Marty Kaplan's Blog

Sunday, January 15, 2012

And the beat goes on.  This evening we will get to hear The Emerson String Quartet in concert at the Palau.  This will be our first opportunity to hear them live.  At 18 Euros a ticket it becomes a possibility here in Valencia versus damn near possible in Los Angeles given the prices at the Disney Concert Hall.

Yesterday I slept in until 11:00.  After breakfast I volunteered to do the shopping at the Central Market and at Mercadona.  At Solaz I bought some ham and smoked turkey, as well as some Manchego.  They had some homemade membrillo con nueces on the counter for patrons to sample and it was delicious.  I told Cristina that and she gave me some to take home for Susan.  Next stop was a visit with Amparo to pick up some fruit and vegetables.  Here is what I bought: 5 tomatoes, 1 head of lettuce, 1 cucumber, 2 red peppers, 3 bananas, 2 navel oranges, 2 mandarins, 2 Fuji apples, 2 onions and 1 large baking potato.  The total cost was 6.75 Euros.  I unpacked the goods and headed to Mercadona to pick up some basics and there was one more stop at the corner grocery store to replenish our bottled water supply.

We had a late lunch at home.  Susan put together an eye-appealing Nicoise salad and along with some bread and a Verdejo we had a very enjoyable meal.  We read and rested in the afternoon and headed out again a little before 7:00 for last evening’s guitar concert.

We had a bit of surprise when we entered the auditorium of the Colegio Luis Vives – about 100 of the seats were already occupied.  In the past we had no trouble finding seats in the first or second row.  It was different last night.  By the time the concert began the auditorium was just about filled to capacity.  Part of the explanation might be that this cycle of concerts is going to feature Valencian guitarists and that means that more people will naturally turn out to see their native sons perform.

Last night’s artist was Albert Rodríguez who this past December won a competition for having played the best guitar interpretation among all the competitors.  His program was quite varied and included the following: Dos Sugestions by Salvador Brotons, Junto al Generalife by Rodrigo, Sonata para guitarra by Antonio José, Elegía by Johann Kasper Mertz, Sonata Op. 61 by Turina, and Fantasís sobre motivos de La Traviata” by Tárrega.  It was a most enjoyable concert and the audience was most appreciative.  Rodríguez played one encore, which he dedicated to his first guitar teacher who was in the audience.

We headed back home a little after 9:00 in search of a little sustenance.  Most of the restaurants we passed were quite full, so we decided that we would stop in at a little restaurant near the Central Market called, La Dehesa de María.  We found a corner table for two and studied the menu.  We ordered some patatas bravas, as well as a smoked salmon salad and a pork brochette.  All three dishes were very tasty and the bill came to 23 Euros for the food and two beers and a glass of wine.  We were back home a little before 11:00 and we read for a while before we turned in for the evening.

Susan's Spectacular Saturday Salad

Spectacular 2

Ensalada de salmón ahumado

Patatas Bravas

Brocheta

Saturday, January 14, 2012

It was another late night last night as we got home a little after 1:00 and did not get to bed until after 2:00.  Brian and Ofelia came over a little after 8:00 and we had a drink and some nibbles before we headed across the street to A Nou for some dinner before we headed off to the theater.  We shared a salad that, in addition to the lettuces, had a variety of cheeses, nuts and dried fruits.  Brian tried the mollejas de pato, which are duck gizzards, and he and Susan shared that dish.  Our main course was a paella with generous portions of peeled shrimp and langoustines.  We paid our bill, hopped in the car and headed to the Teatro Flumen.

The Teatro Flumen is located on the other side of the river and is about a five-minute drive from the house.  It is a former movie theater that has been entirely renovated and seats about 300.  The seats are pitched backwards so that everyone has a perfect view of the stage.  Our seats were in the fifth row on the aisle.  Ofelia and Brian were in the second row on the aisle.  There were a number of magicians in the crowd and we greeted each other and we then settled back and watched the spectacle begin at its announced starting time of 11:00 PM.

These days Jandro is working in Madrid as a semi-regular on a daily program called El Hormiguero.  He is both a comedian and a magician and on the show he is frequently called on to do both.  I have known Jandro for fifteen years and we first met when I was the guest of honor at La Cuchara Mágica, which at that time met in Pedreguer at the summer home of Pepe’s family.  Jandro and I would touch base every now and again and the last time I saw him live was at the Spanish National Magic Convention that took place in Valencia in September of 2008.

