Marty Kaplan's Blog

Sunday, January 27, 2013

The wind has dies down and the temperatures have gone up and the sidewalk tables are filled to capacity.  Susan and I went in search of lunch yesterday only to discover that our destination, Nostre Bar, is not open for Saturday lunch.  We then decided to head for Basílico to have lunch with Alex and Arif, but there was no room at the inn, so we continued on our way.  As we walked we remembered that we had dined at a restaurant called Maridaje a while back and the owner had told us that we needed to come by at lunchtime to sample the menu of the day.  Since we were five minutes away from the restaurant we decided that now was the time to do our menu sampling.  We were fortunate enough to get the last available table and we sat down and settled in.

Even though it had been a while since we last visited, the owner recognized us immediately.  I am always amazed when that happens because I was not accustomed to that back in the States with very few exceptions.  We studied the options for the menu of the day and quickly made our decisions. The menu of the day without wine was 10 Euros and with wine it was 18 Euros and the wines selected would pair well with whatever we ordered.

Susan began her meal with a crema de verduras served with a bit of chopped ham.  I began with the ensalada templada – a combination of lettuces served with warm mushrooms and chicken.  Our main dish was an arroz meloso con sepia y cangrejo­ (crab).  The dish was outstanding because the seafood broth in which it was cooked was outstanding.  Susan had baked pumpkin for dessert and I opted for the torrija topped with a small scoop of ice cream.  We ended our meal with coffee and a chupito.

Friday night Brian and Ofelia joined us for dinner. Susan wanted to prepare some Middle-Eastern fare and the fact that we have discovered an amazing stand at the Central Market that makes unbelievably tasty products meant that Susan only needed to prepare two of the treats we enjoyed that evening.  While we chatted in the living room we sampled the hummus, the eggplant dip, the tzatziki, the grape leaves and some cured black olives.  We then made our way to the table where we enjoyed a tabbouleh salad, and chicken fesenjahn served over a bed of white rice.  Dessert was a very tasty version of baklava.  I did some magic as a finale to the evening and around 11:30 Brian and Ofelia headed back home.

Thursday we stopped off at The Ginger Loft with a twofold purpose in mind. We were there to have lunch and to drop off some Mexican cookbooks so that Mike could take a look at them.  We enjoyed yet another magnificent lunch.  We started out with a ham and pea soup, followed by a chicken satay wrap, Thai pork and basil and a green curry.  We were so full that we passed on dessert. An evening meeting with the veteranos and a meeting later in the evening to discuss the upcoming 24 HORAS put the finishing touches on what was a rather busy day.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The cold and windy weather we have experienced for the past week or so is very conducive to just staying indoors.  Fortunately for us, but unfortunately for others, the weather all around us has been extremely violent with abundant snowfall in the mountains to the north and waves as high as thirty feet on the Atlantic coast.  London and Paris have experienced snow in the past few days.  It’s a good thing that global warming is really a hoax perpetrated by the liberal media.

We have just returned from The Central Marker where we have stocked up on fruits and vegetables.  Simply by looking at all that is on display, it is quite clear that oranges, strawberries and artichokes are in season.  I have seen nine pounds of oranges selling for $2.00.  Going up and down the aisles we discovered a new stand that is selling Greek and Middle-Eastern products.  We purchased some hummus, baba ganoush, stuffed grape leaves, tzatziki, and pita bread to see if this will become a go to place for us.  They also sell halvah and I could not resist so there is some now sitting in our refrigerator that will satisfy that something sweet urge that seems to come and visit every night around ten.

I have finished the translations for the second issue of EL MANUSCRITO.  I still need to do a bit of proof reading, but all the hard work has been completed.  One of the articles includes three pages from a book entitled The Ramsay Legend and it fell to me to obtain permission from the copyright holder to reproduce those three pages.  It was a rather circuitous route because, as it turned out, the author no longer holds the copyright and I had to do a little investigative work to track down the current copyright holder.  However, track him down I did and he graciously gave his permission to reproduce those three pages.

I have been doing some more work on my stand-up act for grownups.  It is going to be a long process until I find the proper presentation for the nine effects I have in mind.  I have tried several attempts as patter, but it turns out to be too cute and too clever for my own good.  So, it is back to the drawing board.  Given the fact that there is no deadline for the creation of the act, I can give it the proper time that it deserves.

