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

La Tamborrada 2020

On Monday, January 20, we celebrated our third Tamborrada – San Sebastian Day – the city’s biggest annual event, a 24-hour drumming festival. It was another opportunity to become true Donostiarras, the Basque term for San Sebastian citizens. Our goal this year was to better understand why Tamborrada is so beloved and enthusiastically enjoyed by everyone.

This year was another banner year of participation: 151 drumming groups, composed of 19,004 adults – 600 more than last year. 93% of the groups are co-ed now, with a 57% to 43% split between men and women respectively. The children’s parade included 8,829 kids, which means a total of 27,833 individuals played a direct role in the party. The majority play a form of wood water-barrel drum or single snare drum, while others play wind instruments and some carry flags or themed decorations. This year one group celebrated its 150^th anniversary.

One interesting change that occurred this year was the transition from the Bella Easo, or “prettiest girl,” reining over the children’s parade to a female “citizen” representative instead. A modern update from the beauty pageant concept to a representation of female power. A meaningful and progressive change, in my opinion. We caught the tail end of the kids’ parade, including the float with the brand-new character (she's at the rear of the float):

 

From there we headed to Constitution Plaza to see my yoga teacher’s group perform, passing several other groups along the way. We saw her group last year and this year’s performance was the same as we remembered. At this point we were wondering, why does this city love hearing the same songs over and over and over (it seems like there are only 3, like the USC marching band’s repertoire, although we’re told there are 12-15 songs)? Every year it’s the same thing. And this year was cold, with a high of 40 degrees, although not rainy. We just don’t get it.

We returned home for a break and to warm up before meeting friends for dinner at 9 p.m. We were happy to see Carlos and Ploy, both because they are fun to be with and because we could ask Carlos questions. Although Carlos was born in Madrid, he moved to San Sebastian when he was three. He explained how Tamborrada runs in the blood of Donostiarras, who are raised on it, look forward to it every year, and never get tired of it. We agreed, along with Ploy, who is from Thailand, that as foreigners we will never have the same love for this tradition as the locals. While for us it’s entertaining, for the locals it is exhilarating. We had a lovely meal and were able to watch and hear the ongoing action from the 2nd floor dining room.

 It was 11:45 p.m. when we left the restaurant, so we headed back to Constitution Plaza for the Arriada – the closing ceremony that includes the lowering of the city flag to end the festival at midnight. (Two years ago, we went to the Izada, the raising of the flag at midnight to start it.) One last chance to hear the same songs again. The square becomes quite a festive scene as the celebration ends. It was fun, but not something we will likely repeat in the coming years. And with our travel plans for the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021 we will miss the next Tamborrada.

One interesting final note. In the local paper there was an article identifying the number of places celebrating Tamborrada at a distance, both within Spain and outside of it. The Basque diaspora is vast. The article listed Mexico, Caracas, Shanghai, and . . . Atlanta! So, if you ever see a listing for a Tamborrada celebration on January 20, check it out for yourself!

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

Back to Reality and Welcome to 2020

The holiday season in Spain officially and finally ended on Tuesday, January 7 – the day after “Tres Reyes” (3 Kings, and/or the Epiphany feast day), when the three kings brought presents to baby Jesus. Here in Spain, this is when most children get their presents instead of on Christmas. So, it is only this week that the holiday decorations are finally coming down.

Since returning from our CA visit, we have enjoyed the holiday celebrations in our own way. The  season started here on December 21, with Santo Tomas, which is a local San Sebastian tradition. It represents the day that local farmers came into the city to pay rents to the landowners, sell their goods, and buy other supplies. The whole town commemorates this by dressing up in traditional dress and celebrating agrarian traditions. But, in the end, like most holidays, it is another excuse to eat and drink to excess. Of course, we joined in, meeting friends in the old city area for cider and chorizo, music, and laughs.

This year’s pig was named Ximona, the Basque version of Simone, and you can tell she had a lot of personality and seemed to enjoy her “15 minutes of fame.” It was a fun day that got cut short (for us) by a torrential downpour.

We “celebrated” Hanukah, Christmas, and New Year’s mostly by cooking at home and keeping it mellow. We’ve been fortunate to have decent weather – not a lot of rain, and plenty of sunny days, which allowed us to take several strolls along the beaches to enjoy the sunshine. And in the evenings, we enjoyed the extensive decorations that seem to improve each year. For the first time, the city decorated the Maria Christina Hotel (a favorite of ours), and there was a lighted globe that you could walk through.

We also enjoyed the local Christmas market, which had more than 40 stands. Our favorites were food related, of course, especially the ones selling candied nuts, homemade empanadas, and a special raisin bread we only see sold on festivals. On the evening of Tres Reyes we saw a super-fun magic show at the Kursaal, which was also lit up for the new year. The show included magicians from Spain, China, Germany, France, and Italy.

Now it’s back to reality – Spanish classes started up again this past Wednesday and the gym schedule will be back to the normal routine. Of course, Monday, January 20 is yet another holiday here with our third Tamborrada drum festival on the city’s patron saint’s day – 24 hours of drums and music. So, another day without class – which is ok with us. But before that, Jeff will celebrate his big birthday.

