Vistas De Vida

So I ask you, “  How do an ordinary  LA couple like Susan and Martin Kaplan end up at a “Cata de chocolate” at La Cuchara Mágica in Valencia, Spain?”  I guess that’s a long story that shows you never know just what will happen next.  In 1965, Marty and I got married in Salem, Massachusetts.  He was a graduate student at the University of Maryland and I took a job teaching Spanish at Hine Junior High School in Washington, DC.  As the completion of his studies neared, Marty received 2 job offers, one from Mount Holyoke College and one from Boston University.  While Mount Holyoke was the more prestigious school, we had both graduated from Boston University and both our families lived nearby.  Marty accepted the offer from Boston University.  To our dismay several weeks later the offer was withdrawn and the job search began anew.   We ended up in what I can only call “the armpit of the universe”, Buffalo, New York.

A typical Buffalo Winter Day

Marty accepted a position at the State College of New York at Buffalo and I began my graduate studies at the University of Buffalo.  After the birth of our daughter, Rachel, and a stay-at-home year, I was itching to get back to work, if only part time.  I accepted a job at Buffalo Seminary for girls.  (Yes, this all really does lead us to where we are today.)  At the end of 6 years with far too much snow and no tenure at the State College in sight, Marty was again looking for a position.  On the bulletin board at the Buffalo Seminary there was a listing of openings at private school.  We saw an opening at Foxcroft School for Girls in Virginia and Marty applied.  To our delight, 2 months later, we packed our bags and moved to 800 acres of Virginia heaven.

Foxcroft School

To be honest, almost anywhere would have been heaven after Buffalo.  However, Foxcroft in Middleburg, Virginia is really quite wonderful.  http://www.foxcroft.org/ Several years later Biff Smith, the new head of the English department arrived.  As it turned out Biff is an amazing pianist and magician.  Biff invited Marty to learn some magic. Marty, of course, was interested. I suspect you can see where this is going.

Ten years after our arrival at Foxcroft, we decided to move to California.  I came out first to do some job interviewing and look for a place to live.  One requirement, suggested in humor, was that we needed to live near a magic shop.  Well,  “Would You Believe” a costume and magic shop turned out to be a 10-minute walk from  our South Pasadena apartment.  Marty soon became a regular and met the local magicians.  Through them he was scheduled to audition for The Magic Castle membership.   magiccastle.com   Needless to say, the audition went well.  There he met a magician, Neil Lester, who produced magic cards.  Neil received an order from none other than our friend Pepe Monfort of Valencia.  Neil put Pepe in touch with Marty.  Thus a long friendship began.  Trips to Valencia became frequent and more extended. We eventually decided to apply for residency.   Marty is now an active participant in the magic scene of Valencia. This has given us the opportunity to enjoy several of the wonderful events at La Cuchara Mágica such as the Cata de Chocolate.

So I have two messages.  Thank you, Boston University for setting us on a different path.  And, enjoy each new event in your life.   You have no idea what unexpected experiences they may lead you to.

After a 2:00 AM bedtime, getting up for a Friday morning hair appointment was a bit of a challenge. Thursday evening we had a lovely dinner at the home of Brian and Ofelia and then made our way  to Café Mercedes to listen to some jazz.  www.cafemercedes.es .  The Jazzin Singers,featuring Teresa Luján, was excellent so we decided to stay for the 2^nd set that started at midnight.  Are we nuts or what?

Teresa Luján

Ofelia, Susan, Brian and Marty

After a quick coffee, I took a 40-minute walk to Espai Imatge to get rid of my very noticeable gray roots.  I just love Jorge, and the Salon.  It is so totally relaxing.  When it is shampoo time you sink into a white chair that gently massage your back as your hair is being washed.  It is quite, soft music is playing and nobody is in a rush.  Not only did I leave the salon 2 hours later with not a hint of gray, I was revived.  I then took another 40-minute walk home to meet Marty for a lunch.

Espai Imatge

Jorge

As it was nearly 3:00 by time I got home, we decided to just go across the street for a quick lunch at la Forcola.  When we got there, we got the last available table.  As we ate, a number of people arrived only to be turned away.  As always, the food was good and the staff attentive and good-natured.  After appetizers of a faro salad and a melted cheese with chorizo dish, I opted for simple pasta and Marty choose fish garnished with mussels and small shrimp.  We both had tiramisu for dessert.   With the hope that I’d go back to our place and take a nap, I had a cupito of limoncello.  Marty ordered a Sambuca, which came with an interesting coffee bean dispenser.  Who knew such things existed?

