Top places to visit while in Barcelona

 Hii, Semeehat here again.

Today I will be recommending the top places to visit in Barcelona. 

Barcelona has so many lovely Modernist buildings, Gothic alleyways, and Mediterranean beaches . Barcelona is aesthetically pleasing and is a beautiful city to spend your entire time just roaming around and admiring the scenery. It is the best city for someone who is an enthusiast when it comes to art and history.

1. Arc de Triomf

The Arc de Triomf is Barcelona's parallel of Paris's famous triumphal arch, designed by Modernist architect Josep Vilaseca I Casanovas.  This arc was built for a totally different purpose: it served as the primary entrance gate for the 1888 Barcelona Universal Exposition. It is a major thoroughfare in the city and hosts a variety of cultural events, such as markets and parades.

2. National Art museum of Catalunya 

Sculptures, paintings, historical relics, and more are on display in Catalunya's national art museum, allowing visitors to immerse themselves in Catalan history. The most famous of the permanent displays comprises Romanesque murals that were carefully transferred and restored here in the 1920s from church apses across Catalunya. The museum also houses one of the finest collections of Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque art in the region, as well as a substantial part dedicated to modern art, which includes the Picasso Collection.

Magic fountains

Located in placa de Espanya, The montjuic fountains are locted below the stariway that leads to the national art museum of Catalunya. This fountain puts on a fun and beautiful water display, with diffrent patterns and colours.

3. Casa Batllo

The Casa Batlló is a former townhouse designed by legendary Spanish architect Gaudi for the Batlló family in the 19th century. This building is located in Gracia, on a street that is surrounded by designer shops and restaurants.

4.Moco Museum and more 

Located in El born, The Moco museum is located amongst other museums. The moco museum is a contemporary art museum, filled with art pieces including pieces by Banksy. The street is filled with art and history. Walking along the street, you will hear the relaxing sound, of street preformers playing music.

5.Sagrada Famlia 

The Basilica de la Sagrada Famlia, located in the northern section of the city, was designed by Antoni Gaud, the most prominent Catalan architect of contemporary times, in 1883 as a neo-Gothic church. Instead of following the blueprints, he developed a signature piece of surrealism Art Nouveau architecture. He didn't have any definite plans in mind, preferring to change and add to them as the project developed.

Saying Goodbye to the Culloden

 After a month without a head chef and no structure to the kitchen finally we have a new executive head chef along with an executive sous chef. Things have gotten better with less and less agency chefs being used and more full time chefs starting. I myself was even given a promotion and became a lot more hands on with the bar and restaurant sections and trying to avoid pastry at all costs. I decided to stay over christmas and help out which I had worried about but it was a great experience and good fun working on christmas day.

Looking back on my time at the Culloden I have to say I really enjoyed it even if there were times that I was ready to blow up due to the break down in communications that some time arose between different areas it was a great time. I made so many friends in the hotel between the back of house and front of house. I don't think I've hugged so many people leaving a place as I did when I was leaving the hotel. All the chefs were very supportive and wished me the best in the next part of my training. I know I have friends in all of them that I will always get along with them no matter how much we used to wined each other up and when ever I am in Belfast I can stop by the hotel and say hi to them. I even developed relationships that I was not expecting to form whilst up North, some that just hit you unexpectedly and yet everything clicks and feels right.

If I had the chance I would have definitely started earlier than I did and I would even consider going back to work there in the future for some time purely due to the enjoyment that I got from it towards the end of my time there as well of course some of the techniques that I picked up there it was very beneficial to my training. I wish the best to all I worked with during my time at the Culloden.

Down Time in Belfast

 Hello again from the Culloden. Work has been very busy over the past few weeks, with the executive head chef being let go from the hotel. On top of this the head functions chef has been away on holidays leaving me running most of the functions that are going on in the hotel. With this new workload and some miss communication between different areas of the hotel the day to day work life can get stressful so I thought I would come on and talk about how I spend my down time which is very important.

With Belfast city only a ten minute drive away from the hotel it offers a lot of ways to spend my down time most of which is often in a pub. The night life is ecstatic even though nightclubs are only beginning to open back up. The city council also put on a free concert with big dj's such as Alan Fitzpatrick as a thank you to everyone who got the COVID vaccine and for being so cooperative during the pandemic. It feels really good to have some normality in life again, being able to go out and have some fun after being locked in for so long.

Of course there are many more things that the city has to offer other than drinking and partying. There are many different shops and shopping centres in the city for you to go look around and spend some of the hard earned money you've been working for. There are also many sites to see such as the Titanic museum and various different murals on the walls as well as the peace wall located in the West. 

I was lucky to be able to travel home every now and then which allowed me to just fully relax and not worry about work. The problem with living at the hotel is that just by walking through the kitchen you can be dragged into conversations, or helping to look for different items. In one case I ended up going through paperwork and events for the coming week so that's why it's important to get out even for a walk around the city to get away from the work.

Welcome to the Culloden

 Hello everyone, it's Sam here, writing from the Culloden Estate and Spa in Holywood County Down, Northern Ireland. Before I arrived here I had been informed of an issue with my staff accommodation and whilst this issue was being fixed I was to be given a hotel room free of charge. This was when I first arrived here and now a month later I am still in this hotel room but I am not giving out about this. This however had caused some issues when I first arrived because the human resource manager forgot to pass the memo onto the manager working the day I arrived. 

Everyone I met on my first day were very welcoming and friendly as well as very helpful with the issues of not having a room. As the days went on I started to get to know everyone who worked in the hotel. The biggest problem with getting to know any of the other chefs I would be working with was that most of them were agency chefs meaning they could be gone at any time. There are currently only four full time chefs which includes myself. 

I have currently been placed into banqueting and functions meaning that I am part of a team ranging from two people to four who cater for a range of functions including weddings, school formals and meetings to name a few. As well as catering for these we are also in charge of menu tastings for future events which will take place in the hotel and we also cater smaller private functions which often have an a la carte menu opposed to a set menu. I have attached a few images of dishes I have done for smaller functions, these include a smoked duck and date puree starter, a smoked salmon and celeriac remoulade starter and then a simple raspberry and white chocolate cheesecake with a berry compote for dessert.

We host functions in three different suits, the Holywood, Stuart and Robinson and can hold any numbers up to three hundred people at a time. I am enjoying my time so far at the Culloden but I am hoping to move away from banqueting and into the fine dining side very soon.