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California, an ode to the unexpected

 It was a rainy September morning back in London and for once we didn't moan about the weather. We were going away to warmer latitudes for over four weeks. Our hearts full of joy. It was happening. The plane rounded a sharp turn, the view opened unexpectedly and scenic Point Reyes spread out beneath us.

 In the short time that the landing lasted, all the reasons I had gathered along the years to make California my dream destination flashed before my eyes. My first love was basketball and my hero Kobe Bryant and his LA Lakers. Then it came Kerouac, Steinbeck and Joan Didion. Of Mice and Men reminded me of a story my grandmother told me about. Post civil war rural Spain wasn't overly different to that California superbly described by Steinbeck. Summers were spent around the Cantabrian sea, in Asturias, dreaming of Big Sur and its wild landscapes, thinking of the day when I could drive down Highway 1to the sound of the Grateful Dead.

 In my first year of university I became absolutely obsessed with the Yosemite captured by Ansel Adams’ lens. Furthermore, every time I went to the mountains –which was regularly- Muir’s quote from My First Summer in the Sierra echoed, “exhilarated with the mountain air, I feel like shouting this morning with excess of wild animal joy”. San Francisco’s counter-culture movement and the West Coast music scene associated with it has fascinated me since my early twenties. But what I was most curious about was the food. Would Chez Panisse live up to its legend? Would Tartine’s morning buns be as delicious as I imagined? Would the farmers markets make me consider relocating?

 And there we were in San Francisco. To fight the inescapable familiarity with the city even before stepping foot there, we decided to surrender to the beauty of unplanned travelling. Being my companion a transport planner professional, it took a while to convince him of the charms of wandering without a particular purpose, but when he agreed, he never looked back.

To see more of my California on this 10-page story, packed with off-the-radar recommendations, anecdotes and illustrated with analogue photography buy your copy of In Clover here.

 
California road trip - Monica R. Goya
California road trip - Monica R. Goya
California road trip - Monica R. Goya

** See more on the print edition here **

 

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“Crear un plato es como crear una canción”

 

Martin Morales, la mente creativa tras varios de los restaurantes peruanos más populares de Londres, habla de su nuevo restaurante, Casita Andina y analiza el camino que le ha llevado hasta el éxito

En su web personal, Morales se define como chef peruano, autor, restaurador y productor artístico. Pero la definición no le hace justicia. Al menos no la suficiente. El chef se ha embarcado en una misión para dar a conocer el universo peruano en tierras anglosajonas, desde la gastronomía hasta la música pasando por la artesanía y esta tarea le ha convertido en un auténtico embajador de su país.

La gastronomía peruana es su carta de presentación. En 2012 inauguró su primer restaurante, Ceviche, donde ofrece platos peruanos de inspiración costeña. Él se encargó del diseño del menú y puede presumir de haber popularizado el ceviche en la capital británica. Chef autodidacta, Morales confiesa “amo la cocina, he cocinado desde los 9 años y tenía una misión de presentar la gastronomía peruana en este país, nadie lo había hecho, y pienso que alguien responsable tenía que estar a cargo de eso, y quería ponerme en esa situación tan difícil pero también tan responsable”.

Check Revista Iberoamericana de Gastronomía Cielo, Mar & Tierra's August 2016 issue to read the whole interview with talented chef and cookbook author Martin Morales of Ceviche London.

Martin Morales interview
Martin Morales interview