Marty Kaplan's Blog

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

The promised high today is 73 and the noticeable lack of illumination in Valencia coupled with the warm weather really doesn’t make it feel like Christmastime.  Although, now that I think of it what made it feel like Christmastime in LA were the succession of parties and Christmas Break.  Yes, I know we were politically correct and we called it Winter Break or Holiday Break even though we knew deep in our hearts that it was not Festivus or Chanukah or Kwanza that motivated the pause in academic activity.

Susan and I have been under the weather for the past few days.  Whatever it was laid us low on Thursday evening and although the messy part lasted less that twelve hours the lingering effects kept us close to home.  With the exception of an occasional foray for bread or beverage, we pretty much stayed close to home and took advantage of the lull in activities to do some major picture and poster hanging.  Susan did all of the work and I served as her trusted advisor and consultant.

Last night we were invited to spend Christmas Eve with Brian and Ofelia and their daughter, Olivia.  When we arrived we were pleased to discover that Naomi, Olivia’s best friend, and Ofelia’s mother were spending some time with The Oberles and would be joining us for dinner.  We arrived around 7:30 and we began dinner a little after 8:00.  Since the meal promised to be very filling, we chatted over drinks and, in the end, were glad that we had not started with snacks.

Dinner last night consisted of a salad that featured greens and fresh fruit, a pork roast, stuffed mushrooms, green beans and a potato and celery root casserole.  There was bread and wine to make the meal complete.  For dessert we were treated to a mango and passion fruit pie, along with an array of cookies.  Coffee was served and then it was time for some magic.

I started off doing an effect or two and then I reached into my magic suitcase and removed a number of envelopes that contained the makings of the effects that I was going to teach everyone how to do.  I shared with them the disappearing leprechaun puzzle, which in our case was the disappearing rabbit puzzle, a movie star prediction effect, the trick done with a dollar bill and two paper clips where the clips magically link and, as a graduation present, I gave them an appearing wand.  Everyone seemed to have fun learning and playing with the effects.

When the teaching segment was over I continued with my magic and I did more effects than I usually do of an evening because everyone seemed to be in the mood for magic last night.  In the midst of all the magic a couple of bottles of champagne managed to disappear.  Before we knew it, it was after 11:30 and Susan’s and my energy levels were flagging.  Brian, as usual, was kind enough to drive us home.  We said our goodbyes, hopped in the car and walked through the door at midnight.  We went to bed soon thereafter because we needed to get up a bit early this morning to take the train to Pedreguer where we had been invited to have Christmas dinner with Pepe and his family.

Here are some photos of the Christmas displays at The Mercado Central, as well as some of last night’s photos.  As usual, all photos were taken by Susan.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

The doorbell rang at 10:00 this morning waking us from a sound sleep.  It was Antonio, the building’s doorman, telling us that the headboard that Susan had ordered last week was downstairs and that the driver from the express company was heading upstairs.  I quickly threw on my bathrobe and greeted him at the door.  He told me that the headboard was too big to fit in the elevator and that he had left it downstairs with Antonio.  I signed the receipt and off he went.

Two minutes later Antonio calls and tells us to come downstairs so that we can take the headboard out its carton to see what the challenge really was.  Once the cardboard carton was cut away the headboard fit into the elevator with no problem whatsoever.  Antonio carried it into the bedroom for us and gave us some suggestions for how to set it up.  We could either attach it to the wall or to the bed frame.  I think the bedframe idea won out and when I went to the hardware store to buy the appropriate nuts and bolts, Antonio came along and helped me select the proper materials.  Later in the day Antonio told us that a friend of his, who is a handyman, will come by the house on Friday and set up the bedframe.  That certainly was welcome news.

I spent the better part of the morning getting things ready for this afternoon’s magic show.  I went through my checklist to make sure that I had all the necessary elements to perform the show that Sofi and I had planned.  I then packed everything up.  My act fits into one of those large plastic tubs with room to spare.  What takes up the most space are the tables that are needed in order to set up the elements of the act so that there is a smooth transition from effect to effect and no searching necessary.  For that purpose I have a suitcase table, a plexiglass table and an aluminum box table.  The latter two have tripods and that makes it very easy to adjust their height.  When everything was in order, I took a shower and got dressed.

