Marty Kaplan's Blog

Thursday, January 5, 2011

Tomorrow is El Día de los Reyes Magos and that means that just about everything will be closed tomorrow.  That is one of the reasons why we are about to head out to the Central Market to pick up the necessary items that will carry us through the weekend.  Saturday we will be going to Pedreguer to visit with Pepe’s family and to have a traditional puchero for lunch.

After a late breakfast yesterday I headed off to the gym and a little later Susan headed off to her Pilates class.  I spent most of the afternoon trying to get the printer to connect to the network and I am afraid that the antenna in the printer has turned out to be faulty.  It is over fifteen months old and it is out of warranty.  It will be cheaper to buy a new one, rather than fix the old one.

The afternoon was uneventful because we were resting up for yet another party.  If you have been following the blog you know that Pepe’s 50^th is today so last night there was a surprise celebration in his honor at La Cuchara Mágica.  Our instructions were to be there before 9:00 when Pepe was scheduled to arrive.  We arrived at 8:45 and preparations for the grand event were in their last stages.

Sari and Mari Mar were hanging a huge banner at the entrance.  Jordi Morera was putting the finishing touches to the dishes he had prepared for the event.  Pepo, tonight’s event planner, was chilling down the champagne and setting up the glasses for tonight’s champagne, wine and liqueurs.  Since Pepe did not show up until close to 9:30 we had  achance to chat with a number of the invited guests.  I estimated that there were forty people at this event.

Pepe was the first one through the door at 9:30 and was genuinely surprised when we turned on all the lights and sang Happy Birthday to him.  He made his way through the crowd and greeted everyone who was present.  As he made his way to the front of the room the sound of champagne corks popping filled the room.  After several toasts the first four dishes of the evening made their appearance.  There were finger sandwiches filled with a seafood spread, a caviar dip, pastry shells filled with a seafood mixture and a melted Brie with pineapple.  The champagne was Pommery and it was the perfect accompaniment to the four starters.

We cleared the tables in order to make room for the next four dishes.  Two of the dishes were Jordi Morera creations.  One was a stew made with octopus and thistles and the other was a coca crowned with a variety of charcuterie.  There were also mini-sandwiches filled with slices of sirloin and a pastry filled with quail.  The wine to accompany these four dishes was courtesy of Benjamín Romeo owner of one of the most prestigious wineries in La Rioja.  He had sent along magnums of his Predicador wine with special labels for the occasion.

While the tables were being cleared a second time so that the dessert and the liqueurs could be set out, Pepe was presented with a number of gifts.  We had all signed a T-shirt and hat and Pepe put them on and posed for a number of pictures.  Several of the guests performed some magic and then came the last element of the surprise.  Pepo had engaged the services of his favorite singer to come and serenade Pepe.  She started off with a jazz rendition of Happy Birthday and followed up with another five or six songs.  While we listened to her we enjoyed a coca de nueces that had been made by Jordi and glasses of mistela and orujo.  The party was winding down at 12:30 when we left and it was about 2:00 when we felt that our meal had digested sufficiently for us to go to bed.

Mari Mar, Sara's sister and Sara

Pepe's cousins and his sister

Jaime

Jaime and the teleportation hat

Pepe y Jaime

Salva - The Master of the 5 surprises

Pepe wine

Seafood Canapes

Caviar dip

Mini-sandwiches

Cocas

Partridge canapes

Bocasdillos de solomillo

Pulpo y pencas

Dessert

Pepe and Jordi

Jaime

Jaime and his aunt

Pepo

How to drink a gin tonic without touching the glass with your hands.

The singer

Wednesday, January 4, 2011

A cloudless blue sky greeted us this morning as we raised the persianas.  Temperatures will be in the 70’s today and for a city like Valencia that has seasons it is nice to know that winter here is not the bitter cold that we experienced when we lived back east.

Our focus yesterday was Susan’s party and that helped determine what we would eat and what we would do with our daylight hours.  Susan did an in-house workout while I went to the gym and got in an hour of cardio.  We had lunch at home and it was fairly simple.  We had a salad and some freshly baked bread.  That was it.  We took a walk after lunch and stopped by a newly opened bookstore that both Pepe and Zahava had recommended to us.  It is called Leo, which as many of you know is Spanish for “I read”.  They have a nice variety of books, including a children’s’ section.  Although Spain has several chains that sell books here in Valencia – El Corte Inglés, FNAC and La Casa del Libro – it is heartening to see that there are still a number of independently owned bookstores in town.  Additionally, Valencia still has a number of toy stores that accommodate a variety of budgets.

