The Happy Cooker – October 13, 2009

It has rained overnight and we wake to an overcast sky. With breakfast eaten and the dishes washed, we schlep an incredible amount of dark clothes to the laundromat. They tell us to return at 6:00 and they will have all our clothes washed, dried and folded. They will also iron my shirts. Our next destination is the Central Market.

La Frutería Ros has become our favorite stand for fruits and vegetables. The quality of their product is outstanding. Also they know their product well, so if you ask for salad tomatoes to be used today they will select the appropriate ones for you. We pay for our purchase and move on to Solaz, which is our vendor of choice for ham, Serrano and otherwise. I decide to splurge and ask for 100 grams of pata negra, the best and most expensive cured ham. It is produced from pigs that are lovingly cared for and fed acorns as their feed. The ham melts in your mouth and the taste of acorns is apparent. My 100 grams cost me the equivalent of $25.00, but I figure I’m worth it. Susan wants to prepare lunch at home today, so we ask the people at Solaz to recommend the best place to buy chicken. Their pollería of choice is diagonally opposite their stand, so we make our way over there.

They pick out two plump chicken breasts for us and process to slice then into fillets. We also pick up a dozen albóndigas to be used another day. Our last stop at the market is a panadería where we buy a baguette and we head home to put away our purchases. We quickly head out in search of fresh flowers for our table. There are a whole series of floristerías a short walk from our place. We look carefully at all of their wares and then settle on a half dozen orange roses. The florist carefully arranges them for us with appropriate greens and baby’s breath. She then wraps them in cellophane and ribbon and they would make a wonderful gift if we were visiting at a friend’s house. Their destination is our small dining table and when we place them in their vase, they brighten up the entire room.

Susan is busily at work peeling, slicing, cutting, chopping and stirring. She prepares a beautiful salad for us using lettuce, freshly sliced tomatoes, red peppers, olives and slices of Gruyere cheese. Our main dish is pollo al Albariño. Diced chicken fillets are browned in extra virgin olive oil along with salt, garlic and basil. After the chicken is fully cooked, diced fresh tomatoes are added along with the wine. The chicken is removed and the wine and the tomato are reduced resulting in a delicious sauce. We slice the baguette, open another bottle of wine and dine like royalty. We wash the dishes and busy ourselves for the rest of the afternoon.

Pepe comes by at 7:30 and the three of us head off to the magic club meeting at the CIVAC. We sit around for about an hour with a number of magicians, myself included, doing “stuff.” At 9:30 we make our way to Amadeus and we have a light dinner consisting of salad, a bit of sepia with grilled vegetables, a small helping of fideua and some unbelievably tender beef cheeks. We are too full to have dessert, so we settle for coffee. We then make our way home through the mostly empty streets. We are well into dreamland by midnight.