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Spain Scores Record For World's Longest Restaurant Table

YumSugar — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 11:30:17 -0700

Perhaps the world's lengthiest dosa has finally found its place at table.

Over the weekend, a dining table measuring 1.258 kilometers, or more than three quarters of a mile, entered the Guinness World Records. The front-page furniture hailed from the Valencian town of El Campello in Spain.

The feat was made up of tables from at least 60 various local restaurants. Restaurants that contributed space were allowed to decorate, wait on, and serve diners at these tables to their liking. Despite the fact that the record-setting structure beat out an 2007 record held by a restaurant in Vienna, Austria, that was 1.176 kilometers long, every single seat at at the table was occupied. Do you enjoy dining at long tables?

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Titanic Tomato Fight Takes Over Valencia, Spain

YumSugar — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:00:58 -0700

For many, corn boils and clambakes are the highlights of the season. But others look forward to very different Summer festivities - like the La Tomatina in Valencia, Spain. Yesterday, the town of Buñol, Spain (population: 9,000), held its annual world-famous tomato food fight. The event, which is on the last Wednesday in August, is an all-out escapade that involves more than 100 tons of overripe tomatoes, draws over 40,000 visitors from around the world, and spares absolutely no one.

To learn more about it and check out a gallery of images, read more.

It's part of a weeklong festival that includes music, parades, dancing, fireworks, and a massive paella cooking contest. The hourlong exchange, which takes place in Buñol's Plaza del Pueblo, dates back to the mid-1940s. Legend has it that the fight either began as a spat between local merchants, or when disgruntled citizens started throwing tomatoes at politicians. Après-argument, participants hose one another off and jump in the Buñol River, while fire trucks hose down the plaza.

This looks disgusting yet fun, so I'm adding it to my bucket list of things to do. Can you imagine how much tomato pulp the photographer must've been covered in?! Would you participate in La Tomatina?

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A Taste of Casa Balbino's Classic Spanish Tapas

partysugar — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:50:04 -0700

In the heart of any Spanish city, there's a plaza filled with countless tapas restaurants. The menus hardly vary from place to place - everyone offers their version of classics such as gambas al ajilo, patatas bravas, or tortilla Española. That's why places like Casa Balbino, located in the Southern city of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, are a dime a dozen. While they serve the traditional dishes, they also offer a wide variety of harder to find tapas. Because Sanlucar is located along a delta, the seafood is unbelievably fresh. One hot Summer afternoon, I ate my way through Balbino's amazing selection of tapas. Here, you'll find a taste of the scrumptious journey.

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The Seafood Is Fresh and Delicious at Spain's Romerijo

partysugar — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:30:52 -0700

While YumSugar's favorite seaside seafood joint has an amazing view and outdoor fireplaces, my preferred place for fresh and fried fish is a gritty, sometimes chaotic restaurant with wax paper napkins and plastic chairs. Located in the southern Spanish town of Puerto de Santa Maria, the wildly popular Romerijo is part restaurant, part fish market. It may not be elegant, but the incredibly fresh fish and classic Spanish atmosphere make this eatery a place I return to every time I visit Spain. To take a trip there without leaving your desk, read on.

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Spain Introduces the World to Light Wine

partysugar — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:01:18 -0800

While many winemakers are worried about the increasing levels of alcohol in wine, one winery, The Bodega Casa de la Ermita, is actually doing something to stop it. The Spanish winery has just released the world's first ever "light wine." In this case, light means less alcohol - just six and a half percent - and lower alcohol levels means fewer calories.

The red wine will hit Spanish markets in April and is set to debut soon after in the rest of Europe. An article in the Daily Mail explains how the lower alcohol content is obtained:

The vineyard achieves the low alcohol content by reducing the amount of water the vines are given, which lowers the amount of sugar produced by the grapes. During the fermentation process, the temperature is raised and lowered rapidly by up to 15C, which makes the yeast less efficient and ensures that some of the sugar fails to turn into alcohol.

I love the idea of a light wine and hope to taste it on my next visit to Spain. Until then, I'll just have to wonder if the flavor is compromised.

What do you guys think? Are you interested in drinking light wine?

Gwyneth, Batali, Bittman, and Claudia Hit the Road

YumSugar — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 14:33:11 -0700

A few months ago, I mentioned that Gwyneth Paltrow was heading to Spain with Mario Batali in order to film a show for PBS. Well, for all of you who thought it was too crazy to be true, I have news for you: They've started filming!

