Marty Kaplan's Blog

Saturday, May 19, 2012

We have evening plans today, but I have nothing scheduled before then.  Susan will pay a visit to the Russafa Art Walk this afternoon, but I think I will pass.  The streets will be overcrowded and I don’t think that bumping into people will be helpful for my recovering knee.  Tonight’s guitar concert is at a new venue that is located across the riverbed from us and is not as easily accessed as the former site.

Yesterday we had a late lunch at A Nou.  Valencian mussels called clóchinas are in season so we decided to start with a bowl full of those.  They were plump, juicy and delicious.  Our main course was an arroz de langostinos filled with langoustines, shrimp, fish and squid.  We were unable to finish it all.  I think Teresa adds a little bit extra to our dishes when Javi tells her that it’s for us.  We had fresh fruit for dessert, but skipped the coffee and the after dinner drink.

When we finished our meal we crossed the street and went back home.  For the first time in recent memory Susan was able to take a nap in the afternoon.  I conked out, too.  That is not unusual for me.  A little before 7:00 we got dressed to go out again and this time we were headed to a space called the Espacio Inestable to see our friend, Nacho Diago, in a three person play entitled Cardiovascular.  We arrived a bit early and that gave us the opportunity to explore this part of the Carmen district.

We stopped in at a small restaurant called Chez Vic where we sat at the bar and while we munched on some olives I enjoyed an ice-cold beer and Susan had a glass of wine.  We chatted with Gayle who owns the space along with her husband, David.  Gayle is French and came to Salamanca a number of years ago to finish up her degree, met David and for the past six years they have been living in Valencia.  We studied the menu and both Susan and I agreed that we would have to give the place a try in the near future.

When we returned to the theater they had just opened the doors and we took two seats in the front row.  The crowd was sparse partly due to the fact that there was an important soccer game on TV and partly because the publicity for the play has been minimal.  We settled into our chairs and no sooner had we done so than the play began.

The play was written by one of the actors, Paula Llorens and she also directed the piece.  It is a series of vignettes that deal with affairs of the heart, loneliness and the mysteries of sex and relationships in the minds and hearts of both adolescents and adults.  It lasts a little more than an hour and in the course of that hour each of the three actors play a number of different roles.  Nacho plays a husband who is separated from his wife and son, an adolescent and a married man having an affair and about to separate from his wife.

After the play we waited outside for Nacho so that we could say hello and congratulate him on his performance.  We chatted for a while and it turned out that Paula’s family and friends had attended the performance and that a group of the actors, technicians and family were going to have dinner.  We were invited to join them and we accepted the invitation.

We made our way to a restaurant called Secreter and is located on Calle de Los Maestres 5.  It opened on January 3, 2012 and it is a small space with room for thirty diners inside and there is a small outdoor patio that seats another twenty.  We started out on the patio with drinks and conversation.  Eventually the conversation turned to magic and nacho did a little something and, even though I had not brought along my toys, I did something, also.  Nacho’s technical director who is a budding magician did an effect for us, also.

It was 10:30 when we moved indoors for dinner.  The menu is small, but international in scope.  In addition to a number of salads and patés there are items such as gyoza, Vietnamese spring rolls, a chicken quesadilla and a Thai style hamburger.  We all ordered a main course and we agreed that everything that came out of the kitchen was very tasty and enjoyable.  We could not pass up dessert and so we ordered two of each of the three desserts they were offering last night.  One was a crepe filled with green tea ice cream and bits of chocolate, the second was a chocolate cake and the third was an orange and almond cake.  The ten of us around the table made short work of the dessert.  Coffee followed, as well as an after dinner drink and at 12:45 we were all ready to pay the bill and head out.

Nacho was parked nearby so we walked to his car and he very kindly drove us home.  It was a little after 1:00 when we walked through the door and it was a little before 2:00 when we retired for the night.  Here is a link to the restaurant so that you can check it out http://www.secretersaladeestar.com/

Friday, May 18, 2012

It has the makings of a busy weekend.  Tonight we will go and see Nacho Diago in a play called Cardiovascular, Saturday we will attend a guitar concert put on by Los Amigos de la Guitarra.  They have a new venue for their concerts – the Museo de Bellas Artes.  I am curious about the change of venues.  The Colegio de Luis Vives where the concerts were formerly held is located close to the gathering point of the many protests that are taking place here in Valencia and the change in venue may have to do with the noise factor.  Sunday we will head out with our other Nacho and have lunch at the Asador Siete de Julio.