Queso Fundido con Chorizo

Coffee Bean Dispenser

Well, as usual, I didn’t managed to nap but did rest and read.  I finished 1Q84.  Enjoyed it, still not sure what it was really about.  Would love to hear what other people think.

At 10:30 PM we headed off to the Cuchara Magica for a Cata de Chocolate (Chocolate Tasting). Ruben da Silva Garcia, an award-winning bonbonero, spoke to us about the making of chocolate and demonstrated how to temper chocolate.  While listening to classical music, we then tasted a chocolate with passion fruit that was paired with a sweet wine.  Next was a chocolate with saffron and a hint of pepper paired with a dry white wine.  This was followed by the best turrón I have ever had paired with champagne.  And if that was enough we then had a mouse with layers of passion fruit, pepper, cherry.  What fun.

There is no such thing as too much chocolate!

Ruben Da Silva Garcia - Bonbonero

Passion Fruit, Pepper and Cherry

Bonbones

While I seem more than willing to shop for things for the house,  I am not crazy about clothes shopping for me.  However,  with the encouragement and company  of Zahava, I decided to meet the challenge of the day – finding a pair of boots.  It is clearly boot time here – whether for fashion or warmth.   Amazingly, I found the perfect boots on our second stop.  I decided to wear them out of the store and had them on my feet until past 11:00 PM.  No blisters, not pain –they really were perfect.  On to the Corte Ingles to find some tights.  What a selection.  We both finally made our choices and paid for our purchases.  At the Corte Ingles they generally give you an extra “receipt” with your purchase that entitles you to a discounted price in their cafeteria for the selected items of the day. I had always passed that up,  a mistake I will not make again.   Zahava and I went up to the top floor where there is not only a counter service area, a casual dining restaurant, a self-serve but also a fine dining restaurant and a child-care center.  They certainly have all the bases covered.  We sat at the counter and for 1 € apiece, Zahava and I had a caña (short beer) and 2 croquetas.  Just perfect for a little break.

Cañas y croquetas

We’d been at it for 2 ½ hours so I walked back to Zahava’s place, said my good-bye and called Marty to see if he’d like to meet me at Refugio.  He agreed and we caught up at La Plaza de Tossal.  We chose the menu of the day.  The salad held a bit of a surprise.  In the center there were chopped pistachio nuts, hazel nuts and walnuts.  Yummy!  We’d ordered tuna which  was served with soba noodles and a sauce with quite a zing to it.  Homemade vanilla and walnut ice cream and a very intense brownie were dessert choices.  We ordered one of each and shared – of course.  As we planned to go to a guitar concert in the evening we decided to go home and rest for a while.

Salad with a nutty surprise inside

Tuna with a Chipotle Sauce

We Shared

At 6:45 we were back on the street and heading to the Instituto Luis Vives where the concert was to be held.  On the way we noticed that the Christmas decorations were up at the Mercado Central and along the main streets.

The artist of the evening, Esteban Espinoza,  was a  very talented and award-winning young man from Chile.  His selections were varied, but mostly quite modern and from Latin America.  He played a Ginastera piece that was absolutely amazing.  Sitting in the front row gave us the opportunity to watch his finger work, which was incredible.

To end our day, we decided to stop by Ginger Loft for a drink, but stayed to chat with Mike and Santi and have a nibble as well.

Another Fabulous Santi Cocktail

Quesadillas

Wednesday I decided it would be a good day to make lunch at home. We had picked up some veal and mushrooms the day before.  This inspired me to sauté up some mushrooms with garlic and then add a little red wine.  I had one potato that was just begging to be turned into potato with fresh rosemary and garlic.  I tossed together a salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, and peppers and topped it with some Stilton cheese, dried cranberries and a few walnuts.  The two filetes de ternera (veal) spent a few minutes on the grill and we were ready to go.