We spent the remainder of our afternoon reading.  As it drew closer to 9:00 we showered and dressed for the evening’s event.  We walked down to Carusel and when we arrived Ofelia, Olivia and Brian were waiting for us outside.  The doors to the restaurant were still closed and that was a bit puzzling because in the Carmen there are a number of early diners.  The mystery was explained five minutes later when Jordi opened the doors and told me that when I had made the reservation the other week it did not register that the 3^rd was a Tuesday and he is usually closed on Tuesday evenings.  Gulp!

The crew had the night off and Jordi and his assistant manned the kitchen and Jordi was our server.  Klaus and Zahava arrived a few minutes later, as did Vilma.  The last to arrive were Pepe and Sara.  Pepe had gone to see Gioco’s magic show at La Sala Carolina and it had run late.  When all were assembled we started our evening with a beer or a glass of red wine and after all the introductions were made, we all took our seat at the table.  It struck me that this turned out to be an event with an international guest list.  Zahava is from Canada, Klaus is from Germany, Vilma is from Honduras, Pepe, Sara and Ofelia are from Spain, Brian is from the USA, but he Ofelia and Olivia have lived all over the world.

No sooner were we seated than the parade of dishes began.  First came a plate with a variety of cheeses, followed by a plate of the best quality ham.  Next came some perfectly cooked croquetas de pollo and a duck foie gras.  Jordi had baked some rolls to accompany the foie.  The center of the table was cleared and Jordi set down an enormous pot that contained the most fragrant arroz con bogavante it has ever been my pleasure to smell.  The amount of lobster in the pot was mind-boggling.  Everyone had seconds and some of us had thirds.  We did our best to empty the pot, but we were not up to the task.  Dessert consisted of chocolate, turrón, and dried fruits.  Jordi brought out a piece of chocolate cake that had a birthday candle in it and we all sang to Susan.  We finished this most lovely of meals with coffee and Jordi brought out two bottles of homemade liqueurs.  One was a mistela and the other was absinthe.  Susan received some gifts from those assembled and shortly afterwards we decided that we needed to let Jordi get back home on this his night off.  It was a little after midnight when we filed out of the restaurant.

Brian, Ofelia, Olivia, Susan and I walked Vilma back to her house and then we continued on our way to Calle Borrull.  We said our good nights and the Oberles continued on their way to the Gran Vía de las Germanías.  We stayed up a little while longer to let our meal digest and it was about 1:30 when we finally shut off the light and went to bed.

Ready to party!

Ofelia

Vilma

Vilma and Susan

Brian and Susan

Zahava and Klaus

Olivia

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer

Sara

Susan and Pepe

Cheese Plate

Jamón

Croquetas

Foie

Rolls to accompany the foie

Ofelia, Zahava and Susan

Arroz con bogavante

Pepe

Making a wish

Dessert

Klaus, Ofelia and Sara

Jordi thanking me for letting him open up on his evening off!

Ofelia and Susan

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Tonight is Susan’s birthday party delayed by two days to allow people to recover from New Year’s Eve.  Ten of us will gather at Carusel at 9:30 to enjoy an arroz con bogavante and whatever surprises Jordi has up his sleeve.

Yesterday was a rather uneventful day and that’s not bad.  I managed to get to the gym, which was closed all last week, and do some cardio and get in a good workout.  On my way home from the gym I stopped in at the Bar Alhambra and got a bocadillo de tortilla. In October of 2006 the newspaper El País called the tortilla that is made here on of the best in Spain.  The bar still deserves that title based on my sandwich today.

Susan has signed up for two Pilates classes this month.  Both meet at 2:30 on Monday and Wednesday.  She left a 2:00 to get to the class on time without having to rush.  The teacher of the class was the same woman who taught her morning classes when we were here in the spring.  Her teacher remembered her even though five months have passed since her last class.  Susan returned home after what she called a rather energetic class.  After brewing herself a cup of tea, Susan got comfortable in front of her computer and watched the Rose Parade live on the KTLA website.  I peeked at the screen occasionally, but I spent most of the afternoon reading my book.

