Peeling Fava Beans - Some Like it Raw

One of the secret pleasures and most amusing of activities in life, at least for some Mediterranean peoples is to shell and then peel fava beans, broad beans or habas as we know them in Spanish and eat the fresh content, the seed or kernel raw, accompanied with some bread and sometimes other ingredients like cod, cheese, ham, etc. My wife loves them and refers to them as an authentic delicatessen. Bear in mind though that you may catch a disease called favism which causes anemia but only if you are genetically predisposed. Try to tell that to locals in Murcia, Andalusia and other regions of Spain! In my opinion, you need some skill to peel habas or at least I see experts pile up a good amount of shells in the time I need to utterly destroy one pod. In the image, notice the beans inside the cardboard box and a bunch of pods right in front in the plastic container. This was taken early in the morning at one of those open air veggie stalls set outside La Boqueria market. The picture is almost ruined cause there was too much light and I didn't have much time to set the camera properly and still get away with my candid. I brought it here so you could see what peeling favas looks like and learn about the tradition behind it, a tradition as old as humanity itself and only second to good old lentils but that is part of another story. To illustrate the culinary aspect of fava beans here is a list of videos either about the plant or recipes that might give you new ideas for today's meal.

• How to Grow Fava Beans


• How to Prepare Fava Beans


• Fava Beans with Ham (Habas con Jamón not a video but a favorite!)


• Tortilla de Habas Tiernas


• Egyptian Recipe


• Fava Beans and Chianti by Hannibal Lecter (not that good)

Stretching at Parc de la Ciutadella, Barcelona

The man was really doing some light push ups as part of his stretching routine possibly before starting jogging.

Parc de la Ciutadella is the perfect place to practice outdoor sports early in the morning but bear in mind that on certain days this hot spot in flooded with people engaged in some cultural activity. Have a nice weekend my friends.

Check other posts about Ciutadella park that give you an idea of the superb scenario to practice open sports: Cascade Ciutadella Fountain or Barcelona Trees: Our City Lungs

Barcelona Tram: Route T4 Start Point, Ciutadella - Villa Olimpica

This is the start point of T4, one of the Barcelona Tram routes, going from Ciutadella (Olympic Villa) to Sant Adria. To be more specific it is at the end of Wellington street just next to the zoo entrance. To digress a little, I would like to remark how difficult it is for me to choose a proper, original title for a post. Difficult in the sense that I am always conditioned by SEO to make my site noted on the web. To tell you the truth, the sole fact of being so tied to niches, keyword phrases and so on is really a nuisance aka a pain in the a**. Maybe now you'd say, well go ahead and choose whatever title you want. Well, perhaps you wouldn't be reading this cause the post would be lost at the bottom of Google's obscure twilight zone. Yep, I am clearly digressing now. I should have called this something in the way from A Street Car Name T4 to Wheelchair Adapted Transportation. Does anybody know how to give artistic titles to a post and make it hit first pages of Google search results? I would like to give details about our modern tram system but there are sites offering great information on this and this blog is not associated in any way with Tram BCN. Where was I?...

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