The ninety-minute show had a little bit of everything in it.  There were funny bits both on stage and on screen, jokes, interactive magic and good old-fashioned magic.  There was also a bit with Jandro and Nacho Diago playing a giant piano similar to the one that was used in the movie “Big” that starred Tom Hanks.  The piano was used several times in the course of the show.  Here is a link to Jandro playing the BIG piano on El Hormiguero  with one of the hosts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-s7zChBjIec The bits that stood out for me was a stage version of Copentro that he did with the assistance of two younger members of the audience.  His handling of the two young spectators was masterful and the presentation was both humorous and magical.  A combination pick-a-card and thumb tie routine done with a male member of the audience was hysterical.

A card is selected and returned to the deck.  Jandro’s thumbs are then tied together using duct tape.  Using only his fingers and his mouth he extracts the deck from the case and drops the cards into a purse.  He then reaches in to produce the selected card, except he produces the wrong card.  At that point the card is placed face up between the palms of the spectator and his fingers are duct taped together.  At a given point Jandro and the spectator are linked at the arm with jandro’s arm inside the spectator’s thus forming a human version of the linking rings.  Jandro directs the spectator through a series of contortions to free himself, but in spite of all the movement they are still linked.  A stagehand comes out and cuts Jandro’s tape and then the spectator’s.  When the tape is removed completely from the spectator’s hands and he shows his open palms the card that was in his hand has changed to the selected card.

When the show ended Jandro came out into the lobby to take pictures with his fans.  I took a picture with him and when the crowd had thinned a bit Ofelia, Brian, Susan and I took a picture with him.  I also had the chance to chat with Nacho and introduce him to Ofelia and Brian.  Nacho’s girlfriend, Rebecca was there and we chatted for a while.  She will soon be appearing in Valencia in a Spanish production of Davis Mamet’s Speed the Plow and she invited us to come and see her.  I also had the chance to meet Nacho’s mother and father and to complete this Nachogram I hasten to add that today is his birthday.  After the meet and greet it was time to head back home.  Brian dropped us off at our door and we said our goodnights.  What a fun evening!

Teatro Flumen Interior

Jandro and Nacho

Friday, January 13, 2012

We have a busy weekend ahead of us.  Tonight it is dinner followed by a magic show.  Tomorrow we will be attending a classical guitar concert and Sunday we get to hear The Emerson String Quartet who will be playing a concert at the Palau de Música.  Yesterday we were finally able to print out our tickets and that was a process that was almost as difficult as getting our visa.

Entradas.com is the Ticketmaster of Spain.  When you purchase from them the venue dictates how you can get your tickets.  Many venues allow you to print your tickets at home.  That is the case with tonight’s magic show.  Other venues have a machine that dispenses your ticket and those are usually located in the vestibule of the venue.  For other events, especially those at the Palau you have to print them out at any of the ATM’s of Caja Madrid.  We tried two different ones last Sunday and both were out of service.  There are not many branches of this bank in Valencia and the closest one to us is in Plaza de la Reina.  We had no luck there Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Yesterday afternoon when we walked by the bank was open for afternoon hours.  We went inside, inserted our ATM card and waited for the machine to print out our tickets.  It prints one and when it comes time to print the second one, we get an error message.  We try three more times and still get the error message. It takes two phone calls from a bank employee to Entradas.com to finally get the tickets printed out.  Hurray for technology!

I was able to get some cardio in yesterday and when I got home I took a quick shower and Susan and I headed out in search of lunch.  The menu of the day at La Fórcola looked very tempting so we walked in and took a seat at what has become our favorite table.  We started with a salad that was dotted with ham and Brie and served with a fig marmalade.  Our main course was corkscrew pasta in a very flavorful sauce that had a seafood base and copious amounts of small shrimp.  Dessert for me was tiramisu and for Susan it was the cheesecake.  Two coffees later we were on our way.

