Local February Happenings

Happy Leap Day! It's not that we're celebrating exactly, although later tonight I am planning to go see a local band named "Howdy" that plays blue grass music. I'm listening to them play John Denver's "Country Roads" right now, and honestly they sound like some Basque dudes playing John Denver. That is not highly encouraging, but a friend wants to go and I'm up for it. 

It is good to have friends to make plans with when fun opportunities present themselves, like live music, a hike on a sunny day, or a 5K run for women. 

Back on February 16, our friend Connie, who is staying in SS for a few months for the second year in a row, joined us on our favorite hike on an amazingly sunny Sunday afternoon. It was great to be wearing shorts in the middle of February and to enjoy the scenery along the Basque coast. The trail was busy -- we were not the only ones enjoying the sunshine. 

Of course, today it's raining, much more typical for San Sebastian. But overall we've been lucky and the winter has been mild. While it rained nearly every day in November, since then the rain has been far more intermittent and not particularly bountiful. And we've seen a lot of days in the 50s and low 60s, which is totally bearable.

Tomorrow is Lilaton -- a local women's 5K race. I decided to sign up, and another friend, Valeria, was planning to do the race with me, but all the spots were taken, so I'll be flying solo -- with 6,564 other potential new friends. I just noticed that my race bib number is 5983, so there weren't too many spots left when I signed up. My first organized race ever. Hopefully the weather will improve, but unfortunately there is more rain in the forecast. 

We just got back from a trip to the Algarve region of Portugal, which is in the south, and to Lisbon, where the weather was lovely. So, look for more posts soon.

Hasta pronto, 

Shana & Jeff

Update on Spanish School

Back in October, we posted about beginning classes in Spanish at the Official Language School. We are now a bit more than halfway through the school year, and we wanted to update you all on how it's going. It is not great.

It turns out that we really do not have a lot of motivation to do the massive amount of work outside of class that would be required to really improve on our Spanish. We do some of it, but a lot of the assignments are designed to help prepare for the end-of-year exam (writing assignments, practice reading comprehension assignments, vocabulary), and we are just not motivated to do them since we will not be taking it. In addition, the class is Monday and Wednesday evenings from 6-8 pm, which is just a terrible time for us to try to learn anything since we are morning people. Just the process of getting ourselves out the door those two nights a week is often a chore.

So, while class is a good opportunity to practice speaking Spanish with our interesting group of fellow students, and we are deepening our understanding of some aspects of Spanish grammar, the truth is that we are not very good students due to our less than optimal attitude, so we are not getting much out of the class. This is a weird feeling for two Type-A personalities who always did very well in school but, frankly, we don't really care that much.

All that said, we only have 16 more classes between now and April 30 (not that we are counting), and we have trips to Portugal and Germany planned during the upcoming school breaks for winter and Easter. So, we should make it.

Much more to come about our trip to Portugal.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana

A New Sculpture in San Sebastian

San Sebastian has a new sculpture . . . by Richard Serra, the famous San Francisco sculptor who is known for large scale pieces. The sculpture is not new, but it is new to San Sebastian. “Five Plates Counter Clockwise” was created in 1987 and used to be displayed in Bilbao at the Bellas Artes museum. As fans of Serra’s works, we went to see the new installation at the Palacio Miramar, which is a 19^th century palace near the center point of the La Concha bay.

I’m sad to say, we were disappointed, not so much with the sculpture, but more with the placement of the sculpture in the palacio gardens. The sculpture consists of five steel plates that are 1.7 by 2.5 meters leaning against each other, suggesting the movement of the arms of a clock, and forming a pentagon at the center. The problem is that the sculpture is too close to the palace itself so that the size of it is dwarfed. An odd choice because there are plenty of alternative spaces in the surrounding gardens. In addition, you can’t see the pentagon at the center because there is no vantage point from which to see it. In my opinion, San Sebastian could have done better. 

This town loves its sculptures. On one side of the bay is “Empty Construction” and on the other “The Comb of the Wind,” both by local sculptors. Thus, the idea of having a Serra set in the midpoint seemed a worthy addition. But as you can see, Five Plates can’t compete with these two when it can’t be experienced correctly:

Serra’s work is amazing and his permanent exhibition at the Guggenheim in Bilbao is always a highlight when we visit.

Walking through or around his sculptures is an experience that simply isn’t conveyed by Five Plates’ new location. But because the sculpture is so heavy, I don’t see it being repositioned anytime soon.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

Back to the Sidreria

If it’s winter, it’s time for cider in Gipuzkoa. So, off we went with two other couples on a Thursday night at the end of January to enjoy the cider season and the fabulous traditional sidreria meal. A sidreria (cider house) is meant to be enjoyed with friends. Especially because it is truly a communal dining experience – in fact, there generally are no individual plates! This fact shocks us each year. Is it that hard to have small plates so that everyone can avoid reaching over each other? Apparently, that is too much to ask and it simply is not part of the ritual.

This year we tried a different sidreria, a smaller one called Oialume Zar – there are more than 30 in the area, so we’ll be able to avoid repeating for quite some time without even trying. Of course, they all serve the same meal, without a lot of interpretation, so it seems like we’re going to the same place regardless. This was the first time we tried cider from stainless steel tanks as well as from the large, old-style wooden barrels. Overall, we agreed that the cider from the barrels was better. As we’ve mentioned in past posts, the cider here is not sweet. And because you only fill your glass less than halfway each time, we tend not to drink too much of it, other than trying as many different ones as possible. In the end, we are not cider connoisseurs, and the food is the star of the show for us.

After trying our first couple of ciders, we sat down at our table for an appetizer of “chorizo a la sidra,” homemade sausage cooked in cider. Great way to start. In between each course, we tried another cider (or two!). Next came tortilla de bacalao, Spanish omelet with codfish. I am still not used to eating eggs with fish, but it is good, I just wouldn’t make it at home or order it off a normal menu. Next is fried bacalao with peppers and onions. This was served on individual plates – hurray! The two fish preparations are entirely different and thus not repetitive. Of course, there’s bread to share as well. And next is chuleton – a giant steak cooked “al punto,” which is closer to rare than medium rare. We’ve learned to eat our steak this way here and it is fabulous. Sharing a giant steak from one plate between 6 people is fun and a bit of a challenge. You don’t want to bogart all the best pieces, but it’s hard not to do so. We ended up sharing 2 of these steaks among us, and they would have brought one more if we had been able to handle it! Dessert consisted of a small chocolate pastry, plus cheese, walnuts and membrillo (quince paste). Cracking open whole walnuts in a group is always a fun way to end a meal.

Before we knew it, it was after midnight and we had arrived at 8:30 p.m. Time does fly when you’re having a good time and eating well. One of the best parts of visiting a sidreria is that it is incredibly reasonable – all that food plus all the cider you can drink is only about $40 a person!

The moral of the story is come visit during cider season!!

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff