Flight was cancelled!

Saturday 28 Nov 09

Our flight to Frankfurt from Bilbao was cancelled!! We were happily sitting in the business class lounge sipping on cava and thinking what a nice life this is and we were told 1/2 hour before boarding that the flight was cancelled. Not delayed - CANCELLED. This is Lufthansa, a German company for god's sake.

Rushed to the ticket counter and there was this bitch who gave double standards to asians. Made us go to the end of the line coz it was so messy and we were in the 'wrong' queue, even though we got there first and are on bloody business class.

Waited a good hour in line. Damn inefficient bitch. Finally a nicer lady helped us out. We were the last to get served. The rest were panicking coz they had connecting flights and business meetings back in KL & Singapore. But it turned to be much better for me. I managed to change my flight direct to Munich (although I burned my train ticket but who cares for the 7 1/2 hour ride anyways) and get to fly back to KL from Munich too!! Double hip hooray!!

Lufthansa was nice enough to put us up in this lovely 5 star Hotel Indautxu in Bilbao. Dinner was even provided for and since we are business class passengers, we get our own individual rooms. Saw the passenger list and some had double & even triple sharing.

Dinner at Hotel Indautxu

But before the airport fiasco, we walked the streets of Logrono for the last time to visit some markets to buy meat. Spain is filled with pork. Think the are obsessed with it. Check out what they had at the markets. I couldn't buy much meat as I didn't want to lug it around Germany for 2 weeks but I bought a few flat packs back. Iberico ham is Euro 69 a kg! Thank god we bought it at the factory for a wholesale price of E25 a kg.

Pigs, pigs and more pigs

Visited a nice cathedral to thank whoever is up there for what i've been given. Saw capoeira in the streets by little kids too. They were good!

Cathedral in Logrono

Had to visit the tapas bars again before we left and I just love the mushrooms. Heaven.

Ham & wine – the life

Friday 27 Nov 2009

I woke up late today at 9am! Got ready in 10 mins to go to Monte Nevado, a jamon (pronounced hamon) factory an hour away from Logrono. The company produces 75% for their local market and the rest is exported to the rest of the world. Malaysia’s difficult to get in coz loads of forms need to be filled. A pity really.

They produce 3 types of breed – 70% Serano (white pig), 20% Iberico (black pig) & 10% Mangalica (almost extinct Hungarian pig that looks like a sheep coz of its curly white wool). They are the only company in the world to produce Mangalica. The director of quality control, Alejandro (damn young & good looking!) took us around and explained the whole process of curing the jamon.

The raw meat is first thawed, added with curing agents, put in the salting chamber, washed, shaped, placed in a drying chamber, coated in fat to protect from dehydration, hung in the aging room and finally packed. Whole process takes an average of about 18 months for the Serano and 30 months for the Iberico and Mangalica. Obviously, the last 2 are more expensive.

I tried my hands at cutting it too! It’s much harder than it looks. 3 of them bought a whole leg (market price E400 but they got it at bout E100+). I bought a small cut from one of them for E20.

At the jamone factory

We spent a bit too long at the jamone factory so was late to Bodegas Lopez Heredia, a small winery that still makes their wine the traditional way, exactly the same 132 years ago. They are the oldest winery in their neighbourhood and the 3rd oldest in Rioja. 80% is for local market, rest for export. Amazing place where everything is done painstakingly by hand.

Their underground cellar is simply out of this world. I was in awe the entire trip coz everything is the same more than 100 years ago. It was like stepping back in time. Almost everything there was built by Maria Jose Lopez’s (the lady who showed around) great grandfather. They still use their 1910 pressing machine. She admitted that others think they are crazy to produce the old-fashion way but she says it works and that’s what gives character to their wine. They had bottles covered in cobwebs from 1920!

Their modern futuristic shop

Bodegas Lopez Heredia, where everything is done the traditional way.

Maria treated us to a late lunch (after 3pm!) at La Vieja Bodega and we sampled 9 different types of wines! One of them was a white 1987 vintage. Phew. She gave us a bottle each to take home but I got an extra rose. Will bring it to Jerry in Germany.

