One weekend like any other, like so many others, we went up to the land of the Tramuntana thinking that, this time, for the first time, the days would not happen by the sea but inside , in the countryside. It was time to change the blue for the green, the humid breeze for a harsher cold, almost of autumn.
FIRST STOP: AN ECOLOGICAL AND COMMITTED BEER
On the way to Empordà, the first stop was fueling the mind and body. Blanca Costa and Lluís Bori, creators of craft beer BdeGust , received us in the middle of the afternoon in their home-workshop space. A couple united personally and professionally, who make you fall in love with their own project based on commitment. “ BdeGust is a beer committed to the society of which we are a part , with our land and with the inhabitants with whom we share it”, says Blanca.
A proposal woven by many threads to pull: they hire people at risk of social exclusion, collaborate with NGOs and foundations, they produce organic and vegan beer , they plant their own hops to have km0 ingredients. That said, a coherent project from start to finish, which opened our getaway in the best way. They are on their third beer (lager, weissbier and Hazy IPA) and we wish them many more!
Can Mas Bdegust.
A PLACE TO REGENERATE
We said goodbye and put the GPS direction to More Generos , where they were waiting for us for dinner. And you know what it's like to arrive at a place at night... In this case it was a mixture of illusion, nostalgia (it had been many months since we set foot in the region) and evening light.
We parked in front of the hotel, and Eugenia was waiting for us inside. She did it as she waits for each of the guests who stay in her house, because that is her illusion and she enjoys it. “ That is the reason why I bought and restored this old farmhouse , to receive all those people who want to enjoy the calm of the place. The goal is for them to find the best of themselves, to share and to leave transformed by the experience”, she tells us with a smile in her eyes. Mas Generós aspires to be a place to regenerate, learn and enrich.
More Generos
Arriving for dinner turned out to be a great success. The chef prepares and offers a cuisine of territory, artisan, ecological and km0 . Without a doubt, he manages to transfer the aromas and images of the Empordà from the land to the table. An honest, local menu with many ingredients grown on the farm itself.
The consequence of a long week of work was succumbing to sleep, not without first taking an infusion of herbs and aromatic plants from the garden itself to the room.
The next morning, as soon as we woke up we knew that, with the light of day, a totally different scenario awaited us. So it was, the hotel was flooded with light and the energy of that place embraced you making you not want to leave there. Nor will I deny that I would not have made many efforts to get away from that wonderful place, rather he wanted to stay and live in it.
And what about the moment? breakfast at the hotel ”? Without a doubt, the best time of day, with a selection of organic, seasonal and local products (so close that they are produced in their garden). We wanted to have breakfast inside, at the same table where we dined the night before, because of "feeling at home" and because several clouds decided to leave the patio without sun.
With the best meal of the day over, our hope was to go out and inspect the rest of the hotel. All the space that we could not see the night before due to lack of light. But as I write I think that Mas Generós does not deserve spoilers , the best thing is to be the one to discover its library, its immense garden full of fruit trees, its three orchards (plants, flowers and vegetables), its rooms with names (Colette, Virginia Woolf, Leonard Cohen and many other personal references of the owner), its wonderful pool and, without a doubt, Eugenia and the people who take care of this 17th century farmhouse . A place where ceramic pieces were made, now converted into a rural hotel, sustainable and committed to its history and its environment; located in fontette , a unique place in the Baix Empordà.
Abricoc.
And in this small town, where they make the best recuit in the world (the recuit of Fonteta), hides apricot , a little jewel that you really want to share because of whoever is behind it (Alba Plana), and because of everything it offers; but which, in turn, he would like to keep secret like someone who keeps an amulet in his pocket. Since sharing is living, and living is urgent, this little space named after fruit deserves to be visited.
Alba's main idea is to give producers a voice with a personal (and very special!) selection of regional wines, artisan cheeses, craft beers, chocolates, jams ... A gift for the eyes and the palate.
EXPERIMENT WITH PAINT
But not only of rest and food does the human being live. So to feed my soul and answer my questions, I wanted to visit the studio of a couple of artists.
The first, located in Cassà de la Selva, where Lydia Masllorens He currently works and experiments from close-ups of faces. A large-format work that allows the viewer to interpret it explicitly while suggesting the possibility of intuiting other realities.
Lidia paints portraits in acrylic on paper . In them we find intentional looks, indirect looks, blurred cheeks, invisible lips. The artist is interested in accidents, she even tries to provoke them. She was delighted to discover that her brush is sometimes brooms and other mops , that the floor is stained black and that plastics and paper are present throughout the hangar. A ship bathed in a very special light , the same that the artist gives off.
We found the other study in Llabià, a place where Iol Baques transfers and captures the mystique of nature in his work. Empordà soul, Iolanda lets herself be carried away by what this land awakens in her . Her passion and her commitment to the territory engender an art with views of the sea and the smell of saltpeter. For a moment I felt very close to the waves without seeing them, very far from the land in her work "from a bird's eye view" and very connected with nature since her paintings were displayed in her own garden , on the grass, under the shade of the ivy, with Simon, her cat, circling around her.
LAST STOP: A PAIR OF “LA PERA”
I was not going to say goodbye without trying a new restaurant after my foray into the interior of the Baix Empordà . And there you have me, on my way to the Plaza de the church of La Pera, where Jordi Blanch (former chef at Dos Palillos and Talla de Cadaqués) has recently opened the Bar l'Escola.
Jordi took over the local social of the town and in it serves a short and simple menu, but very funny and well executed. As if it were the school, inside a folder with rubber bands we find some notebook sheets with their proposal for dishes and tapas. And to show a button, our choices were the Lima salad (a must!), baby squid in black ink tempura (this dish was a spontaneous one at the table that surprised us a lot), the crispy chicken with sweet and sour sauce Y the coke the pear (zucchini, gorgonzola, pear and walnuts).
All this washed down with a natural wine from his personal selection, it is worth visiting Jordi just to enjoy a glass of one of these wines . And importantly, save room for the happy ending. Beware of his homemade truffles and the catalanet, a nougat ice cream with ratafía. Who Forewarned is forearmed.
Jordi Blanch, owner of the Bar l'Escola.
On the way home, I couldn't be happier. He thought that how many times we travel far to try to "connect" with us, to meet people, places and projects with soul. To discover new ways of doing and new proposals. These days have been a clear example that it is unnecessary to go far because we are sure to have talent, magic and truth nearby..
How generous the Empordà, the people who live in it, the proposals and the work of these people. Thanks to each one of them for so much generosity, for opening the doors of their homes, their hotels, their workshops, their restaurants and their shops. Some have led us to others , some of you don't know each other and you should, others know each other and I'm not surprised at all. Because it is true that we are all energy. And as is known, energy is not destroyed but transformed , and I assure you that by sharing it among us it will have transformed us in some way.
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