History lessons

Today we went to lunch at Nacho's parents’ house. We were joined by Nacho's abuela, Brigida, who recently turned 95. At that age you can’t really expect much, but the señorita is lucid and spry as can be. Somehow we got on the topic of the Spanish Civil war and Brigida began to tell stories about her memories from those years. She remembers spending two days in one of the metro stations during a bombing of Madrid and even when the explosions were farther away her house shook from the impact. People fought over food and ate what they could find. With my recent interest in Spanish history it was a fascinating lunch.

When we left their house and headed home we changed buses near the Puerto Toledo. As we strolled down Ronda de Toledo we passed a small park that holds the Chiminea del Gasómetro - the only remaining part of the old gas factory built in the mid 1800's and closed in the late years of the 20th century. This picture doesn't do justice to the impressive height of the tower. With the factory producing coal gas the output of the chimney would have been an ugly smoke. Menos mal that the chimney was tall enough to give the residents below some breathing room. Take note of the graffiti at the base of the chimney. It's a shame. (I went searching on the internet for some additional information about the chimney and the factory. I found it here: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpost.php?p=7179028&postcount=60. The page is in Spanish but the pictures are interesting and give a better idea of the size of the chimney.)

Pintxos

Friday night I saw the light. Literally. We went out for tapas and drinks with some friends and the first stop was a Basque bar up near Santiago Bernabeu. It was the most well-lit bar I have ever seen in Spain and the food was wonderful. I didn’t have my camera with me so we’ll make due with a shot of the napkin. With so many words on the napkin I’m not 100% sure what the bar’s name is. But I THINK it’s Taberna Algorta and it’s up by Torre España - around Calle de la Reina Mercedes, 25 (metro Santiago Bernabeu).

The bar specializes in pintxos – slices of baquette with a variety of toppings – and they are laid out in glass cases around the bar. My favorite was huevo de cordoniz con txistorra – three fried mini chorizos wrapped in thinly sliced potato and topped with a sunny-side-up quail egg. I also had one with fried bacalao (cod) topped with roasted red peppers. In addition to the pintxos they have some of the best croquetas I’ve ever had. They are incredibly creamy - but not overwhelmingly so - and have a unique flavor. I recommend trying them for sure.

And with such a well-lit bar, you’ll be able to eat with your eyes as well as your mouth.

Also, the bar serves a house red wine that is truly delicious. And it's bottled especially for the restaurant. The label looks just like the napkin and there's no telling where it comes from for sure. But it's by far the best house wine and one of the better red wines I've had.

Crock of...

Most of my friends laughed at me when I told them I was bringing my Crock Pot with me to Madrid. Heck. Most of them laughed at me for using it back in the States. But that's just because they didn't realize what a godsend it can be. In order for the magical cooker to work here I had to buy an electrical converter while back in the States. Having been unable to determine the exact wattage of my Crock Pot I bought the biggest converter available at a reasonable price. When it arrived at the office I was shocked by the size and weight of the monster. 700 watts and probably 10 pounds. It alone put my suitcase overweight (see My Hero, the Porter" entry) but if tonight's dinner comes out nicely it will be well worth it. I'm attempting to cook in the Crock Pot for the first time since arriving. Coconut Curry Chicken. Keep your fingers crossed that we don't end up calling Telepizza!

A BBQ

Last weekend we had a barbeque at Nacho's cousins' apartment. They live in a new and modern attic apartment on the northeastern side of the City center. From it I took these pictures of the growing Madrid skyline.


Above are the four new skyscrapers being built north of the City, on the old Real Madrid practice complex. One of them (I THINK the one on the left) will be the tallest building in Spain.

Later that evening I took this picture of the sunset over the City. You can see the four towers on the right of the shot. Underneath the sun is a new hotel in Avenida de America that apparently holds rooms done by famous designers (it's the one half lit up in tons of red and orange). Behind the hotel is the Torre Picasso - the tallest building in Madrid until the towers are finshed. The Torres Kio are hidden by the building in the middle of the picture. But all in all it's a nice panorama of the City.

