Marty Kaplan's Blog

Monday, July 23, 2012

Hilary and William left early this morning to catch an 8:30 train to Barcelona and from Barcelona they flew on to Rome for a week’s stay.  It was nice to catch up with both of them.  Juliet leaves tomorrow for a stay on Gran Canaria where she will be doing some research for the sabbatical year she and the family will spend there.  She has gone out this evening to catch up with an old friend and I imagine that she will be back soon.

Yesterday, after a leisurely breakfast we made our way to the Almoina to see the ruins of the two Roman occupations and the subsequent Moorish occupation.  This was our second visit and all three of our guests were fascinated by what we saw and the narration of the guide.  It was extremely warm inside, not to mention humid.  After we finished our visit, we headed for a nearby terraza and had a cold drink.  When we were refreshed, we continued on our way.

Given the fact that it is mid-July and many valencianos are either on vacation or spending time at their summer place, most restaurants do not open on Sundays.  We knew that El Molinón would be open so we headed there.  We chose a number of tapas and we all started our meal with a bowl of chilled gazpacho.  We followed that with some pimientos de Padrón, buñuelos de bacalao, and some albóndigas.  The food was good, but it was obvious that the usual cook had the day off.  When the meal was over, we headed back home.

William wanted to see the beach, so he, Hilary and Juliet decided to pay a visit to the Malvarrosa.  Susan and I were a bit tired, so we gave them directions on how to get to the beach and we took life easy for the rest of the afternoon.  When they returned at 9:30 we set the table for dinner and proceeded to feast on olives, potato chips, jamón serrano, pavo ahumado and queso manchego.  We finished the meal with a   chupito or two.  A short while later we all went to bed.

Juliet paid an early morning visit to El Parisien and picked up a bag of goodies for breakfast.  After breakfast, she and Susan went to the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias to pay a visit to the aquarium there.  I stayed home to work on a translation.

I had received an e-mail from Richard Kaufman, the editor of Genii magazine telling me that he was in a bit of a bind because a translation of columns to be published in next month’s issue was badly done and could I either repair the damage or start from scratch.  I have discovered that it is easier to start from scratch and I told him so.  He then e-mailed me back and asked me to do the translation.  It took most of the day because translation is truly an art and a time-consuming process.

Susan gave me a call around 2:00 and asked me to meet Juliet and her at 2:30 so that we could go in search of lunch.  We ended up at Mercat Bar and because it was July it was easy to get a table.  We ordered a number of dishes including patatas bravas, croquetas, empanadas de morcilla, pulpo con patatas, langostinos, and a plate of grilled vegetables.  We shared a soufflé for dessert and finished our meal with coffee.

We took a cab back home and we all rested up for a while.  Around 6:30 Juliet went off to meet a friend whom she had met when she was living in León.  I continued to work on the translation and Susan watched a bit of TV and read for a while.  I dropped down to the CIVAC gathering for an hour and I came back home to finish the translation.  I then gave my friend and fellow magician, Rafael Benatar, a call and asked him if he would take a look at my translation and correct any errors that he found, as well as make editorial changes where they were needed.  Rafael is the go to guy when it comes to translating Spanish books into English.  The majority of books written by Spanish magicians and published in English have been translated by him.

Juliet was back home a little after 10:30.  We sat at the kitchen table and had a nightcap while we talked about her meeting with her friend and her friend’s family.  Around 11:30 we called it a day since Juliet had to get up early to catch her train back to Madrid.

Sunday, July 22, 2012

We slept in yesterday and then had a leisurely breakfast.  Susan had made a coca the other day and we enjoyed it along with some fruit and coffee.  Shortly afterwards we geared up and went to the Central Market.  We introduced Juliet to our favorite sellers and also picked up what we needed for the upcoming weekend.  After we put things away, Juliet and I went in search of an SD card for her camera.  It took a bit of effort to find a place that still sold such a small capacity card, but find it we did.

We had lunch at home.  Susan prepared one of her specialty salads and we enjoyed that along with a fresh loaf of bread from El Parisien.  We kicked back a bit after lunch and I opted for a nap while Susan and Juliet went out to explore the city a bit.  They explored the Turia walking almost to the Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias and they rewarded their effort with a horchata and later an ice cream from Linares.

