Susan and i traveled to Jerez for a long weekend in February. There was a flamenco festival going on and the streets were filled with beautiful dancers and gorgeous musicians. I rediscovered a love of flamenco through the incredible rhythms produced by these musicians and their dancer friends. Holy cow. And the audiences like to clap in triplets. The city itself was so beautiful that I was kicking myself constantly for forgetting my camera. Ug. But Susan generously let me steal her pictures after the fact. So this is Jerez through the eyes of Susan.
One of our good friends has a family apartment in Puerto Santa Maria, a short train-ride from Jerez. We stopped by for the day and enjoyed some yummy food. This is Susan eating "langrimas de pollo" or "chicken tears." I don't know how they made the chicken cry, but it sure tasted good. And our waiter looked like Tony Danza and flirted quite enthusiastically with Susan. You go girl!
Susan and I played cards constantly this trip. We'd stop somewhere for a drink and play some gin or table rummy. I didn't realize how much I missed cards and we're both rather competitive so it was intense.
Susan and I went on a tour of the sherry bodega, Gonzalez-Byass (also known as Tio Pepe's bodega). It is the most famous sherry producer in the world and the tour came with four different kinds of sherry to taste (including one full bottle to share). Yummy.
Susan and I were very happy.
One of the cellars is full of special vintages where the barrels are signed by celebrities from around the world. Picasso next to Speilberg? Some of the neighbors were quite ironic.
Aunt Jamie becomes Tio Pepe.
Aunt Susan becomes Tia Pepe too!
Sigh... I love salad.
For those of you who've read Like Water For Chocolate, a mexican novel full of recipes and romance, this is quail legs stuffed with rose petals in a rose petal sauce. In the book, the sister of the cook eats the meal and becomes so fire-y hot with love and desire that her body sets the shower house on fire and she runs away with a revolutionary general. The effect wasn't quite the same with me, but it was still incredibly delicious. (Blogger is being weird and won't let me get rid of the underline--even looking at the code I can't figure out how it's happening.)
Susan, checking out the flamenco festival schedule. We saw some amazing flamenco. The flamenco ballet was incredible. We also met a very interesting lady, Cristina, at this restaurant. She approached us asking if we were dancers. Yes, that's right, I've been mistaken for a flamenco dancer. My life is complete. She teaches flamenco in Minneapolis and we ended up running into her all over town. Eventually we gave in and had dinner together with one of her friends--entirely delightful. I love meeting new people.
Avacado, mango, and shrimp salad; lomo (cured pork tenderloin), and tuna cooked in sherry and garlic. YUM. Jerez has amazing food. One night we were the only customers in a cute little bar and the waiter kept surprising us, "sopresas, sopresas" and "una cosita mas." We were in total bliss. The meal ended with Pedro Ximenez sherry chupitos topped with whipped cream--and the entire experience wasn't even that expensive. We went back with Cristina and her friend a few nights later and experienced our first tastes of clotted blood and tripe (more sopresas). They were suprisingly delicious--cooked in sherry of course--and it made me happy that the entire animal was being used. The spanish truly know how to party.
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