Back to the BBQ - a nice mix of Spain and America on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon. After starters of mussels, potatoes and sausage, olives, and small fired fish, we went on to feast on steak, chicken, and sausage with a variety of sauces. There was, of course, a lot of wine and a ton of food and we finished lunch hours after we'd started. After the barbeque came the timba. (My dictionary defines timba as a "gambling party." For once I think we've found a word in Spanish that doesn't have a good English translation.) Before I arrived Nacho had taught his cousins (2 + 2 "spouses") how to play poker. So they were all ready to gamble once we had full stomachs and a slight buzz. we played for about 7 hours, I think. But it was hard to stop, sitting out on their gorgeous terrace on a perfect night, with good friends and good drinks.

The star of the night were the poker chips that Nacho and I found. We decided that morning to go on a hunt for some respectable chips - being used to the clay chips found, now, in every 20-something's game room. It turned out to be a difficult task. First I found out that a likely place was the corner bookstore. Apparently because they also sell novelty gifts. No such luck. But the kind shop owner sent us to a nearby store that specializes in board games. There we did find the chips. But they cost a smal fortune. About $140 for 200 clay chips! That's almost 10 times the cost in the States. We went on to El Corte Ingles, our last hope, and finally found some plastic chips in their tourism department (I know, don't ask). They might not make the nice clunk that the clay chips but they served us well.

Newsworthy

When you buy a newspaper here in Spain, you are not just buying information, you are also buying a certain poitical viewpoint. In general, in the States the papers don't have such political connections. And there's rarely such diversity of choice. In St. Louis you buy the Post Dispatch. In Broward County, South Florida it's the Sun-Sentinel. But in Spain that's not the case. On Sunday Nacho came home from buying the newspaper and noted that he must be the only one in the neighborhood who buys El Pais, which carries a notably left-wing slant. And he got a few looks from the elderly gentlemen around him.

Where's Walgreen's?

I've been in Madrid a little more than 3 weeks now. And today I realized what I miss the most about the States. Now, I'm talking selfish, trivial things that I miss - not like family and friends. I've been struggling over the past couple weeks to find the exact spices that I need for my old stand-by recipes from home. Ground ginger, dried cliantro, and ground ginger are proving particularly difficult to find. And I miss having a tennis court in my backyard, as we did in our Florida condo. But what I miss the most is... Walgreen's.

Or CVS for that matter. I just miss the American "drug store" that isn't really a drug store anymore. Walgreen's is like a little tiny, more expensive Wal-Mart where I could LITERALLY spend an hour roaming the aisles. Make-up, books, greeting cards, candy, pool toys, medicine, picture frames, passport pictures, hair accesories, perfume, magazines, cleaning supplies. Walgreen's has it all. You go in for one thing and come out with 10. And I miss that.

Elections 27-M

Yesterday were the local elections in the majority of Spain. I wasn't overly interested in it as everyone knew that things in Madrid were unlikely to change. Indeed they did not. I was more annoyed by the mind-numbingly boring presentation of the election results. At one point they even had the Vice President of the government come out to read the results. She went through each political party and the number of votes won, the percentage of votes won, and the number of representatives won (for the regional governments). Let me tell you. It was better than counting sheep. "Partido Socialista Obrero Español, con siete milliones, setecientos siete mil, ciento treintinueve votos, un trenticuatro coma noventa porciento en porcentaje, y no se cuantos consejales." And that was just one party. I think there were like 6 or more. I think a better idea would be for them to get some children to sing out the election results just like el Gordo de Navidad (check out the link for info and video - thanks to NotesfromSpain).

One thing that did impress me was that the voter turnout was around 64%! And that was down 4% from the last elections. I think the 2004 presidential elections in the US saw about 40% turnout. Pretty shameful in comparison. A lot of Spanish people complain that the parties are all the same and nothing ever changes. The same complaints that you hear in the US. But at least the Spanish people still get out and vote.