Bella Valencia

-
February 2 2019

I wake up craving kale of all things. This inspires our first true outing here to the Central Market.
It's Saturday and the crowds are out. As described, our apartment is off the beaten track on a quiet street, yet major sights are close by. I'm surprised how close things are--much more so than I'd imagined.

Mercat Central
I had thought the Central Market too far to be practical for our everyday shopping, but found it instead to be an easy ten-minute walk away. The walk itself takes us through lovely squares and pedestrian zones. I try to just absorb the city and not take tons of photos, but my resolve wears thin about half-way through the market. 

 The building is spectacular. It wears its age well. We watch an eel or two meet their end. One makes a bold attempt at escape when it jumps from a bowl and slithers away, but the fishmonger is quick with his knife, grabs it and has it decapitated in a flash. So much for escape. 

The fruits and vegetables are easier to dwell with.

I am inspired by the market to try  a roasted cauliflower and pomegranate salad from Ottolenghi's "Jerusalem" cookbook.   It calls for hazelnuts.  Not sure about finding those but I jut googled it and he has another with pistachios.  That may be a better bet. 




Mercat Central
There are artichokes and huge aubergines. Fava beans that they shuck on the spot. We need honey for our recipe and find a shop with local honey of all kinds. People seem really kind and patient with us even though I suspect there is less English spoken here than in BCN. I'm beginning to get bolder with my spoken Spanish and can tell my reading is improving.

We stick to our recipe. We suffer buyer's remorse over our mango pick, and then spend too much money to replace it with a riper, larger fruit. I would have thought "pepitas" would produce pumpkin seeds, but they have a different name here. Lemons and other fruits are fresh and riper than what we are used to. I can't wait to get into the oranges. 







Mercat Central
We follow our host's recommendation for a lunch restaurant--a local favorite. We are there at opening. It fills by 2:00 and they are turning unlucky folks without reservations away. We have a fry fest for lunch. The quality of the food is wonderful. Kitty gets fish and I get chicken. It looks nothing like American fried chicken. Here it's cut into chunks--some what Kitty calls "airplane style" and other pieces cut in ways I've never seen. Kitty's fish is the real star--so fresh and every one delicious. We enjoy calamari again that is shocking in its tenderness and sweetness.
La Utielana

We head home after the meal and enjoy our siesta. Kitty fixes the kale salad. It hits the spot after that fried lunch, and we should have plenty left over for tomorrow.
I'm enthused about getting out to take photos early and plan to brave the cold--a front has moved in and though the temperature is in the 50's, a strong and gusty wind continues to blow.
Windy afternoon


Comments

  1. worldinaroomFebruary 6, 2019 at 12:05 PM

    You are killing me with all this talk of incredible fish...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Albufera de Valencia, El Palmar

-
Image
Wednesday 2/13/2019 We had long planned a day trip to a nearby region that balances rice fields, a fresh water lake, salt water estuary and bird habitats. The region is protected environmentally, and what tourism there is revolves around eating paella and slow motion boat tours through the wetlands. The bus ride takes about 40 minutes from our neighborhood. It's a dismal landscape, but saved for me by the extensive woodland near the shore. There are occasional modest condos, yellow and clustered in the pines. It recalled the coast of South Carolina. The day is sunny but with a light breeze. The town is sad, with algae-filled canals lined with little paella joints with plastic chairs set outside in the brilliant sun. It's warm enough to eat outside, so we head for the recommended "Bon Aire" restaurant for our required paella. Thus far we have avoided paella in our trips to Spain. Last year we had rice and lobster in BCN and then this year I had some amazing black...
Read more

Fire and Rain

-
Image
It's a rainy day, one of the few we've experienced in BCN. Last year it drizzled one evening. Prior to that, nada . My usual issue here is too much bright sun, which can make the photography challenging. But today we expect a steady rain through the day. This means we can slow down a bit and have a leisured morning. Kitty fixes French toast with our leftovers and we drink coffee and catch up on US news. Our plan had been to go to a flea market, but we decide to head to a museum instead. One would think after so many trips here we would have been to the big regional (Catalonian) museum. We've walked around it a few times--once on our way to the Botanical Gardens, again when we went to see the fountain show (pretty, but tacky with illuminated fountain play linked to a soundtrack), and last year to capture a beautiful sunset, but we never actually ventured inside until today. The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya is housed in a beautiful palace, a centerpiece of the...
Read more

Valencia Cathedral, Jardins Real

-
Image
Monday, Feb. 11 2019 Micalet Tower We head out to see Valencia Cathedral and take a slow route on back alleys. When we get to the main square, there are emergent clusters of tour groups. I suspect cruise ships, but it might also be buses. At any rate, we are early enough to not feel that crowded at all. By the time we leave at 11:30 or so, people are lining up to come in, but the crowds are still largely focused on the Plaça Reina.  The cathedral is an interesting blend of Romanesque, Renaissance and Baroque. The site is quite ancient—developed over a temple and then church, mosque and now Cathedral. Its main boast is the Holy Grail (pretty good, I suppose). There are also some impressive relics and artwork, including one gruesome Goya. We take a stop in a café to have coffee and try the local pastry, fartons . They are roughly the shape of a straight cruller with texture of a French pastry. We take time to finally carry out ou...
Read more