When I walked by La Fórcola on Monday I discovered that their pizza oven, which works on gas, had suffered a malfunction and while they were waiting for the replacement part they had transformed the oven into a wood burning one.  Leo told me that the ribs that were coming out of the oven were unbelievably delicious.  I could not resist the temptation and Susan and I showed up for lunch and in addition to starting off our meal with some delicious anchovies, we shared a pizza and ribs both from the wood burning oven.  Heaven on a plate!

Susan went off with Zahava last night to see “Lincoln” and I caught up with Pepe.  Pepe is hard at work on the relaunch of Magic Agora and has been busy filming effects that will become part of the basic course in card magic.  We decided to go out in search of a tapa or two, but since yesterday was a día festivo many places were closed.  We ended up at a small restaurant called Botifarra http://www.botifarra.es/ and enjoyed some great mushrooms and marinated chicken kebab.  We walked a bit more and stopped in Café Lisboa for a coffee.  When I retuned home, I worked for a while on my magic and a bit later Susan returned from the movies.  She thoroughly enjoyed the film, as well as the performance of her favorite actor, Daniel Day Lewis.  We chatted for a while and then it was off to bed.

Monday. January 7, 2013

The holiday season in Spain ended yesterday with El Día de los Reyes Magos.  In the spirit of celebration, Susan and I decided to go out for lunch and a movie after lunch.  We decided that we had not been to A Nou for a while and so I called to make sure that they had room for two.  Indeed they did, so off we went.

Given that it was a special day, there was a special menu.  It consisted of four appetizers, a choice of main course and a double dessert.  We began our meal with a coca filled with anchovies, which was followed by a tomato salad with a humus dressing and topped with spirals of Serrano ham.  Our third appetizer was a plate of calamares a la plancha, gambas rojas and gambas al ajillo.  Our last appetizer was another style of coca topped with rabo de toro.  Each appetizer was outstandingly delicious and the four of them caused us to anticipate our approaching arroz with a bit of trepidation.  The arroz de señoret is a paella in which all the shellfish has been removed from their shell and that makes the dish less messy.  We made a brave attempt to put a substantial dent in it, but the arroz was the clear winner.  The good news is that there is always room for dessert.

Our first dessert combined a pastry with a yoghurt cream, dried fruit and a small scoop of pistachio ice cream.  While we were enjoying our coffee, Javi delivered a slice of roscón de reyes, which is a traditional sweet on Epiphany.  It is somewhat on the idea of the New Orleans king cake, but there is no sprinkling of garishly colored sugars.  However, there is a little king baked into the concoction.  I got the half with the king and Susan got the dried bean as her consolation.  The bean meant that Susan was supposed to pay for the meal, but the house, as usual picked up the bill.  Our feast, which included our beverages, came to 60 Euro and that was a bargain.

From A Nou we made our way to the Cines Yelmo to see the 3D version of The Hobbit in its original language version.  The theater was largely empty.  I think there were seven of us all told.  The film was enjoyable, even if it was overly long.  My knee started to complain at the two-hour mark, but it and I managed to survive.  We walked home from the movie and spent a rather uneventful evening.

In all the time we have been in Valencia we have never made it to Casa Montaña, which is one of the two Valencian restaurants featured in Mario Batali’s series Spain: On the Road Again.  The other was La Matandeta, where we celebrated Ofelia’s birthday last year.  Casa Montaña came up as a topic of conversation during Susan’s party on Friday since it one of Zahava and Klaus’ favorite restaurants.  So today, a little after 2:30 we found a cab who took us to the port area of Valencia and to the restaurant.

The restaurant itself is quite small and is divided into a bar area and a dining room.  We ended up sitting at the same table as Mario, Gwyneth and company.  We discovered this when we chatted with the owner who was featured in the episode.  Our goal was to sample the menu and, to that end, we ordered smaller portions of everything.  We began the meal with some incredible anchovies.  Anchovies in Spain are not the same animal that we tend to get in the States.  Whereas I never ate anchovies in California, if a restaurant here is know for them I will order them.  We then sampled some habas estofadas, marinated tuna, patatas bravas unlike any other we have eaten, pimientos de padrón, chistorra and a touch of brandade.  All the preparations were simple and not fussy.  The quality of the ingredients and the careful preparation was what shone through every dish.  I had a chocolate truffle for dessert and Susan opted for the tarta rusa.  Two coffees to finish the meal and we were back on the road again.  We will visit here again. Here is a link to the episode that features the two restaurants that I have mentioned.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE9DjaAaWrs

Saturday, January 5, 2013

The pace of the city has slowed down and, consequently, so has ours.  Company luncheons have come and gone and so have all the pre-Christmas parties.  People have recovered from their new Year’s celebrations and everyone seems to be gearing up for tomorrow when the day that all Spanish children dream of – El Día de los Reyes Magos – finally becomes a reality.

