Wine Tasting

Summer 2008 students used alll thier senses last night in a bilingual introduction to wine tasting. We were guided through the evening at BLA3 by expert enologist Juan Manuel and the BLA3 team.

With the aid of a bilingual information pack and presentation,we found out about the history and processes behind winemaking.With the help of a color chart, we identified colors and tones. We tuned in with our noses to identify aromas, after gently swilling it around in the wine glass to release even more depth and character we picked out some surprising touches of horse and smoke along with the more conventional aromas of fruit and flower.

Then we finally got down to tasting the wine, a selection of whites, reds and a rosé from different wine producing areas of Spain. After locating different sensory zones on the tongue, we carefully and slowly tasted the wine. The white and rosé wines were a great start to this hot summer evening. We discovered that the younger the wine, the more agressive and acidic the texture and taste. With older, oak barrel aged wines the flavors are mellow and even on the tongue.

The white, rosé and red wines that we tasted were accompanied by some delicious tortilla de patata, jamón and pan tomate.

And so we learnt how to taste, not drink wine and appreciate the complex processes and regional differences that make Spanish wines so great.

Flamenco at Tarantos

BCEA students got the chance to experience live the passion, energy and style of Flamenco last night.

We were taken aback by the powerful and emotional voice of the lead Flamenco singer and the rhythmic music of the accompanying musicians. The icing on the cake was the performance by a Flamenco dancer.

Responding to this and interpreting these strong emotions expressed in song, the dancer amazed us with the power, speed and sheer accuracy of her steps and movements. The traje de flamenco; flamenco costume is extremely femenine and accentuates the hourglass silhouette of the dancer. The evening left us eager to see more flamenco.

Spanish Cooking Class

BCEA Summer students chopped, whisked and blended last wednesday under the expert supervision of ......., our Spanish chefs for the evening and with the essential assistance of great quality fresh products purchased that morning from the famous Boquería market.

We put together a very complete and delicious menu which consisted of gazpacho, tortilla de patata, pincho moruno, pintxo de salmón y crema de hinojo, pescaíto frito, pan con tomate, and to finish a refreshing and very Summery dessert, lemon sorbet with gin tonic sauce.

The evening started off with introduction and a demonstration of the dishes we would be preparing, then we got down to the serious business of preparing and cooking our ingredients, with a little tasting going on along the way!! As you can see from the photos we had great fun and learnt a lot. There´s nothing better than getting stuck in!

We sampled our creations with a good glass of red wine, a great way to finish off a fantastic evening. Salud!

Costa Brava Day Trip

Summer 2008 BCEA students visited the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres as part of BCEA´s Costa Brava Day Trip. We were able to truly experience the museum, and enter into the personal and chaotic, imaginative and labyrinthine Dalinian world, full of suggestiveness as we were guided around this impressive space by Ana, our tour guide.

As Dalí himself said "I want my museum to be like a single block, a labyrinth, a great surrealist object. It will be a totally theatrical museum.The people who come to see it will leave with the sensation of having had a theatrical dream."

It was certainly a surprising experience as we witnessed the projection and realisation of the artist´s dreams and creative energies on this huge "canvas".

After a cultural and informative morning in Figueres, we climbed back on the coach for a short trip along the winding roads which lead to the extremely beautiful coastal town of Cadaqués on the Costa Brava. The views of the scenery from the coach as we climbed, and then descended to this pretty village were magnificent. This village is located in a natural harbor in the Cap de Creus peninsula. Salvador Dali said this was the most beautiful village in the world, and used the sea, the bay and the horizon in many of his paintings.

This village was a popular artists' destination, especially once Salvador Dali moved to Port Lligat. His stay in this village attracted many artists, like Pablo Picasso, Andre Breton, Paul Eluard, Man Ray, Max Ernst, Marcel Duchamp, Federico Garcia Lorca, Luis Bunuel who also had homes there, and many contemporary artists have homes there today.

It´s easy to see why, Cadaqués is an idyllic resort. Many of us tried out the delicious seafood paella available in the seafront restaurants.

What better way to pass a friday afternoon!!