May 15^th was the first anniversary of the protests organized by the indignados protesting the state of things here in Spain.  The concerns were both economic and political.  The passage of a year’s time and the election of a new government have seen things worsen.  Unemployment still stands at 25% with youth unemployment hovering at 50%.  The government has put in place cuts in medical care and education.  It has raised taxes both income and sales tax.  It has also had to run to the rescue of BANKIA investing 40,000 million dollars of public funds to keep the bank afloat.  Conditions promise to get worse before they get better.  The solution will be hard to find since Spain’s economic boom was tied to construction and real estate and that sector will be dormant for years to come.

Wednesday was neither a very busy nor exciting day.  On our way to have lunch we visited with Francisco at Ballando Nudi and then caught up with Jordi.  We ended up having lunch at Vino Tinto, which has been open for less than a year.  It is a very lovely space and the menu is varied with a variety of tapas, salads and main dishes.  The food is good, but the service leaves much to be desired.  It took fifteen minutes for someone to come and take our order.  We lunched on salmorejo, which is a heartier version of gazpacho, several croquetas and a plate of octopus.  We passed on coffee and dessert.

Yesterday Susan had a nail appointment and while she was out I continued to work on organizing my magic.  I also played around with a few ideas for some new presentations of classic effects.  We had lunch at home.  Susan picked up two empanadas at El Parsien and we had them along with a salad.  We read for a while in the afternoon and a little after 5:00 Susan left for Ofelia’s gallery space to take some pictures of her at work.  At 7:15 I headed out for a meeting of los veteranos.

Pepe had taken his son, Jaime, to Jimmy Glass to listen to jazz and Gioco was among the missing, also.  Juan Luis, Paquito, Gurrea, Jerito and I spent the next two hours talking about magic and each of us did a little something.  Jerito shared with us a few of the books in his collection including the first magic book ever published in Spain.  He also showed us how he catalogued every effect that he used to perform.  It included the location of the effect, all the materials needed to perform the effect and the duration of the effect.  Everything was written down on sheets of paper that resembled a doctor’s prescription pad.

After our meeting we ended up at a bar called Los Malagueños, which is your typical Spanish bar.  We all ordered sandwiches and they were both immense and inexpensive.  We polished off a couple of pitchers of beer and we ended our meal with coffee.  When we were finished we all piled into Gurrea’s car and he drove us all home.  I walked in the house at 11:30 and Susan was playing games on her iPad.  We chatted for a while and we went to bed around midnight.

Pulpo con patatas

Croquetas

Salmorejo

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The next logical step has been taken.  We know that we want to spend most of our time here in Valencia.  We also know that we cannot afford to pay rent in Valencia year round and pay down our mortgage and condo fees year round.  The logical solution appears to be to sell our townhouse in Alhambra.  Renting it out is not a good solution.  We have contacted the real estate agent who helped us by our place and she has taken a walk through our unit and has pronounced it highly saleable, especially with all the upgrades.  She has sent us a list of comparables in the area and we have a very good idea of what will be a fair price for both the potential buyer and us.

We spent most of Sunday recovering from Saturday night and my only foray out of the house was to pick up a few items at Opencor.  Other than that we rested, read and watched a bit of TV.  That turned out to be the right thing to do.

Monday morning saw Susan doing Pilates and I made it to the gym to do some cycling.  We opted to have lunch at La Fórcola.  We both ordered the green apple salad and I followed up with a pizza and Susan had a chicken breast prepared with a peppercorn sauce.  Half of the pizza came home with us so that it could be put to good use the following day.  We had ice cream for dessert and finished our meal with coffee.

I headed out to the CIVAC meeting a little after 8:00.  On the way I chatted briefly with Nacho to confirm our excursion on Sunday to the Asador Siete de Julio for lunch.  Originally there were going to be four of us, but it appears that there may be as many as eight or ten.  When I arrived at the CIVAC the gathering was in full swing and there were close to a dozen people gathered around the table.

The theme for the night was color-changing knives and when the theme was exhausted the cards came out.  I did a Peter Duffie and Robin Robertson effect and Pepe showed us a mind-blowing effect that Miguel Gómez had shared with him over the weekend when he was here shooting a series of videos for Magic Agora.  Around 10:00 people were getting hungry and the question of where we should go to eat came up.  I suggested Ballando Nudi and everyone seemed okay with my suggestion.