Our afternoon walk took us close to the Torres de Serrano.  Susan wanted to take some more pictures of street art and we went in search of a specific piece that we had seen a couple of weeks ago.  I thought I remembered where it was and, as it turned out, my memory did not fail me.  We then made our way to the Plaza de la Reina and had our ticket adventure.  While in the plaza we discovered, much to our dismay, that Linares was still shuttered and has been that way for a couple of weeks.  I am thinking that they have gone out of business because of the two new establishments that have opened just down the street from them one of which sells ice cream and the other of which sells freshly baked pastries.  Damn!  We then stopped for a cup of coffee and afterwards Susan headed off to meet with Ofelia.  They were going to go to a lecture that evening.  I returned home.

At 7:30 I got a call from Pepe telling me that Paco d’Andrés had called saying that he was not up for hosting the meeting of los veteranos and that we would be meeting instead at La Cuchara.  When Pepe showed up he was carrying a large pot and when I looked at him quizzically he said that we were going to have dinner and that he was carrying the main dish.  When the dust had settled there were eight of us gathered around the table including our special guest for the evening whose name escapes me.  Our meal consisted of some albacore tuna filets, tortilla española con anchoas, a suquet de caballa (caballa is a mild white fish, and a pannetone for dessert.  Our guest for the evening then took over and showed us how to make the perfect gin and tonic that would serve as the perfect digestive after a meal.  His gin of choice was Brecon, which comes from Wales and it had been well chilled.  You begin by filling the glass with ice and then swirling the ice around to chill the glass.  You pour off any excess water.  He then inserted three fresh mandarin sections held together by a toothpick into the glass.  He then took the peel of a lime and rubbed its oils around the rim of the glass.  He then placed the peel inside the glass.  Next came five cililiers of gin poured over the ice.  Next came fifteen cililiers of tonic poured slowly over the ice.  The last step was the actual drinking of the mixture.  Our guest told us that the drink needed to be finished in ten minutes while it was in its perfect state.  He prepared a second gin and tonic using a slice of a Fuji apple and a cinnamon stick.  Since I am not the Gin and Tonic fan of the family, I cannot personally comment about the drinks, but all the others seemed to like both combinations very much.

Around midnight we cleared the tables and people started departing.  I was home by 12:15 and I busied myself with some odds and ends for a half an hour and then I headed for bed. Here are some of the photos of street art that Susan took on Wednesday and Thursday.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

I am getting a late start on today’s blog entry.  Our cleaning lady was unable to come today and that caused a bit of scheduling chaos for me.  Nothing horrible, but if you have been looking for today’s post and couldn’t find it, now you know why.

Yesterday was a mostly uneventful day.  I did get in my morning workout and that was really a plus for me.  I also received an e-mail in the morning from Destino España to tell me that they already had someone from the States living in Valencia that they would be interviewing for the program.  They sent me a six-page questionnaire to fill out and return and they will keep it on file for future reference.  Doesn’t it sound a lot like the following: “thank you for submitting your resume.  Unfortunately we have no openings at the moment that match your qualifications.  However, we will keep your resume on file in case an opening does arise.”  The bottom line is, if they want me they know how to get in touch with me.

I also put some finishing touches on the English version of the Magic Agora promo that will soon hit the Internet.  I saw a preliminary version on Saturday when we had lunch with Pepe in Pedreguer.  I got to see the finished product yesterday.  It is absolutely amazing.  If you are familiar with Marshall McLuhan’s idea of the medium being the message the video says so much more about the project than what the script has to say.  No one will ever doubt that this is a unique project that is both artistic and magical.

I received a letter from customs at Barajas Airport in Madrid telling me that the package that Rachel had sent us with Susan’s birthday gifts was there awaiting the payment of import duties.  Huh?  That has never happened before.  In the end I had to fill in some information on the form and send it back to them and we are now waiting to hear from them as to the resolution of the issue.  Either we will pay the import duties and receive the package or they will acknowledge that it is a gift and, as such not subject to any duty.  The only good news is that it solved the mystery of where the hell is the package.

Susan had her Pilates class yesterday afternoon and afterwards met up with Ofelia for coffee and a walk.  They spent part of their time together taking photos of wall art.  Susan still has her camera and that is why there are no photos to accompany today’s blog.  Susan got home a little after 7:30 and we were in for the night.  We split our evening hours between the computer and reading.  We had a light supper of leftovers and we got to bed rather early.  That was a good idea because we both needed the rest.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Today is a partly cloudy day and I cannot remember the last time we had a partly cloudy day here in Valencia.  We have a light agenda today.  I will be heading off to the gym a little later and Susan has an afternoon Pilates class, after which she will catch up with Ofelia.