Lunch at La Vieja Bodega

Went to Museo Vivanco after that, an amazing museum dedicated to the culture of wine. We were given a tour of the place after opening hours by this lovely old man. No pictures allowed unfortunately.

Museum of Wine Culture

Loli gave us ½ hour to put our stuff in the room and we went for a walk around Longrono. Only me, Lorella & Maya went. The rest were too tired but it’s their lost coz they missed out on the nicer part of the old town and the night life there. Funny, no rowdy drunk people. Night life here is a family affair at the tapas bars eating & drinking. An old guy who couldn’t speak a word of English tried to pick us up and offered us wine & mushrooms. Apparently that’s normal coz a few tapas bars specialise in mushrooms only. Went back before midnight to pack.

Night life in Spain - Tapas & wine

Most orgasmic experience ever!

Wednesday 26 Nov 09

Reached Logrono today, the capital of La Rioja region (pronounced La Rioha). Nothing great about the city. Very industrial like. Managed to find MNG but it was all winter clothing so ended up not buying anything. Can't find my magnet shop again. Damn.

Industrial looking city of Logrono

All's not lost as La Rioja is very much known for their red wines. The region is more uniform in their climate and soil, thus producing more uniform wines as well.

Our itinerary for the evening was a visit to Bodegas Muga, one of the finest wineries in La Rioja. It's a family owned business established in 1932. It's run by the 3rd gen now and owner Juan Muga was kind enough to bring us for a tour of the place.

The place, set in a 200+ year old stone house is simply awesome!! The first thing that greets you is the rows of oak barrrels. I was simply awed to be in the winery. Juan took us to the fermentation, maturing, bottling and aging process. They produce their own barrels! He spoke a bit too fast and his English was not that good. A pity really as I was really interested in the process.

They produce 50% for the local market and the rest are exported to various countries around the world, Malaysia included. Their distributor for us & Singapore is Cellermasters Wines. 80% of their wine are red, 10% white (mostly for exports), 7% rose and 3% is sparkling or cava.

Muga Winery factory

Juan and his wines, producing their own barrels, a 1968 harvest! and M'sia distributors

After the tour he took us to this lovely dining room complete with a fire place. I was still in esctacy and had that goofy grin plastered still. It was just so surreal to be here. We had an awesome 3 course dinner paired with 7 different types of wine! I'm not a red wine person but their reds were really easy to drink. The last red, Aro 2005, cost E120 a bottle! We had cava for the last round. Heaven.

The gorgeous dining room

Our food & wine

Cava, Spanish sparkling wine

Took some pics around the place before we left and I had to get a pic with Juan. I'm in love with Spanish wines. The winery was the best part of the trip so far. Extremely orgasmic. I can't describe the feling. It's just magical. I still have the silly grin. It's gonna be sweet wine dreams tonight.

Pics with Juan at winery facade

Gourmet food in a can anyone?

Thursday 26 Nov 09

The food industry is the second largest economy for the region of Navarra, a northern region in Spain. You won't guess the 1st - it's car manufacturing - and VW at that. The Spanish thinks of it as a german brand now. Their 3rd is wind power to produce energy. Interesting.

Since agriculture contributes to 17% of the economy in Spain and Navarra is one of the important regions, we had to visit a gourmet factory. The first one was El Navarrico, a company since 1960, and we were being shown around by the son of the owner, Patxi Pastor Salcedo.

They produce 160 different types of gourmet food in bottles and cans mainly for the gourmet restaurant market. Normal consumers can't get these products cause of the pricey quality. Nothing much was in production cause the asparagus season is over but we did manage to see how the lentils and dry beans were cooked, bottled and sterilized though. Their export markets are Thailand, HK & Japan in Asia, Europe & North America. Again, Malaysia don't get their products. They are entering Singapore though.

Lentil bottling process

They prepared some vegetables for us to taste like white asparagus, piquillo peppers and cristal peppers. Liked the cristal peppers cause of the smokey 'crispy' texture. Good to eat veges after all that meat.

