Marty Kaplan's Blog

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!  Merchants are trying to make a big deal out of Halloween here in Spain and a number of bars and restaurants are offering Halloween themed events and menus, but, the truth of the matter is, it is celebration that is mostly ignored by the Spaniards.  Tomorrow, November 1st, is a holiday in Spain because it is All Saints Day.  Many people will travel to the towns of their birth to visit the local cemetery where a parent or grandparent is buried.  All stores and offices will be closed.  Some bars and restaurants will be open, while others will not.

Yesterday morning we decided that we would go to the Oficina de Extranjería to pick up the document that authorizes us to live in Spain as temporary residents for the next two years.    Since Inma was cleaning the house, we decided to have breakfast at a nearby café and then he took a cab to our destination.  When we arrived there was no line, so we walked in and told the gentleman who was doing check-in that Juan Luis had contacted us saying that our document was ready. A few minutes later his secretary came out and gave us our documents and another form that we needed to fill out.  It turns out that we needed to pay an additional 18 Euros to have our visa application approved and validated by the Ministry of the Exterior.  We thanked the secretary and headed out in search of a bank where we could pay our fees.

We must have walked a good fifteen to twenty minutes before we found a bank.  However, find one we did and we paid the fees and got the necessary stamps that confirmed that we had paid our fees.  Our intent was to then go to Patraix where the process will be finished.  We will give the document and our photos to one of the employees there and he will take our thumbprint and tell us to return in 45 days to pick up our new visa.  However, when we read the document over carefully, it said that we could not hand in said document until November 17 or later when our initial visa expires.   So it looks like we will be taking another trip in a taxi to finish the third step in the process and we will have to wait until 2013 to have our new visa in hand.

Since we were going out in the evening we decided to have lunch at home.  We had a salad along with some tuna salad and a glass of wine.  After lunch we occupied ourselves doing whatever we felt like doing.  Brian came by a little before 8:30 and the three of us walked to El Molinón where we were going to meet Yun and Jim.  They had already arrived when we walked in and Quique had them set a bigger table for us.

It fell to me to order for the table and that was very easy task.  I simply ordered what I consider to be the best dishes on the menu and I asked Quique to suggest a wine and his suggestion was the house red, which is a very nice Rioja. One by one the dishes cane to the table – pulpo a la gallega, jamón serrano, queso manchego, buñuelos de bacalao, mejillones al vapor, albóndigas and solomillo.  We also ordered three different desserts for all of us to share.  We enjoyed a slice of tarta de Santiago, flan de café and a milhojas filled with pastry cream.  We also got to sample a variety of chupitos – Ronmiel, Pacharán. Mistela and Orujo de Hierbas.

Our conversation was very animated and we discussed a number of topics, including the upcoming elections.  Yun and Jim are heading off to Madrid for five days and from there they head off to Switzerland.  I had already suggested to Jim some of the places that he might want to check out in Madrid and last night I suggested a few more.  We left the restaurant a little after 11:00 and when we go to the Plaza de la Merced, where Yun and Jim’s apartment is located, we all went our separate ways.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Yesterday was an uneventful day.  Susan went to her Pilates class in the morning and I stayed behind to finish up the articles I have been translating.  I needed to run a few errands and so I headed out a little after 1:00.  As I was approaching Guillén de Castro someone called out my name and it turned out to be Susan who had stopped off to make a few purchases and chat with friends.  We continued on together and having finished our list of things to do, we decided to have lunch at El Cuento, a few doors down from Miguel’s office.

El Cuento is always a reliable choice.  It is a no frills restaurant where the quality is always good and the food is always tasty.  Susan started off with a salad that was topped with caramelized eggplant while I chose a tosta that was topped with a portion of a four-cheese omelet and crowned with a slice of jamón serrano. Our main dish was an arroz meloso with lomo, ham and mushrooms.  It was the perfect dish for a rather brisk day.  Susan had fruit for dessert and I had a café cortado.

Our afternoon was uneventful and at 8:00 I headed out for a meeting of the CIVAC.  Last night featured a presentation by Mago Aranda.  He performed all the effects on his new DVD that was shot at La Cuchara Mágica and afterwards he offered the DVD for sale at a special price for us CIVAC members.  The few people that stayed after the lecture were going to London Café for a bite to eat, but I headed home instead and enjoyed a slice or two of Friday’s pizza.  We read for a while and we went to bed a little early for us because Inma, our cleaning lady, would be ringing our bell at 8:00 AM and we needed to wake up a little before her arrival.

