Au Pair

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Last night I finally had the opportunity to reap the benefits of working for a Wine Tour Operator (besides my daily overdose of wine and cava). Anthony had a business-related winery tour to attend last night, and needed someone to watch Jethro. Thus, working over hours, I tagged along as the nanny. The reason I was not at all reluctant to work extra, was the promise of free wine and sample snacks.
Last weekend when Anthony and his new girlfriend took me out for a sandwich, neither of them would stop raving about this cured ham they had eaten the night before at this very same winery. Seriously, I think Isabelle mentioned it ten times. There was to be more of this ham, and there was no way I could leave Spain without trying some.
The tour started rather slow (or maybe I just thought so because it was in Catalan), and Jethro expressed distaste for all the,¨"talk talk talk". I couldn´t have agreed with him more, and was very willing to play on the rocks with him. I can only imagine what all the Wine-ies must have though of me, the American girl with bad fashion sense running about like a seven-year-old. They probably formed a pretty accurate opinion of me, actually.
We did get to taste some of the grapes grown in the vineyard; this region focuses on whites, and the Chardonnay grapes in particular were quite tasty. Sweeter than I expected.
Then we were shown about the grounds (rather show-off-ily), and got to see the grape processors and the vats. There was also some horrid art on the walls that they took great pride in. Quite ready to beat Jethro at another game of Connecta Quatro (have you ever known me to let little kids win?), they finally brought out the food.
Oh my. There were platters of the cured ham, which I made a bee-line for. Marbled with fat, the slices melted on your tongue. An old man suggested I eat it with the traditional Spanish bread, which is drizzled in olive oil, salted, and rubbed with a tomato. I took his suggestion, and he was absolutely right. It turns out he owns a prominent restaurant nearby, so he must know his Spanish food. He told me that ham with bread and a glass of cava, "this ees life! A day without cava, that is a bad day." I love the European mentality!!
Recognizing one food-appreciator for another, I became fast-friends with this old man, Pere. He told me that he´s travelled the world, and the three best cities are Sydney, Barcelona, and San Francisco, because they contain both the mountains and the sea. Lucky me, I´ve gotten to experience all three. I fully agreed with him, and noted that the same is true about Hawaii. Wine-ies in Europe love San Francisco. Every time they hear I´m from California they exclaim, "Napa!!"
On Pere´s advice, I had some cava, but there was also an excellent white, which I think was a Pinot Gris, but my Spanish is so bad (and Catalan non-existent), I would just point and drink. There were some cheeses, mini tortillas (Spanish ones, remember the omelet?), smoked salmon, and carquinyoles, a local specialty similar to almond biscotti. I couldn´t stop eating, and Jethro was fully pissed that I wasn´t playing Connecta with him. I don´t know why, he knew I would just beat him again.

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