Easter is here!

During the days previous to Easter, the pastry shops of Catalonia exhibit a delicious and original show: cakes and chocolate figures, some of which are so complex and detailed that we can talk of real art works. This tradition, which is typical from Catalonia and Valencia, is known as “Mona de Pascua” (Easter cake). Its name comes from the Arabic term ‘munna’, which means “provision of the mouth”, a gift in the shape of sweet food that the Moriscos (Moorish convert to Christianity who remained in Spain after the Reconquest) used to make for their lords to celebrate that Lent was over.

During the following weekend there are some processions around the city and on Monday March 28th (Lunes de Pascua) is tradition to eat “La mona de Pascua” it is a cake accompanied by several figures of chocolate. The godfather present to the godchildren on the Mona Day (Día de la Mona). This is the day when families get together to eat the mona as a dessert.

Altiro barcelona will be open until Thursday 3pm. Friday to Monday the office will be closed. Enjoy the holidays and see you on Tuesday!

LA CASTANYADA

The Castanyada is a Catalan festival celebrated on November 1 All Saints Day, and as Halloween, comes from an ancient ritual funeral feast. The feast is a meal where you eat chestnuts, panellets, and sweet candied fruit.

During this period is usually found in the street stalls selling cooked chestnuts and sweet potatoes (in Las Ramblas or Urquinaona Pl you can find!). And in bakeries and pastry shops you can buy the typical sweets of this celebration: The Panellets, marzipan of different flavors, even that the most traditional one is the pine nuts.

The figure of a chestnut is the symbol of this tradition: an old woman, dressed in rags and a headscarf in front of a stove where she cook chestnuts

PANELLETS

500 grs. almonds, 400 grs. sugar, 250 grs. cooked sweet potato, 200 grs. pine, 1 egg

Boil the whole sweet potato whit the skin until tender, hot, peel and put in a dish and crushed with a fork and add the sugar, mixed and added slowly ground almonds, finish to mix the dough with your hands so the almond is mix with the dough.

Pine nuts: Made balls with the dough, passed by beaten egg and then by the pine nuts (tighten well for sticking pine nuts), after paint the balls with egg yolks. Bake in a 250°C oven for 10 minutes.

HALLOWEEN

Halloween comes to town on October 31st.
Halloween is the time to wear costumes with masks or be dressed as ghosts, zombies, witches and more. In Barcelona you can find different stores to rent or buy props. Although the modern Halloween is based on U.S. traditions. it is increasingly common to be held in a large number of bars and clubs of Barcelona.

To celebrate the event we propose the Music Hall Barcelona, ​​a concert hall located a few meters from Plaza Catalunya, on October 30st they celebrate Halloween with a special show: Evil Dead 2 and “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”

What is the pass? The audience sings, dances, shouts, insults to the good, the bad applaud, throw rice at weddings, and get wet when it rains during the two hours of the show. The border between the screen and the theatre is blurry, you laugh at the blockbusters in 3D! Double session that will make you tremble with fear or laughter, and will depart costume competition with premiums.

Easter is coming!

This Sunday is “Domingo de Ramos” when the streets are filled withh children with palms, palmones, olive branches, laurel … to be blessed and so good luck the rest of the year the whole family.

 During the following weekend there are some processions around the city and on Monday April 6th (Lunes de Pascua) is tradition to eat “La mona de Pascua” it is a cake accompanied by several figures of chocolate. The godfather present to the godchildren on the Mona Day (Día de la Mona)

The Adrià brothers have returned to surprise the world with their new gastronomic proposal. Located in the renovated Paral•lel area, Tickets has been dreamed up as a fun way of eating that makes the diner feel like the protagonist in a performance. The locale is sectioned off into different themed bars (the Coquette, the Marx Brothers Cabin, the Star, the Garage and Sweets) where a genuine gastronomic feast is prepared, designed for people to be able to “share, converse, sample and get excited”.

In 1991, Albert and Ferran Adrià started their work with tapas in el Bulli, and they turned this concept into something really important in their way to understand cooking. On this occasion, they are sharing the project with the Iglesias brothers (Juan Carlos, Borja and Pedro) from the emblematic seafood restaurant Rías de Galicia.

For us, La vida tapa is a global concept which links gastronomy to a way of understanding life. An amusing way of eating that turns the eater into an interpreter of a theatre play, of a chorus magazine, of a circus variety, being the character of a fairy play. It is a staging of real life. At La vida tapa there is no place for boredom, sadness or loneliness but there is much for laughs, complicity and good company.

What is on offer is based on a wide range of tapas, whether classic, seafood, sweet or futuristic, etc. Worthy of special mention are the daring Xuxis, three bite hand-held tapas. However, the creative universe of the Adrià brothers still holds another surprise in store: the 41º, an annexe dedicated to the world of the cocktail, where weird and wonderful combinations are accompanied by original snacks. Enjoy this parallel universe of tapas.

Avinguda Paralel, 164 Opening hours – 13.00-15.30 h. / 19.00-23.30 h. Closed on Mondays

Average price – tapas 60 €

Los hermanos Adrià han vuelto a sorprender al mundo con su nueva propuesta gastronómica. Situado en un renovado Paral•lel, Tickets ha ideado una forma divertida de comer que convierte al comensal en protagonista del espectáculo. La puesta en escena del local se estructura en torno a diferentes barras –La Presumida, el Camarote de los Marx, La Estrella, El Garatge y La Dolça– donde se prepara un auténtico festín gastronómico pensado para “compartir, conversar, probar e ilusionar”.

En 1991, Albert y Ferran Adrià empezaron a dialogar con las tapas en el Bulli, y convirtieron este concepto en algo muy importante en su manera de entender la cocina. En esta ocasión comparten proyecto con los hermanos Iglesias (Juan Carlos, Borja y Pedro), de la emblemática marisquería Rías de Galicia.

La vida tapa es un concepto global que une la gastronomía a una forma de entender la vida. Una forma divertida de comer que convierte a quien participa en intérprete de una obra de teatro, de una revista de coristas, de un vodevil circense, en protagonista de un entremés cantado. Una puesta en escena de la vida misma. En La vida tapa no hay lugar para el aburrimiento, para la tristeza y la soledad; lo hay para las risas, la complicidad y las buenas compañías.

La oferta se basa en las tapas y abarca un amplio surtido: clásicas, marineras, dulces, futuristas… Mención especial merecen los atrevidos xuxis, deliciosos bocados para comer con la mano. Pero el universo creativo de los Adrià aún depara otra sorpresa: el 41º, un espacio anexo dedicado al mundo del cóctel, donde los combinados se acompañan de originales tentempiés. Toda una experiencia para disfrutar tapeando.

Avinguda Paralel, 164 Horario: 13.00-15.30 h. / 19.00-23.30 h. Cerrado – Lunes

Precio medio – tapas 60 €