The past few days we have been giving the music service Spotify a good workout.  We have a subscription that costs us 5 Euros a month.  That entitles us to unlimited streaming of songs from their extensive library without commercial interruption.  We spent a day listening to Joan Baez and another listening to the songs of Tom Paxton, Tom Rush and Richard and Mimi Fariña.  As some of you know a lot of these songs go back to the 60”s when folk music had its greatest revival.  Almost everyone owned a guitar and Susan and I were no exceptions.  The first song that Susan ever played and sang for me was “Henry Martin”.  It took me about a week to convince her to sing it, but in the end it came to pass.

I was never an accomplished guitarist.  The truth is I knew about ten chords and I was never known for my sense of rhythm.  I did have a varied repertoire that included international folk songs, as well as some classic rock tunes.  I used to teach my classes Spanish songs and when Susan and I got engaged we were invited to a series of parties so that I could get to know her relatives and the invitations always included a request that we come with guitar in hand.  Susan and I had six songs that we sang and harmonized on.  It has been a while since I have picked up a guitar.  In fact I have two that are gathering dust back in Alhambra.  It was fun revisiting the past vicariously thanks to Spotify.

There was an interesting development last night at the CIVAC meeting.  I was asked if I might be interested in participating in a TV program that is broadcast on RTVE 1.  The program is called Destino España and it features people from countries other than Spain who have come here to live on a more or less permanent basis.  Last week when I did an effect that I call “Pears and Apples” (in Spanish you are accused of comparing apples to pears whereas we compare apples to oranges) the boyfriend of one of the producers of the show was present and he liked the effect so much that he suggested to his girlfriend that I might make an interesting subject.  His girlfriend is currently on vacation and may get in touch with me next week.  Who knows if it will come to pass?  At this point in time is flattering to know that someone was impressed enough to put me forward as a potential candidate for the program.

I had dinner with the boys at the CIVAC.  We had some bocadillos de lomo y salchicha, along with a beer.  I stayed until 10:30 at which point I walked home.  When I got home Susan was watching a cooking program on TV.  Since she was nodding off she decided to go to be.  I read for an hour before I finally called it a day.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Yesterday was a day dedicated to taking life a bit easy, although Susan woke up early to wish Rachel a Happy New Year.  We had a leisurely breakfast and while we were finishing our coffee Susan received a text message from Zahava asking if we were going to be at home around noon.  We said we would be.

The bell rang a little after noon and Zahava and Klaus came through the door with a large shopping bag in hand.  They asked Susan to go into the office and close the door while they tended to something.  Two minutes later the all clear was sounded and Susan walked into the living room to discover a basket filled with goodies on the kitchen table.  There were various kinds of salt, saffron, black spaghetti, green peppercorn mustard, paté, chocolate covered figs and other goodies.  There was also a rolled up piece of paper with a ribbon and its message said that they had ordered an English version of a very lovely cookbook we had seen at their house when we had celebrated Hanukkah together.  The book would be arriving in the near future.  We chatted for a while and our conversation covered a wide range of topics that included a discussion of cheeses, where to go for the best seafood, homeopathy and Judaism. Zahava and Klaus left a little before 2:00 to have some lunch.

Our lunch happened at 3:30 and in addition to some oven roasted sliced potatoes we enjoyed a very nice steak, along with some mushrooms that had been cooked in red wine.  We opened a very nice bottle of wine and slowly savored our late lunch.  My birthday presents to Susan included a statuette of Jiminy Cricket and Ferrán Adriá’s new cookbook where he shares the recipes that he prepared for the staff meals.  It is less exotic and more down to earth than hos other cookbooks.  Susan’s third present is in the mail and when it arrives she too will have a Fitbit.  We took a little stroll around 5:00 and although the temperature yesterday flirted with the 70’s it was getting a bit cool.

Our evening was very uneventful.  We read for a while.  I have started a new book called Siete días en Julio, which deals with a former police officer who has returned to Barcelona after having served an eight-year prison term working on Franco’s grand monument to himself – El Valle de los Caídos.  We also watched another episode of Inspector Lewis.  Susan headed for bed at 10:30 and I stayed up to read another few chapters in my book.  Bedtime for me came a little after 11:30. What follows are some photos taken by Susan on 12/30/11

