Olive-Picking

Around this time of the year, I would probably be apple-picking with my family. This year, I went olive-picking instead. Last week, one of Francisco’s regular customers, Jose, invited us to his weekend house and then to his piece of land in the mountains.

We left on a Monday night and made our way to L’Ampolla, another coastal town of Catalunya that attracts retired Europeans from the North. It took us about an hour and a half to arrive in this little town. We had a nice fresh seafood dinner, enjoyed a drink or two in a very empty bar, and spent the night in Jose’s house.

The next day, we drove up a mountain and Jose showed us his piece of land full of olive and almond trees. While Francisco and I picked olives, Jose prepared our lunch. He was making us paella. We had bought the ingredients fresh from a market just before we drove up the mountain. We had fresh clams, mussels, prawns, and oysters. The oysters were of course for appetizers, not for the paella. I’m still trying to get over my first oyster experience with Francisco back in May of this year, so I took a pass on those.

The paella process was pretty cool. I’ve seen a friend cook paella before but not like this: outside, with natural fire from wood. This time seemed more authentic. I don’t quite remember exactly how Jose made it – I was too busy picking olives! – but I’ll try and describe it as best as I can. Once the fire was ready, Jose put the chicken and rabbit (Ugh! I had no idea I’ve been eating rabbit in paella this whole time!) with chopped garlic and lots of olive oil. Then he added water and the mussels. After, he added the rice and spices. Once it was boiling, he added the prawns and clams. Then it was ready to be eaten after the rice was done. This is probably the worst description ever. Someday I will learn how to cook paella and share it with everyone.

The paella/olive-picking process was for sure an experience for me. Unfortunately, I was totally PMSing and couldn’t enjoy it the most I can. There were lots of mosquitoes who refuse to leave me alone, I was hot and bothered, and I felt gross and dirty! I was just one big hot mess. I would never survive in nature just for the fact that when I have my period, I want to be indoors – preferably my comfy house with a proper bathroom – and I just want to relax, not picking olives. There were moments where I was completely content and there were moments where I just wanted to get the hell out of there. I’m pretty sure Francisco and Jose thought I was a bit crazy at times. I won’t mind doing it again, though. It’ll just have to be planned on a more appropriate time of the month.

P.S. to my family: I really hope you froze some of those apple donuts or whatever for me. They should still be good over Christmas break.