Buen Provecho, Parte Dos

I was fortunate enough to spend my last night in Madrid experiencing some true Spanish culture:  paintings by Goya and Velasquez, delicious paella, and a beautiful serenade on a Spanish guitar.

Spain has some wonderful art museums, and three of my favorite paintings are in Madrid.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them.  I was torn because two, Las Meninas (left) and El Tres de Mayo (right), were at El Prado, where the other Picasso, La Guernica, was at La Reina Sofia.  I finally settled on El Prado, seeing as I could see two-out-of-three AND it was free after 6PM, and spent a great two hours exploring the art and the grounds.

A funny story about Las Meninas (by Diego Velasquez):  this one always reminds me of Sra. Hulke, my high school Spanish teacher.  She was a fabulous teacher - one of the best I ever had - and for some reason there are things that stick with me ten + years later from her classes.  This painting was something we discussed in detail, including the word for dwarf (which is "el enano").  I still remember that word to this day, despite the fact that there is never an opportunity to use it!  Someday I'm going to impress a Spanish speaker with my vocabulary and use of the word enano...

Some more pictures from El Prado and my walk to/from in downtown Madrid...

Valesquez - the great Spanish painter

The HR Director from Spain hosted an extraordinary dinner at this quaint place late (well, late for gringos, early for Spaniards) that night, which from the street was not even recognizable as a restaurant!  We actually had to knock on the door until this small, white-haired woman greeted us warmly and seated us at one of 4 tables.  It was food typical of Southern Spain, and we enjoyed several small tapas followed by the best paella I have ever tasted.

Garlic Gazpacho

Egg, Salmon, and Tomato Salsa

Traditional Spanish Olive Oil

I've decided what I've had here in the States isn't even paella compared to this wonderful dish.  Fortunately we ordered three dishes that must have measured 20 inches in diameter (each), and ate in the traditional manner of scooping directly off the plate using large wooden spoons.

The owner, a friend of our host, came to the table to tell us the history and preparation of paella.  He said it was so "simple", and only a matter of rice, oil, good stock, and spices.  Somehow I feel that what we were eating was NOT a simple dish, so perhaps our chef was just being modest.  He has such a passion for paella that he has invented a new paella dish which is made from both the traditional copper and the same chrome used on Formula One racing cars.  I believe him after trying to pick up the heavy dish, and I made a mental note to add that to my "dream kitchen" wish list. 

What ended this evening with the most beautiful serenade by the owner and another gentleman on the Spanish guitar.  Perfecto. 

Buen Provecho

Of course my favorite thing to explore in any culture that I visit is their cuisine.  I don't feel like I can relate to a country until I've eaten their food. One thing about Spain that is a little hard to manage is the late dinner time! We had an "early" dinner last night at 8:30PM, which meant I had to break into the mini-bar around 6 for a little snack to tide me over.  But fortunately I didn't eat too much, because our Spanish dinner was delicious.

 

Buenos Dias de Madrid!

So, what is the best thing to do when you're jet lagged and awake at 1:30 AM GMT+1?  Definitely update the blog!  Fortunately, I have some fun things / pictures to post from my trip to Spain.

This is my second full day in Spain, having left on Saturday evening (taking an overnight flight to Madrid).  James spent the weekend down at Jeremy's lake house in Alabama for Michael's bachelor party (woo hoo, party!), so I wasn't left with guilt about taking off a day early.  This allowed Sapna and me a full day to explore Madrid.  (Well, and also do a little prep work for this week's workshop, but I'm trying to put that out of my mind!)

Palacio Real (Royal Palace)

I find the city, overall, a very calm, lovely place.  The people are fairly laid back and very friendly, and I'm enjoying speaking so much Spanish.  Sapna and I took the metro down to the centro historico (historical center of town) and spent the early afternoon walking around and taking in some Spanish fare (toasted sandwiches).  We hit up a popular weekend market, where we saw lots of vendors selling what Sapna calls "diaper pants" for adults, which are basically really baggy pants that are all the rage here in Spain.

Showing off the "Diaper Pants"

Tostada

After a little mandatory siesta in the afternoon, which I can definitely get on board with, we did some work (boo!), grabbed some Rioja wine (yea!), and spent the rest of the night catching up since we haven't seen much of each other following her temporary move to London.

Our workshop here in Spain, which contains client folks from Spain, Portugal, Germany and Italy, had been going well, and I love operating in an environment that is so diverse.  Sometimes, as an American, I feel void of a strong culture, and thank goodness I'm a Texan so I have some distinguishing factor!  But being around this abundance of languages and countries...it's very refreshing and a wonderful reminder of how different - and similar - this world of ours is.

International Packing - The Essentials

Quick blogpost from my home-away-from-home:  the Delta SkyClub.   Sometimes I question if it's worth the membership price, but then I remember that the Newark SkyClub calls me by name, and the cheese is really good, and when you're delayed by hours the desk will help find you the next flight...yeah, it's worth it.  My only complaint with the Delta SkyClub is that they use Mr. T's bloody mary mix, while the Continental President's Club used to make their bloody maries from scratch.  Ah, the good old days of flying.

So, back to the ORIGINAL purpose of my post before I got distracted by my bloody mary.  I am headed off to Madrid tonight for a short week working with the client and Deloitte teams.  Since I've never been to Spain and I'm a Spanish speaker, I am very much looking forward to this trip.  Definitely a quick one, but I figure that Spain is a country James and I will explore together at one point (right babe?!) I can save the tours for my honey.