Our upstairs neighbor, Pepe, has a son who is a student at Gran Asociación a colegio that was founded in 1853 and whose students range in age from 3 to 19 when they go on to university.  The school provides its students with a bilingual education and students graduate with a near native fluency in English.  José is a student in the Kindergarten and the show was designed for his class.

Pepe came by at 2:30 and we loaded everything into his SUV.  His wife, Raquel, joined us and so Susan, Raquel, Pepe and I threaded our way through the narrow streets of the older part of town.  As we were offloading Sofi came by and was dismayed to discover that parking was darn near impossible in that part of town.  The good news is that she did find a space and was back in time to set her things up.  When I walked into our performance space I was greeted by the sight of 100 chairs.  I was then informed that the guest list had expanded and that instead of 20 kids, there would be over 100 and the 3 year olds who were not supposed to attend would be there in the front rows.

Needless to say the magic that one does for three-year olds is quite different that what one does for five and six-year olds.  However, at that point in tine, given the situation, you just go a head with plan A and wing it, when necessary. We decided to do away with the chairs and have the kids sit on the floor.  At 3:45 we opened the doors and the children came flooding in.

Our show lasted a full forty-five minutes.  True to form, the three year olds got the “squirmies” after about fifteen minutes.  We ended up cutting several effects from our planned program and moving directly to our planned ending.  Most of the effects played well and the butterfly ending is both a pretty and a powerful piece of magic.  Sofi and I complemented each other well and we need to do some more work to smooth out some of the rough spots.  She is a definite asset to the show in terms of beauty, brains, energy and stage presence.

It took a good half an hour to break down the show and get things ready to pack up in the car.  We were back home by 5:30 and both Pepe and Antonio helped me offload.  Susan, as usual, did her fantastic job as photographer and all the photos that follow are hers.

I imagine that it will take a few more shows to answer the question of whether working for Spanish children is different than working for American children.  The fact that there were three–year olds in the mix makes it a difficult question to answer.  Only time will tell.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

I spent most of yesterday practicing some of the effects I planned to do in this afternoon’s show.  It occurred to me that I have not worked for kids since the end of 2010.  To complicate matters a bit more I have never done a show in Spanish before.  The first magic show I ever did for kids was in January of 2010 and it was for the bilingual kindergarten classes at San Rafael Elementary School in Pasadena.  I came across the list of effects that I did at my first show for kids and interestingly enough I have eliminated every single one of them from my repertoire.  In the course of a year I learned what plays well for kids and what does not.  Now the question is do Spanish kids react the same way to my magic, as do American kids?  We shall see.

Last night Jordi had invited us to a unique food event.  The price of admission was 100 Euros per person with the promise that we would get to experience the best seafood, beef and wine that is available in Spain. Who could resist?  At precisely 9:00 PM nine of us sat down to one of the best food experiences that I have ever had.              The menu included percebes (barnacles), gambas rojas (jumbo red shrimp from the water of Alicante, almejas crudas  (raw clams with a touch of lemon), and cigalas (crawfish).  Keep in mind, however, we are talking about plates-full of these beauties making their way to the table.  Jordi picked a nice Riesling to go along with the seafood.  Wine glasses were switched out and we began to drink one of the finest Rioja wines available, La Cueva del Contador.  The steaks that had been grilled over wood were prime examples of vaca gallega, the best beef that is available in Spain.  Six steaks were put on the grill and there was easily fifteen pounds of beef brought to the table and we were unable to finish it off, but we did a commendable job.  Next came dessert and coffee.  To finish the meal off and to finish off we sampled gin and tonics made with the finest gin available in Spain and rum and Coke made with an award winning Guatemalan rum.

The party was still in progress when Susan and I left at midnight.  The good news is that Carosel is a five-minute walk from the house.  I imagine that it could be a fifteen-minute crawl, but the good news is that we did not need to do that kind of research las t night.  We stayed up for a while to let things digest and it was probably 1:00 o’clock when we finally went to bed knowing that it was going to be a bit difficult to rise and shine in the morning.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

It’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when the temperature is in the low 70’s.  It’s also hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you’re Jewish, but that’s another issue.  Interestingly enough I always associate Christmas with events at the various schools where I have taught.

