la sobremesa - by Theo

One of the few annoying things about our flat is the horrible glass-topped pedestal table in the living/dining room. It's not very attractive, it's very heavy (and thus can't be moved) and only fits 6 around it, and even then it's a squeeze. Hence we could only invite Belen, Cesar, David and Nataly around for lunch, when really we could have done with a couple more mouths for all the food I'd made.

As I was trying out a couple of new things - a carrot tart, chilled beetroot soup, and baked onion bhajis - I overcompensated with the other dishes I was making, worried that I'd either mess up the new stuff or they'd turn out to be not very nice. So we had toasted goat's cheese with cherries accompanied by a sun-dried tomato salad to start. The former went down very well with Rosie. Then the soup, then buttered asparagus and feta and courgette fritters with the main. It all seemed to go down very well, although Rosie was dubious about the soup, but there's plenty left over.
After all that, we decided in preference to sitting around for la sobremesa (the Spanish word meaning "conversation after a meal") we'd take a little walk, which was convenient as Rosie needed her nap by this point. Nataly had been doing a sterling job keeping Rosie (and herself) amused by reading some of Rosie's books, but it was time Rosie had her siesta.

Being good hosts, we of course put our rooms at our guests' disposal, should they want a siesta themselves, but they were happy to come out to the park, except Cesar who stayed to monitor the pudding in the oven and the Grand Prix on live-stream. We had a little turn around Parque El Calero, stopped for a drink on a cafe terraza and let Rosie play on the slide, before heading back for hot brownies and home-made strawberry ice-cream.

And we didn't even touch the chocolate cake David and Nataly had brought for pudding! We'll just have to eat that in the week. What a shame.

let's do lunch - by Theo

With going out for dinner pretty much off our social menu for the foreseeable future, we attempted to maintain our social life last week by 'doing' lunch.

We began by meeting the lovely Roger Tarry and his charming girlfriend Liz for an al fresco lunch in Plaza Santa Ana on Tuesday. They were over for few days on holiday and to visit various friends, all of whom teach English here, and had been thoroughly enjoying themselves. We know Roger from the Bristol music scene that Kate and I used to be involved in, and it was great to catch up and hear the latest gossip, both musical and otherwise.Thursday saw us heading to the Sticky Fingers anglo-playgroup in Calle Ibiza to meet up with our friend Kirsty and her daughter (and Rosie's fbf - future best friend) Emily. The playgroup was quite diverting, even though as Rosie isn't crawling yet she didn't get a huge amount out of it, and the other Mums (I was the only Dad) were very friendly and welcoming. Afterwards we headed back to Kirsty's lovely house in Rivas for lunch - which I cooked - and a swim for us adults while the babies napped.Sunday saw us yet again enjoying great company and a delicious meal with our Venezuelan friends David and Natalie at their flat - we had a originally been trying to maintain parity on the meals cooked front, but we think we now owe them three! Vichyssoise, Greek salad and a delicious pasta were on the menu, though Rosie was, as ever, the star of the show. She knew it too, beaming at our hosts and kicking away in beguiling fashion.
After all this food, thank goodness I'm getting some exercise these days!

Mus, Yoga and Pretty Persuasion by Theo

Spanish lunches are quite a thing. Last weekend we were invited to lunch at Belen and Cesar's and made the mistake of having plans for that evening. Bad idea. This weekend we were more sensible, as when we were again invited to lunch at Belen and Cesar's (clearly Belen wanted a rematch at Parcheesi/Ludo), we cleared the schedule!!

We arrived at 2pm as instructed to find that Nataly and David had not only beaten us to it, but were also providing food - a delicious goat's cheese salad followed by cannelloni. Kind of unfair we thought, seeing as we had been ordered in the strictest terms NOT to bring any food. A slight double standard on the part of our hosts, but we graciously let this slide especially as our tongues started to melt with delight at the taste of Nataly's culinary arts. Mmmmmmm! A delicious meal and great company, Cesar bravely trying to insist everyone speak in English (apparently the others need practice, not that we noticed), though lots of Spanish was spoken too.

