Happy Thanksgiving
Josh, our other American teacher at school, cooked two turkeys last week-end to celebrate the holiday, but I was in Krakow so missed the gala. Assuredly, nothing much was cookin' today, Thanksgiving Day. Somehow Kathy and I ended up at a vegetarian restaurant where we had trouble ordering our entree from the 6-page menu. Finally, an English-speaking customer told us that posted on the door was a limited menu of soup and Indian kalto (?) due to the Xmas market opening tomorrow night. So we had the whatever, which supposedly contained chick peas and eggplant, but mostly tasted like deep-fried anything. We had a second glass of wine and told each other Na Zdravie (Good Health) A weird dinner, but I was able to make some family phone calls tonight, so that was a treat. What is it about a holiday based on cooking, eating and being together as a family? I miss home a lot right now.
We Fulbrighters get around, but my recent trip to Spain tipped it in for the most miles I think. Christian and Leah had planned to come and "do Bratislava" over my fall break, but the connections are difficult when you have limited flexibility. So I flew there on Halloween and it involved eight hours of traveling, door to door. When Christian met me at the Barcelona airport, I donned my Chiquita Banana mask that Marisa had sent me. Christian leaned over to open the car door - in his green wig, shades and silly hat. Not to be outdone, Leah was at home in her pregnant Julia Childs get-up, including bad curly wig with headband. Can you tell we love Halloween?
We also carved three huge pumpkins and lit them up with candles. In Spain people buy pumpkins at the vegetable stand to make soup, so the man at the market could not understand what she could possibly want with such big pumpkins, and three no less! Leah even roasted our pumpkin seeds - two batches, one hot, one spicy. YUM!
Besides being there for Halloween, Girona was also holding its huge Festival of the Flies! What luck! The festival really was terrific, with many food vendors being the highlight. The next day, Leah took the car to work and Christian and I took the scooter into town. (Yes, I was quite a sight in Christian's leather helmet and goggles.) I just love hanging out in Girona, which is a walled medieval town, with pretty pastel houses on the Riu Onyar. Bridges span the narrow river, one of which was built by Gustav Eiffel, with iron lattice that resembles his tower in Paris. You can "walk the wall", which is partly preserved, stroll down the Rambla, climb the narrow streets of the Call (the ancient Jewish section), or wander through the gardens outside the Arab Baths from the 1100's when the Moors were influential in the area.
I've been visiting Girona since 1999, early in Christian's pro racing career, and as you can tell I'm still charmed by the place. In case you can't quite place it, Girona is an hour's drive north from Barcelona. Set in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and a short distance from the beach towns that make up the Costa Brava, it's a great place to train, as about 13 or so English-speaking pro cyclists have decided. Girona is one of four semi-independent provinces of Catalonia, and the wealthiest area of Spain. The old town is very upscale, yet quiet and not touristy. Christian and Leah now live outside the city at Golf Girona, where their home sits just downwind from the tee box of Number One. And if it weren't for that darn Catalan language, the place would be perfect! (Not even Mother Juana's HS Spanish helps much with Catalan!)
We walked around just outside of the river, where the festival was being held, sampling this and that: wine, cheese, sausage, sweets...anchovies. This time of the year, vendors typically sell chestnuts (here in BA also); Christian recognized one as having been on the same corner each year. Individual sweet potatoes are also sold - no butter, no salt, just a potato. We had spinach empanadas, a pastry filled snack, that, together with all the sampling, pretty much did it for lunch.
Adjacent to the vendors was the carnival, set in a spectacular wooded area. We rode the ferris wheel, giving us a panoramic view of the town. Some of the rides were impressive, including the roller coasters. By far the most entertaining was the mechanical bull ride, decorated with the good old stars & stripes. The ride held six bulls, standing side by side, and each bull could carry about 6-8 people. The bulls would sway irregularly and fairly gently to goofy country western music, but then without notice, make an abrupt 90 degree tilt to the side, dumping out all the unready rodeo-wannabees. People fall all over one another and scramble to try to mount their steeds again. After a few dumps, you're laughing so hard you can hardly get back on. Christian said we couldn't go on because Leah would kill us - it's her favorite ride and she would be upset that she missed i!.
So are you still reading, or is anyone out there going, "Wait...Festival of the Flies??? Whaa??? OK, here is fly story, as Slovaks would say. Christian had purchased a whole leg of aged Iberian ham for the Thanksgiving holiday. Neighbors Frank and Asssume came over to teach us the proper cutting technique because it is an art. I think possibly your manliness is based on your ability to carve up the leg! We asked Assume (Assumption) about the story of the festival and she told us this Catalan tale. Centuries ago, Girona was under attack by the French (Spain knows Girona as the City of 1.000 seiges.) The French marauders tore open the tomb of St. Narcis, one of Girona's patron saints, buried in the Romanesque cathedral there. Out came swarms of flies; off ran the French, never to be seen again. So... in Girona you can buy chocolate replicas of St. Narcis, as well as individually wrapped chocolate flies - I mean, chocolates with pictures of flies on them. I did not.
Instead I got a great haircut in town, and splurged on a suede jacket for myself. Leah and I went to a wine spa for my birthday present, followed by a huge lunch at the resort restaurant. I have to say I really enjoyed the fresh fruits, vegetables and fish there in Spain. Whether we cooked in or ate out, we always ate well! And I slept well, too, as I always do there. They have a shutter system built into the windows mainly for the sun and heat, but you feel like you're in a cave once things are shut down. You can't help but sleep soundly.
Had some nice walks with Jake the wacky Weimaramer and watched his big act at night: Christian throws an old soccer ball out on the fairway after dark. Jake charges down the hill, retrieves the ball, and dashes back up the hill - about one thousand times if you let him. You can see the ball and not him so it's a strange sight to behold.