The Christmas Pageant at Foxcroft School in Middleburg, Virginia was something to behold.  It always happened on a Sunday and the entire Middle community was invited.  The night before the event faculty and students would assemble in the gym and would share the task of assembling the wreaths and garlands that would decorate the gym.  It was one of many community-building events that took place at the school.

Chal Hemmenway was the person responsible for putting together and directing the pageant.  She had been doing it long before we arrived at Foxcroft and she continued to do it long after we left.  The day that new students arrived in September, as one would expect, all faculty were gathered on the lawn in front of Brick House.  We were all there with one thought in mind.  We wanted to greet both the new students and to reassure the parents who were dropping them off that they had made the right decision in entrusting them to us.  That was Chal’s motivation, also.  However, she had another motivator.  She was looking for the ninth grader that would be perfect for the role of the Virgin.  The ninth graders were the “actors” who played all the roles in the pageant.

The cast for the pageant included the ninth graders, the Glee Club. Octet – a student directed singing group – and, in the early 80’s, The Soggy Cheerios – a singing group that had been founded by an English teacher by the name of Marilyn Robie.  In addition to the human component, the Pageant featured a number of animals including Epiphany, the donkey.  Live doves were also released during the singing of Oh, Holy Night.  One year Mary Lou Leipheimer who was an English teacher at the time and now is the Head of School was asked to sing the solo for Oh, Holy Night.  This was her first year at the school.  Rehearsals went well, but unfortunately everyone had neglected to tell Mary Lou that when she sang the phrase “Fall on Your Knees” the doves would be released.  The pageant that year had an additional element that no other pageant before or since has featured … Mary Lou’s blood curdling screams that were occasioned by the surprise release of the doves.

Westridge School also had its holiday traditions, prime among which was the Holiday Concert. When I first arrived it was an event that took place in the gym.  The gym was decorated appropriately and students from all three divisions participated in the event either as singers or musicians.  When the Performing Arts Center was completed the event was transferred to that venue.  There were so many attendees – parents, as well as alum and friends of the school – that it was necessary to schedule a number of performance sin order to accommodate everyone.

Another tradition was the Holiday Assembly that was the responsibility of the senior class.  It usually consisted of a number of skits that poked fun at the lower classwomen and the faculty.  The skits were funny – as long as you weren’t being lampooned – and they were never mean spirited.  The program was supervised y the Senior Head Class Advisor who, more often that not, was yours truly.  Skits were submitted ahead of time for administrative approval, but they were never cast nor rehearsed until the night before the event.  We would gather in the gym and the process would begin.  There was always pizza to sustain the masses and cold drinks were in abundance, also.  After the rehearsal ended various groups would head home and continue rehearsing.  The events was always an occasion for tears as members of the senior class would invite lower classwomen to join them for the final song.  When the event was moved to the PAC a certain sense of intimacy was lost and while it was nice to have all the bells and whistles of a modern theater the proximity of actors to the audience in the gym generated feelings that could not be reproduced in that newer space.

While Susan was at Pilates on Friday morning, I continued unpacking my magic and arranging it thematically.  By the end of the day everything magic had been unpacked and was in its now proper space.  I had lunch at home since Susan was lunching with the women in her Pilates class.  They had decided to eat at Salatén, which is located on Calle Quart and where we would occasionally go for tapas when we lived on Borrull.  According to Susan the meal was disappointing because everything came to the table either lukewarm or cold.  It did not surprise me because we had stopped going to Salatén for lunch because it was obvious that, with regard to the menu of the day, everything had been prepared in advance and warmed up when ordered by a client.