The key to staying warm while eating outside

Sunday, January 1, 2012

It is 1:00 AM and we have just returned from one of the most incredible New Year’s Eves we have ever spent and one of the best meals we have ever consumed.  We arrived at La Fórcola at 9:15 and as soon as we walked through the door we were greeted by the staff and offered a Kir.  Soon thereafter we were seated at our table that was located close to the pizza oven with a perfect view of all the proceedings.  Water glasses were filled and so were our wine glasses, which were replenished throughout the evening.  The first course was a selection of antipasti – two different types of cheeses, salami, chorizo, and ham.  The second course consisted of two large shrimp fired in the oven and wrapped with prosciutto.  The third course was a puff pastry filled with caramelized foie and served in a fig and balsamic reduction.  The fourth course was a warm spinach salad with almonds and cherry tomatoes.  The fifth course was two spinach tortelli stuffed with a seafood mixture and served with small clams.  The sixth course was monkfish served on a bed of sliced potatoes.  The seventh course was a filet of veal loin served en croute.  Needless to say that as the meal progressed we left more and more on our plate.  A little before midnight dessert was set on the table.  It was a chocolate muffin served with a scoop of mascarpone ice cream.  A full bottle of prosecco was also put on our table along with the traditional twelve grapes.  A radio station was tuned in and we listened carefully for the arrival of the new year. As each stroke of midnight sounded we ate a grape in the hopes that each grape we ate would signal a happy month in the new year.  Susan and I successfully ate all twelve grapes, so here’s hoping.  At midnight the room erupted into a sea of kisses, as we all toasted the arrival of the new year.  As it turns out three people were also celebrating their January 1 birthday, so three rounds of Happy Birthday were sung. Susan and I left the restaurant at 12:45 and made the two-minute walk home effortlessly.

The hours previous to our dining extravaganza were, for the most part uneventful.  While Susan did her workout I paid a visit to the Nespresso store and stocked up on coffee.  We had a very light lunch consisting of a salad and a revuelto de morcilla.  After lunch we took advantage of the sunny 70-degree day and took a long stroll that included a stop at Linares for gelato.  We read for a while before we showered and dressed and headed out for La Fórcola.

The Happy Couple

The Birthday Girl

Welcome!

Antipasti

Sonia and Marina

Shrimp w/ Prosciutto

Foie in fig and balsamic vinegar reduction

Warm salad

Melissa and Marta

Tortelli w/ clams

Monkfish w/ potatoes

Palate cleansing sorbet

Filet of veal loin en croute on a bed of polenta

Juan and I

Marta

Prosecco

Chocolate Muffin w/ Marscapone Ice Cream and the 12 grapes.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Our goal during the day is to eat light because our celebration this evening at La Fórcola promises to deliver an amazing amount of food.  The fun begins at 9:00 with a welcome cocktail and meal service begins at 9:30 and will end after midnight with the traditional champagne and 12 uvas.  The ceremony of the 12 grapes is a longstanding Spanish tradition.  You are supposed to eat a grape at every one of the twelve strokes of the clock at midnight.  Each grape successfully ingested represents a month of happiness in the upcoming year.  This will mark the first time that we have participated in this practice.

Yesterday was a rather low-key day.  We went out in search of a recently published book entitled Judíos y Juderías en el Reino de Valencia, which seeks to document the history of the Jews here in Valencia.  It is published by the Generalitat de Valencia and is available in its bookstores and nowhere else.  It is a good looking replete with many color plates.  We look forward to reading it.  After paying for our purchase we stopped in at La Taberna de la Reina and had a drink and a tapa before we continued on our way home.

Soon after reaching home we headed out again.  Our destination was Mercadona and our goal was to replenish a number of staples.  When we had put everything away it was already 3:30 and we decided it was time for lunch.  We passed by the crepe restaurant, but it was closed.  We continued walking along Guillén de Castro until we discovered a very small restaurant called Lauditori.  We ordered the menu of the day.  We started with a very tasty salad with goat cheese, lettuces, carrots, walnuts and raisins.  I had the chicken breast as my main course and Susan chose the hake.  My dessert was flan and Susan tried the roast pumpkin.  After our coffee we headed back home and that is where we spent the rest of our day.

In the evening we watched an episode of “Inspector Lewis” that I had downloaded from iTunes.  It was refreshing to see a murder mystery that did not focus on bloody corpses and lab dissections.  We had a light supper before we sat down to watch TV and as soon as the program was over we headed for bed.

Here are some shots of Valencia at night that Susan captured on Thursday evening.

Friday, December 30, 2011

I am under the impression that the older one gets the quicker time seems to pass by.  In other words, I cannot believe that we are fast approaching the end of 2011.  As I previously mentioned we will be celebrating the year’s end at La Fórcola tomorrow.  I have the sneaking suspicion that our friend, Antón, will not be there.  When I saw him Wednesday morning he was feeling poorly and though that maybe he had a bad case of bronchitis that was causing him pain.  It turned out to be more complicated and more serious than that.  Tests today will show whether he is need of angioplasty or not.

