Vermont maple syrup, from Canada

If you want some real maple syrup, you can find “Vermont” maple syrup at the OpenCor on Rambla del Celler. The curious thing about the bottle is that it says “Product of Canada” on it. (In case you were wondering, Vermont is definitely not in Canada, it’s in the US.) Is this a good thing or bad thing?

According to my preliminary web research, it’s actually a somewhat bad thing, and at least one Vermont maple syrup brand had to pay a fine for repackaging cheap Quebec maple syrup and not mentioning it on the label. The Vermontians seem very protective of their syrup industry.

If you want slightly more premium maple syrup, Veritas usually has a better selection (at a not so much better price) of syrups. Be careful not to confuse it with be confused with the Agave syrup that has gotten popular lately (maple syrup is “sirope de arce”).

In case you were wondering what the “grades” are all about, here’s a good reference. Grade B is usually a good bet if you want lots of flavor.

Spanish salt consumption culprit: bread

A rather surprising statement from the EU report on salt reduction: the main source of salt in the adult population in Spain is bread. I would have thought it was the jamon, anchovies or the immense amount of salt they seem to put on their lamp chops.

Ironically enough, most Spanish people don’t seem to think their bread has enough salt already, and sprinkle even more on top. There appears to be some kind of plan to reduce the amount of salt bakers put in bread:

The Spanish Confederation of Bakeries have committed themselves to reduce the percentage of salt used in making of bread going from 2.2% in 2005 to 1.8% within four years time. Annually, the bakers will reduce the salt content with a rate of 0.1%.

Does Spanish bread have more salt than average? In the UK, it looks like bread has around 0.5% salt content, so it looks like Spanish bread is pretty salty.

Fresh milk via Google Maps

Even better! Find your local fresh milk machine here. It even shows the model of the milk machine for you milk geeks out there. How much does a ImproLac V600 with 1200 litre capacity go for?

Thanks Jennifer!

Fresh milk, 24 hours a day

While on the topic of milk, which is evidently quite important to the Spanish language.

La Viti has opened a 24 hour milk dispenser near Rambla Celler. I saw the article in this week's Tot Sant Cugat, I will check it out and report...

My sister told me that they had these machines in Normandy when she visited and she loved it.

This is why you're fat

Thank you, anonymous for the pointer to this great site.

My favorite, a mug made of bacon filled with chedder cheese:

Quality fade in America

I read an enlightening book called Poorly made in China which introduced me to the concept of quality fade.

The idea is that instead of thinking about how to create a better product, you spend your time fiddling with the ingredients, substituting cheaper ones, making the containers thinner, cutting back on quality control, etc.

(Eg when a Chinese company puts a stick "No Animal Testing" on a cosmetic product, it doesn't mean they care about animal rights, it just means that they do no testing whatsoever.)

What was initially a low margin (or perhaps you were even selling it at a loss) product slowly become profitable over time. Eventually this gets pushed too far and people die of food poisoning or decide they hate your products.

Paul Midler has a blog that has some great stories, such as this one:

Tainted Chinese Fluoride. A water works company in Massachusetts has been getting its fluoride from China, and it believes that what they’ve been receiving is actually a kind of counterfeit. From one report:

Department of Public Works Director Rob Desmarais said after he mixes the white powder with water, 40 percent of it will not dissolve. ”I don’t know what it is,” Desmarais said. “It’s not soluble, and it doesn’t appear to be sodium fluoride. So we are not quite sure what it is.”

Desmarais said the residue clogs his machines and makes it difficult to get a consistent level of fluoride in the town’s water. Since April the fluoride pumps in Amesbury have been turned off and they will stay that way until Desmarais can find out what’s in the fluoride that’s imported from China.

America has been taking a page out of China's playbook, especially when it comes to food products. After I read about an "innovative" procedure that injects ammonia into e-coli tainted beef "fatty trimmings", I've pretty much sworn off hamburgers in the US. (Read McDonald's hilarious response where they claim ammonia is okay just because it's naturally occurring). To make it even better, the wholesalers mix the ground beef from various suppliers *before* any testing takes place, in order to ensure that no one can be held responsible in the case that someone gets poisoned.

Something that I really appreciate in Europe is that the protectionism around various countries' agriculture industries has to some extent prevented a dominant company like ADM from rampantly corrupting policy at the EU level.

I cannot escape the high fructose corn syrup

I hadn't realized how pervasive it had become in the US. It's in the juice, yogurt, ketchup, you name it.

Reading the paper today, it also looks like corn syrup causes high obesity in rats (compared to regular sugar).

Thank God that the EU has a pretty small quota on its use. I heard the quota was more about supporting sugar cane from old colonies than health benefits, but hey, at least they are right for the wrong reason.

I'm starting to feel like a foreigner in the US again:

I had breakfast in a fancy restaurant for breakfast today (surrounded by about 40 catholic priests... some kind of tradition here apparently. I was amazed at how young the priests were compared to the geriatric ones I'm used to seeing in Spain) and they gave me some kind of weird sweet gluey liquid (no doubt consisting mostly of high fructose corn syrup) for my waffles. Strangely enough they told me they had real maple syrup. So I asked them for some real maple syrup, but they brought another container of the same stuff. Finally I told the waiter that I had lived in Canada and knew that this most definitely was not maple syrup.

He said "Oh, okay, I can bring you some real maple syrup. But most customers complain that it isn't sweet enough."

Not exactly the Mediterranean diet

It's pretty shocking how bad the food is here in the US:

The horseshoe sandwich, a platter-size, open-face Springfield original, consisting of bread, meat and a pile of French fries smothered in a thick cheese sauce.