Juliet and I headed to the train station at 7:45 to meet Hilary and William who were scheduled to arrive at 8:18 on the AVE from Madrid.  We had heard from Hilary earlier in the day.  They had landed in Madrid, but although Hilary’s suitcase had arrived, William’s had not.  It did show up some two hours later on the next Air France flight.  Juliet’s suitcase has been located and will be waiting for her on Tuesday when she lands at Las Palmas.

Once Hilary and William had gotten settled we ventured forth into the night.  We made our way to Carosel where there was an outdoor table waiting for us.  As we enjoyed the night air and the sounds of the city we dined on some octopus, some croquetas de pollo, jamón serrano and a paella de mariscos.  We lingered over dessert and coffee and finished our meal with an orujo de hierbas.  It was close to midnight by the time we walked through the front door.  We prepared the sofa bed for William and we then said our goodnights.  How great it is to host old friends in our new home.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Juliet’s train arrived fifteen minutes late and the good news is that in spite of a rather complicated trip she was able to make the train.  Her original flight to Spain on United was canceled due to mechanical difficulties.  Fortunately, Juliet was able to male alternate arrangements and flew via Swiss to Zurich and from Zurich to Madrid.  Her suitcase is somewhere between New Jersey and Madrid and will hopefully make an appearance tomorrow.  Her flight to Madrid did not leave on time, but the good news is she made it to Atocha and got on her train a full two minutes before the train pulled out of the station.

It turns out that Juliet will not be teaching in the Canaries.  She has been granted a sabbatical year that includes her salary and a small stipend and the decision was made to spend that sabbatical year in the Canaries where the girls can attend the American School and yet be in a situation where they can learn Spanish.  They are close enough to the peninsula to make visiting easy for them and us.  They are also close to England where Juliet’s parents live.

They have located Juliet’s suitcase and it turns out that is still in Newark.  They will send it out today and it should arrive here in Valencia today or tomorrow.  That’s good news.  Yesterday, however, Susan and Juliet went shopping to pick up a few necessities and when they returned it was close to 9:00.  They put things away and off we went to La Comisaría.  On the way we said hello to Francisco and Quique.

La Comisaría was jammed.  There was not a table to be had.  Fortunately I had planned ahead and made a reservation so we took our place at an outdoor table.  We said a quick hello to Eddie who was truly under fire trying to get all the food out to all the tables.  He looked frazzled and understandably so.  Service was a bit slow, but given the crush of orders being generated, it was not surprising.

Dinner was delicious.  We samples the ravioli stuffed with goat cheese and lemon grass, the langoustines, some shrimp and pork gyoza and a Thai crispy veal dish.  We shared a dessert and we decided to have our after dinner drink at home.  The Carmen was jammed and we were barely able to make our way through the Plaza de Tossal.  When we got home it was a little after 11:30.  I opened up the bottle of ronmiel and we had a nightcap.  Then it was bedtime and off we went to our respective rooms.  Hilary and her son arrive today so we will have a full house for the weekend.

Friday, July 20, 2012

It is a little after 5:00 and we will be heading out to the train station shortly to meet a former colleague and good friend of mine, Juliet Henderson.  Juliet is coming to Spain to visit with us and from here head to the Canary Islands where she will be teaching for a year.  I am not quite sure whether it is the upcoming academic year or next, but I suspect that it is the 2013-14 academic year.

It has been a quiet week.  We did have lunch at Basílico yesterday and, as always, it was most enjoyable.  We started with a lettuce salad that was served alongside a puffy pastry stuffed with potato and veal and other tasty things.  Our main dish was breaded strips of lomo that had been lightly fried and served alongside some roasted potatoes.  Dessert was an apple crumble topped with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream.  After lunch we walked back in the direction of the house.  Susan needed to stop off at El Corte Inglés so we parted ways when we reached Colón.

At 8:00 I headed out for a meeting of los veteranos, but getting to and from Jerito’s house would turn out to be an adventure.  There was a demonstration last night in Valencia that caused the police to shut off access to many streets and those streets were the closes to Barón de Cárcer.  The bus was late in coming and there were no taxis to be seen.  I walked a few blocks and was lucky enough to find a cab.  When I arrived Pepe and Paquito were already there and Giocdimani would arrive a bit later.

Pepe gave us more details on the recently ended FISM and showed us the gifts that each attendee received along with the gift bag everything came in.  He also showed us an effect he had purchased on the last day of the event.  As it turned out, we spent most of our meeting time just chatting.  At 9:45 we left Jerito’s house in search of a bite to eat.  We decided that Carosel would be a good option and Paquito and I hopped a cab and Pepe and Gioco made their way on their motorbikes.  A number of streets were blocked off and I suggested a route to the cab driver that took us down Borrull and the driver dropped us off a block from the restaurant.

