Party Hearty Part Deux!

Thursday, January 5, 2011

Tomorrow is El Día de los Reyes Magos and that means that just about everything will be closed tomorrow. That is one of the reasons why we are about to head out to the Central Market to pick up the necessary items that will carry us through the weekend. Saturday we will be going to Pedreguer to visit with Pepe’s family and to have a traditional puchero for lunch.

After a late breakfast yesterday I headed off to the gym and a little later Susan headed off to her Pilates class. I spent most of the afternoon trying to get the printer to connect to the network and I am afraid that the antenna in the printer has turned out to be faulty. It is over fifteen months old and it is out of warranty. It will be cheaper to buy a new one, rather than fix the old one.

The afternoon was uneventful because we were resting up for yet another party. If you have been following the blog you know that Pepe’s 50^th is today so last night there was a surprise celebration in his honor at La Cuchara Mágica. Our instructions were to be there before 9:00 when Pepe was scheduled to arrive. We arrived at 8:45 and preparations for the grand event were in their last stages.

Sari and Mari Mar were hanging a huge banner at the entrance. Jordi Morera was putting the finishing touches to the dishes he had prepared for the event. Pepo, tonight’s event planner, was chilling down the champagne and setting up the glasses for tonight’s champagne, wine and liqueurs. Since Pepe did not show up until close to 9:30 we had achance to chat with a number of the invited guests. I estimated that there were forty people at this event.

Pepe was the first one through the door at 9:30 and was genuinely surprised when we turned on all the lights and sang Happy Birthday to him. He made his way through the crowd and greeted everyone who was present. As he made his way to the front of the room the sound of champagne corks popping filled the room. After several toasts the first four dishes of the evening made their appearance. There were finger sandwiches filled with a seafood spread, a caviar dip, pastry shells filled with a seafood mixture and a melted Brie with pineapple. The champagne was Pommery and it was the perfect accompaniment to the four starters.

We cleared the tables in order to make room for the next four dishes. Two of the dishes were Jordi Morera creations. One was a stew made with octopus and thistles and the other was a coca crowned with a variety of charcuterie. There were also mini-sandwiches filled with slices of sirloin and a pastry filled with quail. The wine to accompany these four dishes was courtesy of Benjamín Romeo owner of one of the most prestigious wineries in La Rioja. He had sent along magnums of his Predicador wine with special labels for the occasion.

While the tables were being cleared a second time so that the dessert and the liqueurs could be set out, Pepe was presented with a number of gifts. We had all signed a T-shirt and hat and Pepe put them on and posed for a number of pictures. Several of the guests performed some magic and then came the last element of the surprise. Pepo had engaged the services of his favorite singer to come and serenade Pepe. She started off with a jazz rendition of Happy Birthday and followed up with another five or six songs. While we listened to her we enjoyed a coca de nueces that had been made by Jordi and glasses of mistela and orujo. The party was winding down at 12:30 when we left and it was about 2:00 when we felt that our meal had digested sufficiently for us to go to bed.