Wanderlust and Words

Soup & Brownies at City Perks If you’re lucky, you can pick up a one-litre container of soup at City Perks . The Shitake Mushroom Chowder is crammed full of mushroom slices and chunks of potato and carrot – absolutely delicious. I also picked up a container of Tomato Zucchini Soup, and Coralee Abbott told me to serve it with a little feta cheese crumbled on top. P.S. You don’t have to be following a gluten-free diet to enjoy City Perks’ gluten-free brownies. They’re amazing! And Coralee has promised to contact me when there’s a batch with sour cherries and goat cheese. Naked Leaf Tea City Perks is now serving loose leaf teas from Naked Leaf , a Calgary company sourcing small farm, organic teas. Naked Leaf has a large variety of teas, and you can order online. They also have a Tea of the Month Club, and you can customize your tins with labels designed by Calgary artists. Saskatoon Farmers’ Market The Saskatoon Farmers’ Market has extended its operations to the outdoor Ma...

Tarragona is a delight. Small enough to get a good feel for the town and yet lots of interesting things to see and do. Skip the crowds of tourists in Barcelona and visit Tarragona (an easy day trip). In addition to the Roman ruins, there are two lovely old homes that are well worth visiting. Castellarnau House Castellarnau House was built at the start of the fifteenth century, and it was the home of some of the most influential families in Tarragon for the next 400 years. The noble floor has elegant rooms for entertaining with ceiling murals and 18th and 19th century furniture. Unlike English stately homes, there are no carpets. Instead, the mosaic designs on the floors imitate the patterns of elaborate carpets. I was entranced by the kitchen on the ground floor with tiled paintings of saints and a wood stove inside the tiled cabinet with vents for kettles and pans. There is a lovely inside courtyard with a door leading to a small low-ceilinged room for storing wine barre...

Market Foreign markets are fun to explore, but I wasn’t ready to make any actual purchases this morning. There were crowds of people who would have been very impatient with my poor command of the language and the coinage. Lots and lots of meat and fish but also olives, cheese, fruit and vegetables. I’ll have a refrigerator in my hotel room in Alicante, and I’m looking forward to sampling the fresh cheese that has been molded in a shallow round bowl. Fresh cheese with honey was one of the dessert options at lunchtime today, but I chose the almond cake. I thought the children’s ride outside the market was great fun. Salads I was in Andalucia two years ago, and the vegetarian options were really limited. So far, I’ve been favourably impressed with Mediterranean Spain as most of the restaurants have salad options. Yesterday I had a huge bowl of lettuce (unfortunately they were out of spinach) topped with a really generous helping of walnuts, almonds, raisins, sliced tomato and goat c...

I feel so at home in southern Spain - the sense of history, the warmth, the narrow streets, the outdoor lifestyle, the flowers, the attention to detail. I hope that my photographs can at least partially share my passion for this wonderful part of the world. History The Mediterranean was the centre of civilization for many, many, many centuries. Tarragona was a political and trade centre during the Roman empire, and there are still traces of it today in the Roman walls and gates, the ampitheatre and other relics. North Americans are infatuated with everything new and shiny - new housing estates, monster homes with four-car garages. The old streets of European cities are not always pretty, but the patina of age is rich in character and history. As I walk the cobblestone streets, I take my place alongside past generations who walked there before me. Current political debates or personal heartbreak are absorbed in something larger than any one person or generation. Outdoor L...