Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Percebes are still on the list

"I'm king of the world!" he tends to say at moments like this. Some teenagers cringe.
Yesterday Jaime took us on a tour of the Galician coast, which he loves with such ardor it made everything more beautiful, and it is very beautiful to begin with.

I'll try to describe the Galician coast without using the word "rugged," which of course I just did while pretending I'm above such an adjective. Ok, I can't. It's very rugged. At various times it reminded me of Point Reyes, California and Maine, but with old stone houses, horreos, and lots of small lots planted with what I think are grelos. I love the way every house seems to have a little garden and fruit trees, sometimes chickens, sometimes a couple of sheep. It's exactly the way I like a neighborhood to look, obviously.
Owen, future outsider artist, does his best work in restaurant toothpicks.
We saw a 14th century church with lots of old tombstones just lying around for anyone to write grafiti on, though no one had. We saw another very old church. And another very old church. I could spend all day going into very old churches. For lunch we stopped in the dreamy town of Muros. We wanted to eat percebes, a very small local barnacle, but couldn't find a restaurant that was serving them.

We ate everything but a few pieces of the pulpo.
Instead, we ate razor clams and regular clams, shrimps, crab, fish, pulpo and fried calamari and, to use an irritating term, the ingredients really did speak for themselves. In American restaurants, it's like the chefs aren't confident of the flavor of the seafood, or they aren't confident that the diners will appreciate fish without breading or heavy sauce. There was some kind of light sauce on the clams, but it was very, very light. Everything was delicious.

We are, including our excellent hosts, a party of nine. In addition to the adults, there are two teenaged girls, one teenaged boy (cousin Matthew from Seattle), Owen, who is 11, and his cousin Javier, who is 10.  You would think. . . well, what would you think?

All I know is that my husband and I are having a great time, and so are Owen and Javier. Owen and Javi enjoy air swordfights and long, loud conversations about video special effects and even louder made-up song cycles. You should have seen Matthew's face when he got out of the car after driving around coastal Galicia with them all day.  Had Isabel been riding in that car, she would have jumped out the window.

18 comments:

  1. you think you could post a photo of the entire 10 sometime before this odyssey ends?
    any update on goat situation.
    and finally: toothpick art. I think he's got something there. like talent.

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  2. I think it is marvelous that he feels like king of the world. I remember being that happy as a child. So, on the list, lamprey and barnacles! It's an adventurous list! Teenagers never admit they are having a good time, even if they are, so they are probably having a good time. After all, you are in Spain! Please keep posting when you have time. Your posts are lovely.

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  3. I am duly impressed by Owen's toothpick art and completely enthralled by these posts!

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  4. Percebes are a rare, not to be missed treat. Worth the trouble and the not inconsiderable cost. They are the purest taste of the sea I have ever experienced. The Spanish really are brilliant with seafood--just a few minutes on the grill, a bit of olive oil and garlic, and a half of lemon to use as you please. Amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this account of your trip - and thanks for the updates on my (uncommunicative) 15 year old! I started reading before heading off to work this morning and many, many entries later had to stop and run! Enjoy the rest of your week and eat well! Jody

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  6. Anonymous, I can report first_hand that the goats are well and that the kidding does not seem imminent. I think Natalie is waiting for a few more days of rain so it will be really muddy.

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  7. Jennifer, I manage the education programs for a literary nonprofit in Emeryville, and I'm interested in talking to you about whether you'd be interested in teaching a master class for a new series we're starting in Berkeley this year. I can't seem to find your email on this site. Would you drop me a note, at rgouirand (at) memoirjournal (dot) com, at your earliest convenience?

    Thanks--
    Rae

    ReplyDelete
  8. Jennifer, I manage the education programs for a literary nonprofit in Emeryville, and I'm interested in talking to you about whether you'd be interested in teaching a master class for a new series we're starting in Berkeley this year. I can't seem to find your email on this site. Would you drop me a note, at rgouirand (at) memoirjournal (dot) com, at your earliest convenience?

    Thanks--
    Rae

    ReplyDelete
  9. Jennifer, I manage the education programs for a literary nonprofit in Emeryville, and I'm interested in talking to you about whether you'd be interested in teaching a master class for a new series we're starting in Berkeley this year. I can't seem to find your email on this site. Would you drop me a note, at rgouirand (at) memoirjournal (dot) com, at your earliest convenience?

    Thanks--
    Rae

    ReplyDelete
  10. twin baby goats born tonight! around 6pm or so. dad heard bleating and went down to find the first one already out and nursing, then he helped her get the second one out. both are totally beautiful, nursing, finding their legs, and natalie is doing fine. one girl, one boy.

    ReplyDelete
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