Wednesday, July 18, 2012

If you are a Facebook friend of ours then you surely have noticed the fact that our townhome is now officially up for sale.  It will be the perfect home for someone and we know that, sooner or later, the right person will come along and fall in love with the house.  In the meantime, is our remaining days here in Valencia before returning to LA, we continue to discuss what we want to ship over here and what we need to dispose of.

Monday there was a CIVAC meeting, although meeting is probably too strong a word.  Eight of us showed up and chatted for a while.  Pepe gave us his take on the recently ended FISM convention and, with the exception of a strong list of competitors, everything else about the gathering was an unmitigated disaster.  The next FISM will be held in Rimini, Italy in 2015 and I just might make it to that one. Around 9:30 we went in search of a sandwich and a beer and the conversation continued.

Yesterday we had lunch with Pepe and Salva at what it Salva’s favorite restaurant in Valencia.  It is called La Salita and it is located in the neighborhood of La Amistad.  It is a hop, skip and a jump away from the studios where I did the recordings for the Magic Agora promos.  The restaurant features an open kitchen and is very tastefully decorated.  The ambience is very pleasing and it is very east to hear the conversation of your tablemates.  Mellow jazz plays in the background and it is not at all intrusive.

There is no menu, as such.  There is a tasting menu that changes from day to day given what is the best and freshest at the market.  We started our meal with a beer and chatted for a while until our server came to give us the details of the tasting menu.  Before he described the offerings, he inquired as to whether anyone had an allergy to certain foods or whether there were other considerations that needed to be taken into account before the food was prepared.  While we waited for the first course to appear, Salvador ordered a bottle of champagne for the table and we continued to chat.

The first course was a tuna tartar with pine nuts and pesto and crowned with a creation that resembled Frank Gehry’s roof design for the hotel at the Marqués de Cáceres winery.  We discovered that it starts life as a puree of onion and then goes through several processes to reach its final shape and color.  Next came a perfectly cooked scallop bathed in an almond cream and served with baby asparagus.  We finished the champagne with this dish and a magnificent bottle of red took its place. Next came an arroz meloso made with squid ink and topped with a small filet of grilled sea bass.  A gin and tonic sorbet followed to cleanse our palate for the next course.

The next course was a magret de pato served over couscous with a milhojas de foie to accompany it.  Outstanding!!  The duck was followed by an array of sweets that I have never seen nor experienced before.  I will let the photos do the talking because I do not have the words to describe them.  We finished our meal with a dessert wine that had subtle flavors that were reminiscent of a whole host of different berries.  We all had a coffee before we waddled off to our various destinations.

The taxi dropped us off at La Fórcola where Susan had a five o’clock appointment to do a photo shoot for her next article.  Antón opened the door for us and Susan went in and I headed back home.  The rest of the day was uneventful and we took life easy until we went to bed around 11:30.