Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The tent in front of our building has just been erected and the members of the casal faller that is around the corner will occupy it either tomorrow evening or Friday noon.  The noise level outside our apartment will increase markedly starting Friday night.  Thankfully our bedroom is in the rear of the apartment, but given the loud music that blares from these tents, I don’t know that our location will make a significant difference.  We shall see.

Yesterday we took care of some business at the bank and we now have a resident’s account at the bank, as opposed to a non-resident’s account.  It offers a couple of advantages for us, but the disadvantage is the Spanish equivalent of The Department of the Treasury has knowledge of our account.  We are still not sure what our tax situation will be, given the fact that we still pay US taxes.  I imagine that we will find out sooner or later.

We decided to visit Restaurante Navarro for lunch – http://www.restaurantenavarro.com/  It had been a while since we ate there last.  As you might remember from that post, our server, María José, was stretched to the limit since her co-worker had called in sick at the last minute.  She was very apologetic and we, in turn, told her that we understood what was going on and were in no particular rush.  At the end of our meal I made a paper rose for her and a pearl poodle.  In spite of the fact that several months have passed since we last ate there, María José recognized us the minute we walked in.  The three sisters who own and run the restaurant recognized me as the guy who makes the flowers.  It turned out that there was no menu of the day, so we studied the regular menu to see what we were going to have for lunch.

We opted for an appetizer salad that included anchovies, esgarraet, mojama, tomato and lettuce.  Although meant for one, it was just perfect for two.  For our main course we ordered a parrillada de pescado y mariscos for two.  When it arrived at the table we were taken aback by the quantity of fish and shellfish on the serving plate.  Filets of tuna, swordfish and monkfish had been cooked to perfection on the grill.  The red shrimp, the squid, the sepia and the cigalas had also been grilled.  As if that wasn’t enough there were also fried shrimp and fried calamari on the plate.  The dish was served along with a bowl of potato chips that had been freshly fried and some tempura vegetables.  In case you were wondering what the price for this seafood feast was, try 35 Euros.  For dessert we split some ice cream.  We finished our meal by chatting with the three sisters and when we left the restaurant it was a little after 5:00.

Juanjo came by for some conversation with Susan and at 8:45 Susan and I made our way to Jimmy Glass to listen to the Joe Magnarelli Quintet featuring Perico Sambeat on saxophone.  As usual, when we arrived Pepe was already in line and he saved two seats for us at his table that was directly behind the pianist.  We had the chance to listen to two great sets and when we left at 12:15 we knew that we had had the opportunity to listen to some great jazz.  We did not get to be until 1:30, but we both slept well.