A late afternoon walk to get coffee took us by the Louis Vuitton Store.  I couldn’t resist taking a shot of their whimsical window display.   We also walked by the Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas which now serves as a museum of ceramics.  The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to find the perfect but inexpensive bedroom lamp.  We did not succeed at finding either perfect or inexpensive.

Palacio del Marques de Dos Aquas

Thursday,  I decided to go to the nail salon just a 5-minute walk from our place.  I’ve be going to the same person in South Pasadena for the last 10 years, so it is interesting to see how things are done elsewhere.  Eva did an okay job but she can’t live up to the standard set by Nancy.

When I finished I took a rather leisurely stroll around the neighborhood.  I decided to take a couple of street shots of people bundled up having their outdoors coffee.

Terrace dinning in December

Just gotta have that smoke

Marty and I decided to give our friends at el Molinon a visit with the hope that Quique would be there.  He was and it was nice to catch up with him.  We ordered our favorite dish, albondigas , and some revueltos con morcilla, (scrambled eggs with blood sausage) and the typical Valencian salad of tomato and tuna.

Albondigas

We passed up coffee and dessert.  Marty headed home for a nap and I went back to Zara Home to buy two gray-blue pillows.  The living room is officially done.  When I got home Marty was up and said he’d found a place with the perfect lamp for the bedroom.  Back out on the street, this time in the direction of Gran Via Fernán el Católico.  The store was nearby and it actually had a nice selection of lamps to choose from.  I picked one with nearly the same pattern as the wallpaper in the bedroom.

By then I was ready for some relax time.  Marty went to a meeting of a  magic group referred to as Los Veteranos.  I heated up some leftover turkey soup I’d made and enjoyed it along with a piece of cake that Miguel had made.   Then back to 1Q84 which only gets stranger and stranger the more I read.

Observation #1- I do not have the self-discipline it takes to do a blog entry every day.  It is too much like having to write a composition for school every day.  Besides, I am retired. To me that means having less “have tos” than I used to.

Observation # 2 – In Valencia it doesn’t matter if it is hot or cold out, as long as it is not raining, people are sitting happily at sidewalk cafes having a coffee or some other liquid refreshment.

Observation #3 – A 3-hours shopping and walking extravaganza yesterday did not require a turtle neck sweater, a scarf and leather jacket.  By the time I got home I thought I was going to melt.

Observation # 4 – Ready-made curtains and drapes all seem to come in one length 270 cm.  If you want something different, they need to be custom made.  Part of my shopping event was to find room-darkening drapes for the bedroom.

Our Monday had been a day to get a few things done.  First task at hand was to get 2 photos printed.  That was easily done at the photo shop 2 doors down from ours.  Next, on to the frame shop.  I’d had several pictures framed last year and they did a wonderful job.  I can hardly wait to pick up the new ones but that will be in 2 weeks.  Marty saw an adorable framed picture of an elephant that he couldn’t live without.  It now lives on our “office” wall.

Marty's Elephant

From there I headed to el Centro Deportivo Petxina to sign up for a Pilates class and a water aerobics class.  Vicente helped me select a couple of the available classes.  Most were already full so I had to settle for late afternoon classes.  Maybe in January something will open up earlier in the day. I paid my 24 euros for the month and got my  “bono” cards.

El Centro Deportivo Petxina

We then headed to a shop nearby where they sell drapes and such.  Unfortunately everything there is custom made and I really didn’t want to go to that expense.  So, I decided to give Habitat a try later in the day as I had seen ready-made drapes there.

We settled on a new place for lunch, La Pitanza.  We’d walked by it many times but never walked in as it didn’t look like much.  When we entered we discovered that the dining room was on the second floor.  It was a beautifully decorated room.  We were presented with the menu of the day.  Like many other restaurants, the first course is predetermined.  It is usually a selection of items.  In this case it was a meatball soup and then a canelón de rabo de toro ( bulls tail cannelloni).  Rabo de toro is quite common here. It was delicious. For our main dish we selected the specialty of the house, a lovely combination of garbanzo, langostine and other seafood.  The stock was rich and flavorful and the seafood abundant.  Dessert was a very decadent tarta de chocolate con helado de turrón (almond and honey flavored ice cream).  The tarta was less cake and more like two frosted chunks of fudge.  A couple of cortados (short coffee with hot milk)  and chupitos of Mistela and we were on our way.

