Thought for food.

Hola,

Sorry for the radio silence, past week and a half been really intensive. First I enjoyed a relaxing weekend in Helsinki, seeing excellent KY Speksi 2008 as well as standup comedy by Ismo Leikola & co, eating out and just hanging out with Hanna. After returning to Barcelona, I've had visitors from Finland during the past week. I've been enjoying the city with my beloved Kaledonistit-friends with whom I spent the summer in Toronto last year. All but Masa have already returned to Finland and even him will continue his world tour from Japan-Singapore-India-Oman and back, through Paris and now Barcelona to Berlin and eventually to Finland by easter time.

Besides hosting and having fun with my friends, I've been superbusy in the school. We had a mid-term presentation of our business project on Monday and the rest of the week, or well tomorrow, will be very intensive before I am leaving to Switzerland for the weekend. I'll get back those two things soon, as I my plan was not to write about school nor Switzerland this time, but about something that has a place below my heart. Food.

Yesterday we had a great paella dinner with Masa, Heini & Jarno in a cosy seafood restaurant in Barceloneta. The restaurant is over 50 years old and is located in one of the oldest building in the whole city. I've haven't taken too many opportunities to dine out yet, but there is 5-10 must-see places that I will definitely try out during my stay. Even though the Asian food so far hasn't been very mentionable, do the Catalan kitchen offer many delicacies, starting from the famous tapas and cava.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to check out the greatest restaurants of all. First, it would require me to travel few hours north of Barcelona. Secondly, I should be able to spend 200 euros on the dinner menu. These are challenges I could be still able to overcome, but there is a third obstacle. The restaurant is only open from April to October and the bookings for this year were full last October, only couple of days after they even started. What I am missing, is quoted to be the best restaurant in the world: El Bulli by Ferran Adria.

We had today in international entrepreneurship class a case of him and his creation. I've heard about the guy a bit before and have read some articles related to him. Today at class, we watched part of Anthony Bourdain's show "Decoding Ferran Adria" and I was absolutely amazed. And inspired. Being an enthusiastic amateur cook by myself, I was astonished how a person who learned the basics of foodmaking 30 years ago in an army kitchen, has taken the whole basic function of making good food into a totally new level. To him, cooking is as much science as it is art. Or actually, it seems to be more science. At the same time, it fun, creative and surprising. Adria has been working in El Bulli restaurant since 80's, but has him and the restaurant has gained more and more attention and respect during the years. And as said before, El Bulli is nowadays quoted to be the best of the world. And I guess that applies to Adria as well who with his teams spends half of the year in their cooking laboratory located next to the Barcelona Boqueria. During that time they experiment with food and come up with the new menu adds for the coming season.

Without having tasted even a bit of Adria's creations, I was still left inspired only by seeing how it is done. I know that it is all a result of hard work, but if I am ever to find same kind of passion and creativity to anything I do, it should be a guaranteed success. Maybe the restaurant business would literally be my piece of cake and cup of tea. As some of you may know, I've been passionate about food and making of it for a good 20 years:D On top of that, my roommate Maria said today at dinner that "You've probably found your thing" as she hasn't ever seen me as excited as I was while explaining about Ferran Adria.

Anyway, while 30+ course menu at El Bulli will stay out of my reach at least for this year, there are many other foodly wonders to check out here in Barcelona. To give you a hint on what made me this passionate about one man and his mission, here's a link that shows 9 minute part of the Bourdain's show. Bon appetit!



ps. For those looking new eats in Helsinki, Michelin just throw some new stars into the city.