Zahava called us on New Year’s Day and asked if we would be interested in going out for Chinese.  Since going out for Chinese was a New Year’s Eve tradition back in Alhambra, we thought we would continue the tradition here, albeit a few hours later than normal.  We ended up at a restaurant called Min Dou, which is located on Calle Pelayo, which has become increasingly Chinese oriented with a goodly number of Chinese restaurants, bakeries, and markets.  We were shown to our table and we studied the menu.

Our choices included lobster, Bok Choy in garlic and ginger, spicy eggplant, a tofu dish and a crab with noodles.  It was an enjoyable meal and better than most other Chinese places we have sampled here, but having lived a stone’s throw from Monterey Park, we know what excellent Chinese food looks and tastes like and we are still in search of excellence, but I doubt we will find it.  I repeat what I have said before; some of the best Asian food that I have experienced here in Valencia has been either at The Ginger Loft or La Comisaría.

In the course of our conversation Klaus mentioned that they had eaten at a new Neapolitan style pizzeria on Calle Burriana.  It is called Idon and the pizza oven and the staff and owners have all been imported from Italy.  It has been up and running for a few weeks now.  So, on Wednesday Susan and I decided to take a walk and go in search of the place.

The restaurant is bright and shiny and the wood-burning pizza oven is the first thing you see as you approach the restaurant from the street.  The back of the house has a view of the kitchen where the pastas and the appetizers are prepared.  We were seated close to the entrance so we did not see that part of the show, but we did have a good view of the preparation of the pizzas that paraded from the oven to the tables.  We ordered oven-roasted eggplant, rigatoni with a traditional Neapolitan red sauce and a pizza quattro stagioni.  The eggplant was good, the pasta rather average and the pizza splendid.  They got the crust right and for me that is essential in any good pizza.  I still think that the best pasta in town is available at Ballando Nudi and that has become our go to place when we are hungering for pasta.

We had a chance to chat briefly with our waiter, Vladimir, who is originally from Russia but who spent the last ten years working in Naples.  We also chatted briefly with one of the waitresses, Vera, who is originally form Naples and who is recently arrived in Valencia.  The bottom line is that we will return, but it will be for the pizza.

Last night we celebrated Susan’s birthday at The Ginger Loft.  Ten of us gathered at 9:00 PM and we made our way upstairs where our table was waiting.  Many of the usual cast of characters were present – Zahava, Klaus, Brian, Ofelia, Pepe, Paquito – as well as Olivia and Jaime.  I had previously settled on a menu with Mike and as we chatted a procession of tasty dishes appeared at the table.  If I remember we feasted on the following: hummus, caponata, ceviche, chicken satay, won tons, Vietnamese pork, green Thai curry and a variety of desserts.  We toasted with Cava at the end of the meal.  It was close to 1:00 when we finally left the restaurant.  Susan packed u her gifts in her new Rollser shopping cart, which was also one of her gifts.  The streets were mostly empty as we made the five-minute walk back home and it was a little after 2:00 when we finally went to bed.

The photos that accompany this blog post were shot by Susan, Pepe and myself.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!  This is my 301^st post and I was pleased and surprised to discover that in 2012 my blog had 11,000 views.  It’s nice to know that someone is reading what I have to say.

We have been taking life easy the past few days.  It is an enjoyable change not running from pillar to post and just spending a day or two reading and puttering around the house.  Every picture and poster has now been hung and now our only task is to enjoy living in what truly feels like our space.

Saturday night we went out for dinner with Yun and Jim Butler.  Jim, as you remember, is a profession of hydrogeology at the University of Kansas in Lawrence and has spent the first semester here in Valencia at the Universidad Politécnica.  They head back to Kansas this Thursday after a brief stopover in London.  We have had the chance to eat together on several occasions and we wanted to make sure that we got in one last meal together.  Our destination was Q Tomas and we arrived at 9:00 on the dot.