I packed super quickly today, which makes me a little nervous that I forgot something...let's see...there are a few things that I always travel with internationally.  They are the most critical things after my passport and laptop.  Going down the mental checklist, I'm relieved that I have them all:

• Hair Conditioner:  Being a weekly traveler, I rarely take any toiletries that I can't find on my sink counter or con some nice front desk gentleman into giving me.  I've learned the hard way that hair conditioner is something European hotels consider a "nice to have". After 10 long days in Canterbury, England with only "moisturizing" shampoo I have now made sure to always have a backup bottle in my bag.  My wonderful hairdresser (who I had a rush appointment with after that trip to trim the distressed tresses) advised me that, in an emergency such as this, I could use body lotion.  I've vowed to never let myself get into an emergency like this again.  Thus, I always have my conditioner.
• Flat Iron:  Despite regular international travel, I have never invested in a voltage converter for my adapter.  I told myself "that is too expensive for so few trips", but this was like 6 trips ago and now I'm kicking myself.  So, the only hair appliance that I have with dual voltage capabilities is my flat iron.  I rarely use it in the States, but abroad I have slick straight hair.  Every. Trip.  
• Splenda:  It's amazing how skinny everyone is outside of America, but yet you can never find a sugar substitute!  I am a coffee lover, and our meetings usually include both a breakfast and two coffee breaks (heaven!)  To pour in the real white sugar each time is just too much, and I have to save my calories for all those lovely pastries and wine and whatever other delicacy from the country I'm staying in.  Thus, I now always travel internationally with lots of Splenda packets.  (Or, I steal them from the restaurant I'm eating in at the airport.  I don't steal from the Delta SkyClub, because those crazies only have Equal.)

These, friends, are the essentials in international travel.  Now that I remember packing each and every one of these critical items, I can take a quick breath of relief, return to my bloody mary, and wait out the rest of my pre-board time in the SkyClub.

Hasta Madrid...

Blogging from....

....the new iMac!

As a little promotion gift to myself for making Manager (woo hoo!), I brought home a beautiful new iMac tonight. I've never owned a Mac, so this is a brand new world for me.  Even shopping at the Apple Store was a little overwhelming, but I was finally out the door with the computer, a Magic TrackPad (as I can no longer use a mouse after years on a laptop), a free new printer (promo), and a year's worth of one-on-one training with the Apple pros.  After 10 minutes trying to set up and figure out this thing, I can tell that was money well spent.

So, what do I hope to accomplish with this new baby?  First, organize and edit all my pictures!  Second, entertain you with cool updates on the blog!  And third, movies!  Okay, well, movies is probably a little far fetched, but maybe I'll start with something like photo slide shows set to music...does that count as "movie"?

Virgo Party 2010!

It seems that many people in James' Sasser family (including the hubs himself) and the Sasser circle of friends have a birthday in September, which gives them a wonderful reason to throw a party - a big old toast to the Virgos!

High-Five for September B-Days!

This is my second Virgo party to attend, mainly because the Kerrs also throw a big bash on Labor Day weekend.  Once James and I got serious enough to split family events, the Kerrs and the Sassers have to share us each Labor Day.  We don't light birthday candles over in Texas, but we do load up the 20 gauges and shoot some dove.  Opening dove season weekend in West Texas - gotta love it.  (Missed y'all this year!)

Labor Day 2007

This year's Virgo Party in Boca Grande did not disappoint - such delicious food, gracious hosts, wonderful wine, and even a dance party at the island club.  I even ran into a co-worker from Atlanta, randomly enough! It was a happen' place to be.  Thanks to everyone who made the weekend so special!

Shake your grove thing, Virgo!

Most of all, it was a chance to spend quality time together with our family and friends, and catch up on some R&R after a crazy few weeks/months/years of work travel.  I was able to recover from Japan (sans jetlag - woo hoo!), and James and I spent a good 9 hours in the car driving back from Florida.  It was a chance to chat, say sweet things to one and other, argue about politics, and for me to sing along to the 80s and 90s pop station on XM Radio while he drove...because he just loooooves that.  :)

Love that raw fish

Such a quick trip to Tokyo, and I can't believe that I'll be flying home tomorrow!  It's been a wonderful experience working here with the Japan team, and I think (from a work perspective) it was very productive.  Unfortunately I didn't get to experience much of Japan, other than the FOOD!

The food here is delicious, delicious, delicious.  I haven't had one thing that I did not like, and I've had no trouble finishing everything that was put in front of me.  This is partly because I've not been full since I've arrived, and I eat up the tiny portions with my chopsticks before my colleagues even take their second bit.

The restaurants each night have served course after course of pure delight, and there is as much emphasis on presentation as the taste.  On Tuesday night we ate the following courses (no pictures because I was with senior client folks and didn't want to cause disruption):  starters of smoked fish and egg yolk with ginger; fresh sashimi served over ice; lotus root dumpling in a sweet sauce; corn and egg custard; tempura shrimp and lotus root; and cold soba noodles with hot tea for dessert.  I also enjoyed a honey plum wine over ice.  So lovely.

The next evening we went to another traditional Japanese restaurant that seemed to be more "Asian fusion", and since we were with all Deloitte peeps I politely asked if I could snap some shots.  One of the Deloitte Japan team members told me "of COURSE you can take pictures!  We're Japanese, and we love cameras!"  (She said it, folks - I didn't!)

Starter Course - Sashimi, Wasabe Tofu, and Fois Gras

Second Course - Salad with Sashimi and Truffle Root

Third Course - Deep Fried Lobster over Eggplant and Okra (this Southern girl was happy)

SAKE!

Fourth Course - Wagyu Beef

Last Course - Warm Soba Noodles

Dessert - Raspberry Sherbet with Mousse

Oh, did I mention I loved the food...?