After breakfast we took a cab to the Comisaría de Patraix to pick up our identity cards that show that we are legally here on a residence visa.  We did have to wait in line for a half an hour to finally enter the building and be handed our card, but at least we did not have to go through the five-hour ordeal that we suffered through in November.  When we got home, we did a little straightening up and packed up a pair of shoes that I needed to return to Amazon in the UK because I had ordered the wrong size.  We headed off to the post office and, to our dismay, discovered that it would cost us 22 Euros to send it off.  Amazon will pick up half the costs so that helps.  Our mistake was to box up the shoes instead of putting them in a plastic mailing bag.  We will remember that for the next go round.

Since we were near The Ginger Loft we decided to drop in for lunch.  There was a party of ten already seated at a long table, so Susan and I sat at the remaining open table downstairs.  We chatted briefly with Mike who had spent some time recently with his family in Scotland.  We then set about ordering.  Our lunch yesterday started off with some caponata, followed by a lentil soup, a tandoori chicken wrap, a Chinese beef dish and lastly a Thai curry.  As usual, everything was very tasty with just the right amount of heat.  We paid our bill and headed off to the Corte Inglés to pick up a few things.

When we got home, it was a little after 5:00 PM and we stayed at home for the rest of the day.  I did make one foray outside the house to pick up some smoked turkey and a few other items, but that was it.  We spent our evening reading, talking with Rachel via FaceTime and watching the first episode of Downton Abbey thanks to iTunes.  We read until 11:30 and then we called it a night.

Finally!

Orzo, sausage and goat cheese

Cupola of main post office in Valencia

Post office interior

Caponata

Yellow lentil soup

Yellow lentil soup detail

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Yesterday, for the most part, was rather uneventful.  I managed to get in a late morning workout and by the time I returned home Susan had already left for her Pilates class.  I headed out to give my first ever English lesson before Susan had returned from the gym.

Melissa is one of the servers at La Fórcola and she is also pursuing a college degree.  She wants to improve her English skills so that she can qualify for study abroad.  One of the qualifiers is passing the TOEFL exam.  At 4:00 we met at Las Torres, which is a small café on the corner of Borrull and Guillén de Castro.  We spent an hour conversing in English and she did most of the talking, as should be the case.  In the process I gave her some grammar hints and I supplied her with one or two words in English.  Although she refuses to believe it, she speaks quite well and rarely needs to revert to her native language to find a word.  Since she also wants to improve her writing skills I gave her an assignment for our meeting next Monday.  When 5:oo PM rolled around I think we both felt that we had both profited from our hour together,

At 7:30, finally reunited, Susan and I headed our for Klaus and Zahava’s house.  When we got there we had a quick drink and then struck out for Trattoría da Carlo, which, according to Klaus, makes the best pizza in all of Valencia.  Interestingly enough, they only serve pizza on Monday night and only on the Mondays between October and May when business tends to be slow.  Rather than take a cab or the Metro we decided to walk the two and a half mile to the restaurant.

When we walked in we discovered that it was a rather slow night.  A couple of other tables were occupied, but that was it.  Klaus and Zahava were greeted by Carlo since they have been to the restaurant a number of times and then he introduced himself to us.  We sat down and ordered a beer and before we knew it four of them had made their appearance at our table along with a plate of olives.  On our way over we had already discussed what we were going to order so when the waiter cam to take our order we ordered two antipasti – a plate of fried squid and artichokes and an assortment of charcuterie and mozzarella.  To our great pleasure and surprise, Carlo sent over a third appetizer on the house.  It was some of the most delicious baked eggplant that Susan and I have ever tasted.  The other two appetizers were outstanding, also and it was very clear from the outset the quality of the product served here was very high.

Our plates and silverware were cleared after we finished each dish and next to make its appearance was a pizza margherita.  It was pizza at its most basic – an outstanding crust with just the right amount of char, a tasty tomato sauce, cheese and basil.  After one bite I knew Klaus was right.  This was an exceptional pizza.  We followed up the first pizza with a four-cheese pizza.  It was also very tasty and very filling.  We could not finish it.  For dessert we ordered one slice of triamisú that we all shared.  We ended the meal with coffee and an after-dinner drink.  To atone for indulgence we decided to walk home and we did so through streets that were mostly deserted.  Susan and I got home a little after midnight and we read for a while to let our delightful meal further digest.