Field House adds an extra layer of grease by stuffing the meat and fries into a tortilla, which stands in for the bread, and dunking the mass in a deep-fryer before ladling on the cheese sauce. The resulting colossus, called the "Shoe Burrito," weighs in at 2,700 calories—the equivalent of five Big Macs.

The sad thing is that even if you wanted to eat healthy, there are just no options in many places. Luckily there's a Whole Foods and a Trader Joes near to where we are staying.

Farmers' market, now twice as organic

The organic (ecológico) farmers market in Plaça de Pep Ventura now also happens on the second Saturday morning of each month (in addition to the last Saturday). The prices are great and you get to buy directly from the farmers/producers.

There's also two good fruit stores nearby. One is near the end of Carrer de Castillejos (which sells delicious "mangas", which are like mangoes but more delicious) and the other on Carrer de Santa Anna.


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Survey of sushi spots in Sant Cugat

Here's what we've found so far. Let me know if I missed any.

Pesticide use in Spain

Sometimes people have the impression that there is less pesticide use here than other places. Unfortunately the reality is that the Spanish have no respect for chemicals. The more the better. The deadlier the better (no such thing as too clean, right?). Just empty out that bottle of ammonia all over the apartment!

This is in contrast to other countries like Germany, where there’s a general paranoia of all things wireless, chemical, or genetically engineered.

Spain also tops the list in Europe for use of illegally imported Chinese pesticide use, and the widespread use of greenhouses tends to concentrate the chemicals even more.

Luckily Barcelona and the surrounding area have a very strong organic (ecológico) farming industry. Unfortunately the prices are very high (I nearly had a heart attack when I walked into Veritas the first time), but there are alternatives such as farmers markets. There’s an organic market with fruit, vegies, honey, cheese, bread, etc at Placa de Pep Ventura on the last Saturday morning of every month.


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Sushi at the zoo

We go to the the zoo every other weekend. The animals are a bit sad looking (especially the elephant and the rhino), but the kids love the playground, the goats in the petting zoo and driving around in the electric cars.

On the way back to the car, we made an unexpected sushi discovery. Ikibana is a Brazilian-style sushi (Brazil has the largest Japanese community outside Japan) restaurant, with a super friendly staff. The prices are very reasonable (12 euro menu on weekdays, more on the weekend, but not crazy). The fish was very high quality and the flavoring was amazing.

Watch out for those tall chairs and tables. My kids kept fooling around and falling on the floor.


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Jamon bubble in Spain

40 million unsold jamons.

Last year I did such a hatchet job cutting my first jamon that one visitor wouldn't leave until he had performed emergency surgery on it.

Hopefully this year I do better.

Can Castellvi: Great place in Sant Cugat for kids

My previous experiences with the La Rierada area consisted of being attacked by wild dogs, so it was nice to return here with a more positive experience.

Can Castellvi is a masia-style country restaurant (do you want meat with a side of meat?). The big attraction is the farm, where you can send off the kids with a monitor (for 10 euros or so, depending on the group size) while you enjoy some adult time.

The kids absolutely loved the farm. They eat quickly upstairs and then head off to the farm for two hours while the food came (very slowly... I was starved by the time my big hunk of red meat arrived), but they timed it pretty well so that the deserts and coffee were being served when the kids came back.

Cal Sallent

Food was good and they have a non-smoking section. At some point I'm going to have to rant about smokers, but not now.

What is it with all the Russian waitresses though?

The best turron in Sant Cugat

Joan Pros (Gelats i Torrons Artesans). Definitely. My kids (and me) are addicted. It's on C/Santa Maria 25 and has a big ice cream cone in front of it. You can also phone them at 93 674 5173.

In the summer they sell gelato and in the winter, turron.


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Eating etiquette in Barcelona

For anyone moving here, this is the correct procedure to follow (lunch and dinner follow a similar pattern, breakfast is a topic for later). Much of Spain follows a similar system. Notice the repeated use of the word "eventually".

1. you seat yourself wherever you feel like (for me preferably as far away from the cigarette plumes as possible)
   
2. The waiter comes with the menu (carta) and asks you want you want to drink. Most places have a "menu", which means you get to pick out of a small set first and second courses + drink + desert (for a very cheap price). If you want to shock the waiter, ask for coffee... coffee is for AFTER the meal! If you order a glass of wine, many places will give you a whole bottle (don't be obligated to drink it all!).
   
3. The waiter comes back with the drinks and asks you what you want (it's not unusual for everyone to order the same thing, unlike us rugged individualists in the US). Generally you just give them a list of firsts and seconds for the table, rather than individual orders. They always ask who ordered what when the food arrives anyway.
   
4. The firsts arrive and everyone takes custody of whatever they ordered.
   
5. Once everyone is done their first, the waiter (eventually) cleans up and brings the seconds.
   
6. Once everyone is done their seconds, the waiter (eventually) cleans up and asks for what you want for dessert.
   
7. After deserts, it's time for coffee (even if it is 1am after a big dinner). Remeber to order "de machina" if you wanted espresso. Or you can have an "infusion" which is herbal tea.
   
8. Many places (especially the rural areas) will be very generous with a "digestive" after dinner liquor.
   
9. Eventually you tell the waiter that you want to pay. It would be fun to do an experiment some time to see how long you'd have to wait before they bring you the bill themselves. Don't leave a tip otherwise the waiter may come running after you thinking you forgot some money on the table.
   
10. If this is dinner, you may get invited over for to someone's house or bar for a cup of cava (a champagne-ish drink) even if it is a weeknight and it is already 2am.