We were in our seats at the Palau de Música at 7:20 in anticipation of what promised to be an exciting concert.  The orchestra would be playing works by Bernstein, Barber, Copeland and Villa-Lobos. The guest conductor was Carlos Miguel Prieto from Mexico and the guitar soloist was Pablo Sainz Villegas.  The concert began with Bernstein’s suite for “On the Waterfront” followed by Villa-Lobos’  “Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra”.  Sainz Villegas’ performance was absolutely amazing.  The audience was so appreciative that he ended up playing two encores.  After the intermission we were treated to Barber’s “Symphony Number 9 Opus 1” followed by Copeland’s “Salón de México”.

The concert ended a little after 9:30 and the weather was still balmy as we exited the concert space.  We walked into Cánovas in search of a place to have a light bite and people were out in force and it seemed like every outdoor table was occupied.  We eventually found a couple of seats at a nearby bar and enjoyed some pulpo, croquetas and some patatas bravas.  We then hopped a cab back home, puttered around a bit and then went to bed.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Hurray!  Everything has been unpacked and, with the exception of the pictures that need to be hung, everything is in its proper place.  Today’s cooking class with Jordi has been postponed until January and that means that we can just kick back and relax today.

Yesterday we continued with the unpacking.  I did manage to escape to the market and pick up a few things, including the shrimp that became our lunch. Sofi came by at 5:00 and we discussed the elements of our upcoming performance on Wednesday.  She has added a bit to her portion and so have I.  We also took out a couple of things we had planned to do in order to keep the performance time to as close to thirty minutes as possible.

At 7:30 we walked over to Klaus and Zahava’s place to have some potato latkes and to celebrate the last night of Chanukah.  After lighting the candles Zahava placed a large plate of latkes on the table and a number of items with which to top them.  There was crème fraiche, caviar, horseradish and applesauce.  Even though we were going out to dinner at 9:00 we somehow managed to finish off the entire plate of goodies.  We then gathered our things together and made our way to a recently opened restaurant called Q Tomas.  Brian was to meet us there and when we arrived he was already seated at our table.

Q Tomas is the newest restaurant opened by Tomás Arribas who is often referred to as the padrino of Quique Dacosta, the award-winning chef who now has several restaurants of his own.  Dacosta worked with Arribas at El Poblet, bought a 50% share in the restaurant and eventually bought the other 50%.

This new space is very elegant with lots of black and glass.  It s called an alta Taberna meaning that it’s not your average neighborhood bar, but like a neighborhood bar it features a variety of appetizers and main dishes.  Although many of the names sound familiar the quality of the food here is outstanding.

We decided to order a variety of dishes that we would all share.  We chose a tuna tartar, a ceviche of boquerones, a carpaccio of scallops, a variety of croquetas, garbanzos with codfish, a garbanzo stew, huevos rotos and calamares a la plancha.  Our waiter, Toni, was an excellent server and all his suggestions, wine included, were spot on.  Everything was uniformly excellent including the bread that we used in abundance for the various mojos.  For dessert we ordered the tarte tartin, a milhojas and a chocolate flan.  I was the only one to have coffee and both Klaus and I had an after dinner drink.

It was close to midnight when we left.  The restaurant is a five-minute walk from the house and we entered what truly feels like our new home at the stroke of midnight.  It was like a reverse Cinderella story where the good things began at the stroke of midnight.

The Ladies of Pilates

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

At precisely 10:30AM yesterday the movers started bringing boxes into the house.  All in all there were 95 of them.  They finished their task at noon and that’s when ours began.  It’s thirty-four hours later and noticeable progress has been made.  All my magic books have been shelved and are in alphabetical order.  All nine hundred decks of cards have been put away.  I have started attacking the other stuff, but that will take a bit of time because I need to decide where everything will go.

Susan has been a busy beaver.  All the kitchen stuff has been put in its place and some of Alicia’s kitchen things have been put away.  Linen and towels have been laundered and our sheets and quilt are now on the bed.  Susan has put some of her clothes away and has done a bit of work in her office.   She also managed to go to her Pilates class this morning.  I must confess that I passed on the gym today so I could get a handle on things.

