Empordanese cuisine and a good dose of cinema: what not to miss this week

The week ahead, with Jordi Garrigós

Some of the things we hope not to miss in the next seven days

I will listen to Charli XCX's new album. Music, fashion, film is the eighth album by the British pop star and a new, more rock-oriented turn in her prolific career. After dominating with the Brat summer, Charli Aitchison abandons green and embraces black and white to remain almost the only singer of her generation who plays with the mainstream while navigating the margins and experimentation. A singer who is living her particular artistic zenith, having more fun than anyone.

I will have lunch at one of the great benchmarks of traditional Catalan cuisine in Alt Empordà, Ca la Maria. Located in the tiny town of Mollet de Peralada, it is a restaurant that has passed from generation to generation, welcoming everyone from the lads doing their military service in the neighboring town to the families who stop by today, thanks to honest, pleasant cuisine that doesn't seek fanfare but the effectiveness of making you feel at your grandparents' home.

See Minions & monsters, one of the undisputed films of this summer. If the saga of these yellow critters who live in tribes with the sole objective of finding humanity's greatest villains to serve them is already a success per se, this new installment adds an indisputable element: placing them in the history of cinema and making it the common thread. These little ones never fail.

The past week, with Thaïs Gutiérrez Vinyets

Notes on what we have seen, heard, tasted and, in short, experienced in the last seven days

I had lunch in one of my favorite places in the Sants neighborhood, El Muntal. This restaurant still retains the essence of everything that is disappearing from the city: it is frequented by local people, it has a good gastronomic offer and honest prices. A combination that is increasingly difficult to find.

I really enjoyed Aina Clotet's film Viva, which I found much funnier, more original, and more exciting than I expected. The Catalan actress's first feature film tells the story of a forty-year-old woman who has just overcome cancer and finds herself in the midst of a life crisis that leads her to get involved with a younger man and question everything she had established. With plenty of humor and some very well-chosen supporting characters, the film will make you laugh and move you. 

I haven't been able to stop thinking about Francesco Guccini, the Italian singer-songwriter who died last week, and his unforgettable songs, with which he moved people, mixing poetry and political criticism. With him goes one of Italy's most prominent intellectuals, who leaves behind a great legacy of songs.

I have bought the book Gothic Feminism: a four-handed essay by Núria Gómez Gabriel and Ingrid Guardiola where they address the work of writers, filmmakers, and artists such as Virginie Despentes, Mariana Enríquez, Sofia Coppola, or Louise Bourgeois and analyze the representation of everything known as gothic and apparently monstrous.

More proposals for plans and activities:

• What can you do this weekend
• Activities for children
• Series premiering this month
• Video games being released this month
• What can you do in the Girona regions
• New restaurants to discover
• The casteller agenda