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Rare are the days that I have to myself but today is one of them. Tin and Tatjana left early this morning for Bolonia and Vejer de la Frontera on an excursion with the students. This is the last week of school and I finally had time to myself. I walked to the sea first thing – to breathe in the fresh salt air then I went to our favorite wine store – Magerite – and purchased a bottle of Protos (a wine introduced to me by one of Tatjana’s Spanish students in New Orleans), a Ribera Duero – extremely drinkable and I bought an Abadal Rosado (rose) because I had a white Abadal that the woman had recommended and loved it (this rose is Cabernet Savignon).

The wine owner is adamant that Robert Parker has ruined wines globally with his point system and his preference for strong California cabs and oaky Chardonnays. She said it has made major producers adjust to the bold taste and leave behind hundreds of years of softer flavors. She said Rioja and Ribera Dueros are mostly ruined because of Parker. The Parker effect, she snorts in disdain, is a horror.

Another horror is the restaurants that now use a premix for their tortillas españolas, once the province of every home cook in this land, now conveniently packaged to just pour and cook – now this is the horror. We have noticed it at many restaurants and cafes much to our chagrin.

Then I went to ECCO (Espacio de Creacion Contemporanea) near Parque Genoves and saw two wonderful exhibits – one is called Zones in Danger (Zonas de riesgo) and it featured ten international artists interpreting our complex and fragile world and my absolute favorite was by Shirin Neshat that showed on one screen a male vocalist and audience and on the other a woman solo on stage and with you in the middle – you get to negotiate the space where women in Arab world must be kept out of the public eye and you, the viewer, decide who to look at – I looked at the woman who used her voice to transcend any pain or disquietude she harbored. It was an amazing exhibit and I can’t wait till my friends return from their excursion to take them there.

On the second floor of this contemporary space was a Marimekko exhibit that was fabulous. If I could construct a space to live one room would be lined with Marimekko fabric and the other as open and airy as the gallery with its interior outdoor space. The stuff that dreams are made of.

I had not eaten breakfast so I stopped into Plaza Mentidero and ate a falafel at the Kurdish restaurant while I enjoyed the plaza and the passersby.

By the time I was ready to do the grocery shopping the stores were closed for the mid day siesta – a ritual unaffected by progress. And rightfully so.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2012 at 7:56 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.