The owner's son and the various vegetables we tasted

The next factory we visited was Rosara, a similar company producing more varieties of gourmet food (190 different types) but more towards ready-to-eat poducts. They do sauces, pastes,etc. The company is younger, only 24 years old but the quality is similar to the first factory. They supply to gourmet shops as well but more for the local market. Export market is only 10% to US, Japan, Europe & Mexico.

The owner's son, Saul Gimenez Torero, showed us around and prepared a lovely tapas lunch for us. He even gave us a tapas set to bring back. So nice of him.

Saul at the Rosara factory. Bottling chick peas

Rosara products and our tapas lunch

Olives & Cheese

Wednesday 25 Nov 09

Did you know that Spain is one of the biggest olive oil producers in the world? The Italians buy the olive oil from Spain, repackage it as their own and market it as Italian olive oil. Ingenious ye the Italians. Good marketers. Poor Spanish people don't get the credit they deserve.

I had the lucky opportunity to visit Aceite Artajo, an olive farm in Tudela, an hour south of Pamplona. It was a pity that the harvest season is over (Oct & Nov) so there were no olives left on the trees but we did get a tour of the factory though.

The 200 hectre plantation produces about 150,000 litres of extra virgin olive oil (they only produce that), the first pressing of the olives. They donate the leftovers to other companies to make virgin oil from the 2nd press and normal olive oil from subsequent presses. They are a medium producer exporting to Japan, US and Central Europe. Sadly, not to our parts of the world yet.

To make up for the lack of olives on the trees, they brought us to an olive farm where they had olive trees that were 300 years old!!

Artajo extra virgin oil products

Artajo olive farm & factory and me with a 300 year old olive tree

The owner, Ignacio Puras Gil, a lovely old man that didn't speak English, cooked for us an absolutely delicious meal. Navarra is famous for vegetables and Tudela is particularly famous for their cogollos (type of lettuce) and artichokes. They use minimal seasoning, just salt and olive oil. Damn healthy. Good to eat vegs after so long. His roasted lamb gave Shueh an orgasmic experience too hehe. Ambience was just heavenly.. perfect lunch overlooking an olive farm.

The perfect lunch - good food in the middle of an olive farm

Went back to Pamplona for a Spanish cheese tasting education. Spain produces 120 diffrent types of cheese from all over the region but Rafael Barbajero from Consorcio de los Quesos Tradicionales de Espana brought only 10 different cheeses for us to try.

Spain is famous for their goat and sheep milk cheeses. I liked the Montenebro, made out of goat milk. Moldy on the outside, slightly stinky and solf on the inside. Found out it's one of the most expensive ones, bout Euro 25 per kilo. Oh, did you know you need to use apple to clean your palatte before the next cheese tasting? Water won't do the trick. Learn something everyday.

The 10 different types of Spanish cheese

Rafael Barbajero cutting Tetilla (means little breast). Loved the Montenebro.

Running of the bulls

Tuesday 24 & Wed 25 Nov 09

We are in Pamplona! Famous for San Fermines, the running of the bull event that is held from 7-14 July every year. Events starts with some grand fireworks at 8am on 7th July from the city hall. Six bulls are then released from the paddock and thousands of crazy people will run ahead of them. Few people die every year because of this but the people still keep on coming.

I really wanted to walk the route so we took a little walk after dinner to the start of the route right through to the bull ring. The route’s about >800m or so and the run only lasts for 2-3 minutes. Awesome! Could almost feel the excitement of the reenactment. They even had a countdown to the next San Fermines right to the last second.

The town hall - where the party starts

The bull's route and the countdown to the next San Fermines

The final destination - the bull ring

What I was a bit upset about was the lack of souvenir shops in Pamplona. Maybe it was the streets I chose to walk down on but I couldn’t find a single shop to buy my fridge magnet! That and the lack of time as well. Was so disappointed not to find one that the ICEX lady from Pamplona offered to send me one by post. Thank god for that or I’ll be really pissed.

That's Hemmingway's cafe bottom right

The hotel we stayed in, Hotel Palacio de Guendulain, was really lovely. It was an old palace from the 17th century that was recently converted into a 5 star hotel. It was only 2 months old when we stayed there. Classic medieval deco. Precious. They even had the Count’s old carriage and some antique cars on display.

