Ferran Adria’s first ever book in English has finally been released to some fanfare here in Sydney, when the man himself came down to give a bit of a talk. I couldn’t go, due to situation and hesitation, two good friends of mine, along with procrastination.
A fat, balding, Spanish waiter with some fat, balding, Jap tourist.
Anyway, the book is entitled: A Day At elBulli, and it really follows the master through a single day of operations at the restaurant itself. From the moment he walks into work till the moment the guests arrive and until the place finally closes, you get to see everything that happens. Throughout the pages, there are heaps of full colour, super detailed photographs which really go a long way to assisting the reader in understanding what is being conveyed.
The book itself is pretty massive and hefty, both in terms of size and in content. Whilst it is just one day of operations in the best restaurant in the world, the book goes rather in depth into accounting for each situation, at times casting side glances to Adria’s history or the methodology of the cooking or the “stages” that elBulli conducts to bring in young chefs from around the world.
Lauded by Bocuse, fawned over by Time and causing the normally caustic and chatty Bourdain to be reduced into a stumbling and awestruck mess, Adria is the man. The man who changed the way the game is being played and the man who has completely changed the gastronomic landscape across the world. The amount of detail in explaining ideas, idea generation, experimentation and actually making it reality is incredible. It is a feast for the mind. Trust Phaidon to do an amazing job. A Day At elBulli is a fitting tribute, a textbook and an inspirational piece of food history about a legend of the art of gastronomy.
For whatever money, this book is a must for any foodie, chef, intellectual or creative person looking for pure inspiration. At $80, I thought it was a steal considering how much a volume of works from the restaurant normally goes for. This is about as close I can get at the moment to getting just a whiff or a glance or an inkling of something amazing that is happening right now, in my lifetime.
For me, to simply see the kitchen itself, or the workshop in Barcelona, both in fact, would be rather high up on my bucket list. To eat there, would be second. To work there, right on top. Costa Brava, here I come.
Recently, circumstances (read: work) have led me to wake up at the unearthly hour of 4am and travel for an hour or so on a bus that is filled with an odd mix of post party poseurs, louts, hobos and non-english speaking foreign workers. The common thing between the lot, including the bus itself, is that they’re all fucking noisy. The ride is always bumpy and the chatter typically higher in the decibel and frequency.
Bottom line was that I was suffering through lack of sleep, physical tiredness and irritation. My solution of sorts was to withdraw unto myself all the more, by purchasing a pair of in ear headphones. Previously, I’d been using the fancy schmancy B&O A8 I got as a pressie one X’mas. Now I’ve swopped those lovely, albeit none too lovely sounding, objets d’art for a pair of cans that cost a tenth of the price and come nothing close to the Grados that I would love to have.
I present to you ladies and gents, the JVC Marshmallows. These are like the best pair of cheap in ear headphones. The operating word being cheap, of course. I followed advice from the Head-Fi forums and modded/kramered them. The result now is that I can still hear the odd bit of chatter but thank god its muted. I can still hear the drone of the bus but its no longer an overwhelming torrent of sound. My eardrums are also thanking me for allowing the volume to be turned down considerably yet still hear everything clearly. Another side effect, strangely enough, is that I actually think the sound quality on these post mod, is better than the B&Os. Now I know the Bangers weren’t great to begin with but these JVCs cost me $30 off the bay. Which is amazing.
That said, I still love the B&Os. They’re probably the most elegant earphone design I’ve ever come across and they’re incredibly lightweight but well built and extremely comfortable. Pity about the tinny sound. Also, the Marshmallows aren’t that great either. I’ve heard way better. Both sets are decent, if non ideal.
Using the Marshmallows is weird. They’re the first pair of in-ears I’m using, so I’m still getting used to pinching the memory foam before placing it into my ear, then waiting as it expands to fill up the space. I feel like I’m underwater, I can hear myself breathe through the bones conducting and I can hear the cables as they sway, although this is not that big an issue when the music plays.
Thank the Marshmallow Man for inventing memory foam to save my sanity.
It’s been twice now, walking to work, when I’ve heard Angus & Julia Stone playing Bella and I felt my heart swoon. Probably helps that I’m starting at 6 in the morning and there’s the rising sun together with a great view of Sydney’s CBD from the coastline at Manly. Still, it is a marvellously beautiful song nonetheless.