Carlo and I

Carlo and Susan

Monday, January 9, 2012

We have no grand plans until Friday when we will go to the Flumen Theater to see a magic show called Jandro TV.  Jandro is a regular on a show called El Hormiguero that originates in Madrid and is show nationwide.  Jandro either does a comedy bit or he performs magic.  Jandro is originally from Valencia and I met him some fifteen years ago when I came to Valencia as a guest of La Cuchara Mágica that met in Pedreguer lo those many years ago.  It was so long ago that Jandro even had hair!  Nacho Diago will also make a brief appearance in the show, as he and Jandro will recreate the piano scene for the movie “Big”.  Brian and Ofelia will be attending, also and we will go backstage after the show to meet the guys.

Jandro

Saturday evening we will be attending a guitar concert sponsored by Los Amigos de la Guitarra.  Susan and I are now members of the organization and we have free admission to all concerts this year.  There is usually one concert a month that takes place in the auditorium of El Colegio Luis Vives and once or twice a year there is a very special concert that takes place at the Palau de Música. Sunday we will head to the Palau to listen to The Emerson String Quartet who is currently on tour in Spain.  From past experience I know they will be well worth the 18 Euro admission price.

I will be heading out to the gym shortly and at 4:00 I am meeting Melissa, one of the servers at La Fórcola to help her with her English conversational skills.  I have never done anything like this so it should be interesting.  If I feel I can actually be of dome help, I have three other “students” waiting in line.  At  9:15 Klaus, Zahava, Susan and I will find us in an Italian restaurant that reputedly serves the best pizza in Valencia.  Tune in tomorrow for a full report.

As I predicted, yesterday was a day of rest… for the most part.  In the morning I went to El Parisien and picked up a couple of loaves of bread for our breakfast.  While I was out, Susan made an amazing fruit salad to go along with the rest of our breakfast.  While I was out, I also picked up a newspaper.  If we buy a newspaper it is usually on Sunday and we buy it mainly for the supplements.  Sunday’s paper was focused on the Republican primary in New Hampshire and the current political situation here.  The new government has made budget cuts, raised taxes and lowered the salary of government workers in order to cut the expected budget shortfall.  As it turns out most of the budget overruns have come from the overspending of the autonomías and the most indebted autonomía is Valencia whose overspending includes the construction of an airport in Castellón that is complete, but most probably will never have a scheduled flight arrive or depart.

Like many others, our usual source of news is the Internet.  Every morning I browse through the electronic editions of the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, El País and El Mundo and that combination succeeds in giving me a pretty good idea of what is happening in the world.  We rarely watch the news on TV and although we can get CNBC and CNN as part of our cable package I think we have tuned in once since we have been here.

After breakfast we paid a visit to FNAC where I bought some replacement ink cartridges for the new printer.  The instruction booklet tells you that the initialization of the print heads absorbs a great deal of ink from the cartridges and to avoid any future crises I figured that it would be best to have replacements on hand.  Although FNAC is a good resource for things electronic there prices are no bargain (pun intended).  They sell everything at retail with an occasional discount when there is  special promotion.  Amazon has recently opened a beachhead here in Spain and although the range of products they sell is limited – books and electronics – the price differential is eye opening.  For example, the cartridge pack that I bought at FNAC cost me 42 Euros.  I bought it because I had two discount coupons and I receive a 5% discount on all purchases because I have the FNAC members’ card.  Amazon sells the same product for 25 Euros.  Amazon Spain does not include free shipping unless you are a Prime member.  However there shipping costs are low and usually average around 3 Euros.

We had lunch at home and Susan prepared her take on Giada’s orzo and sausage recipe.  She also made a salad.  After lunch we kicked back and either read or worked on the computer.  I have started a new novel called El lector de cadáveres (The Corpse Reader).  It is a novel that takes place in China and follows the adventures of the protagonist Cí as he moves from his small village to the provincial capital.  Around 8:15 we headed over to the Cines Yelmo to see the newest Sherlock Holmes movie.  The 8:50 showing had the original version subtitled in Spanish.  We spent an enjoyable two hours watching the film and really enjoyed the performances of Robert Downey and Jude Law.  On our way home we decided to stop in at La Fórcola for a pizza and beer.  We were back home a little after midnight and we read until 1:00 to let the pizza digest and then it was lights out.