When we arrived Jordi was hosting a reunion of his classmates from some twenty years ago.  There were eighteen to twenty of them seated at an improvised long table.  We found a table for four outdoors and ordered several things from the menu including some patatas bravas, clóchinas, croquetas and two filets that the four of us shared.  As we were finishing our meal Jordi came over and asked if we would do some magic for his friends.  Gioco was a bit reluctant to do so, so I jumped into the gap and volunteered my services.

I have had more successful nights doing magic, but last night was a very good learning experience.  Magic is easy when everything goes right, but the true test of a magician is what he does when things go wrong.  In doing my first effect where the Ace through 5 of Spades apparently switch their order as I was about to reveal the climax a gust of wind came up and blew the five cards off the table.  I reset the cards and repeated the effect successfully.  My second effect went without a hitch.  As I was about to do my third and last effect I discovered that I had grabbed the wrong deck when I left the house earlier.  I improvised an effect and, unfortunately, one card was out of place and what was supposed to be the chosen card was not, but I managed to find an out that appeared to be the actual ending to the effect.  I ended my performance, such as it was, at 12:40 and quite exhausted I excused myself and headed back home.  I was too keyed up to fall asleep and I tossed and turned for a couple of hours before I finally drifted off to dreamland.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

If you are a Facebook friend of ours then you surely have noticed the fact that our townhome is now officially up for sale.  It will be the perfect home for someone and we know that, sooner or later, the right person will come along and fall in love with the house.  In the meantime, is our remaining days here in Valencia before returning to LA, we continue to discuss what we want to ship over here and what we need to dispose of.

Monday there was a CIVAC meeting, although meeting is probably too strong a word.  Eight of us showed up and chatted for a while.  Pepe gave us his take on the recently ended FISM convention and, with the exception of a strong list of competitors, everything else about the gathering was an unmitigated disaster.  The next FISM will be held in Rimini, Italy in 2015 and I just might make it to that one. Around 9:30 we went in search of a sandwich and a beer and the conversation continued.

Yesterday we had lunch with Pepe and Salva at what it Salva’s favorite restaurant in Valencia.  It is called La Salita and it is located in the neighborhood of La Amistad.  It is a hop, skip and a jump away from the studios where I did the recordings for the Magic Agora promos.  The restaurant features an open kitchen and is very tastefully decorated.  The ambience is very pleasing and it is very east to hear the conversation of your tablemates.  Mellow jazz plays in the background and it is not at all intrusive.

There is no menu, as such.  There is a tasting menu that changes from day to day given what is the best and freshest at the market.  We started our meal with a beer and chatted for a while until our server came to give us the details of the tasting menu.  Before he described the offerings, he inquired as to whether anyone had an allergy to certain foods or whether there were other considerations that needed to be taken into account before the food was prepared.  While we waited for the first course to appear, Salvador ordered a bottle of champagne for the table and we continued to chat.

The first course was a tuna tartar with pine nuts and pesto and crowned with a creation that resembled Frank Gehry’s roof design for the hotel at the Marqués de Cáceres winery.  We discovered that it starts life as a puree of onion and then goes through several processes to reach its final shape and color.  Next came a perfectly cooked scallop bathed in an almond cream and served with baby asparagus.  We finished the champagne with this dish and a magnificent bottle of red took its place. Next came an arroz meloso made with squid ink and topped with a small filet of grilled sea bass.  A gin and tonic sorbet followed to cleanse our palate for the next course.

The next course was a magret de pato served over couscous with a milhojas de foie to accompany it.  Outstanding!!  The duck was followed by an array of sweets that I have never seen nor experienced before.  I will let the photos do the talking because I do not have the words to describe them.  We finished our meal with a dessert wine that had subtle flavors that were reminiscent of a whole host of different berries.  We all had a coffee before we waddled off to our various destinations.

The taxi dropped us off at La Fórcola where Susan had a five o’clock appointment to do a photo shoot for her next article.  Antón opened the door for us and Susan went in and I headed back home.  The rest of the day was uneventful and we took life easy until we went to bed around 11:30.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Every Sunday and Monday there is a flea market that takes place along our street.  At this very moment the vendors are setting up their stalls and the amount of activity and the level of noise outside our building is about to increase dramatically, but not unpleasantly.  We have no plans for today and I think we may take advantage of that fact and just kick back and take life easy.

