Thursday, April 26, 2012

Later tonight we will pack our suitcases in preparation for our weekend in Madrid.  We will have lunch with Virginia Sampere and in the evening we will attend a play.  We have known Virginia and her family since 1974 and she and her brother Jaime and her nephew David are the current administrative staff of the Estudio Internacional Sampere, which is where both my Foxcroft students and my Westridge students took classes when we did our trips to Spain.  Saturday is the day of the wedding with the ceremony at noon and the reception at 4:00 PM.  As of the moment we have no plans for Saturday evening or Sunday, but I imagine we will find something to occupy our time.  We will return to Valencia late Monday.

Wednesday Susan interviewed Mike for her restaurant blog.  Mike is the chef and co-owner of The Ginger Loft.  Susan began her interview at 1:00 and I arrived at the restaurant while everything was in progress.  It was fascinating to hear about Mike’s training and experiences and all the many places that his cooking talents have taken him.  When the interview and photo shoot has ended Mike prepared lunch for us.  We started with a cold apple, carrot, and garbanzo soup made with soymilk as a base with a dollop of yoghurt added to it.  We then enjoyed a plate of Moroccan Meatballs with couscous and lastly a dish of Thai Beef served with Basmati rice.  It was a delightful lunch.

Wednesday evening was low key and we rested and relaxed.  We read for a bit and watched a couple of episodes of The Mentalist.  I wrote for a while and Susan worked on some of the photos that she took earlier in the day.

Today Rosa came to clean and that means that it is always a good idea to leave her to her own devices because she loves to talk and talk and talk and talk.  We decided that we would visit with Francisco at Ballando Nudi because as of Monday he had added homemade stuffed pasta to his menu.  His basic recipe for the pasta is flour, water and fourteen whole eggs in addition to four additional egg yolks.  After enjoying an assortment of cold cuts we got down to business and had a plate of ravioli stuffed with a pork cheek stew and served with apples and a touch of butter.  We also had another plate of ravioli stuffed with mushrooms and Fontina cheese and topped with a brown butter sauce.  Both were outstanding.  We finished with a semifreddo of white chocolate and strawberries.

We stopped for coffee on the way home and I had the chance to indulge my slot machine habit.  I have been winning for the last week or so and that is a welcome change – no pun intended.  Susan has just headed off for her photography class and after I finish this blog entry I will practice my magic a bit and then decide what magic I will bring with me to Madrid.  I guess I will also figure out what clothes I will pack, too.  I will be offline for the next few days since I refuse to pay the Palace Hotel’s silly price for Internet connectivity.  I will try and post again on Tuesday with this coming weekend’s details.