Yesterday we had lunch with Dani DaOrtiz, Pepe, Juanma Marcos, Rochester and his assistant at La Varita Mágica, the magic store here in Valencia.  Dani was in town to do a workshop and a lecture and we agreed to meet at Carosel to catch up with one another.  It was a very animated lunch.  I continue to be amazed at Dani’s schedule.  He is in demand all over the world.  Saturday he will be in Barcelona and form there he heads to Peru for a week.  He will be home for the holidays to work on a number of Genii columns and January will see him back in the States.  In addition to all his personal appearances he produces a quarterly magazine in both Spanish and English, makes and sells DVD’s and he has just finished work on a book.  Amazing!

Lunch was outstanding, as usual.  The fresh tomato salad was the star of the appetizers, in my opinion, and the arroz meloso con gambas rojas was as good as that dish gets.  Coffee followed dessert and the obligatory chupito followed the coffee.  We said goodbye to everyone a little after 4:30 because we wanted to return home to continue unpacking the boxes.

We went in search of lunch a little after 2:30 today. We tried a new place – a Taberna ­– that is a five-minute walk from the house.  We chose the menu of the day that offered us mixed grilled vegetables, a steak and dessert.  Susan had the fresh fruit and I had the almond cake.  It was a nice discovery.  We will go back again.

Sofi came over the house around 5:30 and we spent close to two hours going over the effects we will be doing at next Wednesday’s magic show.  For the most part we will be working together.  However she will be doing two effects in one and so will I.  This will be the first time that I have done this version of my kids’ show in Spanish.  Also, it has been a while since I have done my kids show.  It will be an interesting experience and a good opportunity to get some of the rust off.

The next few days will be quite busy.  I catch up with the veteranos tomorrow.  Susan has a luncheon with the Pilates ladies on Friday.  Friday night we have symphony tickets.  Saturday we join Klaus and Zahava for latkes and then we will head out in search of dinner. Sunday we visit La Cuchara Mágica where Jordi will be teaching a cooking class.  I get tired just looking at the list.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas here in Valencia.  The streets are lit with illuminated signs, there is a large electric Christmas tree in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento and all the store windows make it abundantly clear that Christmas is approaching.  Still and all, the important day for children here in Spain is not December 25th, but rather the 6^th of January, which is called El Día de los Reyes Magos in the Spanish-speaking world.

We slept in yesterday morning and after breakfast Susan spent most of the day restoring old family photographs of her parents and grandparents.  I spent my time working on a list of effects that will be performed at my kids’ magic show the week of the 17^th.  Monday I will visit the school to take a look at the classroom and determine where the performance space will be and make a firm decision about the time and date with the classroom teacher.  I continue to search for appropriate music for the final effect, which is a butterfly snowstorm.  Also, given the fact that I will be doing this effect with Sofi we will need to do a bit of choreography in order to make the effect play well.  When I say choreography I am not talking about dancing, but rather positioning on stage, who begins, when does person two come in and how does the effect end.

Given the fact that our things arrive on Tuesday that means that my two magic tables will be available to me, as well as my dog puppet.  Still and all, even with all the choices I have available, I realized that I was still in need of a suitcase table that will allow me to transport material and also provide me with a performing surface.  All effects can be stored on the shelves of suitcase table and that makes them easily accessible as opposed to having to place them on a variety of surfaces around the classroom.  I ordered one yesterday and it should be here on Tuesday.

On Thursday Susan had gone to a recently opened restaurant in the Russafa neighborhood called Anerea.  She had gone there after the concert with Jim, Yun, Jaime and Inma.  She enjoyed the experience so much that she suggested that we have dinner there last night.  We hopped a cab and arrived in plenty of time for our 9:30 reservation.

Anerea opened in mid-September and the chef du cuisine is Josep Quintana whose former restaurant – Restaurante Torrijos – closed in spite of its having earned a Michelin star.  The restaurant is named after his four-year old daughter Nerea.  It is a small space that seats about thirty diners.  The restaurant feels very cozy and part of that feeling is due to the size of the space, but it also comes from the brick and wood of the walls.  The kitchen is quite small and so is the wine list.  There are no paper menus, but rather there is a chalkboard that lists the appetizers, entrees and desserts of the day.  Diners get a fuller explanation of the dishes from the server.

