It’s been a while since I’ve returned from Barcelona but I certainly have not forgotten it (Barcelona posts still sneak into my Instagram to this day), and I haven’t forgotten either that I promised you all a gift from my travels. And I’ll be unveiling that today (finally)!
But first, a little something about one of my favorite personal Barcelona traditions…my regular visit to La Boqueria, the old marketplace in the middle of the city.
Since I first stepped foot in the market, years ago, before I even started cooking, it has always been inspiring…even if, in those early days, I didn’t know that the bubble in my tummy and the tingle in my heart were inspiration, before I even knew what that inspiration meant or where it was leading to. Even then, it pulled at my heart. To this day, it still does Mathematics Summer Courses.
And that’s why I always return.
I usually go in the morning, as early as I can manage, to avoid the flocks of tourists that descend in droves, cameras flashing.
(Now, I completely understand that I myself am a tourist, and yes, I do take photos, but that doesn’t mean I want to be jockeying for position just to take a nice shot of someone’s gorgeous tomatoes. And it’s not just photos I’m after! La Boqueria, sans tourists, is a great place to people watch…and, of course, shop!)
I like to go when it is mostly locals, there to do their daily marketing, old men and ladies pulling their typically European shopping carts behind them, visiting their regular stalls, conversing with their usual purveyors. They chat (the Spanish are world experts in chatting…there is no other place I think where it is easier to practice the local language for free!) with the stall owners, with each other, pointing and gesticulating, laughing at something that has amused them, or passionately displeased about something that has rubbed them the wrong way. Whichever it is, it is something I love to watch.
I too, am chuffed to say, have a “usual purveyor”. She is an older lady who has a spice stall (I have mentioned her before on Instagram) and I have been visiting for some years now. She has various whole and ground spices, spice mixes, whole dried peppers, and other dried goods. She also carries some dried legumes (beluga lentils!) and nuts (gorgeously long and slim pine nuts!). at the market, with fancier looking stalls, and admittedly, more engaging sellers, but her genuine personality, initial gruffness, and complete disregard for the internet, won my heart. She also carries the same name as my daughter. She is a bit towards the back, to the left…just look for Carmen Y Jesus.