Susan is being conscientious about continuing her in-house workouts.  Since Neo Gym is closed for the week I have decided to give myself the week off.  I will return to my workouts next Monday.  After Susan finished her workout we showered and dressed and headed to FNAC.  I wanted to buy Santi and Mike the DVD of “Glee in Concert”, which has just been released in Spain.  There were an abundant number of copies on display and there was a long line at the checkout desk.  It moved quickly and after I paid we went to the giftwrap desk and in the space of fifteen minutes we had a giftwrapped present.  The giftwrap is free here in Spain.  Susan had a cup of coffee at the in-store cafeteria while I waited for the present to be wrapped and I joined her a few minutes later.  When we finished our coffee we headed out to The Ginger Loft to deliver the present and have some lunch.

It turned out that while Santi is a big Glee fan, Mike is not.  Oh well, that’s life.  We settled in at our table and Santi went to work creating another winter cocktail for Susan.  I enjoyed my usual beer.  We started off with some hummus and a bowl of corn soup quickly followed.  Next came the tandoori chicken wrap, followed by Moroccan chicken and a green Thai curry.  As usual all dishes were exceedingly well prepared and had the requisite amount of heat to make the food taste even better without overpowering it.  When we finished we wished Santi a Happy New Year and we wished Mike the same plus our wishes for a safe journey as he returns to Scotland today to visit with his family.

No sooner did we return home than Susan turned around and headed out again to have coffee with Vilma.  In her absence I spent some time working on a new card effect and practicing the two effects that I would do at the meeting of los veteranos a bit later in the day.  Susan called to tell me that rather than returning home she was going to head directly for Zahava’s house and that the two of them would head for the Cines Babel where they were going to see the original version of “Margin Call”.

I reached Paco D’Andrés’ house a little after 8:00.  Pepe was in Madrid on Magic Agora business and Giocodimani was otherwise occupied so there were fewer of us.  Gurrea showed us a couple of effects he had recently purchased and I did a couple of card effects and did a preview of the effect that I am working on.  It needs more work.  The concept is a good one but, as usual, the presentation is key and that is what needs more work.  Paquito did a couple of effects and by then it was already 9:30.  It was time to go in search of dinner.

We ended up at a restaurant called Torre de Utiel, which is near the cafeteria where Paquito works.  The place was mobbed and we had to wait a good half hour for a table.  We spent that half hour at the bar enjoying a beer and some conversation.  When we sat down we ordered some croquetas and puntitas for the table and then each of use chose our main course.  I opted for the lamb chops and they were very tastily.  We shared a dessert plate and then ended out meal with coffee and tea.  Gurrea had transported us there in his car and since Juan Luis lived close by, Gurrea dropped Paquito off at his house and dropped me at the corner of Borrull.  When I walked through the door it was 12:30 and Susan was still up reading her book.  She went to sleep soon thereafter and I stayed up a bit longer to let my supper digest.

Hummus

Another Winter Cocktail

Corn Soup

Tandoori Chicken Wrap

Moroccan Chicken

Green Thai Curry

Thursday, December 29, 2011

In hopes of inspiring myself to exercise more I purchased a Fitbit at the beginning of November.  Fitbit is an electronic device that allows you to track how many steps you take in the course of the day, so it functions like a pedometer.  It also keeps track of how many flights of stairs you climb in a day and it tells you how many calories you have expended in the course of your day.  There is a website that keeps track of all this info because the Fitbit comes with a base station and the base station communicates with the website.  Fitbit will also track your sleeping hours and let you know how many hours you actually slept.  In addition, on the website you can enter you caloric intake for the day, as well as any exercise that you have done during your day.  You charge it by placing it on the base station and, if you desire, you can set a number of goals for yourself.  The price for this little wonder is $99 and, if you end up using it, it is well worth the price.

The other day I received a congratulatory e-mail from Fitbit because; as of December 26 I had walked 250 miles.  That is not a typo.  I had walked 250 miles. Yesterday, Susan and I walked a grand total of 8 miles.  What all did we do?

