them, (nicely) but is it just a question of ancient taste buds retaining memories of childhood?

Wandering round M&S food hall this morning I noticed a packet mix for, 'Baked in the Oven Doughnuts'. In the end I decided not to go back.

[Luca Profile]

One of my favourite memories is of having luxuriously thick and rich hot chocolate, served with slabs of hot buttery toast, at Angelina's on the Rue de Rivoli when I was 19, in love and living in Paris. It was fabulous but far too large for me. My Beau has to finish it.

I don't think Id ever go back now. If I found it too much then I'd probably only lick the teaspoon now.

[Alexandria Profile]

@ Giltthepainter,

Yes, I have seen Spanish Omelettes with toppings as well as Torrijas ( a Lent Season French toast type concoction however, made with Evoo and red wine instead of milk & butter). However, I prefer the classics without toppings and would never sándwich a Tortilla Española as it would be too too heavy.

Spanish Omelette: nice job.

I have had hot chocolate in Zürich, at Sprüngli and it is an unforgettable marvel .. In Madrid Capital, there is a classic Hot Chocolate Bar just off the Calle Mayor near Puerta de Sol, which has been opened since 1900 or so .. And they are known for their hot chocolate .. It is a quite memorable as well ..

The City of Cadiz is alot of fun and the new Parador Hotel is amazing. and Sanlúcar de Barrameda as well .. Two wonderful cities .. Of course, Jérez de La Frontera Wineries are a wonderful way to spend an afternoon too .. A beautiful small city too .. The Pueblos Blancos in the Northern Sierra are amazing .. These 5 towns are known for their artisanal crafts, and especially their leather goods.

Well, enjoy your planning of a trip ..

Have a lovely weekend ahead ..

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Morning Dennis.
Funny your mentioning a disappointing art place.

We were in Lisbon at Christmas last year, and saw Lalique there. It was in my opinion, particularly ugly stuff. And I in response was particularly disappointed.

Baked in the oven doughnuts eh?
I was only saying yesterday, there is this fascination for doughnuts these days that seems to have come out of nowhere. Dunkin D's. Yesterday at the literary festival here, one huge doughnut lorry.

Morning Alexandria.
We have in the past travelled Spain via paradors.
But they are really expensive these days. Too rich for our pockets. We were seeing £300 a night at some of them (we travel without hotel bookings, and make reservations as we leave one place, and choose to drive to another the next day).

Free as a bird tourists.

Famous chocolate in Madrid.
San Gines?

My facebook photo is outside their establishment. The queues are impressive.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Luca!
Angelina's is now on my list of places to visit. Your chocolate sounds like my experience in Lausanne, which counts as the best I've ever had.

I think we are coming to the conclusion that going back, it is better not to.
It's unlikely to be better.

[Joanbunting Profile]

Gill that is exactly what I was worried about when M told me we were gong back to Vonnas. Thankfully it was far better the seond time round,

We used to travel as you do when the family was with us in the days long before mobile phones or even telephones!!! One memorable trip was diagonally across Spain in the renault 4 with one precious night in a Parador in Lerida. My real problem with Spain then and now is the lateness of the meals which is awful for families who are used to eating earlier.

I was always charged, wherever we were at sniffing out the best affordable restaurant and I became rather well known for my skill One of the best was in Lyon when we were two families with kids from 9-15 and I found a wonderful pace up a side street where the food was to die for and there was live music. It was only after a while we realised that it was somewhere the local "ladies" arranged to meet clients so when the kids asked if they could go outside before dessert we said only if they stayed together and didn't stop walking

[Renée Profile]

How very hilarious Joan!!! Anyway, the important thing was that you enjoyed the food!

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Ooooo, potential for awkward questions there Joan.

Reminded of Tony on a particularly N road in northern spain. Lots of lorry drivers.
Tony kept seeing laydees standing in full sun "waiting for their bus".

He said, do you think we should stop and offer that woman a lift. It's fearfully hot out there at the moment.

Splutter! Are you serious Tony - you do know what they are doing don't you.
He's a naive soul.



Good skill set there though, Joan. I agree Renee.
I'm not too bad at it. But have had my gaffs of course.

[Renée Profile]

Tony's so innocent, isn't he Gill!

[Binky Profile]

Can I confess that I have never had hot chocolate?

Is it something like an extra strong cocoa? (which I can’t stand in any case).

Am I missing one of life’s great pleasures?

[Sakkarin Profile]

Am I missing one of life’s great pleasures?

It's only personal preference, but one of the biggest foodie letdowns I've had was when I was on a Mexican food stint, and got some proper Mexican chocolate (I think it was the one pictured) which I was really looking forward to trying. It was pretty unpleasant, far too sugary for my taste and not particularly nice chocolate. I came to the conclusion that a nice cup of cocoa would have hit the spot better.

I suppose the question is "Is cocoa hot chocolate" anyway.

And now I fancy a cup of cocoa.

[Badger's Mate Profile]

And now I fancy a cup of cocoa.

Cocoa is particularly nice with a tot of rum in it...

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

That's a shame, Sakkarin.
Was it to be eaten? Silly question I know. I mean, it wasn't a cooking type? It doesn't look it from the picture mind.

Binky!

It's not really cocoa, no.
It's creamy, thick, and more like a creme pat in the chocolate world.
But it is a drink.

Badgers
I like your style.

[Sakkarin Profile]

It's drinking chocolate.

It's even got a Wiki page, and from that its clear it is not very "pure". The fact that it says they make a premium version is presumably an admission that it's not the best, although it says it's "often found in gourmet shops".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibarra_(chocolate)

My cocoa last night hit the spot:

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

As far as going back to long forgotten food is concerned, I am not averse to it to a certain extent. Mr Strictly and I had a proper knickerbocker glory one evening as our pud when we were away at the weekend. We loved it! Then when we spent some time at his parents this last week, we had some tinned spaghetti as part of our dinner, alongside eggs, bacon, sausage and boiled new potatoes. We were not very keen on it to be frank. It now makes me wonder if I will ever enjoy eating tinned ravioli again as a guilty pleasure food - I haven't had that for yonks either.

I also wouldn't turn my nose up at some of the French classics that were really popular in the UK in the 60's and 70's, and are still well loved in France now. e.g. coq au vin, boeuf bourginnone, sole veronique or bonne femme, navarin or daube. I also love our British classics such as cottage pie or stew/mince and dumplings.

As far as locations are concerned, when I was quite young (primary school age), we spent several years going to Javea in Spain. We have some relatives who had a timeshare flat out there. These were the days before the resort got very commercialised. It was so lovely in those days, the market was great, there were some lovely food shops and the sandy beach only had 2 beach bars with one hotel at one end. About 2 decades later Javea was featured on a Wish You Were Here style holiday programme and it was so different to how my dad and I remembered it. IIRC we both got quite upset at how commercialised it had become.