2023-03-13 – rest and risotto

The cupboards were getting a bit bare again, so I decided to get up nice and early on this Monday morning to go out to the Bonpreu supermarket again. It was the first one I found when we got here and is still my favourite I think. Big mistake though – at 8am on Monday morning, no supermarkets are open here – they all open their doors at 9am.

A bit of a false start, but I was able to catch up on doing this journal after what had been a busy weekend. At 10am we were to have a visit from our AirBnB host (Pere) – it was good to finally meet him. After that I was able to make a successful attempt at my supermarket run. Alison fancied a wander in the shops too, so we decided we’d make the day a “stay close to home” day.

In terms of planning what we do each day, we have quite a relaxed approach, not making too many concrete plans and very often deciding what do to when we get up. There are a lot of places to visit for a day and we are steadily making our way through a list of them. There are some special days in our time here that do need some extra thought, research and preparation. Our birthdays, St Patrick’s Day and I have a gig in Igualada on Fri 24 March 2023. Conversation has turned to what we should do for St Patrick’s day, which falls on a Friday this year. I’m still harbouring a slightly unrealistic desire to find a pub in Arenys de Mar that would welcome a sing song session, but the consensus is for going out to an organised celebration of some sort somewhere.

I set about some research into Irish pubs in the area or any other establishments who might be putting on a St. Patrick’s Day special. We don’t really want to go as far as Barcelona, even though there will be plenty of Irish bars there doing their thing. Calella looks like a lively town for night-life and we haven’t yet visited yet, but I draw a blank on any leads for Paddy’s day events there. Mataró is the biggest town in Maresme county and I discover there is at least one Irish bar (Molly Malone’s) and interesting looking Belgian bar (The Drunk Monk). I can see the bones of a mini-pub crawl coming together there. Indeed we resolve to go on a scouting mission to Mataró, hopefully tomorrow night (Tuesday) and see what Molly Malone’s has to offer for the Friday night.

As the afternoon petered out, I got an urge to make risotto for dinner. I had bought the rice in the morning, but needed the other ingredients. I think I was driven by the slight disappointment the arosseria (rice restaurant) La Tasqueta didn’t have a veggie rice dish on the menu. I nipped across the road to Ametller Origen and got the few things needed and that’s how we spent the evening. A nice home-cooked mushroom risotto, some beer and a few telly programs.

2023-03-06 – peelings and pealings

Our first Monday in our new home from home evolved into a very nice rest day. We didn’t move from the flat, we enjoyed the plentiful light we get through the day and relaxed with tea, coffee and a bit of improvisation with the food we still had in the cupboard.

With no excursion today, today’s journal entry is an opportunity to explore a couple of the more mundane facets of our experience in Arenys de Mar: the peelings and the pealings, by which I mean the recycling and food waste scheme they have here and the bells of the Església de Santa Maria. Continue reading “2023-03-06 – peelings and pealings”

2023-03-02 – Arenys de Mar, our home from home for 6 weeks

It’s a Thursday morning and we’ve woken up in our new “home from home” for the next 6 weeks – Arenys de Mar in Maresme county in Catalonia, on the mediterranean coast just north of Barcelona. The “home from home” narrative is a keen reminder to ourselves not to slip too much into “holiday mode” eating and drinking out every night. An attempt to replicate the type of expenditure that might be routine at home. We’ll see how that works out for us. Continue reading “2023-03-02 – Arenys de Mar, our home from home for 6 weeks”

Find me on Mastodon