Monday, March 4, 2013

Today it is cold and overcast and not very conducive to standing in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento to watch or, better said, listen to the mascletá.  We did however make our way to the bank to changeover our bank account from non-resident to resident.  It took awhile to complete the paperwork, after all this is Spain and the process will actually be finished next week when we get our new debit cards and hand in the old ones.  We picked up a few things at Mercadona afterwards and, at the moment, Susan is putting together the ingredients for a tortilla de patatas.

Yesterday we had brunch at The Ginger Loft.  We were glad to see that it was quite busy and there were a number of large parties.  We started things off with some hummus and then proceeded to enjoy some tacos de pollo and some killer ceviche.  I ordered a Caesar Salad for my main course and Susan has her Eggs Benedict, although to be perfectly honest, she had an Egg Benedict because she was too full to eat the usual two that come in an order.  Mike suggested making what they call a paloma, which comes with a base of both spinach and smoked salmon.  When we finished our mains, we were too full for either coffee or dessert and so we went on our way.

We passed by Linares, which has opened after being closed for the past two months.  We said hello to our friends behind the counter and, believe it or not, we turned down an offer of free ice cream.  Susan spent the afternoon finishing up our 2012 taxes while I fought with my iMac, which after five years is developing some severe problems.  I am trying to back everything up before the inevitable happens, but I am not sure that I will be successful.  The good news is that I have my files in a variety of places in the cloud and on thumb drives.

Last night we went to a concert called Lágrimas de Sal for a taste of what is called flamenco sinfónico.  This is a concept of one Oscar Manuel who could be classified as a flamenco flautist.  He is the composer of all the music we heard last night.  In addition to two guitarists, two percussionists, two male dancers, a soprano and Oscar, there was a symphony orchestra backing them up.  Last night that orchestra turned out to be the Orquesta Sinfónica OSASV Alicante.  We were treated to eight different compositions, all of which were enjoyable save one.  We think they should have left the soprano at home.

After the concert we stopped at a nearby bar and had a beer and a glass of wine while we snacked on some albóndigas, bravas and tortitas de camarón.  When we finished, we hailed a cab and were back home a little before 11:00. We were able to chat with Rachel via FaceTime and soon thereafter, we retired for the night.