We spent a good part of the day yesterday running errands.  Susan made an early morning visit to the Central Market to pick up what she needed to prepare a couple of snacks for the Oberles who were coming over at 8:30 prior to our going to Ballando Nudi for dinner.  While she was whipping up what turned out to be some very delicious blue cheese crackers, I headed of to Miguel’s to pick up my new smartphone that I had purchased on Amazon.  It is a Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc 3 with an 8-megapixel camera.  My old Samsung is just not cutting it and sending a text message without a keyboard is very painful and time consuming.

Once I had picked up the phone I then headed to ONO to tell them to go ahead and change my carrier from Orange to ONO keeping the same number that I have had for the last I don’t know how many years.  Having accomplished that task, I went to the market and picked up four bottles of wine.  We seem to be drinking more white wine these days and the better ones are a bit harder to find.  The supermarkets around here carry the less expensive brands.  However, the wine stand in the Central Market has an excellent selection with some of the best prices that I have seen here.

Our lunch was fairly light in anticipation of our meal last evening.  We each had a sandwich and chips and that was more than enough to satisfy us.  We took it easy in the afternoon and, a little after 8:30, Ofelia, Olivia and Brian rang our bell.  We gave them the tour of our new place and then we settled into the sofas in the living room and had a drink and some snacks.  At 9:30 we made our way to the restaurant.

The restaurant, at max, seats 35 and one of the four long tables was occupied by a party of ten.  We took our seats and Francisco came by to make some suggestions and to take our wine order.  We ordered a couple of appetizers – a creamed cod and a zucchini dish that was stuffed with high quality ricotta cheese – and three pastas.  We ordered the Bolognese again, a pumpkin ravioli, and a dish of corkscrew pasta with a wonderful spiced ricotta topping.  It turned out that one bottle of wine was not enough, so we ordered a second.  We shared a couple of desserts and finished our meal with a chupito.

We left the restaurant a little after 11:30.  Olivia hopped a cab to catch up with a friend at a bar called Portland.  The four of us then walked to our place where we said goodnight to the Oberles.  They had walked to our place from theirs and so they continued on their way on foot.  We were in bed soon after we walked through the door.

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Yesterday we walked to Taste of America and picked up some bagels.  Tuesday when we stopped at Solaz we picked up some freshly made chive cream cheese.  Yesterday we stopped at a nearby appliance store and picked up a toaster.  This morning Susan slipped out to the Central Market and bought some smoked salmon at Solaz and then paid a quick visit to our friend Luis to get some capers.  All that was needed now for a regal feast of bagels and lox was a sliced tomato and sliced onion.  We slipped the bagels into the toaster and two minutes later they emerged perfectly toasted.  We layered the bagels with all the goodies and simply enjoyed a treat we have all to infrequently.

Yesterday we had lunch at La Fórcola with a two-fold purpose in mind.  In addition to having lunch, Susan wanted to set up a time for next week when she could interview Antón and get some shots in the kitchen as things are getting prepared for lunch.  Our lunch was rather simple.  We split a salad and then we each had a small steak.  It turned out to be just right for a hot day.  The restaurant was jam packed when we arrived, so we had a beverage at the bar while we waited for a table to become available.  Susan will do her photo shoot next week.

Last night we went to the Palau de Múdsica to hear the Sedajazz Big Band in concert.  They were presenting their new album HORN FLAKES.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, we had heard the band once before and were looking forward to the concert.  As it turned out, we were not disappointed.  We managed to get seats in the sixth row and had a bird’s eye view of the goings on.  The crowd was rather eclectic with as many younger people as older ones.  I would say that the Sala Iturbi was at 90% capacity.  The concert started promptly at 10:00 and when the first strains of the title song hit our ears at full blast we knew that we were in for an exceptional night of big band jazz.

The concert lasted a full two hours and when it ended we made our way into Cánovas in search of a place to have a bite.  We ended up at Aquarium, which is an old-fashioned bar that has actual waiters and barmen who have been at their profession for thirty years or more.  I ordered a beer and Susan opted for a gin and tonic.  It was too late to get hot food, so we settled for a bag of chips and two small ham and cheese sandwiches.  Our hunger and our thirst sated, we hopped a cab back home.  It was close to 1:00 when we walked through the door.  We spoke with Rachel via FaceTime and soon thereafter we went to bed.

