Saturday, March 31, 2012

We are about to head out in a bit to catch up with Pepe at his house.  Sara, Jaime and María, Pepe’s sister, are already there.  We will find a place to grab a bite and then we will head out to a newer venue on the outskirts of the city to see a magician, Karim, perform.  Karim was one of the first magicians to perform at the Magic Castle during the Magic of Spain week.  The last time I saw was in Madrid last October at the convention.

Friday, after my physical therapy session, I stopped off at Miguel’s to pick up a book that had arrived for me.  It is called Illusionology and it is sort of a primer on magic and explains some thirty tricks.  Some of the materials needed are supplied.  It is, in essence, a coffee table book and it is truly a fascinating work. Here is a link to Amazon should you be interested in getting a copy.  http://www.amazon.com/Illusionology-Ologies-Albert-Schafer/dp/0763655880/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333215421&sr=8-1

Since we were next door to El Cuento, we took a peek at the menu of the day and decided that it would be a good place for lunch.  Susan started with a salad that was dotted with chicken and bacon and I had some patatas bravas that were studded with chorizo. We shared an arroz marinero and Susan had flan for dessert and I had a bit of blueberry cheesecake.  After we had our coffee we headed back home.

Later in the afternoon Susan began working on our tax returns.  Downloading TurboTax was no problem and she began the process.  Around 6:00 she left for a mini-workshop on photography that was being held at an exposition space just down the street.  I spent the time reading.  When Susan returned she spent some more time working on taxes and took a brief break to eat some of the pizza I had warmed up.

Susan continued the tax project today.  She worked a bit in the morning before she went to get her nails done.  I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood and say hello to a few familiar faces.  I caught up wit the gang at La Fórcola and we chatted for a while.  My next stop was a visit with Nacho ay Mantequería Chisbert where I picked up a bottle of wine.  On my way back home I met up with Francisco who used to be one of the staff at La Fórcola.  He has been talking about opening his own place for a while and his dream becomes a reality tonight when his place, Ballando Nudi opens.  It is fairly close to the Central Market and we will pay him a visit next week.

Susan prepared a lovely salad for lunch and the loaf of mixed grain bread that she picked up on her way home went perfectly with the salad.  I took advantage of the afternoon to do some more reading and to do my knee strengthening exercises.  Susan continued to struggle with the taxes.  She was trying to track down an error that had us paying an inordinate sum of money to the Feds.  The problem turned out to be a misplaced decimal point and now Uncle owes us.  We owe the state of California a bit, but in the end we will come out on the plus side of the ledger when all is said and done.

That’s about it from here.  It’s time to put on my jacket and head out.

Bravas con Chorizo