A Tasty Wine Tasting

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The next logical step has been taken. We know that we want to spend most of our time here in Valencia. We also know that we cannot afford to pay rent in Valencia year round and pay down our mortgage and condo fees year round. The logical solution appears to be to sell our townhouse in Alhambra. Renting it out is not a good solution. We have contacted the real estate agent who helped us by our place and she has taken a walk through our unit and has pronounced it highly saleable, especially with all the upgrades. She has sent us a list of comparables in the area and we have a very good idea of what will be a fair price for both the potential buyer and us.

We spent most of Sunday recovering from Saturday night and my only foray out of the house was to pick up a few items at Opencor. Other than that we rested, read and watched a bit of TV. That turned out to be the right thing to do.

Monday morning saw Susan doing Pilates and I made it to the gym to do some cycling. We opted to have lunch at La Fórcola. We both ordered the green apple salad and I followed up with a pizza and Susan had a chicken breast prepared with a peppercorn sauce. Half of the pizza came home with us so that it could be put to good use the following day. We had ice cream for dessert and finished our meal with coffee.

I headed out to the CIVAC meeting a little after 8:00. On the way I chatted briefly with Nacho to confirm our excursion on Sunday to the Asador Siete de Julio for lunch. Originally there were going to be four of us, but it appears that there may be as many as eight or ten. When I arrived at the CIVAC the gathering was in full swing and there were close to a dozen people gathered around the table.

The theme for the night was color-changing knives and when the theme was exhausted the cards came out. I did a Peter Duffie and Robin Robertson effect and Pepe showed us a mind-blowing effect that Miguel Gómez had shared with him over the weekend when he was here shooting a series of videos for Magic Agora. Around 10:00 people were getting hungry and the question of where we should go to eat came up. I suggested Ballando Nudi and everyone seemed okay with my suggestion.

Francisco’s restaurant seats 24 and when the twelve of us walked in we occupied most of the space. After some discussion we ordered Italian cold cuts, Italian cheeses, a variety of bruschette, and two different pastas. All the plates were filled with abundant quantities of product and two of the plates of pasta ended up going home with a fellow magician and me. We, of course, washed everything down with beer and wine and ended the meal with coffee and a touch of limoncello. Our feast ended up costing us 13 Euros apiece and I feel we were way undercharged. However, Francisco was happy and, therefore, so was I.

Yesterday Susan finally got to interview Eddie at La Comisaría and that took up most of her morning. I made it to the gym again and spent a good half hour on the recumbent bike. Since we were going out in the evening we had lunch at home and we warmed up the left over pizza and pasta from Monday. They were both very tasty.

A little before 8:00 we boarded the Number 2 bus to get to Brian and Ofelia’s. Brian had invited us to a wine tasting at Appetite and we needed to be at the restaurant by 9:30. Before we headed out to the restaurant we sat on the terrace of the apartment and had a beer and watched the sun set. A little after 9:00 we made our way to Appetite and when we walked in Ofelia was already seated at our table.

Last night’s wines came from Viña Ijalba a very small winery located in Logroño, which is the capital of La Rioja. We were to taste four wines – one white and three reds – and they were paired with an Indian Pori with a yoghurt dip, a warm goat cheese salad with dried cherries and walnuts, spaghetti and meatballs, roast duck with a potato dumpling and a chocolate pie with strawberries and whipped cream. The spaghetti course struck an odd note especially since the restaurant features Asian cuisine. Having said that the dish was perfectly prepared with the pasta al dente and the small meatballs dense and tasty.

After our meal we chatted briefly with the owner of the vineyard, Bonnie who is the chef at the restaurant and Arancia who works the front of the restaurant and is Bonnie’s partner. To finish our meal, I did a little bit of magic and when we left the restaurant it was close to 12:30. By the time we climbed into bed it was 1:30.

experience the difference

INFO@APPETITE.ES PINTOR SALVADOR ABRIL, 7 VALENCIA 46005 961 105 660

CATA CON CENA MARIDAJE

15 mayo, martes 9.30 pm

Queremos presentaros una cata y maridarlo con los platos de Bonnie, como siempre intentaremos

sorprenderos con vinos riojanos, con mucha personalidad, acercándonos a variedades olvidadas que

reflejan la esencia de su legado y que acompañen los platos de la cocina tan característica de

appetite, que nos hace viajar con los sentidos.

PARA COMPARTIR

INDIAN PORI con DIP de YOGHURT REMOLACHA

Ijalva maturana blanca

ENSALADA de QUESO de CABRA CALIENTE con ARANDANOS y NUECES