Francisco’s restaurant seats 24 and when the twelve of us walked in we occupied most of the space.  After some discussion we ordered Italian cold cuts, Italian cheeses, a variety of bruschette, and two different pastas.  All the plates were filled with abundant quantities of product and two of the plates of pasta ended up going home with a fellow magician and me.  We, of course, washed everything down with beer and wine and ended the meal with coffee and a touch of limoncello.  Our feast ended up costing us 13 Euros apiece and I feel we were way undercharged.  However, Francisco was happy and, therefore, so was I.

Yesterday Susan finally got to interview Eddie at La Comisaría and that took up most of her morning.  I made it to the gym again and spent a good half hour on the recumbent bike.  Since we were going out in the evening we had lunch at home and we warmed up the left over pizza and pasta from Monday.  They were both very tasty.

A little before 8:00 we boarded the Number 2 bus to get to Brian and Ofelia’s.  Brian had invited us to a wine tasting at Appetite and we needed to be at the restaurant by 9:30.  Before we headed out to the restaurant we sat on the terrace of the apartment and had a beer and watched the sun set.  A little after 9:00 we made our way to Appetite and when we walked in Ofelia was already seated at our table.

Last night’s wines came from Viña Ijalba a very small winery located in Logroño, which is the capital of La Rioja.  We were to taste four wines – one white and three reds – and they were paired with an Indian Pori with a yoghurt dip, a warm goat cheese salad with dried cherries and walnuts, spaghetti and meatballs, roast duck with a potato dumpling and a chocolate pie with strawberries and whipped cream.  The spaghetti course struck an odd note especially since the restaurant features Asian cuisine.  Having said that the dish was perfectly prepared with the pasta al dente and the small meatballs dense and tasty.

After our meal we chatted briefly with the owner of the vineyard, Bonnie who is the chef at the restaurant and Arancia who works the front of the restaurant and is Bonnie’s partner.  To finish our meal, I did a little bit of magic and when we left the restaurant it was close to 12:30.  By the time we climbed into bed it was 1:30.

experience the difference

INFO@APPETITE.ES PINTOR SALVADOR ABRIL, 7 VALENCIA 46005 961 105 660

CATA CON CENA MARIDAJE

15 mayo, martes 9.30 pm

Queremos presentaros una cata y maridarlo con los platos de Bonnie, como siempre intentaremos

sorprenderos con vinos riojanos, con mucha personalidad, acercándonos a variedades olvidadas que

reflejan la esencia de su legado y que acompañen los platos de la cocina tan característica de

appetite, que nos hace viajar con los sentidos.

PARA COMPARTIR

INDIAN PORI con DIP de YOGHURT REMOLACHA

Ijalva maturana blanca

ENSALADA de QUESO de CABRA CALIENTE con ARANDANOS y NUECES

Ijalva maturana tinta

SPAGHETTI con POLPETTE

Ijalba crianza

PATO ASADO CZECH con COL LOMBARDA y DUMPLING de PATATA

Ijalva reserva

TARTA de FRESAS y NATA

Valencian Sunset

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Happy Mothers Day!  After a rather late night, we slept in this morning.  I managed to drag myself over to Opencor to pick up something for breakfast and even though it was a little before noon the temperature was registering 85 degrees.  I think we will take life a bit easy today to give our bodies a chance to recover.

Some twenty years ago I started a tradition on my birthday.  I have made it a point to get to the gym and to get in a good hour’s worth of cardio.  I had been concerned that maybe this year I would be unable to continue the tradition.  As it turned out, I did make it to the gym for a good thirty-minute workout on the bike and in the course of the day, between one thing and another, I managed to walk close to five miles.

Soon after returning from the gym we received a phone call from Ramón.  He and Juan Diego were at Café Lisboa and we decided to join them.  On the way we passed by Carosel and checked in with Jordi to make sure all was in order for last night’s dinner and of course it was.  Two minutes later we were joining Ramón and Juan Diego at their table on the terrace.  They had just returned from a brief visit to Prague and had some personal business to attend to in Valencia on Friday.  They had decided to stay over so that they could join me in my birthday celebration.