We have lots of travel plans in 2020 and we look forward to sharing those adventures with you.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff 

Foie y Vino

After returning to San Sebastian on December 11, we had tickets for December 13 to go to another event at the Basque Culinary Center. While the last event we attended there was a tasting of ham and wine this one was advertised as Mas Que Foie y Vino, more than foie gras and wine, and it was that exactly.

There were about 18 of us in a room at the BCC, with presenters from a maker of duck products, and a Spanish winery. First, we learned a bit about the process of raising and preparing the ducks for making foie, along with a video that showed the process of dividing a duck for sale of its various parts. While that may sound daunting, it was very interesting and not bloody at all because the ducks are actually killed by stunning them and then draining their blood, making the division process quite clean. Then, it was time to taste.

We started with a plate of three types of cold foie with a taste of white tempranillo, which was new to us as tempranillo is usually a red grape and we did not know that a white version exists.

Not very pretty to look at, but extremely tasty with textures ranging from pate-like on the left, to more what we think of as foie on the right.

Next was a plate of cooked foie, which is often served in the Basque region as foie a la plancha, with a very nice red wine.

Third, and this was a surprise, was a duck breast with another red. We were surprised because we thought the event was only foie, and with the duck breast it was turning into a full meal:

Yes, the meat may look raw, but that is how they serve meat in Spain, whether it is beef or duck.

The coup-de-grace was another thing that we did not know existed -- foie bon-bons. Essentially they were foie covered with sweet things including chocolate. Paired with a Gran Reserva red, they were one of the best things I have ever eaten:

We definitely need to find more of those.

Finally, as if we had not had enough to eat already (spoiler alert: we had) there was a bit of duck ham to try:

 Without a doubt, we had fun at the event:

And, we even took home a few parting gifts of foie (not the fake duck) after talking to the representative of the duck company.

Not surprisingly, we will continue to look for more fun events to try at the Basque Culinary Center.

Que tengais un buen nochevieja (have a happy new year)!

Jeff and Shana

California Dreaming

We recently enjoyed a visit to Northern California for Thanksgiving and to Southern California the week after. It is always good to see family and friends – in person. Skype and WhatsApp video calls are great, but they are still no substitute for actual hugs from the people you love. We enjoyed catching up with everyone and learning, well confirming, that everyone’s family is crazy in some way or another.

This was our first trip to the US since December 2017! And to be honest, our friends and family remain the main draw. Ok, them and Trader Joe’s. We don’t miss driving at all. Jeff probably drove more during our two-week visit than he has in two years. We didn’t encounter too much traffic by planning our travels well, but there are just so many cars in CA!! We brought some much-needed rain with us from San Sebastian, so we didn’t enjoy as much sunshine or time outdoors as we would have liked. But CA always needs rain, so – you’re welcome. We did enjoy eating Mexican food a lot. And we tried not to be too overwhelmed by how expensive life in CA is in comparison with San Sebastian. The prices on good running shoes and peanut butter, among other things, are better in the US though.

We were supposed to stop in Paris on our way home to see the special Leonardo DaVinci exhibit at the Louvre, but due to the transport strikes in France, we didn’t want to take any chances on getting stuck if our train back was cancelled. So, we changed our flight and flew back from London to Bilbao instead. We were sorry to miss the exhibit, but happy to be home.

Another hearty thanks to all those who hosted us during our visit. Your hospitality was sensational.

We’re back to the routine and ready for the holiday season here, which starts December 21 and lasts officially through January 6, with the added bonus of Tamborrada on January 20.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff 

Local Happenings

As we enjoy our trip to California for Thanksgiving, we wanted to share a couple of recent events of interest (at least to us) in San Sebastian.

First, there are a number of bridges in San Sebastian that cross the Urumea River, which runs through the city. Some are simply utilitarian, but the Maria Christina Bridge is considered the most elegant structure crossing the river. Modeled on the Alexander III Bridge in Paris, it was built in only nine months in 1904, and opened in 1905. Each corner of the bridge contains an obelisk with decorative sculptures.

We have always noted the elegance of the bridge and its sculptures, but we had no idea how beautiful it actually is until the city undertook the process of cleaning the obelisks and sculptures over the past several months. The results are impressive as the before-and-after pictures below show:

We expect the cleaning of all four of these edifices to be completed in the next few weeks, which will provide an even better photo opportunity for the many tourists this summer.

Second, while you may know that San Sebastian is a destination for serious surfers, especially in the winter, you may not have realized that storms often bring significant swells into the Urumea. While we often see surfers at the confluence of the river and the sea, this guy is more than  half-a-mile from the ocean at the fourth bridge (the one closest to our apartment):

Finally, this being San Sebastian, there has to be something about food. Each year for many years, the local beer company called Keller has sponsored a pintxos event in which bars participate by offering a special pintxo and a Keller beer for a discounted price during a limited period. Apparently, last year (although we do not remember this), they decided to do a second such event specifically for bocatas (basically sub sandwiches). This year, we came across one of the signs for the bocata event, and were very excited because the sandwiches offered by the various bars looked great, and at 7 Euros for a sandwich and a beer, the price was very good.

Although we wanted to try about 20 of the 30 or so options, we only had time to try two. While they were both good, the winner for us was definitely the bocata from Rita (whose restaurant we have eaten at several times), which included lamb meatballs and a green curry sauce. Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Jeff and Shana