That's right, according to the Associated Press, Paltrow and Batali - along with Mark Bittman (aka the New York Times's "Minimalist") and Spanish actress Claudia Bassols - are spending much of the next four months cruising around Spain in a fleet of Mercedes. Their producer, Charles Pinksy, hasn't told them what their itinerary is, but cameras in the cars will capture their reactions.

"It is going to be a road trip as if anybody else was taking a road trip, although we've planned things out. We've got some special things that maybe other tourists might not get a chance to do, as well," Pinsky told a press conference Tuesday in Madrid.

I don't know about you, but I am definitely going to tune in. Batali and Bittman are always worth watching - especially together - and the addition of Paltrow and Bassols should make for very entertaining television. What do you think? Are you going to watch?

Spain Serves Up the World's Largest Salad

YumSugar — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:18:33 -0700

This weekend, the Spanish town of Pulpi set a new world record for the world's largest salad. The salad, which was tossed on Saturday, weighed 6,700 kilograms and consisted of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, peppers and olives. Twenty cooks took three hours to toss the salad, which will be distributed to Pulpi restaurants to serve to their clients for free.

I'm not sure why they decided to go for this record, but I'm always amazed by the amount of food that is used in these sort of things. What about you, what do you think of this record?

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Take Two and Call Me In The Morning

YumSugar — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:13:33 -0700

As I've mentioned before, we've got a small candy problem here at Sugar HQ. So it should come as no surprise that at least five of my cohorts forwarded this information to me.

In the town of Barcelona, Spain, the coolest candy store has set up shop. Designed by studio m, the store - called Happy Pills - has taken the pharmacy theme and run with it. The narrow, hallway sized shop is your standard, by-the-pound candy store, except that everything is packaged in plastic medicine-style bottles. They also have pre-packed "medical kits" and "first aid" supplies.

It reminds me a bit of the emergency chocolate bar, and well you know, I guess sometimes a spoonful of sugar is the best medicine after all.

My question is, how long until someone replaces the Sugar HQ first aid kit with this one?!?

Source: Design Milk

You Say Tomato, I Say Fooood Fight!

YumSugar — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 12:45:37 -0700

Every year, on the last Wednesday in August (which happens to be today), the folks of the Spanish town of Bunol get together for the annual tomato throwing festival. That's right, the town citizens, along with tens of thousands of tourists, get together for a giant tomato food fight called La Tomatina.

For exactly one hour (11am-noon), 117 tons of plum tomatoes were hurled into the air, at folks, into the streets, everywhere. At noon a rocket was shot into the air signaling the end of the fight. Once it was over, residents used garden hoses to spray down the town.

There were no reports of injuries this year, mostly because everyone seemed to respect the rules: Only throw tomatoes, don't throw tomatoes that are green (meaning that they're hard), squeeze the tomatoes first to make them burst easier (easing the sting).

So how did the event begin?

Local legend claims the event began in the mid-1940s after a group of youngsters waged a food fight near a vegetable stand on the town square. They met again the next year and pelted each other - and passers-by - creating the annual tradition.

Sounds pretty wild, but from the look of things, it sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe I should book a hotel for next year...

Source: International Herald Tribune
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Happy Hour: Tandem Ars Nova Red Blend

YumSugar — Wed, 09 May 2007 13:58:39 -0700

PartySugar mentioned that we were fortunate enough to meet Michael Chiarello last week - she also mentioned that we got to taste the wines from the Napastyle Wine Club. What she didn't mention was that one of the wines really stood out from the rest. I even had to take a picture of the bottle and remind myself to look it up when we got back. The wine was a 2004 Ars Nova from Tandem winery in Spain's Yerri Valley. It was a smooth rustic red blend consisting of Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes. According to Napastyle's website the "Fancypants Adjectives" (their wording!) associated with the wine are "dry and lean with cherries, violets and cedar hints." I couldn't have agreed more. It had a nice fruity taste, reminded me a bit of chocolate and was incredibly smooth. And although it could be consumed perfectly on its own, I want to get my hands on a bottle to pair with grilled lamb chops!

Contact your local wine merchant to locate a bottle of your own, or order it online at Oddbins (UK) for £9.49.