Tomatoes, bread and pizza

Garden pots going very well, a few more gherkin and chillies, loads of tomatoes

A few different varieties, made some salads and a roasted tomato sauce for pizza and ragu.

I made my best every bread yesterday, a simple brown bread with fennel seeds and sliced up sun dried tomatoes (Lidl, not my own - not enough sun)

Does look anything special, but I really liked it

Made mini-pizzas last nigh, tuna & red onion, roast courgette, blue cheese & rocket, salami and rocket and jamon & a baked egg

Obvo, egg looked the winner, even San photo-ed it

Barcelona

We went to Barcelona for the long weekend, haven't been there for years, flights are better than Madrid at the moment, so will be back soon.

First difference I noticed, it seemed a lot less grubby and it seemed safer than before, I know they've put a huge effort into fighting the perceived pick-pocket threat and I know people who were mugged.

From a going out point of view the first difference is in Spain there are usually three beer sizes, cana, copa / tubo and jarra.  Barcelona doesn't seem to have cana (~20cl), if you ask for one, you get a copa.  They also don't have alcohol free beer on draft and I only saw one person drinking a bottle of it in 4 days.

The markets were great, food perfect, Vinitus ( Carrer del Consell de Cent) no website,  Ciutat Comtal (Ramblas), same menu, so obviously owned by the same team were both stand-outs.

and
El National was both a stunning building and great food, its a very upmarket food court, we would love to try some of the other sections, we ate in the Taperia, great fun

Great long weekend, not cheap, hotel up and down, but really enjoyed  rooftop pool and would definitely stay in Eixample again

Pickled

So,
Lidl were giving seeds away earlier this year, grew a bit of coriander (cilantro), some mixed lettuce and gherkins.  Got some really good gherkins

Chillies are starting as well and tomatoes will be bumper this year.  Pickled the gherkins, following this recipe and got this:

Really like them, will get another couple of gherkins of the plant - but need more kilner jars, especially as the toms will make a lot of sauce, chutney, relish, pickle etc

C and the baby are staying, so focusing on healthy food, doing roast veg, cauliflower cous-cous,  aubergines, peppers etc, not veggie, but lots of veggie, so concentrating on tasty sauces and dips to bring as much flavour as possible