While we chatted we ordered several tapas – patatas bravas, pulpo, and gambas al ajillo – and caught up on their adventures.  It was a little after 3:00 when we took our leave of each other and I trundled back home to take a nap.  We took life easy for most of the afternoon and after a quick shower we got dressed and headed out for Carosel at 8:45.

Our table for ten was set up on the terrace and the weather could not have been more cooperative.  It was pleasantly warm and there was no breeze to speak of.  Ramón and Juan Diego arrived at the same time we did.  Next came Pepe and Miguel Gómez.  Miguel is one of Spain’s best cardmen and he was and is in town to do some filming for Magic Agora.  Brian and Ofelia arrived soon thereafter and took their seats and the last to arrive was Paquito who had competed in a race earlier in the day.

Sara had opted not to join us because she is on a rather strict diet, but she did stop by on her way home from the gym to say hello to everyone and to wish me a happy birthday.  Nacho Diago was supposed to join us last evening, but as it turned out he was working and his performance time at a private party had gotten pushed back so he would be unable to join us for dinner.  Since the hotel where he was working was nearby he did come by and chatted for a while.

We began with a beer and then, since Pepe had been kind enough to bring six bottles of Benjamín Romero’s Vía Mágica, the first two bottles were opened and we switched to wine.  In the course of the evening we did make the six bottles disappear and we also managed to finish off two bottle of Albariño, not to mention the bottle of champagne at the end of our meal and the round of gin and tonics.

The parade of food began.  I had given Jordi a budget and had left everything up to him.  He started us of with a variety of embutidos, which were soon followed by some heavenly croquetas. Next came a salad topped with bits of ham and artichokes. We switched to white wine to enjoy some butterfish, which most of us had never tasted before.  It was unbelievably good.  Our next dish was a coca that was topped with a variety of marinated vegetables.  Then, as if by magic, plate after plate of fresh shrimp continued to appear.  They had been cooked on the flattop in some olive oil and coarse salt.  They were some of the best shrimp I have ever had.  There couldn’t possibly be more, could there?  Indeed there was.  The final course consisted of slices of steak accompanied by a variety of grilled vegetables.  We all did an outstanding job because there was no food left on any of the plates.

The orgy of eating ended with a birthday cake, champagne, coffee and then a round of gin and tonics.  The meal that had begun at 9:00 ended a little bit after 1:00.  Brian and Ofelia helped me lug my presents back home and it was 1:30 when we crossed the threshold of our piso.

As I looked around the table last night it occurred to me that those assembled represented the highlights of my time in Spain: Susan has been a constant companion during all our visits to Spain and who was the one who proposed Valencia as a place to set up shop as opposed to Madrid; Ramón whom I met in 1990 in a magic shop in Madrid and who helped introduce me to a number of Spanish magicians; Pepe and Paquito whom I met some fourteen years ago and who are my connection to all the magic and all the magicians here in Valencia; and Ofelia and Brian who have become our closest new friends here in Valencia.  The lines of connection here were very obvious – magic and food.  That will come as no surprise to those of you who have been following my blog.

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Today I am seventy-one years old.  I remember when seventy-one seemed old to me.  Now it doesn’t seem as old as it used to.  Of course, being seventy-one my memory could be playing tricks on me.

Yesterday I managed to get to the gym for 30 minutes of cycling and that was a good thing.  Around 1:15 we made our way to the Central Market and loaded up on fruit and vegetables.  Melon, watermelon, cherries and strawberries abound.  Oranges are selling at seven pounds for one Euro.  Eating healthier is becoming easier.  We did pick up some smoked turkey and some cheese at Solaz and will a full rolling cart we began the journey home.

We passed by an Indian restaurant called Dhaba on the way.  It had closed down in January when it was offering a buffet style lunch and, in truth, had very few customers.  It reopened in March with a new interior design and a new chef.  There were a number of people eating on the terrace and even thought we had planned to eat lunch at home, we decided to give it a try.  Here is a link http://www.dhaba.es/visita_virtual.html

The menu of the day included Naan, Basmati Rice, Chicken Tika, Raita, a black lentil curry and then one’s choice of wither chicken or lamb curry.  I chose lamb and Susan chose chicken.  The servings were rather abundant and everything was very tasty.  We had asked for medium heat and that was a good choice for our first visit.  Susan had some mango ice cream for dessert and we both had coffee.  I had two beers and Susan had tow bottles of water.  Our bill was 28 Euros.

