Culinary Adventures in Spain 2012 (Part 1)

Hello, my good friends and loyal readers (all four of you),

It's been awhile since I made any posts, but as I promised in facebook, I will start recounting my culinary experiences during my last trip to Spain, plus I will make a special post with travel tips for those who wish to visit.

Obviously, when you hear the word "Spain," one of the first things that comes to mind is the food.  I put my "Anthony Bourdain" hat and decided that I would try food from different restaurants during my stay to get a wide panorama of the great food being served around town.

So, on Sunday, October 20th, after attending the soccer game between Real Madrid and Celta Vigo, I walked around Arenal Street in the center of Madrid.  My goal was to pick a place that did not look "touristy" and who offered a nice meal at a nice price.

After walking around for some time (the choices are many), I chose to drop anchor at Cafeteria y Restaurante Arenal 10.

 

The restaurant had a cozy atmosphere.  From the daily menu, I chose as first dish, the Mixed Paella.  For second dish, I picked the grilled Entrecôt with French fries and salad. For dessert an apricot in syrup.  I would wash it down with about half a bottle of wine and bread--all for the more-than-reasonable price of 12 euros.

 

The paella was average--nothing special.  I have definitely had better.

 

 

The grilled Entrecôt, however, was SUPERB!  What a juicy steak!  And what taste! Even the French fries were worth talking about.

 

 

The apricot in syrup was nothing special.  It fulfilled its duty of sweetening the end of the meal.

 

 

As a final comment to the meal, it was good to know that though this restaurant is in a tourist area, there were many locals.  That is always a good sign of good food.

 

My vacation started on a great note.  Real Madrid won 2-0 and Café y Restaurante Arenal 10, delivered culinary greatness at a great price.  Stay tuned for part 2!...pearls to the pigs.

 

SPAIN TRAVEL HINT:  when you are selecting restaurants, look for restaurants that offer a "daily menu."  You will get better value and lots of food.  Daily menus include bread, wine or beer, first and second courses and a dessert.  Plus you get many options for all three courses.



Coda for the years 2007-2012

It has been awhile since I posted anything here.  I offer my apologies to all three of you loyal fans. So I have chosen to begin posting again by writing a small coda to what has been my life over the past five years. 

My marriage of five years has ended by mutual agreement.  I had good times and I learned a lot from the experience.  We had very few arguments and had a good connection and understanding.  Eventually, it just faded. I am happy that we eventually talked about it and came to the same conclusion because there is no time like the present and time is precious. Reaching this conclusion together has allowed us to part as friends.

It is certainly interesting that five years of marriage can be summarized in a few paragraphs, but there is no need to go into details.  Those of you who are close to me know everything there is to know and there is no need write the details in stone for posterity.  Let the wind blow the sands of time away.  I choose to keep in my mind all the good and great memories. 

I continually remind myself of how blessed I am to have the support of my friends and family, who have always been there for me to lend good counsel and a helping hand. Marriage is a good institution and I would definitely do it again if I can find the right person.  This experience has made me a better person and I have zero regrets.

I wish the moon success and happiness.  May she find what she seeks.

...pearls to the pigs.

7 Stages of the iPod junkie upon catastrophic failure

The iPod junkie, like all crack-heads, goes through a series of 7 stages when his/her beloved iPod decides to go on strike.

The degree to which any iPod junkie experiences these 7 stages depends more or less on his/her love/dependence on music and/or videos.

I present you the 7 stages using the following case involving a close relative of mine and her experience after her iPod nano failed a week ago.

Stage 1--"But it was working fine yesterday?!" (Surprise)

It's Monday at 8:53 in the morning and the victim, 26-year-old Victoria, is surprised that her beloved blue iPod nano no longer turns on.

The surprise causes Vicky's blood pressure to start climbing steadily, along with her adrenaline level. Eye-hand coordination and sense of hearing become sharper as button mashing begins. She begins to draw button combination information from the memory modules in her cerebral cortex.

Simultaneously, Vicky begins to conjure up all her most hurtful profanity to try to mitigate the current situation. The needle of her Sarcas-MO Meter bounces off the end with every new verbal outburst. The blue iPod continues to lie there, peacefully. Vicky's music is trapped and she knows it.

Stage 2--"My iPod is fine, thanks. How are you?" (Denial)

It's Monday afternoon and Vicky cannot believe her iPod will not turn on. She begins to make up excuses to not use the iPod, thinking that it needs to rest a bit. She tries to compensate by logging on to radio stations online. "Ah, music! But Damn those commercials! Ha! My iPod does not have commercials!" Maybe the next time she tries to turn it on, it will work and all will be well.

That night at the Gym, when Phil the Gym guy asked Vicky about her iPod, she felt her chest tightening and a knot building up in her throat. But she swallowed hard and started talking about her workout in a spirited manner as if Phil had not asked about the iPod. Her eyelids are starting to blink at different rates.