Monday, October 29, 2012

It’s getting colder out there.  There are frost warnings in the interior and here in Valencia the temperature is not expected to go higher than the low 60’s.  Temperatures will moderate later in the week, but I think we are looking at highs in the 60’s for the foreseeable future.

Cold or not, we decided to walk to the Cines Babel to see Woody Allen’s film, “To Rome with Love”.  Our plan was to leave the house a little after 2:30, walk the two miles to the theater, grab some lunch and then catch the 4:30 showing.  We kept up a good pace throughout our walk and we reached our destination in less than a half an hour.  It turned out that restaurant choices were limited, so we ended up going to a small restaurant across the street from the theater.

Lunch was filling, but it was not anything remarkable.  We had some croquetas de bogavante, gambas al ajillo and we shared an entrecot.  Susan had some baked pumpkin for dessert and I chose a brownie.  The brownie was a bit dry and had made a brief journey through the microwave.  When the gates to the theater were opened, we made our way across the street, bought our tickets and entered the theater.

I have been a Woody Allen fan since his early days when he was a stand-up comedian who then made his foray into the movies.  That means I have a predisposition to like his films and this one was no exception.  Is it one of his best films? No!  Did I spend an enjoyable two hours occasionally laughing out loud?  Yes!  Of the four stories told in the film, the tale of the newlyweds was the least interesting for me.  I liked the story that featured Jesse Feinberg, Alec Baldwin and Ellen Page, although it was sort of predictable.  The Roberto Benigni story was a rather cutting commentary about people who are famous for being famous.  I enjoyed the segment that starred Woody Allen the most.  The concept of an opera singer with a golden voice who could only realize his gift if he was in the shower just hit me the right way and I laughed my way through all of his performance scenes.

Given the fact that it was already dark when we left the theater and the temperature had dipped significantly, we took a cab home.  We were in for the evening.  I translated a bit more and Susan read.  A little after 9:00, thanks to Apple TV we watched another episode of “Inspector Lewis”.  Susan went to bed at midnight, but I stayed up until 1:30 hoping that would make me fall asleep when I hit the bed.  Unfortunately the strategy did not work.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Daylight savings went into effect last night here in Spain.  The tradeoff is that it will now get darker earlier.  Since neither of us has to drive home from work in the dark, I imagine it will not have a noticeable effect on us.

Yesterday, for the most part was uneventful.  I spent most of my day translating an article on the history of coin magic and Susan paid a visit to the market to pick up the makings for lunch.  A new stand has opened up at the market and it features products from Mexico.  Flour tortillas can be found everywhere in Valencia, but up until now we have not been able to find a corn tortilla.  The search is over.  Susan also picked up a can of salsa verde and along with a ripe avocado she had all the makings for fajitas.  A cold beer was the perfect match for this dish.

We ventured out a little after 5:00 and had an ice cream and then continued on to the Nespresso store to restock our supply of coffee capsules.  When we returned home we relaxed for a while and then we got dressed for our visit to the Olympia Theater to see Anthony Blake’s one man show, No vengas solo.  We met with his representative when we arrived at the theater and she provided us with our complimentary tickets.  We took our seats and waited for the show to begin.  While we were waiting Sara, Pepe’s girlfriend or ex-girlfriend – depending on the day – saw us and said hello.  The lights dimmed and the show began.

The show had a very dark theme.  It focused on fears, nightmares and death and the storyline of each effect that Blake performed revolved around one of the foregoing themes.  Blake has a commanding presence and shines as both a storyteller and a mentalist.  There is one point when an onstage spectator is asked to close his eyes and to experience a variety of sensations.  Blake, at one point, takes a good-sized needle and passes it through the flesh of the underside of the spectator’s arm.  The spectator feels nothing.  The whole event is captured by a video projection on a screen that is part of the backdrop.  Although the spectator does not react, the young man seated in the row in front of us goes into a dead faint.  It took about five minutes to revive him and he had to be helped out of his seat and out of the theater.