When we arrived home we unpacked the rolling cart and settled in for the rest of the afternoon and evening.  We gave some brief thought to going to a movie, but decided against it.  Instead we watched two episodes of Glee and one of Smash.  It was a little after 11:00 when we shut off the TV and got ready for bed.

Friday, May 11, 2012

It’s official!  Summer weather is here!  I put on shorts for the first time yesterday.  Also, yesterday was the first day that I did not have an appointment at Quirón.  I was able to sleep in a bit and after breakfast I made my way down to the gym.  I got in a good half hour of bicycling.  The past few days I have also increased the amount that I am walking.  I am averaging a little more than four miles a day.  That is very encouraging.

We had lunch at The Ginger Loft yesterday.  Susan wanted to check in with Mike to see what photos he would like published in the article about him.  It was also a chance for her to catch up with Santi to get the details of his story.  The son of a Japanese father and a Peruvian mother his story is a fascinating one.  I will leave the details to Susan’s blog and simply tell you not to miss any of the details.

Our lunch was great.  Mike started us off with some caponata and I had a bit of ham as my appetizer and Susan opted for a cold watercress soup.  Susan’s main course was a salad and Mike made me a pork and Thai basil dish that had a goodly amount of heat to it.  I headed back home after lunch, but Susan stayed on to chat with Santi and then to do a bit of shopping with him.

I missed the meeting of the veteranos last evening.  I had not heard from either Pepe of Paquito so I assumed that it was a no go.  It wasn’t until I received a phone call from Gurrea at 8:30 that I discovered that thee was one.  Oh, well.  There’s always next week.

We need to pick up a few items at Mercadona so we headed out at 8:00 and stopped off at Piko’s Bar for a quick drink.  I spent the rest of the evening working on the translation of four PowerPoint presentations for Magic Agora.  Susan spent most of the evening reading.  We called it a night at 11:30.

Today’s photos are ones that Susan took on Tuesday morning.  I hope you enjoy them.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Last night the doctor in charge of my physical therapy poked and probed my knee and told me that the twenty-five physical therapy sessions had brought about great improvement in the condition of my knee and that further progress would depend upon my resuming my normal exercise patterns and making use of a stationary bicycle, the treadmill and, of course, just plain walking.  I should avoid exercises that stress the knee and I should adjust weights accordingly when resuming exercise.  That was the same message conveyed by the traumatologist this morning.  He said the it would take another month and a half of solid exercise to strengthen and improve the knee.  Will things return to their pre-trauma state?  The answer is a qualified maybe.  The loss of cartilage cannot be remedied and, in truth, has most probably been a slow process that has been going on for a while.  In terms of the accumulation of fluid and the slight fracture that should be completely resolved in the next forty-five days.

Yesterday we caught up with Jordi to make some tentative plans for my birthday party.  I basically gave him a dollar amount per person and then left everything up to him.  As we approached the restaurant I saw some familiar faces at a patio table.  Pepe was there, along with Salva and Argentine magician, Iñaki Zabaleta, who had just finished taping his course for Magic Agora.  We chatted for a brief bit and then Susan and I seated ourselves at an indoor table.  We studied the main course options and decided on a fideuá made with seafood.  We also chose a white wine from Rueda that was just perfect.

Yesterday’s offerings on the appetizer board included a variety of breads, a cream of corn soup, a false croqueta de mejillón, which was, in essence, a deconstructed croqueta with the mussel on the bottom covered with a layer of béchamel and everything topped with the breading that is essential to every croqueta.  There were also some breaded and fried strips of presa ibérica and a triangular piece of cod that had been prepared with oranges and other secret herbs and spices.  The fideuá was quite large and although we tried our best we could not finish it.  Dessert was a crema de queso topped with strawberries.  Pepe and friends joined us at the end of the meal and while I had an orujo de hierbas my other four tablemates had a gin and tonic.  We were ushered out of the restaurant at 5:00 so that the personnel could rest before returning to get ready for the evening meal.

My appointment yesterday was at 5:50 so no sooner had I reached home than I pocketed my Metro pass and headed out to the clinic.  I was back home a little before 7:00 and we spent the rest of the evening reading and watching a couple of episodes od Antiques Road Show.  We were in bed by 11:30.

