Thursday, January 31, 2008

Cholesterol




Today is a special day here in Catalonia...we all take a step closer to the grave, or at least to the Dr's office. It has something to do with Carnival, i am not sure what honestly, but to day everyone eats boutifarra d'ou. You can see that sausage job up there. It is just that, a sausage, with all the usual pork fat issues, but this time, as an extra special carnival treat it is cooked with egg; just to top up your cholesterol levels.

Youngest and I ate it. The man, who already has a bit of a cholesterol problem, bowed out, and Eldest is a vegetarian...My veins should be humming along nicely right about now.

We topped it off with a coca...that thing in the photo that actually looks a bit like an uncooked hamburger is actually a delightful kind of sweet flaky flat bread, crispy with sugar and pine nuts. It is very tasty, and also traditional today, it is called coca amb -oh heck, I cannot remember the Catalan name - anyway, it means lard, as in pork fat. That's right...we topped off our cholesterol ladened boutifarra with pork lard cake.

Mmmm mmmmm good.

It was too.

Say a prayer for my veins m'kay?

9 comments:

mmichele said...

Oh, it's all natural and I bet it had plenty of garlic... I'm sure you'll be fine. :)

Beth said...

So what is the average life expectancy in Catalonia? Or are the negatives as to the cholesterol laden foods offset by the drinking of wine?

Anonymous said...

Go ahead and indulge, you deserve it after all the hard work of the past semester!
After all, you go walking in the hills twice everyday and have always taken great care to feed your family good healthy food so occasional splurges are worht it!

What a pity about the bad exam results.
But, once you find out where the problem was, I'm sure it will be easier to take.
Nothing left to do but send you a big hug of comforting consolation.
How did your kids react to the news?
Could it become a binding feature in your mutual language struggles?!
I sometimes wish I had learned earlier in life that my parents were not invincible. GM

Anonymous said...

Now you are supposed to fast for 40 days until Lent is over, but I dont think Ash wednesday is this week, so does everyone stoke up for a whole week?

Sea Dog

elPadawan said...

foie gras transforms bad cholesterol in good cholesterol. Now you know what to do :p

Anonymous said...

That does sound like a heavily fat laden meal. The chard looks like a good side dish, but it tastes best with butter ;-).

oreneta said...

Michele, I sincerely hope so. Garlic huh?

Beth, I think the life expectancy is pretty good, but a lot of them take cholesterol pills, and there is an awful lot of diabetic candy and sweets for sale.

GM, I have not gone into BCN for my actual grades yet, I'm not feeling very motivated about it. My writing is a problem I know and pure grammar, as in exercises are difficult, I also need to sit down and memorise what is masculine and what is feminine...

Seadog, I have absolutely no idea...when is the day we're supposed to eat pancakes, isn't that around now too?

Elpadawan, noooo, are you kidding me? Foie gras has no bad cholesterol? Oh ohoh, now I've got to go get some. Mmmmmm

Dawn, I acutally made the chard today, I ate most of it myself with a little olive oil and salt, it was sooooo good....I have some timy potatoes I'd like to put in there with it....mmmmmm

Oh, all these food posts, I'll have to go eat something.

Anonymous said...

Well I would have had some. Carnival? Interesting that Brazil is also starting their week of Carnival. Enjoy it while you are there.

oreneta said...

Sirdar, Carnival is the big party before lent, which is the 40 days leaing up to Easter, so it is held at the same time all over the Catholic world, and non-catholic as well, but the festival is rather more subdued...if you aren't Catholic. So Quebec Carnival is also going on now and in Germany etc etc etc...