Here are some photos that Susan took last week during an afternoon and evening stroll through the streets of Valencia.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

There is no grand plan for today and we just may decide to kick back and take life easy.  That is always a possibility and rarely a reality.  We shall see.

Yesterday we were invited to have lunch with Pepe’s family in Pedreguer.  Since Sara was coming by at 12:30 to pick us up there were a couple of things that we needed to do beforehand.  Susan left the house first in search of a little gift that we could bring along and in her exploration of the shops on the Gran Vía she found a bombonería and she had solved the problem of what to bring.  I left soon after she returned in search of a printer cable that I needed to set up the printer before I switched it over to Wi-Fi.  The little computer repair store around the corner had one and for 2 Euros I bought what I needed.  When I got back home I went through all the steps of setting up the printer and after two tries I was able to connect it to the router and now the printer is networked and functioning.

Sara came by a little after 12:30 and we began our journey to Pedreguer.  It takes about and hour and fifteen minutes to get there and as we approached the expressway that would take us there we could see that traffic in the other direction was backed up for several miles.  All the after-Christmas sales happen here in Spain the day after Epiphany and people were flooding into the city in search of bargains.  We were glad to be heading in the other direction.  We chatted about a variety of topics as we drove and before we knew it we were approaching the house.

We entered and greeted Pepe’s mother and we took a seat at the table that was set for fourteen.  People started arriving about ten minutes after our arrival and when we had all settled in at the table there were thirteen of us – Paquita, Pepe’s mother, Pepe, Sara, Pepe’s brother, Jaime, and his wife and daughter, María, Pepe’s sister, her husband, Antonio, and their two daughters, Jaime, Pepe’s son, Susan and I.  The menu for the day was a puchero, a hearty meat and vegetable stew that will fill you up and keep you going on a clod winter’s day.  Since the temperature was in the high 60’s we didn’t need to be warmed up, but we sure got filled up.

The meal begins with the broth from the stew and the rice that has been cooked in the broth after it has been separated from the ingredients.  Next comes a plate heaped high with vegetables such as garbanzo beans, thistles and cabbage, potatoes, and a pelota. A pelota is essentially a very large meatball that has been wrapped in a cabbage leaf and cooked.  It is not to be confused with stuffed cabbage because its size and taste are nothing like stuffed cabbage.  Next comes the meat platter that has ham, chicken, lamb and veal.  The final step in eating a puchero is when you eat the boniato accompanied by a glass of red wine.  Boniato belongs to the sweet potato family and is lighter in color than the ones I am used to seeing and it is not as sweet.  As if we were not sufficiently stuffed out came the plates of turrón and, of course, a birthday cake.  It was an ice cream cake with layers of vanilla and chocolate ice cream.

I have been visiting with Pepe’s family for close to fifteen years now and, not surprisingly, I am amazed at how grown up the little ones have become.  Many stories were told at the table about Pepe and his brother.  My favorite was how he and his brother would mutilate any doll that their sister received as a present.  Dolls were hung by the neck, set on fire, pulled apart, mutilated and subjected to other indignities.  Pepe’s mother was quick to add that the boys were mischievous, but they weren’t bad boys.  Given the adults they have become she is and was spot on.

A nap was in order after that meal so we all retired upstairs to the television room and while Pepe and I took a short nap Susan leafed through some magazines.  Sara had stretched out on one of the beds in the upstairs bedrooms and settled in for a longer nap.  When we were all awake we enjoyed a cup of coffee and watched María making preparations for a dinner party she was giving that night.  We left soon thereafter and it was 7:30 when we passed through the outskirts of the city.  We spent our evening working on the computer, giving our new printer a good workout and watching a bit of TV.  It was yet another lovely day here in Valencia.

Puchero in progress

Puchero Pot 2

Jaime

Paquita

Paquita 2

Puchero broth with rice

Part of the family

Garbanzos, pencas and other goodies

Pelota y patatas

Los Monfort

Monforts and Kaplans

Saturday, January 7, 2012

We leave shortly for our afternoon in Pedreguer.  It will be an opportunity for us to catch up with Pepe’s mom, as well as other family members.  I believe that there will be another birthday celebration later this afternoon, but this one will be rather muted with a cake as the crowning event.