Bacalao con naranja e hierbas

Crema de maíz

Croqueta falsa

Monday, May 7, 2012

All of a sudden everyone seems to be wearing short-sleeve shirts and given the fact that temperatures are slowly climbing on a daily basis that makes a lot of sense.  I had my last physical therapy session today and I check in with the doctor who is directing my rehabilitation tomorrow afternoon.  I have had twenty-five sessions and I think I am now at the stage where I need to continue my exercises at home, return to the gym and continue to walk so that I can regain as much normalcy in the knee as is physically possible.

Saturday I returned to the gym for the first time in two months and did a half hour on the recumbent bike.  It felt okay, but it was abundantly clear after thirty minutes that I needed to stop.  I will return to the gym tomorrow to do some more work on the bike.  Friday the guys at the gym will come up with a new exercise program that will focus on the knee, but also focus on other body parts.  When I returned home from the gym, Susan had still not returned from a morning coffee with Zahava.  I busied myself with a number of tasks until she returned.

We decided to have lunch at home and Susan put together a lovely salad and a plate with a variety of cheeses, jamón serrano and turkey breast.  We ate rather late and that became both our lunch and dinner.  In the evening we watched TV and caught up with several episodes of SMASH.  We went to bed fairly early and in that way capped a rather uneventful day.

Yesterday was Mothers Day in Spain and to celebrate we slept in.  Instead of doing breakfast at home we decided to slip over to Salatën and let them make our breakfast for us.  I had a plate of scrambled eggs with some slices of ham and cheese on the side, pan con tomate, a cup of coffee and a glass of orange juice.  Susan opted for the fruit plate with yoghurt and because they were out of croissants she had pan con tomate, also.  We were the only ones in the restaurant, but given the number of tables that were being readied for lunchtime, the restaurant would be full.

We were home most of the afternoon and about 5:00 we headed out for the Palau de Música where they were presenting a production called La musique de Lilí y Teté. Its intended audience was the young set and Susan and I decided to attend because a longtime friend, Darío Piera, was the male lead and, additionally, because I wanted to get an idea of what kinds of things appeal to very young Spaniards.  Before we entered the theater we stopped at the bar and toasted Mothers Day with a glass of champagne.

The play had a little bit of everything – music, dance, acrobatics, clowning and magic.  It was well received by the youngsters in the audience who seemed to be on their best behavior.  We said a quick hello to Darío after the performance and then went on our way.  We went in search of a place to sit down and have a bite, but our first two choices were shuttered, so we ended up at La Dehesa de María, which is a chain and had some tortilla española and a plate of grilled meat.  We passed on dessert and had coffee instead.  I had done enough walking for the day so we took a cab back home and it was close to 9:00 when we walked through the door.  We watched a couple of episodes of The Mentalist before turning in for the night.

Pepe has written a lovely tribute to Paco De Andrés who passed away last month.  http://www.malditosmagos.com/noticiasnews/2012/magia-es-decir-paco-de-andres/ I know many of you do not read Spanish, but I am including the link for those who do.  I have also “borrowed” some of the pictures from the tribute. There are also a few other images that I wish to share with you today.

Jerito is the one seated on the right. Juan Gurrea is standing in the center and Paco De Andrés is standing to the right. The priest is Padre Ciuró who was responsible for introducing magic to many a Spanish you via his books.

Juan Tamariz, Consuelo Lorgia, Paco de Andrés, Gurrea, Gioco, Paquito, Juan Luis and Pepe.

Paquito, Paco de Andrés, Nacho Diago and Gurrea

Marty’s Sunday breakfast

Susan’s Sunday breakfast

The shield of Spain done with plants and flowers

Saturday, May 5, 2012

The day is overcast and it is sprinkling very lightly.  Yesterday, while we were having lunch at La Fórcola the skies opened up and it poured like all get out and ten minutes later the sun came out.  Our lunch at La Fórcola was pleasant – a shared salad, a pasta for Susan and a pizza for me.  For dessert we sampled their homemade strawberry ice cream loaded with chips of white and dark chocolate.  After we finished our coffee, we headed back home.

Susan headed off at 4:00 to catch up with Ofelia at a nearby museum and I just relaxed and took life easy.  I even had a brief nap.  I also did a brief inventory of what magic tricks I had here in Valencia that would be appropriate for kids’ show.  There is no need for me to worry. I have more than enough.