Hotel Palacio de Guendalain

One thing about our Spanish hosts are they know how to treat us well. Brought us to a fancy restaurant again on the first night called La Nuez, direct translation meaning the walnut. Lovely food. I preferred this meal to Mugaritz (they’ll kill me for this I know) but that’s just simple me. I like my food to look like what it’s supposed to be.

Restaurante La Nuez

They brought us to a nice fancy tapas bar the next night. Tapas bars are not supposed to be a sit down affair but this one was because they were heading in that direction. Restaurant was called Roncesvalles and the owner Miguel Sanchez, spent a good whole night layaning us. Young (29 years old!) & good looking but unfortunately married.

Roncesvalles, vinos y pintxos

Oh, didn’t make it to MNG either cause it was closed by the time I got there. But bought a pair of boots from Zara and explored their huge Cortes de Ingles, a huge 8 storey shopping complex.

Visit to an anchovy factory

Tuesday 24 Nov 09

Went to visit Yurrita E Hijos, an anchovy factory in Mutriku, 45 mins west of San Sebastian. The owner, Juan J Yurrita was there to show us around. Lovely guy. 5th generation of family who has been in the fishing industry since 1867.

Was a damn interesting visit. They cure the anchovies in salt for more than a year before they pack it! And it's all sorted and packed by hand to ensure the best quality. All female workers as it's a tradition. Men go out to fish, women work in the factory.

Yurrita (bottom right) at his anchovy factory

Went another half hour to the harbour town of Guetaria. Nice fishing town where seafood is the game of the day. Took pics with Xabier of ICEX San Sebastian and Loli Moreno of ICEX Madrid as Xabier will be leaving us after stuffing us at Kaia Restaurante, a seafood restaurant overlooking the harbour. Good food but it was just too much! Insisted on walking around the city to walk off the food before we headed to Pamplona.

Guetaria, a nice harbour town

Ate too much at Kaia Restaurante

Gastronomika Festival

Monday 23 Nov 2009

It's the first day of San Sebastian Gastronomika Festival where all the professional famous chefs of the world, wine & gourmet producers gather to showcase their products in one of the best gourmet gatherings in the world. San Sebastian is considered the gastronomy capital of the world because it has the most number of michelin star restaurants per square feet in the world.

The congress is just one big food fest. There's wine tasting, cider, champagne, top quality jamones, ice-cream, sushis, cheese - all the rich gourmet food available for you to just go up & pick whatever you fancy. There are talks by famous chefs too. I was a bit sick from all the wine last night so i only managed a white & a cava. So sad.. i said no to wine.

Gourmet feast

Snuck out in the afternoon to walk more of the city by myself. Did a crazy climb all the way up to the top of Mount Uggul but the view wasn't that great. Workout was good though.

Exploring the city again

Went to Mugaritz Restaurant at night, a gastronomic experience in itself. It's a 2 star Michelin rest. Really fancy shit. Met the chef too who rarely visits. He's the one trying to stab his staff in the back. Cheeky guy.

Mugaritz Restaurante

We has a 12 course meal with 5 diff wines. Meal lasted 5 hours!! It was 2am by the time we finished. They had weird shit like potatoes baked in clay which looked like stones, dehydrated then smoked watermelons that looked like raw beef and loin of duck which looked & tasted like beef. Too fancy for my liking but it's an experience la.. damage was like Euro150++ per person. Sheesh. Tq Spanish embassy.

Fancy food that played with your senses

Off to Spain!

Sat 21 & Sun 22 Nov 09

So excited to be heading to Spain! Going on the invitation by the Spanish embassy as they want to promote more Spanish products to Malaysia. Flew us business class on Lufthansa all the way but was a damn long flight. KL - (stop in Bangkok) - Frankfurt - Munich - Bilbao. But as it was business class, sleep was good and no jet lag whatsoever.

Business class seats, Frankfurt airport & the dodgy plane from Munich - Bilboa

Met up with the rest of the media. 2 from singapore, 2 from Jakarta & 2 from Malaysia. All girls!! haha Didn't stay long in Bilbao as we were whisked off straight to San Sebastian, a seaside town famous for its beach in the north of Spain. Weather here is absolutely lovely!! Bout 17c or so. Sunny too. Stayed at the Hotel Londres y de Ingaterra, the best hotel in town. Love their classic lift right next to my room.