At the very end of his show, just before the final curtain, the lights dim and Blake announces that a secret camera has been videoing audience reactions during the performance and he is going to show that video now.  What actually happens is that a distorted female face fills the screen and she emits a blood-curdling scream.  It scared the hell out of a ten-year-old boy who was sitting four or five rows in front of us.  It took his father a good two or three minutes to calm him down.

I enjoyed many aspects of the show, but, in truth, the show was too long.  It is difficult enough for a performer in any of the performing arts to hold the audiences attention for a full ninety minutes.  Sixty to seventy-five minutes seems to be the norm for one-man shows.  A ninety-minute show dedicated to mentalism is difficult to pull off because, to a certain extent, the element of surprise is missing.  There comes a point when you say to yourself I know that he is going to guess correctly even if I don’t know how he manages to do it.

After the performance we chatted a bit with Sara and said hello to Darío Piera and Jandro, two magicians whom I have known for close to fifteen years.  On our walk back home the wind had picked up and we decided to head back home and raid the refrigerator.  We snacked on a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  I worked a bit more on my translation and Susan read for a while.  It was 12:30 when I shut out the lights, but not before looking under the bed to make sure that no stray spirits had accompanied us on our journey back home.

Fajitas a la Susana

Saturday, October 27, 2012

We needed to run a few errands yesterday morning and we were back home a little after 1:00.  I sat down to do some more translation work and Susan continued her reading of Ken Follett’s latest novel.  As lunchtime drew closer we discussed where we might go for lunch and we decided that La Fórcola would be a good destination.

On our way we stopped off at Cervecería Las Torres to chat with Paco.  He invited us to a Halloween celebration that is happening next Wednesday evening.  It is a costume party so that might get in the way of our attending.  We shall see.  We crossed the street and said a quick hello to Nacho who was busy with customers.  We then continued on our way and walked into La Fórcola.

We said hello to Sonia, Marta and Juan and took a seat at our usual table.  We opted for the menu of the day and we each enjoyed a Greek salad, a pizza with ham and mushrooms and dessert.  Susan had the tarta de queso and I had the tiramisu.  We finished our meal with coffee and turned down a chupito.  We walked back home and I took my usual siesta.

We wanted to see the new Woody Allen film and there was no 8:30 showing at the Cines Babel, which shows all films in their original version, but there was an 8:30 showing at Cines Lys and I thought we had seen a sign when we walked by the other day that said version original.  We headed out around 8:00 and as we passed by the Teatro Olympia we saw Pepe who was waiting outside the theater where he was going to see Anthony Blake’s one man show.  Anthony Blake is Spain’s most famous mentalist who appears regularly on TV.  We chatted for a while and then we continued on our way.

I lined up to buy tickets and when I got to the ticket window I discovered, to my dismay, that they were showing the dubbed version.  Bummer!  So, we changed our plan and decided to go to The Ginger Loft and catch up wit Santi, whom we had not seen since our return to Valencia.  He arrived a few minutes after we arrived and we spent an hour or so chatting with him and Mike.  I had a beer and Santi mixed up a special cocktail for Susan.  A little after 9:30 we continued on our way.

We got as far as Carosel and decided that we would really like something of the grill, so we were shown to one of the indoor tables and quickly decided that some grilled vegetables along with some secreto ibérico and lamb chops would be the ideal dinner.  Everything was delicious.  Jordi came over to the table and we chatted for a while.  He finally revealed to us where his new place was going to be.  It is on the ground floor of the MuVIM – Museo Valencia de Ilustración y Modernidad.  The museum is a about a ten minute walk from our house so that will make it easy to get to.  The focus of the new space will be food and entertainment.  As Jordi explains it, it will be a good place to just chill.

We finished our meal and paid our bill.  As we were leaving, Pepe walked in.  He had just arrived from Anthony Blake’s show and he, along with five others – including Anthony Blake – were doing to have a little dinner.  Anthony was already seated at one of the outdoor tables, so I walked over and said hello.  It had been a while since I had last seen him.  It was about five or six years ago and I was in town with a group of Westridge students.  On that occasion, Pepe had hired out a space and made a paella for my group and some other friends after giving us a tour of the Mercado Central.