There are two differently priced menus.  The first consists of a choice of three appetizers that are shared by the table, two main course options and three dessert choices.  That menu costs 24.50 Euros per person.  The second menu offers a choice of four appetizers and the addition of a cheese plate that precedes the dessert.  That menu costs 34.50 Euros per person.  We chose the 24.50 Euro menu.

Our server, Oscar, helped make our evening memorable.  He carefully explained to us all our options, describing each dish down to the last detail and even chose our wine for us.  He was very attentive throughout the meal and our wine glasses were never empty.

We began with an amuse bouche of sobresada on a triangle of toast.  It was great way to start.  Then the parade of appetizers began.  There was a tuna tartare

Served with what looks like wasabi, but is really avocado.  Next came a dish of faux morcilla, huevas and shaved artichoke.  Morcilla, more commonly known as blood pudding is a mixture of blood, rice and spices.  This version is made from sepia, squid ink and rice.  If you did not know the ingredients, you would swear it is the morcilla that one has come to know and love.  Huevas are fish roe that are the size of your average lima bean.  The ingredients marry perfectly.  Lastly we had a timbale of green beans topped with a carpaccio of shrimp and foie gras that were caramelized.  All three appetizers were stellar.

Our main course was a solomillo de cerdo con patatas.  The pork was served rare, along with chips and a sauce that had the consistency of mayonnaise, but was not mayonnaise.  For dessert we chose a combination of a coca (pound cake), pumpkin and the best pistachio ice cream I have ever tasted.  It should be noted here that pistachio is my favorite ice cream flavor.  Our other dessert choice was a sopa de chocolate con pera.  It was quite tasty, but we clearly preferred the other dessert.  We finished the meal with coffee and a chupito.

After our meal we chatted a bit with Oscar and we then proceeded to make our way home.  It was midnight when we walked through the door.  We stayed up until 1:00 to let our meal digest and then it was lights out.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Yesterday was yet another holiday in Spain.  Since tomorrow is a holiday too many people have taken advantage of the puente and have gotten out of town.  It was a fairly laid back morning for us and a little after 2:00 we worked up the energy to head over to Ballando Nudi for a visit with Francisco and some memorable Italian food.

We started our meal with an ensalada ecológica that combines leafy greens with pine nuts, fruits of the season and a generous helping of Parmigiano Reggiano. Next came a sampling of various bruschette all of which were a treat for the taste buds.  We then sampled a plate of fusilli topped with a tomato sauce made from imported Venetian tomatoes with the addition of basin and pine nuts.  Delizioso!

Yesterday afternoon I caught up with Pepe who is working on the re-launch of Magic Agora.  He wanted to show me some of the effects that he intends to include in the basic series of lessons. I shared with him several other effects that could be included in the basic cycle.  From Pepe’s house we made our way to Jerito’s.

Giocodimani was in Granada with his girlfriend and Paquito was under the impression that we were not going to meet because of the holiday so last night’s group consisted of Jerito, Pepe, Gurrea and me.  We chatted until 9:30 and we discussed magic as opposed to doing a lot of magic.  From Jerito’s we went to a bar that specialize in pinchitos – small canapés or sandwiches – and samples three or four different offerings and from there we made our way to a nearby bar to sample a carajillo that is made with black coffee, lemon peel, sugar and cognac.  The mixture is flamed and that makes for a dramatic presentation.  When we finished, Gurrea drove both Pepe and me back home.

Susan in the meantime had joined Jim and Yun for a concert by the Chorus of the Universidad Politécnica of Valencia at the Palau de Música.  Our friend, Jaime Gómez and his wife, Inma, are part of the chorus.  Afterwards the whole group went out for dinner.  Susan got back home a little after 11:30 and I had returned a half hour earlier.  We did not get to bed until 1:00 and that gave us both sufficient time to thoroughly digest our respective meals.

Tuesday, December 5, 2012

WordPress has decided that the pictures today will come before the text, in spite of my efforts to change that. Christmas appears to have come early.  We went to Patraix at noon yesterday and with an e-mail from the Section Chief in hand we were escorted into the inner sanctum to wait our turn.  We had to wait five minutes before Susan’s turn came and mine happened a minute later.  It turns out that part of the reason for the delay is that they are now using biometric scanners for fingerprints instead of the old ink and paper system.  There have been a number of bugs as they try to get the system and everyone using it up to speed.  For that reason they have been limiting the number of people they let in on a given day.

