Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Robert St. John: Yonderlust, Spain: Week One

MADRID— I spent the final month of 2011 in Spain. I was nearing the end of a six-month sojourn with my wife, 14-year-old daughter, and 10-year-old son. We covered a large part of the country— Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, and Malaga. There were several other stops such as Segovia for the meats and Bilbao for the arts, but our focus was on those other cities.

We all fell in love with Spain. To me, it’s second only to Italy over here. It’s strange, but before I went on that long comprehensive trip, if asked, I would have said France would be number one followed by Great Britain. I am certainly a Francophile when it comes to food, but I side with the Italians in that longstanding heated argument. Great Britain isn’t necessarily a food-lovers country. Though I have had many great meals there.  



Spain was the big surprise on that original trip. We fell in love with the people and the food and the laid-back culture. 

Here I am in 2022, back in Spain, exactly two years after a global pandemic shut down the world. I took a quick two-week working vacation into Tuscany last fall, but other than that, this is the first time I’ve been back in Europe since the pandemic hit.

I write this at 6:30am as the sun is beginning to rise through my hotel windows as it creeps above the tree line over beautiful El Retiro Park. There are 25 people in other rooms in this hotel waiting to start a 10-day journey with me retracing the route I took a little over 10 years ago. I am glad to be back and working over here again.

I use the term work, but it’s not hard work. It’s not like landscaping or construction. I’ve done those jobs. That’s work. And I’m not a tour guide, not at all. Even though I’ve led over 500 people through Italy over the past several years, I’m just a host. I find great people and great places and I love turning Americans on to those people and places. 

This trip was booked pre-Covid, over two years ago. The beauty of this group is that almost all the 25 people here have travelled with me before. For many of them, this will be their fourth or fifth trip. We are friends now, and that’s what the next 10 nights in Spain is going to be, a group of friends traversing the country and enjoying another culture, its people, and its food.

I never intended to be a tour host. It just happened. When my family was on the long six-month European trip, I invited my friend and co-collaborator/business partner Wyatt Waters over to join us on the Italian leg. He and I had written two books together at the time (four now, with another in the can waiting release one day). We worked on an Italian coffee-table cookbook, and from the resulting promotional book tour and requests from readers, we began bringing people to Italy.

Wyatt has suspended European travel for a bit and is staying closer to home and traveling the South while focusing on his new book project that will be out this fall. 

While Waters and I were leading those tours we also filmed five seasons of our show “Palate to Palette” which can be viewed at pbs.org. We were set to film season six in Spain when the pandemic hit.

March of 2020 held a lot of unanswered questions and confusion. No one knew the extent of what was coming. We were a few days away from the “Two weeks to stop the spread” mindset. Little did we know we were in this for the long haul. When it became apparent that full countries were starting to shut down, I cancelled the Spain trip. Unfortunately, we had one couple who was already over here in Portugal set to meet us in Madrid. Fortunately, they are good friends and have travelled with us many times and were able to make their way to London to fly home.

I rescheduled the Spain trip (and all my Italy trips) for the fall of 2020 and spring of 2021. Surely, I thought, this thing will be over in a matter of months. If we can stop the spread in a matter of weeks, certainly things will get back to normal in a few months. We all know the rest of that story. I ended up rescheduling and rescheduling and cancelling several other groups when the Delta variant hit, until now.

Here we are. Back again. Italy felt very safe last fall. They still take a lot of precautions over here, and in Italy. I’ll be shooting a new television show over here called “Yonderlust.” The first season will cover Spain and our journey on this trip with these friends.

Typically, I am not a group-travel person. I have gone on a few group trips food suppliers have gifted me throughout the years, but if they hadn’t been free, I would have preferred to travel with my wife as a couple. Though there is something about the way we do these trips. I can’t quite put my finger on it. But it’s not like we’re in a group travelling. It’s just like having a group of like-minded friends experiencing new things. 

We always err on the side of local non-touristic things and places. We hit some of the can’t-be-missed historical places, but for the most part I use locals to get us behind the scenes and into the places only the locals know and love.

So, again, I’m not a tour guide. I hire others to COVER that role, and they are the best in the business. They know their stuff. They are enthusiastic, and smart, and energetic as well as knowledgeable, and— just as our guests have become friends— these guides and experts have become my good friends. 