We hadn't however turned up completely empty handed. We had discovered the previous week that our hosts lacked a set of Spanish playing cards, which we remedied on this visit. Spanish cards have coins, clubs, swords and cups as suits and further differ from English cards by lacking the queen, the nine and the eight. However these cards are completely necessary for playing Mus, a popular card game in Spain, often practised by large groups of old men in bars and squares around town. We first came across it a year ago in Vaughan Town and totally failed to understand it - our complete lack of Spanish back then being a major barrier.

On this occasion Belen, the only one who knew how to play, was much more successful at teaching us despite constant interruptions, questions, protestations and disagreements among her students. It's a combination of poker and bridge, in that you play with a partner and you bet on the strength of your hand, though there are no trumps and the value of the cards changes depending on the stage of the game. Very complicated. Needless to say, the Belen/Katetheo team won.


The Mus lesson concluded, Kate proceeded to instruct Nataly on the finer points of the yoga sun salute (it was dark by now) and the afternoon was rounded off by a foray for films and popcorn followed by a showing of Pretty Persuasion on the large screen - who needs cinemas! It was a very good, blackly funny look at the bleakness of American private schools, teen jealousy and litigation. If you enjoyed Cruel Intentions, Heathers or Election then it's definitely worth renting. By the time we got home it was 11.30pm. Some lunch!

The Way To Do Luncheon

We thought the traditional Spanish siesta had gone the way of so many other sensible habits of the past, but thankfully, we were wrong. And it took some South American friends to show us how....

Our splendid lunch date chez David and Nataly really can't pass without comment. They were excellent hosts, not only cooking up some delicious vegetarian nosh, including one of their own Venezuelan specialities (fried yam chips for dunking), but also plying us with generous quantities of booze and freshly-made CDs. Every time David put on some music, he asked if we liked it and if the answer was affirmative, he promptly burnt us a copy to take home. All very pleasant and civilized, but not hugely out of the ordinary so far.


No, the thing that made their hospitality a (so far) unique experience, was the inclusion of a siesta in the proceedings. A post lunch stroll or some other gentle digestive activity would probably be the expected thing to follow such a get-together in our home country, but David and Nataly had other ideas. Whether it's a general Venezuelan thing, or because they now live in Spain or because it's simply specific to them, a siesta is something that is a must after lunch in their household.

Accordingly, after Nataly's family limoncello had been sampled (half of Nataly hails from Italy), David announced it was time for some shut-eye. The sofa-bed in the lounge was duly pulled flat, cushions and clean sheets were provided and David even had the kindness to provide a couple of condoms. Down came the shutters and, replete with food and wine, we all enjoyed the luxury of an afternoon snooze.

The Spanish certainly know how to plunge their rooms into pitch blackness at the height of the day - shutters are an essential component of all houses and apartments. A sure sign that the siesta is not an entirely forgotten custom - not to mention a sensible way of preventing the intense summer sunshine from turning the window glass into an unwanted room-heater. On the subject of darkness, a Spanish friend who recently moved to Southampton was astonished at how ineffective most British curtainage is. "Haven't they heard of blinds?!" he asked us, "I'm going to have to buy a pair of dark glasses to wear in bed."

The other hangover from the obligatory siesta is the long lunch break many Spanish businesses give their staff. A good hour and a half, sometimes two is not uncommon. For many people, it's an ideal time to go shopping or take English lessons, but there are still those (like David) who use the time for its intended purpose. He told us he pulls the blinds down in his office and snoozes from two to a quarter to three every day without fail.

Anyway, we awoke feeling refreshed and ready for anything, which was just as well, really. Next on the itinerary was a free show by a Catalunyan performance artist, which was a mixture of surreal cartoons, computer interfaces applied to peculiar bodily protuberances and deadpan commentary. You need a siesta to handle that sort of thing, believe me.