Hotel Londres y de Inglaterra

We had the whole day free so we walked around the town a bit. Lovely city with beautiful waves. Lots of surfing and people were actually bathing there! Too cold to even think of stripping down to a bikini. Waves are crazy!

San Sebastian in the day & night

Awesome waves

Walking the city

Went to the tapas bar later on in the night and stuffed ourselves silly at 3 bars. Concept is simple. Enter a tapas bar, choose whatever you want to eat, tell the guy how many you ate & pay. Wonder y we don't have it here. Oh yea, the kiasus would most likely eat 5 and say they had 3. Loads of ham too. Ended up at a bar for some drinks at the end of the night.

Tapas bars & drinks

Doomsday in 2012?

Tuesday 10 November 2009

I was one of the lucky few that got to see the premier of 2012, 4 days before the world-wide release on Friday (13 Nov). Thanks to Tyng from Hot Magazine. Usually these movie premiers are quite empty but that hall in Cineleisure was packed! Was a hassle to go in too as we had to deposit our cameras outside before we were even allowed in.

We've seen the billboard advertisements, we've heard the warnings. 2012 was a doomsday prophecy that the world will come to an end on 21 December 2012, coinciding with the end of the Mayan calendar.

Yea, we were warned

The movie is directed by Roland Emmerich, the same guy who brought us Independance Day and The Day After Tomorrow, so you kinda know what to expect - loads of explosions, destruction, awesome CGIs and basically, a whole load of action.

Critics might disagree but I will have to say that I enjoyed the movie very much. The plot is not new - end of days is coming, govn conspiracy to cover it up from the people, a nobody tries to save his family and triumphs against all odds - but the delivery was entertaining nonetheless. I was gripping my seat for the entire 158 minutes of the movie.

Loads of awesome destruction scenes

What I liked the most was how they focused on relationships between familes - a father and his son, a mother and her child - instead of those stupid love scenes they always HAVE to put (well they did eventually towards the end but thank god it was a minor irrelevance). The most touching one was of the father calmly saying goodbye to his family as the giant tsunami heads towards them in India.

And I absolutely LOVE John Cusack. There's something about his geekiness that's SO attractive.

John Cusack in 2012

Well, go watch the movie this Friday and let me know what you think.

My first online TV hosting!

Saturday 7 November 2009

OMG I'm on tv!! hahaha remember that homestay thing I went to for a week? Well, I was actually supposed to cover it as a writer but they sent a videographer without a host and I ended up becoming the host!

Quite nerve wrecking at first as I've never been in front of the camera before. Really consious and I kept forgetting what I wanted to say. Think the nervousness rubbed off and I spoke like a train of the rails LOL!

Well, it's finally uploaded online. Watch it here & have a good laugh on me :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67iPFbJKlDg

Cheers.

In an Absolut world...

Thursday 5 November 2009

Currency will be replaced with acts of kindness.. That's the global campaign Absolut launched quite a while back. It's a clever campaign, where they get to your softer side by saying fuck currency, human kindness & contact is the way to go.

Scenes of people paying groceries with hugs at the supermarket, buying movie tickets with kisses instead of cash and tipping the streetside violinist with embraces and not cold change is just a few examples of how material possessions can be obtained. Hmm.. what should I give in exchange for a bungalow & a Mini in the driveway?

Here's the 60 second commercial in youtube :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSmh3Kcreoo

Absolut is having a month long promo throughout the clubs in KL where they treat their loyal customers to freeflow every now and then. Thought it would be a good girls night out since one of us needed some cheering up. First time we colleagues are going out too anyway.

Here we are at 21, Changkat. Louisa, Alycia & me

They had a really short fashion show by Catbit (?) too

Absolut Love flowers..

We got bored after that and joined Yasmin & Louisa at the Japanese restaurant a few doors down. Here we are mucking around.. Oh, do check out the gents toilet in this Jap rest. Great view of booty calls ;)

Mucking about : Alycia, Louisa & Yasmin