Anthony and I chatted for a while and in the course of our conversation he invited Susan and me to come and see his 9:00 o’clock show this evening.  He will leave two tickets at the box office for us.  Who could say no to such an invitation? We said our goodbyes and walked home.  We read for a bit and shut off the lights a little after midnight.

Friday, October 26, 2012

It rained off and on all day yesterday.  The rain did not get in our way of visiting the market to pick up some smoked turkey, some cheese, fruits and vegetables.  When we returned home, I worked on the blog and the translations and Susan was busy working on the pictures that she shot at the winery.  Before we knew it, it was 2:00 o’clock and it was time for lunch.

We decided that it was time to explore a bit and after consulting several reviews we decided that we would try Restaurante Morgado.  It took us a good twenty minutes to walk there and when we walked through the doors almost all the tables in this small restaurant were occupied.  We were shown to our table and they took our drink order.  We were then given the menus and told that the chef – who is also the owner – would visit our table to let us know what were the specials of the day.

As we looked over the menu we munched on the olives and chips that had been placed before us with our drinks.  While studying the menu, Juan Morgado, the chef/owner, joined us at our table.  At his suggestion we ordered a baked potato stuffed with foie, gambas rojas de Denia as our starters and a fideuá made with garbanzos, ham and bacon as our main dish.  The sommelier came by our table and helped us with our wine selection.  I decided to stay local in our wine choice and chose a bottle that was priced at 22 Euros.  There were options that were priced at 100 Euros and above.  I imagine that you now have figured out that we were in a rather high-end restaurant.

Our meal began with a complimentary appetizer of a whole marinated white anchovy served with a spicy pepper and a dash of chopped tomato.  The potato with foie was a taste treat.  The potato had been backed and the insides scooped up and mixed with the foie and then the mixture was put back into the potato skin.  The red shrimp were large, cooked on the flatiron with a little olive oil and salt and were unbelievably good and unbelievably expensive…but well worth the price.  The fideuá was next and it too was pleasing to the eye, to our sense of smell and to our taste buds.  We were unable to finish it, but, of course, there is always room for dessert.  We shared a truffle bathed in hot chocolate sauce.  We finished the meal with coffee and a chupito.  As if we weren’t full enough, the chef sent over a plate of cookies that are typical of Extremadura and, as it turns out, that is where he is from.  He has been in Valencia for many years and he opened this space some sixteen years ago.

By the time we left, the rain had begun again and we were able to find a taxi nearby and we were back home in less than ten minutes.  It was definitely siesta time and when I awoke from my nap, I spent a bit more time translating.  At around 7:45 I headed out for a meeting of the veteranos and traffic turned out to be horrendous. It seems that when it rains, more people use their cars instead of public transportation.  More cars make for more traffic.  Our meeting lasted until 9:30 and for the most part we chatted about mentalism because a famous Spanish mentalist, Anthony Blake, is at the Olympia Theater for a four day run.  Gurrea was kind enough to drive me home and I kept myself busy with a variety of tasks until midnight and then I went to bed.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

It is overcast and the forecast calls for showers.  The good news is that there is no grand plan for today and the rain will not get in the way of anything that we end up doing.  There is a meeting of the veteranos this evening and I will most likely get there by cab.

Brian had been talking about taking an excursion one day to one of the nearby wineries and it turned out that yesterday was excursion day.  Our destination was the Hoya de Cadenas winery located in the nearby town of Utiel.  It is less than sixty miles away from the center of Valencia and when Brian came by at 10:45 we hopped in the car and off we went.

As you begin the journey on the main highway that eventually will take you to Madrid the scenery is cluttered and, frankly, quite ugly.  However, once you get past the town of Buñol and its cement plant, the quality of the scenery vastly improves.  Yesterday the contrast between the green of the younger vines and the red of the older vines was striking.  There was an abundance of olive trees, also.  When we exited the highway, we made our way through the small town of Utiel and ten minutes later we were pulling into the parking lot.

The winery has a daily tour at noon and there is a train – similar to the ones that you see in an amusement park – and it takes you through the vineyards to what were once the original site of the winery and the home of its owner.  The house is now used for receptions and private parties and it would be and is an ideal site for an outdoor wedding.  Given the fact that parties take place there some elements of the house have been modernized, but there are many of the older features that are still in place.  What was once the bodega where the wine was stored and aged is now a museum and there is a display of oak wine barrels that have been decorated by various artists and those decorated wine barrels have been turned into labels for one of the seven different brands the winery produces.