Here is a link to The Sedajazz Big Band in concert a few years ago.  I hope you enjoy it.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOsIv51i5aI&feature=related

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

It has been a quiet week thus far.  We are taking life easy while we give some thought to all we need to do when we are back in LA at the end of July.  In addition to a number of doctor appointments, we need to decide what we want to ship over to Spain and what we need to get rid of.  Accounts need to be closed and the cars need to be sold.  Our goal is to return to Spain on October 2, but we may end up leaving earlier depending on what happens with the sale of the house and/or how our household goods end up getting shipped.

I did get to the CIVAC on Monday and there were about ten of us.  We just sat around and shot the breeze.  Paquito gave a couple of the newer members a mini-course on basic card handling.  Afterwards we retired to The London Café for a sandwich and a beer.  Around midnight we all went our separate ways.

Yesterday’s big even was a trip to the Central Market. In addition to replenishing our supply of fruits and vegetables, we picked up a couple of center-cut pork chops from our friendly butcher, Basilio.  They were the centerpieces of our lunch.  Tuesday evening we just hung out.  Today has been low-key thus far.  We are going to a jazz concert at the Palau.  The Seda Jazz Big Band is in concert.  The last time we heard them was at the National Magic Convention here in Valencia.  It should be fun.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Susan is back at her Pilates class now that everything in the new place is more or less under control.  We will do some food shopping later in the day and I will most probably head down to the CIVAC meeting this evening.  A number of the guys are in England attending the FISM convention, which is being held in Blackpool this year.  It appears that the weather is not going to cooperate since the forecast for the week is rainy with highs in the 60’s.

Yesterday was another day to take it easy.  We puttered around until 2:00 at which time we headed out to Carosel. Miguel, the father of Andreu who has become a fast friend of Robbie Handelsman invited the Handelsmans and the Kaplans to join him for lunch.  He also invited Javi and his family to join the party.  Javi is Jordi’s fishmonger and provides Jordi with the best the market has to offer.  Javi’s star indeed did shine at this meal.

We started our meal with a bowl of clóchinas, followed by some incredible shrimp, pulpo a la gallega, some more shrimp, a coca topped with escalivada and finally, as Jordi had promised a hamburger, except this hamburger was made from rabo de toro.  The wine flowed and the conversation was very animated.  Our lunch ended at 5:00, a respectable three-hour repast.  We said our goodbyes to the Handelsmans who head for Madrid on Tuesday morning with the Woodberry boys.  The students return to the US on Friday, but Andrew and family will spend another two weeks in Spain.

Our evening was uneventful.  I finished another book La playa de los ahogados, which is set in Galicia.  It is a murder mystery featuring a detective named Leo Caldas.  It has been translated into English and is available on Amazon.  I did not finish the book until 1:30 and by then Susan had long since fallen asleep.  Today’s pictures of Jordi were taken on the day the Woodberry boys accompanied Jordi to the Central Market.  The photos were taken by Andrew Handelsman.

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Yesterday was a very slow news day.  Susan and I both acknowledged that we had run out of energy and that the best approach to the day would be to do as little as possible.  The good news is we were successful.  We did go out in the early afternoon in search of some coffee and after a visit to the Nespresso store we made our way to The Ginger Loft for some lunch.

Mike and Santi have decided to stay in Valencia for the month of August and have abandoned the idea – for the time being – of setting up shop in Sitges for four to six weeks during the summer months.  That’s good news for us.  We chatted for a while and then we gave some serious study to the menu.  Given the fact that we usually get whatever dishes comprise the menu of the day, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that there were a number of new menu items and we decided to give them a try.

We started with a spicy Thai marmalade with crispy pork rinds.  Susan ordered a bowl of the cold pea soup with mint.  While she worked on that, I shamelessly devoured almost the complete serving of shrimp ceviche served with lettuce cups.  Next came a plate of shrimp fritters and lastly we had some mini lamb burgers.  Everything we had was outstanding.  While we ate a German couple took their seats at the table next to us and we struck up a conversation with them.

Suzanne, the wife, was in town for the International Conference on Innovative Tech for Autism.  He, Arnold Walz, an architect, was accompanying her on the trip.  He works for a firm called Design To Production and has been involved in a number of interesting projects.  Here is a link to the site where you can take a look at some of them http://www.designtoproduction.ch/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/ They both have traveled extensively and they recently returned to Germany after a six month stay in Australia.

After lunch we made our way home and that was our activity for the day.  We read and watched TV until about 10:30 when we gave in to our tiredness.