{"id":3468,"date":"2021-12-11T15:11:59","date_gmt":"2021-12-11T14:11:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=3468"},"modified":"2021-12-11T15:23:18","modified_gmt":"2021-12-11T14:23:18","slug":"week-47-thanksgiving-cycling-and-paella","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/?page_id=3468","title":{"rendered":"Week 47: Thanksgiving, cycling and paella"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The main event in the last full week of November was Thanksgiving. We celebrate this American holiday in a slightly modified way since it is obviously not a holiday here in Spain. So in some years we have done it on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. This year we did on the actual day, Thursday, in the evening. As always, we invited our Spanish friends for some &#8220;exotic&#8221; food. <\/p>\n<p>Besides Thanksgiving, there was the usual cycling, a stormy night, and the last Friday of the month at the office.<\/p>\n<p><strong>47_1<\/strong>:<br \/>\nAs usual, I started the week with a nice long ride, this time to Relleu. The road between Aig\u00c3\u00bces and Relleu is one of the prettiest routes in this area:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_1.jpg\" alt=\"1010937\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_2<\/strong>:<br \/>\nFrom the highest point on the route there was a great view of the mountains and Benidorm in the distance:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_2.jpg\" alt=\"1010934\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_3<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThe following day I found myself in the village of Verdeg\u00c3\u00a1s. I usually take a break on the modest square in front of the church. This time the door of the church was open, which piqued my curiosity:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_3.jpg\" alt=\"1010938\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_4<\/strong>:<br \/>\nSo I peeked inside. A really modest church, matching the village it serves:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_4.jpg\" alt=\"1010940\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_5<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThen the working week arrived, including a day of strong rain and wind. I tried to make the best of it at the office:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_5.jpg\" alt=\"R006798\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_6<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThe next morning I stopped at the beach to have a look at the aftermath. The sky was still quite dramatic at sunrise:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_6.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0883\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_7<\/strong>:<br \/>\nA family of three on the beach:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_7.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0897\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_8<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThen I turned my attention to the ground. The rain and wind had made for some interesting patterns in the sand:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_8.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0893\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_9<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThis is as close to white stuff as we ever get. There was some strong hail early in the morning, and it had not yet melted away:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_9.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0890\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_10<\/strong>:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_10.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0894\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_11<\/strong>:<br \/>\nIn the office, my Basque colleague Blanca, making the best of the mask requirement, always stylish and coordinated:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_11.jpg\" alt=\"R006799\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_12<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThen Thursday arrived, thus Thanksgiving. I had important meetings, so I was not able to take the day off to help my wife with the preparations. I came home from work to a party just beginning:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_12.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0917\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_13<\/strong>:<br \/>\nPeople sat down at the table and started nibbling on the appetisers:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_13.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0921\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_14<\/strong>:<br \/>\nMy wife brings in the turkey. This is the kind of exotic food our local friends enjoy:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_14.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0922\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_15<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThe bird has been dissected, and we are getting down to business:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_15.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0930\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_16<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThe pecan pie to finish the meal:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_16.jpg\" alt=\"R006800\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_17<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThe next day was the last Friday of the month at the office, so we did our usual midday drink and nibble, but complying with Covid restrictions on social gatherings in the office, we did it outside:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_17.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0933\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_18<\/strong>:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_18.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0934\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_19<\/strong>:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_19.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0936\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_20<\/strong>:<br \/>\nAt the weekend, I cycled south to the seaside town of Santa Pola. I stopped for a brief break at Urbanova, a beach south of Alicante, close to my office and the airport. There was a nice view of Alicante from the beach:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_20.jpg\" alt=\"1010945\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_21<\/strong>:<br \/>\nIt was cold, sunny and windy:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_21.jpg\" alt=\"1010941\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_22<\/strong>:<br \/>\nSome German football supporters had been here:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_22.jpg\" alt=\"1010947\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_23<\/strong>:<br \/>\nThe beach in Santa Pola was also largely empty, except for this treasure hunter:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_23.jpg\" alt=\"1010949\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_24<\/strong>:<br \/>\nIn the afternoon, our friends Eliot and Assumpta invited us for paella. Normally, one cooks those outside, but the wind was too strong, so the <em>paellera<\/em> was installed in the kitchen:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_24.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0939\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_25<\/strong>:<br \/>\nStirring:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_25.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0941\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_26<\/strong>:<br \/>\nLittle Loch Ness monsters in the paella:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_26.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0942\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_27<\/strong>:<br \/>\nMeanwhile, the table is being set, with Balu monitoring the proceedings:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_27.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0943\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>47_28<\/strong>:<br \/>\nOn the table, ready to eat. No more photos:<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"uploads\/2021\/47_28.jpg\" alt=\"DSF0944\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The main event in the last full week of November was Thanksgiving. We celebrate this American holiday in a slightly modified way since it is obviously not a holiday here in Spain. So in some years we have done it on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. This year we did on the actual day, Thursday, in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3141,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3468"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3468"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3475,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3468\/revisions\/3475"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.fotocycle.dk\/paws\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}