It took me all of five minutes to be processed and to be handed the slip of paper that will allow me to pick up my card in a month or so.  Susan – she of barely visible fingerprints – turned out to be more of a challenge.  One of the employees must have tried forty or fifty times to get a useable scan with no success.  They moved Susan over to another scanner and after a dozen tries on that one they gave up.  They handed Susan the necessary slip to pick up her card and told her not to worry that they would solve the problem one way or another.  We were back home at 1:00.

I was rather busy over the weekend seeking out ways to solve the Patraix situation.  I wrote an a-mail to Jaime Gómez, a professor at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, who has a great deal of contact with The Ministry of the Exterior getting visas for doctoral candidates and visiting professors.  I also spoke with Pepe who said that he would get in touch with a doctor who lives in our neighborhood who also works for the police.  I also sent an e-mail to Salva asking him if he could find out how much time we actually had to hand in our documents at Patraix.  As it turns out, Salva’s friend is the one who generated the e-mail for us.  Ironically, as we were finishing up at Patraix I got a phone call from Jaime telling me that his contact had come through and was writing a letter that would get us through the door.  Truly an embarrassment of riches!

We decided that we would go out to Navarra for lunch.  We had eaten there once before with Brian and Ofelia and, as best as I can recall, it was a Saturday evening in June when we dined together.  We had been meaning to go back at lunchtime for the longest time and yesterday we final got around to it.  The restaurant is a five-minute walk from our house and it was a little after 2:30 when we took our seats at the last available table.

Their lunchtime menu offers a choice of three appetizers, three entrees and three desserts.  Susan chose the salad as her appetizer, which turned out to be a large plate filled with leafy greens, onions, beets, tomatoes, olives, half a hardboiled egg, some white meat tuna, a slice of ham and a slice of mojama, which can best be described as air dried ahi tuna.  I had the ensaladilla rusa.  Ensaladilla rusa is a Spanish take on potato salad made with cubed potatoes, peas and mayonnaise.  There are many variations on the theme and in the case of yesterday’s meal the variation consisted of a goodly number of boiled shrimp.

Susan had the swordfish for he main course and I chose the steak.  Both were excellent and prepared, as we had requested.  For dessert I chose the apple pastry and Susan went for the almond nougat ice cream.  We finished the meal with coffee and a chupito.  Service was a bit off, but understandably so.  One of the waiters had called in sick and there was one waitress, María José, who was doing her best to cover all the downstairs tables.  She was very apologetic and we told her not to worry because we could see what was happening and that she was doing her level best to cover all the bases at the same time.  At one pint, when our wine glasses were almost on empty, she came by and gifted us both with a generous refill as her way of saying thank you for being understanding.

As the restaurant was thinning out Susan and I had a chance to chat with her and it turns out that she is originally from Uruguay, is married with two young children.  A relative of hers had emigrated to the Canary Islands and he was the one responsible for encouraging her to emigrate to Spain.  She has been working at the restaurant for a little more than four years.  She was able to spend a little more than two weeks in Uruguay this summer with the children.  It provided her parents with an opportunity to see the grandchildren.

Navarra is owned and operated by three sisters.  One of them, Guillermina, came by our table.  She started the conversation by saying that we looked familiar to her and that she was sure that we had dined there before.  Once we had mentioned the word Los Angeles she was able to recite all she remembered about our visits to Valencia and our intent to return home and sell our house.  We chatted for another ten minutes or so and she then excused herself because she had to pick up her son at school.

When we left the restaurant we did a bit of shopping and then made our way back home.  It was a little after 5:30 when we walked through the door.  Susan spent the evening reading and watching TV and I busied myself with a couple of magic projects.  It was lights out a little before midnight.

