These are the ice creams in Jordi Roca’s Rocambolesc
Tangerine sorbet, strawberry sorbet, baked apple ice cream, chocolate ice cream and ice milk. From 2.75 euros. Ice cream or desserts?
What’s Rocambolesc
Rocambolesc is the new ice cream parlor to experience the sweet sensations of El Celler de Can Roca. Located in Girona (Santa Clara, 50) and directed by younger brother, the pastry chef Jordi Roca.
All desserts are made using the original ingredients from the recipes of El Celler de Can Roca. Up to 6 of them may be tasted.
A funny name
The chosen name – Rocambolesc – is absolute genius. The word means something like outrageous, but in a very positive sense – besides being a pun with the Roca family name. And a perfect fit to the atmosphere that breathes the local, reminding us the story of Willy Wonka.
Cool ideas
Besides ice cream, there are also books and perfumes. But best of all, you’ll find a special take-away kit of probably the most well known of all, the milk dessert: guava, milk candy, sheep’s milk yogurt and sheep’s milk icecream.
Are’nt you excited about taking it home to enjoy yourself?
Oh, and there’s also a blog, where you’ll find these and many more picures.
3 secrets from the second best chef of the world
The Diario de Gastronomía interviewed Joan Roca in the last Madrid Fusion. He is the older of the three brothers in front of El Celler de Can Roca (Girona), an establishment which last year won the second position in the prestigious ranking of The World’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards.
After reading the interview, I share here three interesting ideas:
1. Education in a hotel school
The Roca brothers are the third generation of hospitality professionals, so they were born and raised in a kitchen, in a restaurant. They began helping out their parents and learned there. But also in school, at that time there were only two hotel schools in Spain, one in Girona and the other in Madrid. They were fortunate, says Joan Roca:
We were fortunate to have a hotel school here and that’s probably also one of the reasons why we are dedicated to this: because we could study and have a formal education. But anyway, in the kitchen you realize that you are always learning and that the road is long and still not over.
2. Keep grounded
El Celler de Can Roca has 50 employees and all of them have breakfast, lunch and dinner in the restaurant of the parents. Joan Roca admits that it solves a logistical issue, but also keeps them true to their origins.
Home-made food … is like keeping the umbilical cord with the mother, something that keeps you well grounded from the gastronomic point of view, but also in the sense that-actually-it’s very easy for chefs to lose our head and believe everything the media tells us, awards and recognitions. When you go every day to your parents’ house, you ground yourself and say “okay, here’s where we come from, this is what we are.”
3. Exceptional products
Class chefs require class products …
Read MoreToday one of the most important concerns of the chefs is to find premium products, apart from the creativity and other things that obviously also influence, but finding products is becoming an obsession.
What do we do? we try to establish contacts with small producers, people who produce what we want or are willing to produce what we want and we are willing to pay what it’s worth. That is the key to having an outstanding product, which is what we all seek: the only way is to establish such contacts and synergies that yield close to the product.
Meet Coffee Joulies
Like a lot of people, I start my morning with a hot cup of coffee. And I run into puzzle: How to keep my coffee at the perfect temperature as I go about my morning routine.
Now I’ve met Coffee Joulies, stainless steel beans, about the size of an egg, that you put in your coffee. They instantly cool it down to a drinkable temperature and then keep it warm for up to five hours.
They were invented by two 20-something mechanical engineers who were childhood friends. They launched their idea on grassroots-fundraising web site Kickstarter.com, with the goal of raising $9,500. The product was so successful that they made over $300,000 and then rushed into production to meet demand for the 10,000 sets ordered by investors from Kickstarter. For the rest of us, they’ll be available from the online store.
One of the coolest things about the product is that the factory where they’re being manufactured is a former Oneida silverware factory, which Oneida had shuttered.
Not to mention design. Look at the pictures. Don’t you think it’s a good idea with an attractive design?
Interview with Noelia Borrull
Via Magna has a new space on the web called “Life After Via Magna,” with alumni interviews following their professional career after graduation.
The first interview is with Borrull Noelia, who joined the family business.
Q: How and when started your interest in hospitality, culinary and gastronomy?
A: I liked cooking since I was a child and when I finished Spanish ESO studies in Sagrada Familia school, I asked my mother to let me participate in the kitchen of our family business, Can Barrrina hostel, and it was very motivating. This experience made me think I should study hospitality. At the beginning, we thought about other schools, but when we discovered Via Magna, we decided on this option.
Q: How did Via Magna help you with your education?
A: I learned the basics of cooking, very important to know what dishes I can develop. On the other hand, accounting and legislation have been very helpful for our business.
Q: That is, these skills helped you to become chef in the family restaurant…
A: Yes, it is very satisfying, because although I’ve always seen my parents and grandparents in the restaurant, the situation is different when I take my responsibility, customers ask who is the chef and I feel proud because they like what I do.
Q: With Via Magna, you have been to Switzerland and have completed an internship at a reference local restaurant, Amaré. What are your conclusions from these experiences?
A: I had a great time in Switzerland and loved the school, it’s very cool. As for cuisine, the system is different there. I have always had the reference of our traditions and cultural heritage, but there I learned to see it from another point of view, more as working in teams, with different tasks… In Amare Restaurant, I felt very comfortable, in a family environment and I learned a lot.
Q: So I understand that Switzerland enriched you because let you learn the international side of cooking and a different cuisine
A: Yes, quite different. We worked more divided in teams… it’s more like a show cooking where everyone has to perform defined tasks very well.
Q: What’s the influence of this experience when you join Can Barrina?
A: It’s very positive. Now I have more knowledge, management skills helped me a lot… I can now understand much more the professional views of my mother.
Q: What you learn away help you appreciate what you have at home?
A: Yes, because at home, I found a structure and a very good customer base. Years ago, people wanted a range of dishes and now the current client requests a diferent kind of dishes and this is what I want to contribute with. In that sense, the confidence we have with regular customers gives me constructive criticism of very high value for me.
Read the rest of the interview, with Noelia’s future projects at this link: Interview with Noel Borrull.
Or get the interview in PDF format: Interview with Noel Borrull.
Read MoreHow to get more things done
Are there many things you want to do but time goes by and you have not made any? Your to-do list grows and grows? Do not get to make the most important thing because you’ve bundled with other issues?
There are some things you always leave for later. You think that there will be time … but the truth is, the final day comes and you did nothing. This is called procrastination, a widespread art.
Avoiding it may be much easier than you think. The great tip is a simple little trick Leo Babauta just unveiled us:
Decide to do the first minute of the task.
Do not think about all the work and all that entails, the most important thing is to start. So divide the task into small steps, and decide to do the first step immediately, although you have plenty of time.
The most important thing is to do the first step soon.
Remember that.
Source: Best Procrastination Tip Ever
Read MoreEduc@Emplea 2011 Fair
Next May 19 and 20, Via Magna will attend Educ@Emplea fair at Elche.
Come see us at our stand, we will be happy to inform you about Via Magna -academic partner in Spain of “César Ritz” Colleges Switzerland and Culinary Arts Switzerland, and Professional Diplomas with international professional output.
In addition, we are proposing a fun challenge to test your perception.
Will you be able to identify 3 secret ingredients only through your nose?
Participate and get a small gift form Via Magna school. Moreover, you will enter a draw for a fantastic iPod Shuffle.
Looking forward to meeting you there!