A little something to nibble

Caldo de Inverno con Pelota

Canelón de Rabo de Toro

Garbanzos Marineros con Langostino

Pure Decadence

Chupitos de Mistela

After a meal like that a walk was very much in order so we set off for FNAC for yet another bit of electronics.  After Marty made his purchase we parted ways.  He headed home and I went on the hunt for the drapes.  I passed Zara Home and decided to go in.  They had a wide range of drape styles and some were even room darkening.  But, of course,  I needed to make sure that Habitat didn’t have something better.  Habitat was a bit further than I had remembered but at last I arrived.  I soon discovered that I really preferred the ones at Zara Home and headed back.  I purchased some attractive sea foam blue drapes.  I do  see some hemming in my future. The distance from the rod to the floor in our bedroom is certainly less than 270 cm.   I also picked up 3 throw pillows.

At 7:00 PM, I found myself schlepping home two enormous bags.  The sky was darkening but I couldn’t resist stopping and taking  a shot of the church next to the Mercado.

Dusk

At 7:30, Marty headed out for a meeting of CIVAC.  I, very contentedly, curled up on the couch with a cup of tea and 1Q84, which is a wonderful but strange book.

Friday, we began our day with a 7:00 AM departure to the Comisaría de Policía.  This was followed by a 5-hour wait in line to finish the Spanish Visa process.  Having lived in Alaska, Buffalo and Boston, you’d think that standing outside in the morning chill for 5 hours would be no big deal.  I guess after 28 years in Los Angeles, I’ve become a wimp.   It was quite a scene, people from around the world, young and old, grand parents and babies and of course, The Kaplans.  There were moments that I felt like we had walked into the middle of a film shoot.   However, it was worth it and I am pleased to say that we are now legally residing in Spain.

After that experience we returned home to drop off all of our papers.  I honestly couldn’t get up the energy to do anything with the Thanksgiving leftovers and decided they should spend another day in the refrigerator.  We headed out to one of our favorite restaurants, The Ginger Loft.  We decided to make a detour to the Caja Madrid (a bank) to pick up the tickets for the concert we’d be going to that evening.  Unfortunately the machine would not spit out the tickets for Marty.  We tried my card, but no luck, so we went on out way and figured we’d solve the problem some other way.

At The Ginger Loft, we were warmly greeted by Mike who was pleased to see that we were going to stay and have lunch this time instead of just visit.  As always the meal was tasty, and perfectly seasoned.  I started with a copa de tinto and Marty had a beer.  We shared the rest of the meal.  First came an appetizer of caponata and melba toast.  This was followed by a chicken tandoori wrap, then an amazing yellow lentil, apple and parsnip soup.  When we asked Mike if he used a chicken stock, he explained that it was made with apple juice and soymilk.  It was smooth, creamy tasting and vegetarian.  It appears that Mike has a number of clients who are vegetarian and he tries to accommodate them.  The 2 main dishes were a Moroccan meatball dish and Chinese beef with beans and rice.  Quite satisfied, we passed up dessert and headed home.

Moroccan Meatballs and Cous Cous

Lentil, Apple and Parsnip Soup

For the first time in years, I collapsed on the bed in the middle of the day and took a nice long nap.  At 6:00, I woke  up and got ready to go to the symphony.  At that point I wasn’t so sure that I’d be able to stay awake.  As it turned out, that was not a problem.  The Palau de Música is a lovely and somewhat intimate symphony hall.  We were in the center of the 5^th row of the balcony.

Our seats were 30 € each.  Not bad when I think of what we pay per seat at the Disney Concert Hall.  As I looked over the program it appeared that half the program was upside down.  A closer look showed that one half is in Valenciano (left) and when you flip it over the other is in Castellano (right).

November 25 was the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.”   Prior to the start of the concert we were all invited to stand in silence for a minute.  I have never felt such silence before.   Then the concert began and filled the hall with wonderful music.   The program was terrific, Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite and Concert for Piano in A Minor, op.16.  The soloist for the Concerto was pianist, Tzimon Barto.  He received 5 well-deserved curtain calls and then played a short Chopin piece as an encore.  The second half of the program was Falla’s El Amor Brujo and Ginesteras’ Estancia.

A quick cab ride home and I was ready for a cup of herbal tea and bed.