Yesterday we started our day with a roscón de reyes a cake that is traditionally eaten on El Día de los Reyes Magos.  It can be filled with buttercream, or whipped cream or chocolate and inside the cake.  It is topped with a cardboard crown.  In addition to the filling there are two objects baked into the cake.  One is a dry Fava bean and the other is a small ceramic king.  Whoever gets the piece with the king in it, gets to be the king of the party.  The person who gets the bean has to pay for the following year’s roscón.  In our case that person would be Susan.

We headed out a little after 1:00.  I was hoping that FNAC would be open so that I could buy a printer cable, but even FNAC was closed yesterday.  We continued on our way and walked another twenty-five minutes until we reached El Asador de Leandro where we would have our lunch.  We were greeted by both Eva and Leandro and we got settled at our table.  We did not need to look at a menu because we already knew what we wanted.  We ordered the sliced tomatoes with tuna, some croquetas two of which were stuffed with squid and two of which were stuffed with a shrimp mixture.  Leandro chose a steak for us and cooked it very rare, which is how we like it.  We had a glass of wine or two and skipped dessert.  As we were enjoying our coffee, Eva came by with two glasses of mistela.  When we finished we decided to walk home rather than take a cab.

The day had started out warm, but the wind grew stronger as the day progressed and we could tell that a change in the weather was on its way.  The forecast calls for sunny weather, but temperatures will hover around sixty.  That is more normative for this time of the year.  We mostly kicked back in the afternoon and evening.  Susan is very much engrossed in the novel she is reading and I started a new one.  Bedtime came early since we need to be ready for Sara to pick us up and drive us to Pedreguer.

Roscón 1

Roscón 2

Roscón 3

The king and the bean

El rey patótico

Tomato and tuna salad

Croquetas

La carne

Friday, January 6, 2012

As I mentioned yesterday, today is a holiday in all of Spain.  That means that the church bells that have been ringing almost non-stop for the last twelve days will once again sound only on Sundays.  That will be a welcome relief to these ears.

Yesterday was essentially a day to recover from the previous two days of partying.  After a late start we made it to the Central Market before it closed.  After stocking up on fruits, vegetables, olives, canned tuna, ham and cheese we wheeled our shopping cart back home.  Once we put everything away, we turned our thoughts to lunch.  We decided to pay another visit to El Refugio.

It was 3:30 when we walked in and seated ourselves at the table close to the bar.  The menu of the day offered some interesting choices and so we made our choices from it.  I ordered a salad that featured a variety of lettuces, cucumbers, radishes, feta cheese and grapes.  Susan ordered a crujiente that was filled with some wonderfully seasoned duck.  For my main course I ordered a Thai curry with langoustines and Susan ordered a lamb kafta.  Both were well presented and very tasty.  Dessert was a brownie and a pear tart.  We ended our meal with coffee and some of the ginger flavored orujo that we had ordered our last visit.

When we left the restaurant at 5:00 Susan headed off to Zahava’s house because the two of them had a movie date.  They were off to see “The Iron Lady” with Meryl Streep.  They were going to see it at El Cine Babel, which shows all films in their original version.  My goal for the late afternoon and evening was to do a lot of nothing.  I finished the book I was reading, Siete días en julio, and I watched the Glee Concert film.  For the DVD they had added a number of interviews with fans and I would have enjoyed the film more had they been left out so that the rhythm of the concert was not constantly interrupted.  In between those two events I decided to go to FNAC and look at printers.

The streets were mobbed because the Cabalgata de los Reyes Magos had just ended.  The cabalgata is a traditional parade that always takes place on the Eve of Epiphany.  The Three Wise Men parade through the streets along with a number of floats and carriages.  The Wise Men throw candy to the spectators who numbered in the thousands this year.  Here is a link to some of the photos from yesterday’s event http://www.lasprovincias.es/multimedia/fotos/ultimos/90740-reyes-magos-recorren-valencia-0.html.

El Refugio

Salad

Crujiente de Pato

Crujiente 2

Kafta

Curry with langoustines

Brownie

Pear Tart

Chef and Server