With the arrival of October, the streets begin to lose the colors of summer. The trees have already shed their first leaves, ocher and earthy tones gain space, and routines return to occupy the days. Autumn has something of a premiere and a pause at the same time: while we resume our course, perhaps we also look back a little.

Arrop exists. It is the literary offering that the shepherds propose to bring to the newborn Baby Jesus along with fresh bread, cheese, honey, and cottage cheese. When the writer Josep Maria Folch i Torres wrote the play Els Pastorets he must have turned to the most precious and beloved foods, among which was arrop. Today it is still a good food, and we can prepare it at home, right now, with the fruits that still linger from the summer.

The small ice cream shop on Carrer Enric Granados is always visible from a distance because of the long line that runs along the facade. People wait patiently in line because DelaCrem's ice cream is some of the best in Barcelona. Its owner, Massimo Pignata (Pineròl, Piedmont, 1975) learned everything he could from his native Italy, where he was inspired by the Grom ice cream shop in Turin. When he came to Barcelona in 2010, he had a clear goal: to make a creamy ice cream that would be enjoyed by everyone. "I didn't have a clear business plan, just what kind of ice cream I wanted to make," explains Pignata.