This year the Emirates chefs are making a real effort to produce menus which are more interesting to gourmet travellers such as myself! The starters include traditional Arabic mezze. There are even instructions on how to roast the aubergines. “We turn them over an open flame until the skin begins to bubble or we bake them in the oven until they blister, or we throw them on hot coals and watch them char. We discard the bitter peel and keep the creamy smoky flesh and that is the foundation for two of our most famous mezze items. For moutabel, we whip the roasted aubergine pulp with tahini, lemon, olive oil, garlic and seasoning until it’s almost smooth. The result is creamy with tart and smoky contrasting flavours which are further offset with sweet pomegranate seeds”. Not bad at all!
Dinner:
Trad Arabic Mezze
Humus, muhammara, baba ghanouj, stuffed vine leaves, olives.
Barramundi w asparagus and pearl barley risotto.
(The above description was from the lunch menu).
I watched one film on the Madrid leg:
Crazy Rich Asians. I have to say that when I lived in Singapore for seven years, I didn’t come across anyone like this. Nor did I meet any Singaporeans who spoke perfectly pronounced English. Did they send all those actors to elocution lessons? Still, it was a nice love story to while away a couple of hours.
This was a nice touch!
On arrival at Chamartin Station in the early afternoon, it was noisy and crowded being a May Day public holiday. It took me a while to orientate myself and find the correct exit. As my hotel was just down the road (Barcelo Imagine) I decided to go there first even though I had business in the station. After a hot bath and a beer, I started to feel more human and walked back to the station to purchase my Seniors Rail Card (€6) and a ticket to Fromista for tomorrow (€24) as well as a new set of ear plugs - a Camino necessity.
I went to bed at 7.00 pm and woke up at 3.00 am. Nothing to be done about jet lag. It goes away eventually.
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