We started our day with a visit to the Central Market.  We purchased some ham, some Reggiano Parmigiano and a variety of fruits and vegetables.  From the market we went to Carusel to talk with Jordi and to firm up the menu for Susan’s party.  We have asked for him to make an arroz con bogavante (rice with lobster) for the main course and for him to decide what the rest of the menu will be.  We then continued on our way home where we put everything away.

1:00 o’clock saw us on the move again.  This time we were heading to Primera Impresión to pick up three photos that they had printed and mounted.  When we walked it at 1:45 the proprietor told us that he had tried to call us to tell us that the pictures were ready, but his employee had somehow omitted the last number and he was unable to get us.  We looked at the picture and they had done a spectacular job.  They will look absolutely spectacular on the den wall.  Having completed that task, it was time for lunch.

We looked in at a number of places, but nothing rang our chimes.  Since we were so close to Lambrusquería, we decided to head there.  When we got there both dining rooms were filled and after waiting ten minutes for an indoor table we decided to dine al fresco.  It was a sunny day and it was not at all uncomfortable sitting at our sidewalk table.

We opted for the menu of the day, which costs a ridiculous 6.5 Euros.  Susan chose the spinach salad and I had what they called the ensalada siciliana, which consists of a variety of lettuces, olives and goat cheese.  For our main dishes I chose the pasta genovese – penne pasta with a meat sauce that was spiked with basil – and Susan chose the goulash with lentils.  Dessert was tiramisu and coffee was a necessity.  I had two beers and Susan had a glass of wine.  The bill was 19.8 Euros.  Score!

We decided to walk back home and on our way we passed by The Ginger Loft and it was still open.  We popped in and Santi was at the bar working on a design.  He convinced us to have a drink with him and he made Susan a champagne cocktail and I opted for an espresso and some Gran Marnier.  We chatted for quite a while and then we were homeward bound once again.

Susan prepares some tortillas for our supper and we supplemented the tortillas with some freshly baked bread.  We took life easy for the rest of the evening as we tried to recover from yesterday’s 8-mile journey.

Valencian sky as seen from our table

Ensalada Siciliana

Spinach Salad

Goulash with lentils

Pasta Genovese

Tiramisú

Champagne Cocktail

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Yesterday’s late afternoon and evening rain surprised everyone including the weatherman.  I was walking home at the time the rain started, but it started out as scattered droplets.  I was on my way home from a rather long walk and a visit to the Corte Inglés.  I was looking for the special on Chinchón, my favorite anise liqueur, and a bottle of orujo that was distilled from Martín Códax wine.  The Chinchón was still there and I bought the next to last box they had.  The box included two glasses, as well as the liqueur and the price was three Euros less than usual.  Score!

We ate lunch at the Kaplan Café yesterday.  Susan prepared a pasta with chicken tomato, pine nuts and goat cheese.  At 3:00 Olivia came over to give Susan a Photo Shop lesson.  That is when I decided to take my walk.  Since the big gift-giving day is still a number of days away the stores are still filled with people and so are the streets.  I did a bit of window-shopping before I popped into the Corte.  Given the fact that the weather has turned cool and I am actually getting to experience weather instead of the usual from home to car to parking lot to mall to car to home” experience I am used to in LA, I am seriously considering buying a pair of gloves.  It has probably been a good forty years since I last wore a pair of gloves.

We spent part of the evening watching the movie “Hans Christian Andersen” starring Danny Kaye and featuring a score by Frank Loesser who wrote the music for “Guys and Dolls”, as well as other Broadway musicals.  It was a pleasure to listen to songs like Thumbelina, No Two People, Anywhere I Wander, and Inchworm as sung by Danny Kaye.  Here is a link to one of the songs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXi3bjKowJU.  It was obvious that with the exception of shots of the approach to the port in Copenhagen, the entire film was shot on movie sets.  That fact was very obvious.  As you well know, all movies are shot on location and I am wondering if knowing that has made me all the more aware of the sets in which the action took place.  I wish I could go back in time to know what I thought or noticed when I watched the film when it first came out.  I think I paid it no mind.  I think the phenomenon is somewhat like magic in that when you know the secret whatever you are watching becomes less magical.

