About Great Feast
Welcome to GreatFeast.com!
I’m Annie, a 41-year-old freelance travel writer originally from England, now living in Catalonia, Spain. This blog is me sharing the joys of home-cooked, Catalan cuisine with other Spanglish (or otherwise) families out there.
Also, it’s a creative outlet for me as I navigate a new culture while raising and feeding an autistic son.
Welcome to Our Beautifully Chaotic, Occasionally Gourmet, Always Unpredictable Life
While I’m elbow-deep in flour attempting to master the perfect Catalonian pastry, JC (my husband) is in his home office, working as a telecoms executive, solving problems that actually have solutions. (Unlike my attempts at making homemade aioli and such.)
He’s Catalan through and through: efficient, pragmatic, and utterly horrified by my loose interpretations of his family’s beloved recipes.
We both work from home, but while I have the flexibility to step away and manage Albert’s needs, JC’s job is full-on. It means that I spend most of my time as Albert’s primary carer, which has led to a lot of introspection, research, and a deep appreciation for the academic side of autism.
Expect posts that dive into sensory processing, communication challenges, and the reality of raising a nonverbal child – written with a blend of scholarly research and real-life. Usually mayhem. You have been warned.
“Amb pa i vi es fa curt el camí.”
– With bread and wine, the journey is shortened. Catalan saying.
We live in a beautiful but impractical house about an hour from Barcelona.
When we bought it, we had visions of a rustic Catalonian dream – high ceilings, sun-kissed patios a kitchen fit for a food writer. In reality, the house needed extensive renovations, and we quickly learned that “charm” often translates to “structurally questionable.” Aka: a money pit.
Still, we love it. Our days are a mix of working, parenting, cooking, and occasionally battling unexpected (but now unsurprising) home disasters. The journey of making our house a home is one we’ll share here – along with the occasional rant about the complexities of Spanish property rules, TAXES and all the other things that go alongside owning an old rural property in this delightful country.
What You’ll Find on GreatFeast.com
This blog is mainly about recipes, tricks and tips for preparing home-cooked Catalan cuisine.
But it’s a lot more.
It’s about family, adaptation, and the way traditions evolve when life doesn’t fit into a perfect mold. It’s about finding joy in small victories – whether that’s our autistic son trying a new dish, me finally nailing a recipe, or JC’s parents admitting (reluctantly) that my escudella isn’t entirely terrible.
So, if you enjoy a mix of humour, sheer horror, heartfelt storytelling, and a good plate of botifarra amb mongetes, you’re in the right place. Pull up a chair, pour yourself a glass of vi negre (ditto), and join us on this unpredictable, hopefully delicious journey.