Last week Ursula mentioned to me this lady named Donna from Dallas, Texas who was arranging a trip to Spain for the chef that she works for, and other foodies from around their area to go on a culinary tour of Spain. We are not doing the entire tour, but they contacted us to do a Catalan cooking class. Ursula is friends with the cousin of one of three brothers that own this REALLY unbelievable restaurant here. It has two Michelin stars which is the grading scale of restaurants, and there are only like 3 Michelin starred restaurants in the entire country. It is called Cellar de can Roca if you would like to google...I will post pics later.
Anyway, I asked who the American chef was because I was interested..she said, yeah, I think he was on some tv show or something..So of course then I am VERY interested. Well, ends up his name is Kent Rathbun, and he owns two different restaurants in Dallas, with 5 locations in total. AND, he was on Iron Chef AND BEAT BOBBY FLAY.
So, I of course try to explain this Ursula because she has NO idea what it is, what it means, etc. So I tell her that she needs to get this guy on the tour--it could bring press, and get her company started off on the right foot. So Donna emails the beginning of the week last week and says that she is coming this weekend to check things out, etc. So we frantically contacted Cellar de can Roca to see (they are closed on Sundays) if 1 of the 3 brothers could give us a tour.
They agreed, and Jordi, the pastry chef, and youngest brother, met us there at 11:30 today along with the infamous Donna and suprisingly, Kent's wife. We got a complete tour of the kitchen, the lab basically where they distill things for their dishes, the HOLY SHIT wine cellar, and the seating area.
Jordi is 30 and became pastry chef at 21. And his oldest brother Joan is head chef and 14 years older, and then the middle brother is Jossep, and he is the sommelier. If you are interested at all in this kind of thing, these guys are unbelievable. They are wildy creative with the foods they serve and have 45 waitstaff for 50 guests per night. For example, Jordi is famous for doing perfume dishes. They are named after famous perfumes, such as Miracle by Lancome, or Ralph Lauren, or whatever. He distinguishes the scents found in the perfumes, and creates desserts around them. And then, to prove his talent, they serve the dishes with a piece of paper (in a side dish) that has been sprayed with the scent, so each guest can realize what he has done.
I know..absolutely insane. We were going to have lunch with them today there if it were open, but it was not. Damn...anyway, they obviously loved it and we totally sold them. Then we took them on a walking our quickly through Girona and then had lunch at a really nice restaurant--another $300 lunch. Oh, I didn't post yesterday, but we had lunch overlooking the Mediterranean at another REALLY nice place--bottle of wine, champagne, and $300.
And of course, Kent's wife, Tracy totally loved me. We talked the whole time and laughed and she was hysterical. Very down to earth and nice. Then she tells me that she owns a restaurant as well. She was the manager of a Porsche dealership in Dallas for 13 years, quit, and asked a friend if she would open a restaurant with her so they could each spend more time with their children and take vacations when they wanted to. (I know...doesn't make sense to me either, but whatever)
So, that was 3 years ago, and they have just expanded. Her restaurant business is booming--it is called Shinsei (I think) and is obviously japanese. Then, Tracy mentions Top Chef, and I am like, OMG I love that show!!! And she says....Taylor, are you ready???? Drumroll please!!!!!!!!
TRE WAS HER CHEF WHEN HE WAS ASKED TO BE ON TOP CHEF!!!! I was like, NO WAY!!! He was my favorite!!! My friend Taylor is going to die! So of course I asked her all about him--and then Carly (I think that was her name..she came in 3rd) also worked for her, but they both got fired!!!! She said that they just got too big for their britches...I don't think Ursula understood. HAHA
Anyway, I almost didn't write all this because I know everyone is like, oh my god! That is so cool, you should stay! Well, no. Ursula, as well as her lack of parenting skills are driving me mad and I can't even take it. And she is totally one of those people that wants to put on a front instead of being honest. In the car on our way to meet them at the restaurant, I said...you know they are going to ask how I got here. What would you say? And she said...oh, I don't know...a website would sound so tacky. I don't think we should say that...and I said, well they would ask ME, not YOU, and I am not lying. I said, we can change it to Monster instead of AuPair.com, but I am telling them the truth. And then she said what about if we said we met through friends?? And I said..ummm.. NO.
And of course, they were like, oh Lauren, where are you from? Where did you go to school? So nice, adn could have cared less how Ursula found me..
And sidenote of the evening--anytime Albert does anything he shouldn't, she thinks it's cute. And giggles. He was refusing to eat what she had made for him and kept shoving it away and only would eat cheese. And then grabbed the glass olive oil container off of the table and starts putting his cheese into it--she laughs. I am thinking...olive oil is SO expensive, as is the GLASS container he is holding...Aww he wants to be so grown up...she says.
CRASH!!!! It breaks into a million pieces on the floor. And I said, chuckling, that is why you don't let 2 year olds play with olive oil! I can hear a faint scream in the distance as I type...
Ursula is sweet but will take, take, take, until you tell her no. She is trying to take advantage of me in so many ways. And it's as if the nice house and nice lunches should make up for it. It doesn't. For example, me working today...she never once asked me, and then joked about how she never asked me...haha...not funny. It was fun, but I finally said, so what do I get for working on a Sunday??? And she said real quick--well, we ARE going to Barcelona on Thursday! So, I said..fine...you're right. I hope they do drop me off on a corner so I can be by myself!!! There are so many idiosynch (I have no idea how to spell it..) that I cannot explain through a computer, but I have been practicing imitations. WOW.
I know that many people don't understand why i am leaving, but I do...and that is what matters. I do not see it as a failure....life is a learning process.
Enjoy these pics of the restaurant and the wine celler. They honestly don't do it justice, but here ya go!
Cellar de can Roca wine cellar--they had all these different little areas where each type of wine was represented and studied by Jossep, etc. This was the champagne area..with the flat screen in each area and things that represent the type in the middle--so hard to explain, but this glass box has silver little pebbles in it representing the bubbles of the champagne. Jordi said that vineyard owners come in and see what they are doing with their wines, and how much they understand it, and the vineyard owners leave crying they are so touched.
This is looking from the lounge (pictured below) across a courtyard to the outside of the wine cellar. Those are ALL old crates of wine, built to make the walls.
This is where they experiment distilling things and analyzing the molecular structure of ingredients. I know...weirdest thing ever. They have a recipe online that I found that calls for 10 oz. of distilled earth from moist soil...not even kidding. HAHAHAH
This is the Cabernet area..
Can't remember--something with earthy tones
It's like a museum for Hellen Keller or something, isn't it????
One tiny area of the cellar, turned around from the picture above.
The lounge area for before dinner or after dinner cocktails and smoking are permitted.
Like an IDIOT I didn't take any of the actual restaurant, but it's online.
The kitchen
Hope you all enjoy! And yep, still wanna come home! :)
can you tell my mood has changed now that I have made a decision and there is a light at the end of the tunnel??!!!! YAY!!!
love
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