Tuesday 1 de Marzo
Tried out a cool ecological bakery-restaurant on Serra street with an earthy ambience and communal table. I was in the mood for good bread and fresh salad. Also stopped by [h]arina to sample one of their rolled pastries with dulce de leche inside.
Found an intriguing Catalunya Cultural Center with all kinds of really interesting books about Barcelona and Catalunya. There was a little photo exhibit downstairs -- black and white, mostly of people.
Checked out the Círculo de Bellas Artes also. They had an exhibit called "7 miradas africanas sobre España" -- 7 African views of Spain. 7 different young African artists (from Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Mali, Senegal and Equatorial Republic of Guinea) were given grants to create a series of photo, each artist in a different city -- Bilbao, Valencia, Madrid, Barcelona, Canary Islands, Sevilla, and Valladolid.
The artist who did Madrid definitely stayed here in the city during the summer (judging by the amount of skin I saw exposed by pedestrians), but I laughed when I read in his essay how the "rebajas" made such a big impression on him (I felt the same way -- it was probably one of the first words I learned upon arriving in Madrid!).
For dinner, Eliana, Juanaton, Dúglas, Adán, Xavier and I took advantage of the fact that it's "Restaurant Week" in Madrid at the moment. We met up at 9pm at Taberna Del Alabardero near Teatro Real. I arrived a little early and had a chance to overhear some very "pija" madrileñas in fur coats talk about their taste in art, their dabblings in portrait amateur painting and dislike for landscape art all over cigarettes. Inside the restaurant we were seated by friendly camareros and had a chance to choose a few dishes from the special 25 euro menu. The table started with little salty sausages, a "wreath" of bread, and fish croquetas. Then I had a "composición" of goat cheese and "earthy vegetables" -- basically a leaning tower of color! Next "hake" (this is the white fish Consuelo makes me! Spanish name = merluza) with "almejas" (clams). The rest of the table went for the duck thigh... For dessert, something called "bizcocha" which ended up being a delicious, white layered cake with cream and marzepán (a lot like princess cake) with vanilla ice cream and lingonberries. Rounded out the evening with tea and coffee and by the time we left it was after midnight! Good, all-español conversation and reflections on Madrid, Spain, the quarter overall, living situations for the coming quarter, etc...
Restaurant website: http://grupolezama.es/portal/taberna-alabardero-madrid/home
Tried out a cool ecological bakery-restaurant on Serra street with an earthy ambience and communal table. I was in the mood for good bread and fresh salad. Also stopped by [h]arina to sample one of their rolled pastries with dulce de leche inside.
Found an intriguing Catalunya Cultural Center with all kinds of really interesting books about Barcelona and Catalunya. There was a little photo exhibit downstairs -- black and white, mostly of people.
Checked out the Círculo de Bellas Artes also. They had an exhibit called "7 miradas africanas sobre España" -- 7 African views of Spain. 7 different young African artists (from Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Mali, Senegal and Equatorial Republic of Guinea) were given grants to create a series of photo, each artist in a different city -- Bilbao, Valencia, Madrid, Barcelona, Canary Islands, Sevilla, and Valladolid.
The artist who did Madrid definitely stayed here in the city during the summer (judging by the amount of skin I saw exposed by pedestrians), but I laughed when I read in his essay how the "rebajas" made such a big impression on him (I felt the same way -- it was probably one of the first words I learned upon arriving in Madrid!).
For dinner, Eliana, Juanaton, Dúglas, Adán, Xavier and I took advantage of the fact that it's "Restaurant Week" in Madrid at the moment. We met up at 9pm at Taberna Del Alabardero near Teatro Real. I arrived a little early and had a chance to overhear some very "pija" madrileñas in fur coats talk about their taste in art, their dabblings in portrait amateur painting and dislike for landscape art all over cigarettes. Inside the restaurant we were seated by friendly camareros and had a chance to choose a few dishes from the special 25 euro menu. The table started with little salty sausages, a "wreath" of bread, and fish croquetas. Then I had a "composición" of goat cheese and "earthy vegetables" -- basically a leaning tower of color! Next "hake" (this is the white fish Consuelo makes me! Spanish name = merluza) with "almejas" (clams). The rest of the table went for the duck thigh... For dessert, something called "bizcocha" which ended up being a delicious, white layered cake with cream and marzepán (a lot like princess cake) with vanilla ice cream and lingonberries. Rounded out the evening with tea and coffee and by the time we left it was after midnight! Good, all-español conversation and reflections on Madrid, Spain, the quarter overall, living situations for the coming quarter, etc...
Restaurant website: http://grupolezama.es/portal/taberna-alabardero-madrid/home
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