Menu Del Día

I thought of our friend Helen Broady in Australia when I took this shot. This place at the top of Calle Calvet with Via Augusta, called Fandangos, is a great example of how pleasurable it is to have a menu del día in Barcelona. Today I had loosely scrambled eggs with mushrooms, followed by cod in a white wine, paprika and olive oil sauce (al llauna - see recipe link in English below - great photos if nothing else), and then flan, a local creme caramel variant. All of it homemade, delicious and served in a bustling, traditionally appointed space.

Helen, we MUST come here. And only 11 Euros including wine and bread.

I'm wearing my own President's hat today and ensuring that human rights reign in the passageway over which I preside. I had an early visit to the bank to check who's paid and who hasn't paid the maintenance quota. Then an hour creating a spreadsheet to track payments and prepare for the lawyers meeting to investigate how to best formalise our statutes and community of owners. The hot topic is parking spaces. We have 26 properties and room for 23 cars . . . you can imagine. Some argue that the six flats in the builidng that occupies the same ground space as the individual houses should share a space between them. If I was the Egyptian president, I would issue a decree to that effect, fire bird shot at anyone who stood in the way and put the rest in jail for life. End of story. I can see the temptation . . . that's why human fraility (which includes doing it your way if you can) needs to be protected against and some sort of consensusal process employed.

I feel better prepared to lead the consensus building and even have a creative solution which turns on (forgive the pun) a vehicle turntable. One of these in the corner would free up 3 more precious parking spaces. That would give us 26 in total. See what you can do without putting people in jail or the grave!

Recipe: http://www.gourmetfury.com/2009/11/bacalla/