Stage 3--"If you turned on just one more time, I could get my music out and I would be forever grateful, no questions asked” (Bargaining)

Then, Vicky, on her knees and firmly grasping the iPod with both hands, throws out all measure of composure and dignity out the window, exclaiming nervously: “PLEASE! I NEED THIS!” She promises that she will buy a new fancier case and that she will treat her iPod like a king if it could only allow her to rescue her music.

She has called everyone she knows to ask them for a possible solution. She promises to wash cars, houses and even do laundry in exchange for someone to take a look at the device. As if they were all brainwashed, the answer was always exactly the same—“I don’t know what to tell you.”

It’s now Monday night and Vicky, as a last resort, has decided to bring God into the equation. She prays long and hard into the night, waiting for a miracle. She continues to make promises. “Oh Lord, if you turn on this iPod just once more, I will be nicer to my coworkers, I will stop yelling at children while I’m driving and most importantly, I will forego ice cream for six months. FROM THE DEPTHS, I CRY TO YOU, OH LORD!”

She reaches over to her night stand with trepidation and attempts, for the nth time to turn on the device. The iPod…is there. It is still there, still cold, still silent…

Stage 4—“Ze musik in your iPod ist MEIN, MEIN, MEIN!” (Fear)

Vicky had a hard time falling asleep. When she finally did, she had a terrible dream.

There was a tall podium and behind it, an angry, life-sized, tan-colored iPod Nano with cartoon-like hands was staring her down. She looked at its screen and there was a digital mustache, in the shape of Adolf Hitler’s! IPod Hitler begins to rant, glaring at Vicky, “Your ‘BELOVED’ musik,” he says while doing the quotation mark signs in the air with its cartoon hands, “now belongs to ze iPod race!” He then slammed his cartoon fist on the podium and ordered two life-sized, stout, black-colored, 160 GB iPod Classics to drag her away.

“it was only a dream…it was only a dream…” Vicky woke up screaming and sucking wind. It was 4 am Tuesday morning. Her hands were shaking, her pupils fully dilated and she felt a cold sweat all over her body. She went to the kitchen to make tea. With hope dwindling every minute, she has begun to fear the worst.

She knew she could not afford that cool new iPod touch that it’s so wonderful, it could be used as a personal bathroom attendant. But even if she could somehow acquire a new iPod, what about the music? She needed to find a solution and she needed it fast.

She could not stop her hands from shaking. After trying for 30 minutes to push and turn the stove knob in vain, she turned to the fridge.

Vicky finished licking the last drop out of the half-gallon drum of Haagen Dazs’ “Chunky-Monkey” at 5:48, just in time to get ready for work.

She drove very slowly to work. She was firmly holding the grey steering wheel of her white Chevy Malibu with both hands. Her eyes were wide open and she constantly looked at the rearview mirrors. On her way there, she stopped at the Circle K to purchase a pint of Rocky Road for the road.

As she sat in her cubicle, she crowned her trash can with the empty Rocky Road container. The time was 8:05.

At 9:36, she went to the ice cream vending machine in the office kitchen. After gobbling up a choco-taco, something unexpected happened to Vicky. There was no more happy feeling. She snorted another choco-taco, but experienced the same result. She would have tried it a third time, but she ran out of change.

Vicky begins to feel pressure on her chest again. The shakes are back. Intestinal gasses and fecal matter have begun to collect inside of her, pushing back against the intestinal walls, spreading the pressure to her abdomen. She tried all morning to release to no avail.

It became dreadfully apparent to Vicky that she had run out of coping mechanisms. She knows she can’t handle this much longer. Her work begins to suffer.

Stage 5--"Why me? Why now? Things were going so well. THIS ISN'T FAIR!" (Anger)

It’s afternoon on Tuesday. Vicky has lost her appetite. She ate half of her homemade sandwich and spent the rest of her lunch hour sitting in her car, holding the steering wheel. Violent thoughts have replaced the thoughts of fear in her mind.

Vicky walks through the hallway on her way to her cubicle. She walks hard, arms straight down, fists clenched. She stares at the floor and mutters angrily to herself, ignoring everyone she passes by. “I WANT MY F%^$ MUSIC! GIVE IT TO ME, F%$#@ER!”

Her erratic behavior is starting to look a lot like Tourettes Syndrome. Her coworkers take notice and avoid her.

Once in her cubicle, she finds it hard to concentrate. She pounds her fist on her desk, thinking violent thoughts and muttering again.

At around 2:30, Betty, the closest thing Vicky has to a friend at the office, reluctantly came by her cubicle to tell her that she had left her headlights on.

“FUCK YOU, BETTY!” Vicky erupted out of her chair, ejecting a half-chewed piece of tomato that would end up costing Betty $50 in dry clean fees. She ran away sobbing.

Betty should have called HR, but was too chicken-shit to do it. Word quickly spread around. Everyone understood that there was an angry badger living in Vicky’s cubicle and unless you were wearing riot gear, you were going to get hurt bad. Vicky was crying out for help, but no one could hear her.