The name of the winery – Hoya de Cadenas ­– translates as the valley of chains and it is so named because the original stoop labor that harvested the mature grapes were prisoners who were granted their freedom after the harvest was over. Today everything is mechanized and machines do the harvesting and every single vine is connected to an irrigation tube that controls the amount of water that each vine gets.

After our visit to the old winery, we returned through the fields to the 21^st century version.  As we stood in the midst of enormous steel tanks the process of wine making was explained to us.  As one would expect in this day and age, any winery producing millions of bottle of wine per year is highly mechanized and controlled by computers that can make large or small adjustments to the process in less that a second.   Our next stop took us down eight flights of stairs to the room where the wine is aged in barrels.  Our guide explained that for this winery any wine that has been aged in oak for six moths is labeled crianza and the denomination of reserva is for those wines that have been aged for a year in oak.  Ninety percent of the barrels are American oak and French oak makes up the other ten percent.

Our next stop was the tasting room where we tasted a cava, a red wine and a dessert wine.  Some of the brands of this winery are El Miracle – a blended wine – Hoya de Cadenas – a brand widely available in the States – BO – a wine made from the bobal grape, which is indigenous to the Valencia Community and Ceremonia, which is one of their upscale wines.  None of the wine is bottled on site, but rather the bottling happens in the nearby town of Chiva where all the offices of the winery are located.

There were about a dozen of us on this tour and we climbed the eight flights back up to the store and parking area.  It was a bit more challenging with some wine coursing through your veins.  There were a number of wines on sale and, in some cases, if you bought two half cases of a certain wine you got a third half case for free. The three of us ended up buying nine bottle of wine and because the total of our purchase exceeded 70 Euros, Brian’s admission and one of our admissions was refunded.  The nine bottles of wine ended up costing us 62 Euros.  In addition, Susan was given a small bottle of a very excellent olive oil and all three of us were given a very fancy wine opener.

We put out purchases in the trunk of Brian’s car and then headed for the nearby town of Requena in search of some lunch.  Our first choice turned out to be closed on Tuesday, so we headed back to the center of town and made our way to the Mesón del Vino.  After studying the menu, we all decided to order from the menu of the day.  Brian and I started off with a scramble that was made with spinach, garlic and a touch of anchovy.  Susan began her meal with garlic soup.  Susan and I chose lamb chops for our entrée and Brian opted for some sausages that had been cooked in wine.  French fries and a roasted red pepper accompanied the entrees.  We enjoyed a bottle of red wine, as well as a bottle of mineral water.  My dessert was an almond ice cream, Brian had natillas and Susan had a slice of melon.  I was the only one who had coffee.  Our bill for the meal was 52.50 Euros.  Everything was tasty, simply prepared and of good quality.

Before we got back in the car we divided up the wine so that there would be no hassle when Brian dropped us off at the house.  We were back in the house a little before 5:00 and that is where we stayed for most of the rest of the day.  We did go out at 8:30 for a drink and a nibble, but we were back in the house by 9:30.  The rest of the evening was uneventful and we were in bed a little before midnight.

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

We did not sleep well Monday night either because we were afraid we would not be up in time to make our 9:00 AM appointment at the Departemento de Extranjería or because we were concerned that there might be another foul-up like the one that resulted in a ten-month delay in getting our visa. As a result, we were up a good ninety minutes before we had to leave.  We had a leisurely breakfast, got dressed and headed off in a cab at 8:30.

The office is located far from the center of town and it was a good twenty minutes before we got there.  There was already a line outside the building when we arrived and we had a ten-minute wait before the doors were opened.  Everybody lined up in order of his or her arrival and even though people were standing all over the place they lined where they should have.  Nobody tried to break the line or improve his or her position.  Since we had a 9:00 o’clock appointment I approached the guard at the door to ask what we should do.  We were told that since we had an appointment we did not have to wait in line and that we should enter the building.