Monday, December 3, 2012

It’s December and the temperature is struggling to get into the high 50’s.  It’s brisk, but it’s not unpleasant. I still amazed at the sight of people all bundled up sitting at outside tables at cafes and restaurants.  I am also amazed at the proliferation of scarves.  On average, the weather here is similar to that of Los Angeles, so, to be honest, I really don’t notice the change in seasons. In truth the only time I noticed the change of seasons was when there was snow up to my eyeballs.  I truly did not appreciate it when the season changed to winter.

Yesterday started out as a lazy day.  Susan made some French toast and topped it off with a topping of fresh and dried fruit that had been warmed up.  What a great way to start the day.  We puttered around until lunchtime and decided that we would pay a visit to the Comisaría.  We were there in less than ten minutes,

We greeted Eddie and we took a seat at the fourtop in the corner that has a perfect view of the action.  Eddie is keeping busy and December will be a very busy month for him between catering events and company luncheons and dinners.  The restaurant was hopping and all the inside tables were filled.  The only available seating was on the terrace and some hearty souls were dining there.  We passed on the menu of the day since we had enjoyed a paella yesterday.  After studying the menu we decided on eggplant in a pesto sauce, dumplings dim sum style, a veal dish and some langoustines.  As usual everything was most tasty.

While we lingered over coffee and a chupito, Eddie sat down with us and we chatted for a good fifteen minutes.  While we were chatting the flamenco guitarist who plays at the restaurant on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings stopped by for a coffee.  He proceeded to take out his guitar and suddenly there was an impromptu concert taking place and we had the perfect seats.  Eddie’s wife came by with the baby and we had a chance to visit with Grace for a short while.  At 5:00 we made our way back home.

It was a quiet evening in Kaplanland.  I finished my Harry Bosch novel and we watched the first episode ever of Inspector Lewis.  We turned off the TV soon after the episode was ever and headed to bed around 11:30.

Eddie and Grace

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Still looking for a solution to the Patraix situation.  I have a couple of friends working on a possible solution.  Brian suggested that we get in touch with the American Consul here in Valencia to see if he can help.  Hopefully one of those avenues will prove to be the correct one and we can finally finish the renewal process.

We have said many times before that you wake up with no plan in mind and, out of the blue, something presents itself.  I had sent an e-mail to Pepe asking him a question and, in his reply, he mentioned that he was having lunch at Carosel with the cast of the show we saw last night.  Ironically, we were about to head out to Carosel for lunch.  When we arrived the group was already there and two more places were added to the table.  What followed were two hours of animated conversation over a quartet of appetizers and a might tasty paella valenciana.

In chatting with comedy magician Jaime Figueroa we discovered that he had recently returned from performing in Equatorial Guinea, which is located on the west coast of Africa.  It is a former Spanish colony and is oil rich.  Unfortunately the discovery of large oil reserves has benefitted only the few and the majority continues to live in abject poverty where clean water is hard to come by.  It turns out that a number of names in the magic world have performed there, also.  It was a fascinating to hear about his performance in front of a school age audience.

We also had the chance to chat with Alberto Sánchez who is one of the two Limas Morgan.  He has a rather extensive background in musical comedy and has appeared in a number of shows in Madrid including Cats and Mamma Mia.  We discovered that he had spent a month in Brooklyn that offered him the opportunity to take in a number of Broadway musicals.  It was in New York that he discovered that there was a casting call for Cats in Madrid, so he headed back home and successfully auditioned for the show.  The other half of Limas Morgan is David Mur who is also from Madrid.  Here is a video of the two of them doing the opening number for the 2012 Musical Comedy Awards in Madrid. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxvoEW742NU

We got back home a little before 5:00.  Brian was coming over to work on the refrigerator door so that it would open to the left and make it easier to place ingredients on the island.  It turned out to be a rather complicated job, but, in the end, everything was put back together and although there were two screws left over, we know what purpose they serve.  We just need to borrow a drill to make two small sinkholes and the job will be finished.  The manual we downloaded shows the need to drill the holes in order to hang the door so that it opens to the left.

We took life easy for the rest of the evening.  I am halfway through the Harry Bosch novel and Susan has started a new book called Heads and Beds.  There is nothing on the docket for today, but you never know around here.