We ordered a number of small plates, some of which we had tried on our previous visit.  We enjoyed espárragos cojonudos – big fat white asparagus that were served with a wasabi mayonnaise, tuna tartar, grilled scallops, huevos rotos con jamón y patatas and a whole fish that had been deboned before it was presented to us at the table.  Everything was delicious. We split three desserts among the four of us and we all agreed that the tart tartin served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream was the clear winner.  We finished the meal with coffee and a glass of port.  We then gathered up our things and walked back home.

Last night we ended up going out to eat with Jordi, his wife, his daughter and several members of his staff.  Jean Luc, our usual waiter at Carosel, was there, as was Eva who cooks alongside Jordi.  Eva’s mother and twelve-year-old daughter were present, also.  We met in front of Carosel and from there we made our way to Delicat where we would see in the New Year.

We enjoyed a goodly number of courses, including some presa ibérica that had been marinated in a teriyaki sauce that was both tender and very flavorful.  We celebrated the arrival of 2013 with the traditional doce uvas, which need to be consumed before the clock reaches one minute past the hour.  Each grape consumed in that time frame represents a month of sweetness in the upcoming year.  We toasted with Cava at midnight and then we managed to spend another hour chatting, singing and dancing.  We took our leave at 1:00 and walked back home.  There were not a lot of people on the streets, as most Valencians tend to celebrate the arrival of the New Year at home.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 11,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 18 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The plan for today is to take life easy and finish hanging the remaining pictures in their respective places.   We have a couple of things at the framer’s and they will be ready sometime this week.  That means that we will be able to put the drill away, as well as all the assorted picture hangers that we have managed to amass.

Yesterday we were up at 9:30 so that we could have a leisurely breakfast, shower and dress for Christmas Dinner in Pedreguer.  The plane was to catch the 11:40 train to Gandía and when we arrived at 12:40 Pepe would pick us up and drive us to his mother’s house.  We were at the station by 11:15, purchased our tickets and shortly thereafter we were able to board the train.  Thankfully, a woman who was passing by as we were about to board asked us if were going to Gandía.  When we said that we were she told us to get on the next car.  I looked at Susan rather puzzled and asked what difference did it make.  It turns out that it makes a lot of difference because some of the cards get uncoupled and head off to a different destination.

Pepe was at the station five minutes after we arrived and we climbed into his car and off we went to Pedreguer.  The sun was shining brightly and, although we were wearing jackets, shirtsleeves were certainly the order of the day.  We passed through a number of coastal towns on our way, as well as numerous fields where oranges and olives were growing.  On the train we had passed by a number of rice fields, many of which were flooded.  We chatted along the way and in less than a half hour we were at the front door of Pepe’s mother’s house.

Pepe’s sister, brother-in-law and niece live on the second floor of the house and they were already seated around the table, as were Pepe’s aunt and several cousins.  Little by little more people arrived, many for just a drink and a snack before they went off to where they were going to have lunch.  At one point, there were eighteen of us around the table and the noise level was impressive.

Little by little people began to drift away and when it was time for the meal to begin there were twelve of us around the table.  Pepe’s son, Jaime, his brother Jaime and Jaime’s family had joined us around the table.  In Pedreguer the Christmas meal happens at lunchtime and the traditional dish is puchero.  I have written about puchero before.  It is a stew that is served in several courses.  You begin with the broth of the stew that is served with an abundance of rice.  Next comes a plate filled with potatoes and large meatballs called Pelotas.  Next comes a plate of meat that includes veal and pork along with carrots and a vegetable that is called pencas.  Finally, the rest of the vegetables are served.  Yesterday’s selection included sweet potatoes, cabbage, and garbanzos.

If that weren’t enough, dessert is then trotted out.  We had a choice of some homemade almond cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies – made by Susan – and a milhojas made with apples.  Then came the cava.  Some fifteen minutes later we all got up from the table and made our way to Pepe’s aunt’s house, which was just down the block.  We would have our coffee there and a second opportunity to have even more dessert.  We stayed for a short while and then Pepe, Susan and I returned to his mom’s house for a brief nap.

We were back on the road a short while after our brief nap.  We were returning by car and, as expected, there was very little traffic on the road until we re-entered the city.  Pepe parked the car and we walked back to our place.  The rest of our evening was uneventful and at 11:30 we called it a day.