After going through security I mentioned to someone that we had an appointment with Juan Luis and we were told to wait by the door that leads to all the offices.  Two minutes later we were ushered into our office and after a bit of friendly banter, we got down to the task.  He had photocopies of our passport made, checked our application, verified our medical coverage and accepted our letter from the Banco Popular as proof of our economic sustainability while in Spain.  I had brought other documents and other statements, but he said they were not necessary.  Go figure!  That was the hang-up last year.  He then did a computer background check to make sure that our name did not appear in any police file.  That was easy.  He then told us that we will get a call in a few weeks to tell us that our document is ready at which point we will need to go to Patraix to hand in the document, our photos and be fingerprinted.  Thirty days after our visit to Patraix our new visa will be ready and we will have to return to pick it up.  The wheels of immigration grind oh so slowly here in Spain.

Our appointment took all of twenty minutes and we were back home a little before 10:00.  A little later we went in search of a paper shredder and along the way stopped for a drink and a tapa at one of the many outdoor cafés near the Corte Inglés.  It turned out that we had to go to another store, Abacus, to find what we were looking for, but the good news is we found what we were looking for.  Since we were so close to The Ginger Loft we decided to stop in and have lunch with Mike.

As is always the case, Mike fed us well.  We started of with some caponata and some mini-toasts.  Our appetizer was some ceviche and that was followed by a bowl of corn chowder.  I like to think of myself as someone who does not like soup, but I have thoroughly enjoyed every soup that Mike has set before us.  Next came a minced lamb dish enlivened with some heat from a habanero pepper and a dash of mint.  It was served along with some white rice.  The dish was fantastic and the interplay between the heat of the pepper and the coolness of the mint was amazing.  We had ordered another dish, a chicken curry, but we were stuffed.  We asked Mike if we could take it to go and he willingly obliged us.  We toddled off a little after four with a goodly number of plastic bags.

The rest of our day was uneventful.  We watched some TV, we read for a while and I did a bit more translation.  We warmed up the curry for supper and that turned out to be enough to fill us up.  We were in bed a bit before midnight hopeful of getting a good night’s sleep.

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Yesterday was a day to take things easy and to eat lightly. Susan made a trip to the Central Market to pick up some chicken, some fruit and some vegetables and I made a pilgrimage there about thirty minutes later to catch up with Amparo and to learn why their stand had been closed all last week.  It turned out that it was for a good reason.  She was a grandmother again and that was occasion enough to take the entire week off to rest, relax and celebrate.

I spent a good part of my morning and afternoon working on translations, as well as a rather length blog post.  Susan prepared a lovely stir-fry for lunch with onions, peppers, broccoli and chicken.  She also made a risotto to go along with it.  We had fresh fruit for dessert.  Peaches are either back in season or still in season here.

I rested up a bit and around 7:30 I took a quick shower and headed off to the CIVAC meeting.  Last night’s program was a lecture by Argentinean magician, Iñaki Zabaleta.  He is well-seasoned professional who is expert and close-up and stand-up magic.  He did and explained a number of effects from his professional routines. Iñaki splits his time between Buenos Aires and Madrid and today he is off to his home in Argentina.

The lecture lasted a good ninety minutes and afterwards a dozen off us sat down for sandwiches and conversation.  I left a little after 10:30 since we needed to be up rather early this morning for our 9:00 AM appointment at the Deparamento de Extranjería.  When I got home we double-checked that we had all the necessary documents for our visa application and it was lights out a little after 11:00.

Monday, October 22, 2012

It is yet another cool and sunny day here in Valencia.  Someone will be here in an hour to put together our new Ikea bookcases.  We plan to have a light lunch at home after yesterday’s food extravaganza and I will attend a lecture this evening at the CIVAC.

Yesterday around noon I was putting the finishing touches on one of the translations that I need to do for the upcoming issue of El Manuscrito.  Susan came into the office and sat down on the sofa and watched me work for a minute or two.  I was a bit puzzled because usually she does not sit and chat when I am working on a translation.  Another minute passed and she asked me if I was ready to go.  Ready to go?  What was her rush?  We still had another two hours before we were to meet Nacho.  Didn’t we?  The answer was no, because when Susan had said what we were meeting a las doce, I had heard a las dos.  That meant a quick visit to the shower, getting dressed and then making our way over to Cervecería Las Torres for an aperitivo.