Ultimately, we are all just friends travelling through European countries satisfying our wanderlust, or in the case of we American southerners, younderlust.

Onward.


Calamari Salad


2 ½ lbs.                       Calamari, sliced tubes and tentacles
½ gallon                      Water
¼ cup                          Dry white wine
¼ cup                          White vinegar
4 each                          Lemons
2 TB + 1 tsp                Kosher salt
1 TB                            Whole black peppercorns
1 sprig                         Italian flat leaf parsley
1 sprig                         Fresh thyme
2 TB                            Red wine vinegar
1 TB                            Tarragon vinegar
¼ cup                          Extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp                           Fresh ground black pepper
½ tsp                           Fresh garlic, minced
¼ cup                          Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves, loosely packed
2-3 each                      Large leaves fresh basil, chiffonade

In a 2 quart stock pot, combine water, wine, white vinegar, 2 lemons, 2 TB salt, peppercorns and the sprigs of parsley and thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and add the calamari. Leave in the water for 3-4 minutes to partially cook the calamari. Strain and spread out on a pan to cool completely. Discard the poaching liquid.

Stack the basil leaves, roll them tight, and slice thin with a sharp knife (chiffonade)

Once the calamari has cooled, combine with the juice of the remaining 2 lemons, red wine vinegar, tarragon vinegar, oil, 1 tsp salt, black pepper, garlic, parsley leaves and basil. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for a couple hours. Serve chilled.


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yawn.
New year, same boring content.

Anonymous said...

That’s cool Robert.
I am more of a Thailand and Vietnam kind of guy.
Been to Europe, it was nice.
South East Asia is just a lot more fun!

Anonymous said...

Visited half these places while serving my country back in the early 90's. Spain was really nice. Of course , didn't have unlimited funds nor a family with me but it was still nice.

Anonymous said...

Is this the same guy who is perpetually po-mouthing about restaurants being broke and begging the gubment for prop-up money?

Anonymous said...

I went to Spain a few years back. Barcelona in fact. Only cool part was the cathedrals hot women and going to a Barcelona match and I sat near Kenton James and about 7 other NBA players that were watching Messi play.

Anonymous said...

10:21 am - That's Mr. St. John, for sure!

Anonymous said...

Most of those group trips have a person who puts the trip together and if they get a large enough group to pay full price the organizer gets his trip for free. Walt Grayson does this every year. I agree it looks bad for St. John to go on these trips and then begs for money from the government. But Bobby does raise a lot of money for food deprived folks.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I went to Vietnam myself. Like Disney in mid August. Hot and at times, breezy. Humidity up the ass and nightly fireworks.

Anonymous said...

1:03 True. I think it boils down to the snobbery feel these articles seem to have. St John and the other wine fellow trying to instill some uppity culture to us pleebs kinda thing. As if none of us are well traveled. The rich Aunt/Uncle who are always correcting your grammer.

Anonymous said...

Thank you to: 1006, 1021, 1232, and 243, along with others that will come along.

Let me suggest to you - easy solution - just don't read his columns.

Same goes for those that can't stand what Salter writes - just as easy there.

It doesn't take very much work to scroll past those columns that you don't like anything the author ever says. Hey, I find it easy with DL Gardner, Pollard, and many others here. Try it; you'll like it.

Anonymous said...

pleebs?
It’s plebs as in plebeian. Do you even know the origin of the word?
I am curious where you got your GED.

Anonymous said...

@3:56 PM
Are you new here? Part of the fun of this gossip blog is throwing darts at pretentious tools like Robert St. John.
I would expect no less for myself if I ended up the subject of post.

Krusatyr said...

Saw a dramatic and very bloody bullfight in Barcelona, before they were outlawed. Blood gorging spectacle. Enjoyed museums, Sangria and swimming in the Mediterranean. Backpacked all of Europe for $3/day after air and sea transportation and Eurail Pass.

Back then, many teens worked from 14 years old on, saving money for cars or trips or college.

Restaurant Owner Who Works The Night Shift... said...

3:56 - I'm sure I'm somewhere in your list of time-stamps. I don't and didn't read his column(s). Just asked if he's the same guy.

He has the gall of Saul and the balls of DeGaule to come on here bragging about his travels while begging the gubment for money to stay afloat. In that respect, he's no different than Chokwe.


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In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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