A Canberra gardener has sent me a photo of 115 of his Bumblebee cherry tomatoes in a swish Alessi Mediterraneo bowl which looks like waving fingers of kelp. That reminded me of swimming in the Mediterranean with my daughter in August 2018 and at 6pm the Barcelona beach was packed.
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On my previous visit to Barcelona, decades earlier, highlights were the Gaudi architecture, of course, but also dancing at Tropical Sala de Fiestas nightclub at Castelldefells with a local lad studying law, who is now a judge.
This time it was seeing the bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) in Ciutadella Park designed in 1872 by Josep Fontsere with the help of young Gaudi, Las Golondrinas (the Swallows) ferries, the 1840 Boqueria market, buying "stoneless stones" which turned out to be dried prunes, and staying in the el Born old quarter for nine days.
A friend of my daughter has a 300-year-old flat in that district and she took us to Bodega La Puntual for an early evening of tapas and pintxos with a glass of chilled rose. At Ziryab we ate jamon serrano on halloumi with bulgar, feta and roasted figs and at Euskal Etxea taberna it was Basque pintxos crab, anchovies, blue cheese, farmhouse tomatoes and figs.
These reflections followed the arrival of The Forest Feast Mediterranean by Erin Gleeson (published by Abrams, distributed by Thames & Hudson, September 2019, $55). She is a New York Times best-selling author who lives in a cabin in the woods in Northern Carolina.
In 2017, Gleeson and her Spanish-speaking husband and two young children spent a month in Barcelona and also travelled to Italy, France and Portugal. The simple, vegetarian recipes she shares are inspired by those Mediterranean coastal travels with colourful photographs of every dish and charming watercolours by the author.
Pintxos bar-hopping tastes included pesto, fig jam and brie pressed into pine nuts, tortilla Espanol, caramelised onions with apple slices and goat cheese with blackberry jam and walnuts. Figs are cropping throughout Canberra so we share Gleeson's recipe for Fig Cake (below) based on pan de higo eaten at Montserrat beyond Barcelona.
Giveaway
We have a copy of The Forest Feast Mediterranean for a reader who emails bodenparsons@bigpond.com with their name and address and the fruit or veg which most typifies Mediterranean cuisine for them. Recipes welcome.
Urban kulture
A Canberra artist (also the owner of an Alessi fruit bowl) sent me a link to an Urban Kulture mushroom cultivation workshop to be held at Belconnen Community Centre (23 Swanston Street) on March 15 from 2.30-3.30pm ($49). The outdoor fungal wizardry will include a one-hour log inoculation as well as the outdoor mushroom bed workshop and it includes take home dowel spawn.
Urban Kulture was founded by Aaron Boyer in Perth in 2010. He emailed to say, "unfortunately I will be heading to London on Sunday to spread my spores overseas so I won't be at the Canberra workshop."
The Department of Broccoli
Will be selling potatoes, pumpkins, chillies and Monaro Purple, Spanish Roja and Rose du Var garlic at Canberra City Farm in Fyshwick on March 14 from 10am to 1pm. All produce grown on site and they have made fermented chilli sauce and pickled garlic scapes.
Charnwood Community Garden
On March 15 from 10am to 3pm, visitors are welcome at Canberra Organic Growers Society open day off Lhotsky Street in Charnwood. Convenor Teresa Rose says the community garden was established in 1991 and now has 47 organic vegetable plots. Free entry.
To raise money for the garden, there will be scones and pikelets for morning and afternoon tea, with blueberry and blackcurrant jams or crab apple jelly, and a sausage sizzle. Freshly harvested zucchini, squash, herbs, eggplants, cucumbers, nashi pears and rhubarb will be for sale. There will be honey from onsite beehives and fig, apricot and plum jams from the garden's orchard. Seeds and seedlings too. There will be surprise mannequins and a lucky dip for children.
Recipe
Fig cake
Ingredients
100g dried figs (Gleeson used Mission variety)
35g dried cherries (unsweetened)
70g unsalted roasted almonds
pinch cinnamon
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp water
Method
Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until a sticky dough-like consistency is achieved. (If too dry add a tiny bit more water). Using your hands form it into a big patty. Decorate the top by pressing in more dried fruit and nuts e.g. whole pine nuts, almonds and a slice of dried fig.Wrap and chill before serving, which makes it harden and easier to slice thinly. Serve with slices of Manchego cheese.