Ten minutes later we were in front of the bar and it was closed.  Susan called Nacho and he told her that he and Cayetano were at the bar on the other side of the street of Los Pikos and that both spaces were on Calle Quart.  A few minutes later we were seated at an outdoor table and a clod Amstel beer was placed in front of us.

When you are with Nacho, Nacho will always dominate the conversation.  Today he was talking about how he would like to move from his present apartment to one on Guillén de Castro.  The flat above his store has been available for some ten years and it appears that the owners, a divorced couple, have reduced the price to the point where it is now affordable to buy and to remodel.  It would probably take close to a year to remodel it, but when done it would be a large, open flat with a big kitchen and dining room, along with a terrace that would look out on the avenue.  Nacho has made a proposal, but has yet to hear back and throughout the conversation he spent time dithering between not calling at all, calling on Tuesday or calling after we finished lunch.

Nacho currently lives on the outskirts of the city in a ten story high rise.  His apartment is small.  It has one bedroom, one bathroom, a small kitchen, a room that serves as both a living room and a dining room, and a balcony that has a great view of the high rises with the mountains in the background.  In addition to being small, the problem with the apartment turns out to be the surrounding area.  There is no street life.  There is a total absence of bars, restaurants and cafés nearby.  It turns out that Nacho, like us, enjoys being in the heart of the city where there are lots of people, lots of places to sit and have a drink or a bite to eat and lots of people to get to know.

It was close to 3:00 when we asked for our bill and by that time Nacho had downed four beers and was feeling a bit giddy.  He owns a small Fiat and he and Cayetano sat in the front and Susan and I squeezed into the back seat.  By the way, squeeze is the correct verb.  I found myself with no knee room and no headroom with no possibility of using my safety belt.  It would have made me feel a bit more comfortable because for the next tem minutes or so we re-enacted Mr Toad’s Wild Ride.  We sped through the street probably at about fifty miles an hour with Nacho changing lanes at will.  The good news is that we arrived at the gates of the underground garage in one piece.  However, the wild ride continued as we made our way through the labyrinth of the garage at a high speed.  We parked and then it was time for my next challenge…getting out of the back seat.

I do not exaggerate when I say that it took me a good five minutes to extricate myself from the back of the Fiat.  If I tried to plant my left foot on the pavement there was not enough room in the back seat for me to angle my body out.  Placing my right foot on the pavement meant having to almost lie down on the back seat and took away the necessary leverage to exit the vehicle.  I did manage to find a leverage point and I was finally free of the Fiat.  I got to ride back home in the front seat thus avoiding any further contortionist adventures.

Our plan for yesterday changed radically from its initial inception.  Originally we were going to meet for a drink, have lunch at Restaurante Canela and then come back to our place for a Gin and Tonic and the chance for Nacho to take look at our new place.  The plan now was to have lunch at Nacho’s.  He was going to prepare an arroz al horno and because he usually naps after lunch on Sundays he asked for a rain check on the G and T.  Of course, before we sat down to the main course we needed to have another beer and a few more aperitivos.  As if by magic, the coffee table was soon filled with a bowl of chips, wedges of tortilla, smoked mussels and marinated razor clams.  Cayetano and I watched TV while Nacho set to work making the arroz.  Susan was there to photograph the event and her pictures will follow this blog entry.

The ingredients for Nacho’s arroz are as follows: potatoes, rice, red pepper, onion, tomatoes, garlic, morcilla, pork loin and pork ribs both cut into bite-size pieces.  The dish starts out on the stovetop, as the ingredients are browned in a frying pan and rather than using some sort of broth as the medium for the rice, Nacho uses water.  When the dish was cooked to perfection, it was moved to the small table on the balcony and with the addition of a little bread and some Faustino V, a very good medium-priced Rioja we dined like kings.  We had brought a dessert from El Parisien and we each had a small slice.  A quick clear of the table and Nacho insisted on taking us home.

The drive back was a little less frantic and sitting in the front seat was the only way to go.  It was 5:30 when he dropped us off and five hours had passed since we first caught up on Calle Quart.  A little nap was in order, as was a lazy evening.  An episode of Inspector Lewis was the perfect solution and when it was over we headed for bed.