We always say that whenever we show up at MITO the customers follow us there and the place gets busy. Tonight was no exception. We walked into a deserted shop and walked out leaving behind the crowd in the photo. 🤣🤣🤣
Monday, May 18, 2026
a rant of sorts
so if you ever read the description of my blog you know what it says - "a blog about my semi-free-life after 30+ years of law (travel, food, theater, and an occasional rant)"
And it really is only an occasional rant but this one was worthy -
So I was out on the balcony enjoying a lovely day. When I came out there was this woman across the way posing for what I thought was a selfie. I was wrong. She spent no less than ten plus minutes of self adsorbed time: sunglasses on, off, on top of her head; Hair tossed to the right, to the left, head shake for more body; hip to the left, to the right; cell phone held above, at eye level, propped on the floor. It seems the possibilities of how gorgeous she found herself were endless. We seem to have been raising a whole generation of narcissists.
Instead of going out and exploring our stunningly beautiful city she's on a balcony of a hostel room, she shares with three other people, making herself the center of attention. 🙄
She never once looked around her and despite the fact that I had been standing watching her "show" for more than ten minutes she never saw a thing but her own reflection. 😢
I will give her kudos for choosing a background of our building's entrance (shown in a photo from a few Decembers ago.)
#Icanteven
on the other side of the spectrum here is a post I made jst the day before - an observation of the light and shadows next door....
Found the shadows during mid day quite striking on the wall of the church next door. Our building is a converted convent that used to be part of this church. (Interior of the church is also shown in the second photo)
Time flies and we are heading back to the States for the summer in Chicago. So next thing will likely be the deck work that I will go back to there... stay tuned.
Sunday, May 17, 2026
the farewell tour continues
Our farewell tour continues with Sunday night at Petit Comité. I had the salmorejo and carpaccio de salmon. Phil has the duck/foie slice called "delicias" and the solomillo de Vaca. The "house" treated us to a dessert. We chose the milojas. We said our goodbyes to staff and they said they would see us in September.
But on the way TO dinner we saw a new location for BOLAS had opened up at the Harinas/Zaragoza intersection! It is our second favorite ice cream place after MITO. And to make it better, tonight they had Leche Merengada my personal favorite.
The server said this is a very Spanish flavor when I told him "Me gusta Leche Merengada!" I paired it with an Orientale chocolate (flavored with ginger and star anise among other things.) Both were excellent.
Monday night we said our farewell to Manuel, Blanca and the Casapuerta staff for the summer. Then we stopped to see Helena at MITO.
Tuesday night is Phil's class so we dined later. After he was done at 9:30 we headed over to "10 second rice noodles" owned by our buddy, the lady who first waited on us at Sushi Kanasawa back when we were in immersion Spanish in February and March of 2023.
Time flies, her husband now runs the sushi place without her and she now has her own noodle shop. When we first met her she was very pregnant and now her son is getting close to school age.
We couldn't understand much Spanish and she had almost no English which we found unusual until a fluent classmate of ours dined with us one night at Kanasawa and he explained that they spoke little English and their Spanish was accented because they were Asians from Peru who had immigrated.
Over time, we would run into her at the grocery or on the street and we always greeted each other warmly. Then, she saw Phil passing her new place one day and ran out to tell him that it was hers and it was now open.
I especially love the sopa picante. It's very spicy with chili oil and lemongrass. The portions are huge. It would easily serve two except it's a mess for people who don't grow up with noodle dishes of the hot pot type. So, it is better to support the folks running the business by buying two and making less mess of ourselves AND the table!
We made our farewells and told her we would see her in September after we returned from our summer away. We embraced and left for MITO for Phil but I was so full I couldn't even contemplate ice cream. And of course once we arrived and greeted Helena in the deserted shop about ten people came in following us. We are like the pied pipers of MITO.
Wednesday night we met Mike & Janet for dinner- a last dinner before we leave for the summer. Tried a place new to all of us. A winner. Menu items marked. The small spheres with a salsa on top were very thin, light as air, made of chickpeas, and delicious. We didn't love the gyoza (Janet and I decided the flavor was too heavily morcilla and not enough other meats to balance.) Both arroz dishes were excellent but the choco of the arroz negro was particularly good. Cola de toro croquetas were first rate. It's tapas only but the pricing is excellent. Dinner for four with a nice Godello from Bierzo under the Emilio Moro marque with a generous tip - read it and weep US friends - 100€
On Thursday night we said our farewells to Vincent at Acento. They were overwholemd with a number of large groups French and Italians it seemed for the most part. We asked them to hold a beef rib for us and they did - a LARGE beef rib. It was twice what we could eat - so - leftovers!
Farewell tour continues - Friday night at Desacato. We said goodbye to Daniel and his team. Had some excellent dishes, many favorites and the seasonal berberechos (cockles) and the scorpion fish special. Two favorite deserts- the tarta de queso and the pachinetta. After three years, this place still is one of our favorites.
This brought us to the end of the week, but since we are only dining here through Monday night, I will finish this post with our final meals, Baco Victoria, Augurio and La Brunilda, then we headed to Madrid...
Dinner Saturday night with Helena before we left town. We went to Baco Victoria Eugenia and had way more than enough food. (Not shown the carrilleras de cerdo.) The calamari at this place is very good and I like the salad of cod/avocado/balsamic and chopped almonds. Phil loves the langostinos al ajillo. The croquetas were excellent, with bacalao, espinacas, and pinones. Spiced nicely, they are some of the more tasty croquetas in the city. We, of course, went to MITO for gelato afterward. The powers that be have reduced the small cup size and while Helena has had some complaints about it, I am happy because it's a free portion control mechanism.
Phil is not returning until October 9th so I already have a trip planned to go to Ávila in September to explore another city in Spain.
So our last two dinners this time are at Augurio and La Brunilda. Our next to last dinner this season as we say farewell to Miguel and the Augurio staff. We ordered all our favorites and skipped postres because there are things that need to eaten, at home, before we leave for Madrid Tuesday morning. Back to Chicago on Wednesday where we begin the welcome back tour.
The final night before we leave is scheduled for La Brunilda where I am looking forward to my favotires of queso costeno and the risotto con setas and idiazabal cheese. Also the last time they had an excellent new salad as well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)