In the evening we decided to take in a movie and we walked from the house to the Yelmo Cines complex.  It is a good fifteen minutes walk.  We were there to see the British film, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Our friend, Ruth, had recommended it to us and after a number of false starts we were finally in line at the box office buying our tickets.  We watched the original version, which has Spanish subtitles.  There may have been a dozen people along with us watching the movie in what is the smallest of the sixteen showrooms in the complex.

We thoroughly enjoyed the movie and all the actors did an outstanding job.  The film was directed by Lasse Hallström and his deft touch was noticeable throughout.  The shots of the scenery were breathtaking and the plot not overly complex, yet believable.  It was a very good film.  If you have not seen it, here is a link to the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQLhbBnCgRQ

After the film we made our way back home, but on the way we stopped of at Salatën for a few tapas and a beer.  We ordered a plate of steamed mussels, a couple of anchovies, several buñuelos de bacalao and some puntitas, which are the small squid legs that are deep-fried.  Service was a bit slow, but every dish that came out was very tasty.  When we left the restaurant it was a little after 11:30 and we stayed up for another half hour to let everything digest.  We went to bed a little after midnight.

Friday, May 4, 2012

The sun is shining, the temperature is climbing and the outdoor cafés and restaurants are filling up.  Spring is here!  Flowers are in bloom and marvelous scents fill the air.  In spite of the economy buildings are being renovated and new spaces are being created.  A number of festivals are in the offing.  The next two months should be full of fun things to do.

Susan had coffee with Zahava yesterday morning and we decided that we would meet up at El Molinón for lunch.  The place was quite full and we took our seats at one of the two empty tables.  Our lunch consisted of a house salad replete with sunflowers seeds, hardboiled eggs and sprouts, buñuelos de bacalao and costillas a la sidra – ribs cooked in cider.  The only other extras were the bread and a glass of wine.  We finished the meal with coffee and could not resist the offer of a copita de ronmiel. We made our way back home rather slowly.

There was a meeting of the veteranos last night and it took place at the home of Jerito.  Jerito is one of the founders of the magic scene here in Valencia.  He is in his early 90’s and is a veritable fountain of knowledge about the evolution of magic here.  As he himself explained to me last night, starting out in magic there was very little available.  Purchasing effects was out of the question because there was no place to purchase them.  Occasionally they would hear about an effect that included some of the details of how it was performed and they would go from that scant bit of knowledge and try to recreate it.  He then proceeded to show me several of the effects that he had made himself.  One was a very primitive version of a Dye Tube that had been constructed from the cardboard the once held a roll of toilet paper.  He also showed me his version of a rising card deck that still works today.  Lastly he showed me a version of Ultissimo that he had constructed from cardboard and colored paper.  The effect is still being sold today and here is a link where you can see the modern version being performed http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfmG3zZLw4c&feature=player_embedded

In the course of the evening he shared with us two of his photo albums.  One of them chronicled his career in magic and the second album featured photos of magicians of the past.  The last bit of information that he shared with us was the fact that there used to be a playing card manufacturing company here in Valencia. Simeon Durá opened his card factory in 1871 and it the factory closed in 1940.  Here is another link that talks about the company and includes a number of images of the cards that they manufactured.  The factory used to sell seconds, but not by the deck.  They sold them by weight.  So magicians would take themselves to the factory and purchase a kilo of cards.  The meeting that started at 7:20 wound up a little before 9:30 and since it was Paquito’s birthday we decided we would go to Carusel and celebrate.

Jordi placed before us a dinner fit for kings.  We began with a large wooden tray filled with a variety of embutidos. Next came a plated of Valencian tomatoes with mojama.  Mojama is dried red tuna.  After the tomatoes came a plate filled with what looked like mini-hamburgers buns and all.  They were, in truth, figatells, similar to the ones we had tried at Maridaje the previous night.  Lastly we were presented with a plate of presa ibérica, which is another name for secreto ibérico.  In the course of the meal the six of us managed to do in several bottles of wine and there were the usual chupitos at the end of the meal.  Gurrea dropped me off at the house and when I walked through the door it was a little after midnight.  I stayed up for another half hour letting the meal digest and then I headed for bed.

Ensalada de la Casa

Bunyuelos de bacalao

Costillas en sidra

Figatell