Apprentice Chef's Diary in Hotel / Restaurant El Pati－悠遊自在的魚

Date: July 20th, 2013

After learning / working and living in Barcelona for almost two months, I’m in the mood to start traveling again. Then I got a chance to visit my friend in a little medieval village Peradallada, located 22 KM east of Girona.

[[ Peradallada, Girona ]] A Historic-Artistic Picturesque Monument

↑ The venerable 13th century Romanesque church dedicated to Sant Stephen stands outside the village walls of Peradallada.

↑The imposing antiquity main entrance gate.

↑ The majestic immemorial fosse still encircles parts of the village. Just amazing.

↑ " Peradallada " means 'carved stone'. Most of the buildings are built from stone carved from the moat.

↑↓ The Castle, documented as early as 1065 AD, dominates the whole village. It dates back to the Bronze Age.

↑ The fundamental stone base of the building reveals the ages of this place.

it’s really a historic-artistic fascinating monument leading people to go back in time.

After sun set, the village is even more alluring and quite enchanting.

It is as if the entire town is a walking, breathing assemblage.

The atmosphere it’s delivered in and the artistic sentiment is so concentrated. Just can't help falling in love with this tranquil tiny village.

It’s so beautiful, no doubt about it, restaurants seem to be the business of choice and all of this is presented in an artistic way which I do love it.

While strolling around the winding labyrinth of narrow streets, I’d made my mind to leave Barcelona and stay in this little fascinating serene medieval village.

[[ Hotel / Restaurant El Pati ]] Peradallada, Girona.

I am so blessed with great luck to be an apprentice chef in a small boutique country hotel “ El Pati “.

Hotel / Restaurant El Pati

Address: CarrerHospital, 13, 17113 Peratallada, Girona, Espanya

+34 972 63 40 69 hotelelpati.net

The restaurant of the hotel has a very savory reputation with innovative gourmet cuisine.

↑ Another entrance of the restaurant.

The lovely garden shaded with trees and flowers in an atmosphere of pure, relaxing, and calm. It is quite romantic in the evening.

[[ Apprentice Chef's Diary ]]

↑ It is such a great honour and delightful experience for me to learn from this brilliant marvelous chef, Francesco Aguilera Torres, who is locally from La Bisbal, Girona. He’s always vital with passion and tends to share his knowledge with me about the culinary traditions of Spain. I’m just grateful and still can't believe the luck that I could be the apprentice chef and learn Spanish cuisine from him everyday.

↑The courgette and the red bell pepper suace I prepared under the instruction of the chef. It's so tasty. I'm proud of myself.

↑Left: Miluda from Morocco. Middle: Bakary from Gambia. Right: the chef Francesc. They are some of the most kind, generous, warm-hearted, and decent people I've ever met. ( Life is too short to waste on someone who is grim and mean. ) Again, I'm at the right place and learn from the right people. Even I can't communicate with proper language, but with my sincere heart, my eye, and body language, there's no boundary between us. ( Sometimes the language may blur the reality and cause more troubles. )

↑Scallops with apple puree and marinate patatos, garnished with crispy bacon.

↑Seafood risotto with black squid ink.

↑Raviolis with pesto sauce.

↑Assortment of formaggio.

↑Seafood risotto with prawn.

↑Beef Carpaccio with rucola and parmigiano reggiano.

↑↓The " fish cake " I prepared under the instruction by the chef. Decorated and finished by chef.

↑Tapas with Jamon Iberico and Assotiment de formatges.

↑Beef Tart.

↑↓ Roast Lamp with beer and vegetables.

↑↓Salad with goat cheese and fig ( Ficus Carica ).

↑Duck breast with dried fruits and nuts, onion compote and puff pastry.

↑Scallops with apple puree and marinate patatos, garnished with crispy bacon.

↑Assortment of cheese with homemade jam.

↑Baked fish with vegetable.

↑Warm lentil salad with prawn and watercress vinaigrette.

↑Home cooked terrine of Foie Gras. 法式鵝肝 Foie Gras is the well-known delicacy in French cuisine. Here in Catalonia, the cuisine is influenced by their neighbor south France and north Italy. Even the local language Catalan is similar with French and Italian too.

↑Beef Tartar ( mixed with onion and eggs ) 韃靼生牛肉

↑Salad with apple, goat's cheese, and anchovy.

↑Baked fish with vegetables and patatoes.

↑Secret Iberic ( Charcoal-grilled Iberian Pork Slice ).

↑Patato puff with soft-boiled egg and crispy bacon.

↑Melon con Jamon Iberico.

↑Entrecote with Foie Gras and roast apple.

↑Two kind of Gazpacho cream. ( I love " Ajo Blanco", left, with garlic and almond cream.

↑↓Roast Aubergine with goat chesse and red peper sauce.

↑↓Buying ice cream and jam from the supermarket could be easy and quite cheap. But the chef Francesc makes variety of handmade Helado ( Ice Cream ), dessert, and jam everyday.

↑The peach jam and green bell pepper jam I prepared under the instruction of the chef. The green bell pepper jam is so delicious and appetizing. I'm so proud of myself.

↑The dessert " Postre de la casa " - Catalan custard cream, chocolate, cream, and strawberry sauce.

↑Catalan custard cream with kiwifruit and strawberry sauce.

↑Our Lunch break in the garden.

↑↓Break time.

↑↓ My dearest friends Carolina and Francesc.

↑My dearest friend Carolina's delicate exquisite shop which I extremely love it.

↑↓ Having a great time with Carolina's family Ignasi X 2 and Pau.

Every morning, I wake up with smiles and gratitude, can't wait to go to the kitchen to work with all these nice persons. Last weekend in the kitchen, we were just like fighting in the battle during a war. The brilliant chef Francesc was the commander who is in charge of the military operation. He is, just like chef Lluis and chef Candido, is one of the strongest persons both in physical and mind I have ever met. I respect and love these chefs teachers so much. How lucky I am to meet them as teachers and friends. What an extraordinary journey!

[[ Costa Brava ]]

In 15 minutes away, there are some of the most beautiful beaches in Mediterranean Spain. It is the little paradise where my friend Carolina and I spending our limited spare leisure time.

↑↓“ Illa Roja “ is a nudist beach, but feel free to keep your clothes on if you wish.

It’s a picture postcard perfect golden sand beach with the bluest crystal water in Costa Brava. I do fancy swimming and being at beach with nature. For me, it is heaven!

All these working / learning experience in Barcelona for the past two months seems very useful to me. Now I am kind of taking advanced cooking lesson in a quite professional kitchen. Although it's been difficult and rather exhausting to work at the boiling " hell kitchen " everyday, I'm really happy to work with all these nice people and learn from the marvellous chef Francesc. For the past few weeks, I've been meeting different amazing people. What an extraordinary journey!

Jocelyn in Spain
Date: July 20th, 2013

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More articles about my travel and living

in Italy -

http://jocelynlin.pixnet.net/blog/category/1422366

in United Kingdom of Great Britain -

http://jocelynlin.pixnet.net/blog/category/1778277

in Greek Islands -

http://jocelynlin.pixnet.net/blog/category/1422367

in Spain -

http://jocelynlin.pixnet.net/blog/category/1422368

In Croatia -