CASTANYADA

This year we were making panellets - any kind of marzipan cookies, that is the main desert in Castanyada festival. As one of my biggest passions is cooking, experimenting and creating dishes, so I am very happy to find out how to make panallets. I have assistant Nuria who is loves to help in cooking process. So first we make a paste of almonds, sugar, boiled potato and spices, then small balls, which we roll in egg white and then nuts or cocoa or dry fruits. The good things here is that you can use all your fantasy as much as you want and to create any kind of panallets. Then we smear them with yolk and put in oven for 5 -10 min.

Tasty, tasty, tasy. I was happy to receive so many compliments, especially making them for a first time.

The most popular panellets are the ones covered with pine nuts. Panellets usually are eaten together with sweet vine Moscatell or any other one.

Castanyada is one of the most popular Catalan festivals, and it is celebrated on All Saint's Day. The roots of this tradition are found already in end of 18th century and there are several explications about it. This time a big imporance is for food eaten during the festival - panellets, sweet potato, roasted chestnuts and sweet vine. There is also story about castanyera - an old lady who is dressed in peasant's clothes and wearing a heads craft, she is roasting chestnuts on the street and then selling them rapped in a paper of newspaper. Usually around this time is a little bit cold outside, so this makes hot chestnut sale on the streets really attractive. Usually castanyada is celebrated with friends or family having a meal together and roasting chestnuts and having nice talk and commemoration of people who have passed by. Festival also signify autumn entry. Children are very amazed of this event and it is widely celebrated in kindergartens and schools.

CAMPING IN CAMPRODON

This year my husband Pol got in his birthday fantastic present - red camping tent. Congratulations Pol in your birthday !!! You are amazing and I love you with all my heart. So let's go out to celebrate, this time in nature in Camprodon - a small inland town of Catalunya. Taking in account that autumn is here, we enjoy amazingly beautiful landscape views. As this is almost the end of camping seson the majority of campings are closed for winter time. We are lucky to have one and beside very good. For me it is a discovery, as I do it first time in Catalunya. I was really amazed how good everything was organized in a camping we overnight. So many families use campings as a summer holiday place, that seemsed quite strange for me by the way. People were very kind and talkative, so very nice atmosphere. There were also small shop and very cozy restaurant, though we could have a very nice dinner. Everybody happy, night comes, brrrrrrrr, starts to be very, very cold, in the evening temperature dropped quite a lot and in a middle of a night to 0 gr.C. As I am from north, just love this adventure. The sky and the stars were extremely beautiful that night, so vivid and wide, mountains around and peace of night. The huge contact with nature and purity - great.

Next day we make a small trip to a town called Camprodon. I love to see how much Nuria loves nature. On a way we pick up blackberries and they were so tasty, mmmmmmm, and we pass cooky factory Birba. So this is the place where biscuits Nuria come from. Camprodon is a very small inland town, but is has it's own charm, here has had borned very famous composer Albeniz, we visit his museum, I got really amazed of his story.

Feeding ducks is always a part of Nurias adventures. I enjoy seeing kids so happy giving bread to the birds and ducks even more happy. Such a perfect day. Autumn smell is in the air, some colorful leaves in the trees or falling , happy people, peace all around, laughter of children, nice.

For the full happiness of Nuria in the camping also was a small farm and among so many animals there were two ponies also available for a ride. So this was a moment of a day for my daughter.

Another fantastic weekend is over. Conclusion is clear - I really like camping.