Rachel called us in the evening.  She and Melissa are doing quite a bit during her visit to Seattle.  On Monday they did a helicopter tour of the city and in the evening they did a three hour duck tour.  They have also eaten out several times.  Rachel returns home today and has a 7:00 AM flight that will have her back home by 11:00 this morning.  I have included a couple of Rachel photos in this post.  After our chat with Rachel we read for a while and then it was time for bed.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

In the late 60’s and early 70’s we spent six years in Buffalo, NY.  The best thing about our stay there was the birth of our daughter, Rachel.  I should hasten to add that I did enjoy the six years that I taught both Spanish and Italian at State University College at Buffalo.  For the first two years we lived in an apartment on Kenmore Avenue and then we moved to Harlem Road in Amherst, NY.  We bought a three-bedroom one-bath home for $18,000.  It had a window wall that looked out on a rather extensive back yard, cathedral ceilings and a fireplace.  It was home to a number of gatherings for the Spanish Club at SUCB and one year and one year only it was home to a Christmas tree.

I had always wondered what it would be like to have a Christmas tree, so we ventured forth one afternoon and chose a rather impressive tree.  It was not until we got home that I realized how big a tree it was.  Fortunately, we did have cathedral ceilings.  Now we had a tree, but we had no decorations.  That necessitated another trip to buy lights and decorations.  Since we had no idea of how to decorate a tree we decided to throw a Christmas tree decorating party and we invited some of my students and some of our friends to help us with the task.  They did a great job.  That year we wrapped up presents and set them under the tree so we could open them on Christmas day.  Of course that was the Christmas that my brother and his wife, Judy, and their two kids, Lisa and Jeffrey, were driving up from Maryland to spend Christmas with us.  We had been proactive enough to make sure that there were presents for all of them under the tree.  No sooner did my brother walk into the house than my brother looked at me and said, “Thanks.  I just spent two hours in the car explaining to my kids that Jewish families never have a Christmas tree!  Oops!

Yesterday we decided to walk over to the other side of town to look for a new store that had just opened.  It is called A Taste of America and it has several branches all over Spain.  As its name implies it features a variety of American products and I was in search of a bag of Hershey Kisses that I needed for a magic trick.  We walked through the door and that was the first thing that I saw.  Success!  We also discovered some Celestial Seasonings teas, so we picked up a couple of boxes for the tea drinker in the family.

Our next stop was a business called First Impressions.  Among other things they print photos and they do that very well.  We had used them before and were very happy with their work.  We were looking to print three of Susan’s food photos to hang in the office space.  We decided to have them print the photos and mount them.  We will return tomorrow to pick them up.  We then headed back to the center of town.  It was a little after 2:30 when we passed by a restaurant called Vuelve Carolina, which is another Quique Dacosta restaurant.  In spite of not having a reservation, we scored a table for two towards the back of this rather large space.

The interior is spacious and airy.  The walls are wood and the floors are tiled.  The wood amplifies the sounds of the restaurant, but, in spite of that, it is easy to hear the conversation of your tablemates.  We studied the various options and decided that we would give the tapas menu a try.  We began with two fresh and briny oysters that tasted of the sea.  Next came a Parmesan yoghurt that was, in a word, delicious.  Next came a yoghurt with mussels in a piquant sauce.  The Spanish call these mejillones tigres. Next up was a cremoso de foie gras.  Think of a cremoso as a creamy pudding and you will get the idea.  Our next to last dish was a crunchy langoustine, breaded with panko and perfectly fried.  It was accompanied by a tomato reduction that tasted like the world’s best marinara sauce. Our last dish was a poached egg served with a cremoso of morcilla and croutons.  I did not finish this last dish because I wanted to leave room for dessert.  Dessert was a bosque de chocolate and a very light cake whose name escapes me.  The service was as excellent as the food, in sharp contrast to the rather impersonal service at Mercatbar last Saturday.

We spent the rest of the afternoon reading and resting.  I headed out for the CIVAC meeting at 8:30 where the topic was “Oil and Water”.  Oil and Water is an effect where red and black cards are interlaced and somehow manage to separate because oil and water do not mix.  I performed my homemade version of the effect that uses pictures of apples and pears.  In Spanish you do not mix or compare apples to oranges, you compare apples to pears, which is kind of ironic when you think of what fruit is associated with Valencia.  After the magic we settled down to some sandwiches that were put together by Pepe, Paquito and Juan Luis.  I excused myself a little after 11:00 and headed back home.  When I walked in Susan was watching TV and finishing her supper.  We read for a while and made it to bed a little after midnight.

Parmesan Yoghurt

Parmesan Yoghurt 2

Cremoso de foie

Mejollones Tigre

Poached Egg with Morcilla

Crunchy Langoustines

Dessert

Bosque de Chocolate

The Ladies Room