My son lives in New Jersey with his wife and their dog and two cats. For a variety of reasons, I have not seen him since I was in New York in June 2023 to see him receive his MBA diploma from Columbia University. So his visit here in late November was the highlight of the year, I think. It coincided with Thanksgiving, a holiday that my wife insists on celebrating by inviting our closest friends for dinner–and she insists on doing it on the actual Thanksgiving Day even though it is not particularly convenient, since it is a normal working day here, as is the following day. But our Spanish friends still are happy to come and enjoy the exotic meal even if it means going to work on Friday with a headache.
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The first morning of my son’s visit. The two siblings are reunited:
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My son and I share a passion for cycling (perhaps he got it from me), and so we went for a ride on the second day of his visit, to Aigues, to get him used to climbing–where he lives in New Jersey there are not many hills:
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After our ride, my wife made paella for the family. It was a seafood paella since my daughter does not eat meat. First the shellfish are sautéed on the paellera:
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Then the caldo (broth) is added, and then the rice:
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The traditional cross pattern of the rice has no religious significance as far as I know. It’s just the way it is done:
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Ready to enjoy:
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Meanwhile, the other ingredients of a perfect lunch–salad, wine and football:
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My son arrived in Spain on Saturday the 23rd, but sadly his suitcase somehow did not navigate the transfer in Brussels (in the end, it arrived on Wednesday). Fortunately, we have more or less the same size, so Moses could use my clothes in the meantime. But by Tuesday it was time to go shopping for clothes in the local Massimo Dutti store (and later send the bill to the airline):
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Afterwards, we stopped for a drink at a bar in the centre that Monica wanted to try:
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On Thursday, my economics team went for lunch at Hostal Maruja, the last such outing of 2024 (they close for vacation in December):
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We also invited Francisco, who now works in another department but we are still friends:
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Carolina takes a sip:
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Our new trainee Tinatin, from Georgia. Trips to Hostal Maruja is an important element in the traineeship experience:
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One of my favourites at Hostal Maruja, boquerones fritos (fried anchovies):
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Pulpo a la gallega:
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Taking an order from another table. This waitress has been at Hostal Maruja for several years:
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Then Thursday arrived. I had taken the day off to help prepare for the evening’s feast, but as always I started the day with a bike ride, this time to Busot. At the start of the ride, the landscape was cloudy and misty:
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By the time I was approaching Busot, the sun had done away with the mist, and the town’s colours looked quite vibrant:
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Back home, my wife started working at the turkey that had been stored in brine in my beer fridge for a couple of days:
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After a few hours of hard work and inevitable anxiety, the carcass in the previous image was transformed into this:
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Of course, the turkey was accompanied by a host of fixins, some of them pictured here:
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Then evening arrived, and with it our friends. Normally people bring additional dishes to parties, but not on Thanksgiving. Instead, they invested in wine and champagne:
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The big moment arrived, and I stopped taking pictures and started eating:
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On Friday, we had my department’s Christmas lunch, in a restaurant a couple of km from my house. So I invited my son and daughter to join us. It was nice for them to meet my colleagues, many of whom are not much older than they are. We waited outside the restaurant for the latecomers:
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One of the members of my new department, Marta:
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Inside the restaurant:
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My son conversing with one of my collaborators:
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On Saturday, Moses and I did our big ride of his visit, an 82 km ride that included a climb to the Puerto de la Carrasqueta. We stopped for a break in Busot, in front of my favourite mural there:
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The second break was at Venta Teresa, the roadside restaurant about 6.5 km from the pass:
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Finally, we arrived at the pass, and it gave us enormous pleasure to make this selfie:
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Moses taking pictures of the view:
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This is the view he was photographing:
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That evening, our reward was a dinner at one of Alicante’s best restaurants, Tabula Rasa. It is located in an unfashionable part of town, well away from the touristy areas, and therefore is quite inexpensive given the quality of the food. We had a 7-course dinner for 46 Euro (excluding the wine), a steal for this kind of food. The first dish was called Anchoa de Santoña, their take on anchovy:
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The second dish was Pulpo con almedras (octopus with almonds):
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The third dish was Coca de sardina con queso y espinaca (sardine on a fine crust with cheese and spinach):
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The fourth dish was Papada ibérica con patata y setas de temporada (pork cheek with potatoes and wild mushrooms):
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The fifth dish was Corvina, chirivía y guiso de manitas de cerdo (croaker fish with parsnip and pork sauce):
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The sixth dish was the dessert, Biscuit de turrón, crema de café y cacao (turrón with cream of coffee and cocoa):
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To finish us off, a selection of sweets was offered:
Then we drove home, satisfied and happy.