Also had some nice down time with the kids, and if we weren't solving world problems we were discussing...baby names! Jury is way out on that one, or at least it was last month. Anyway, before you could say, "Chocolate Flies" my stay was over and back I flew to Vienna where Zuzka picked me up and drove the 50 minutes or so to Bratislava. Home!
We Fulbrighters get around, but my recent trip to Spain tipped it in for the most miles I think. Christian and Leah had planned to come and "do Bratislava" over my fall break, but the connections are difficult when you have limited flexibility. So I flew there on Halloween and it involved eight hours of traveling, door to door. When Christian met me at the Barcelona airport, I donned my Chiquita Banana mask that Marisa had sent me. Christian leaned over to open the car door - in his green wig, shades and silly hat. Not to be outdone, Leah was at home in her pregnant Julia Childs get-up, including bad curly wig with headband. Can you tell we love Halloween?
We also carved three huge pumpkins and lit them up with candles. In Spain people buy pumpkins at the vegetable stand to make soup, so the man at the market could not understand what she could possibly want with such big pumpkins, and three no less! Leah even roasted our pumpkin seeds - two batches, one hot, one spicy. YUM!
Besides being there for Halloween, Girona was also holding its huge Festival of the Flies! What luck! The festival really was terrific, with many food vendors being the highlight. The next day, Leah took the car to work and Christian and I took the scooter into town. (Yes, I was quite a sight in Christian's leather helmet and goggles.) I just love hanging out in Girona, which is a walled medieval town, with pretty pastel houses on the Riu Onyar. Bridges span the narrow river, one of which was built by Gustav Eiffel, with iron lattice that resembles his tower in Paris. You can "walk the wall", which is partly preserved, stroll down the Rambla, climb the narrow streets of the Call (the ancient Jewish section), or wander through the gardens outside the Arab Baths from the 1100's when the Moors were influential in the area.
I've been visiting Girona since 1999, early in Christian's pro racing career, and as you can tell I'm still charmed by the place. In case you can't quite place it, Girona is an hour's drive north from Barcelona. Set in the foothills of the Pyrenees, and a short distance from the beach towns that make up the Costa Brava, it's a great place to train, as about 13 or so English-speaking pro cyclists have decided. Girona is one of four semi-independent provinces of Catalonia, and the wealthiest area of Spain. The old town is very upscale, yet quiet and not touristy. Christian and Leah now live outside the city at Golf Girona, where their home sits just downwind from the tee box of Number One. And if it weren't for that darn Catalan language, the place would be perfect! (Not even Mother Juana's HS Spanish helps much with Catalan!)
We walked around just outside of the river, where the festival was being held, sampling this and that: wine, cheese, sausage, sweets...anchovies. This time of the year, vendors typically sell chestnuts (here in BA also); Christian recognized one as having been on the same corner each year. Individual sweet potatoes are also sold - no butter, no salt, just a potato. We had spinach empanadas, a pastry filled snack, that, together with all the sampling, pretty much did it for lunch.
Adjacent to the vendors was the carnival, set in a spectacular wooded area. We rode the ferris wheel, giving us a panoramic view of the town. Some of the rides were impressive, including the roller coasters. By far the most entertaining was the mechanical bull ride, decorated with the good old stars & stripes. The ride held six bulls, standing side by side, and each bull could carry about 6-8 people. The bulls would sway irregularly and fairly gently to goofy country western music, but then without notice, make an abrupt 90 degree tilt to the side, dumping out all the unready rodeo-wannabees. People fall all over one another and scramble to try to mount their steeds again. After a few dumps, you're laughing so hard you can hardly get back on. Christian said we couldn't go on because Leah would kill us - it's her favorite ride and she would be upset that she missed i!.
So are you still reading, or is anyone out there going, "Wait...Festival of the Flies??? Whaa??? OK, here is fly story, as Slovaks would say. Christian had purchased a whole leg of aged Iberian ham for the Thanksgiving holiday. Neighbors Frank and Asssume came over to teach us the proper cutting technique because it is an art. I think possibly your manliness is based on your ability to carve up the leg! We asked Assume (Assumption) about the story of the festival and she told us this Catalan tale. Centuries ago, Girona was under attack by the French (Spain knows Girona as the City of 1.000 seiges.) The French marauders tore open the tomb of St. Narcis, one of Girona's patron saints, buried in the Romanesque cathedral there. Out came swarms of flies; off ran the French, never to be seen again. So... in Girona you can buy chocolate replicas of St. Narcis, as well as individually wrapped chocolate flies - I mean, chocolates with pictures of flies on them. I did not.
Instead I got a great haircut in town, and splurged on a suede jacket for myself. Leah and I went to a wine spa for my birthday present, followed by a huge lunch at the resort restaurant. I have to say I really enjoyed the fresh fruits, vegetables and fish there in Spain. Whether we cooked in or ate out, we always ate well! And I slept well, too, as I always do there. They have a shutter system built into the windows mainly for the sun and heat, but you feel like you're in a cave once things are shut down. You can't help but sleep soundly.
Had some nice walks with Jake the wacky Weimaramer and watched his big act at night: Christian throws an old soccer ball out on the fairway after dark. Jake charges down the hill, retrieves the ball, and dashes back up the hill - about one thousand times if you let him. You can see the ball and not him so it's a strange sight to behold.
Also had some nice down time with the kids, and if we weren't solving world problems we were discussing...baby names! Jury is way out on that one, or at least it was last month. Anyway, before you could say, "Chocolate Flies" my stay was over and back I flew to Vienna where Zuzka picked me up and drove the 50 minutes or so to Bratislava. Home!
posted by Joan Vande Velde @ 11:53 AM
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