Yes it is THE ALL weekend!

Question: How long is the holiday Manuel?
Answer: (Insert blog post title)

After the interestingly slow public holiday here in Italy, Lia and I hopped on a plane bound for Madrid, Espana. I considered this to be a coming of home of sorts because of my love for late nights and eating while standing (also while drinking). I was excited because many food people consider Spain the most exciting place to eat in the world, outside of Asia and I was anticipating our trip to San Sebastian, the home of more Michelin stars than any other city in the world.

You have to look at Spain as completely different from Italy. There is almost as much history (especially in cities such as Barcelona), but they are much closer to the New World and therefore way more modern in almost all aspects of life. Madrid reminded me of home, Texas I mean. Its lush vegetation mixed in with dry arid hillsides and dusty plains, started to look a lot like the hill country and I sometimes lost myself with images of cowboys riding across the Texas landscape.

We met up with Lia's friend who lives outside of Madrid and toured the city, sampling some of the best tapas and pinxtos (peen-chos) in Spain. We went to the Reina Sofia art gallery and saw Miro, Dali and Picasso, just to name a few. On Friday we decided to go by bus to a small village outside of Madrid called Chinchon. It was a pleasant afternoon and a good meal with the best blood sausage I have ever had. Don't knock it before you try it. On Saturday, I dragged the girls to a bullfight and we saw the unpleasant sacrifice of six relentless toros to their colorful opponents, the matadors. After four nights of eating and drinking it was time to go to San Sebastian...

The lights went out.

Lorenza hosted a classical music concert in her home tonight with a special four course meal created by our now head chef, Manuel, and cooked by both of us. Our dishwasher, Simona, and my girlfriend, Lia, helped plate and send out one hundred excessively garnished but seemingly tasty dishes in about an hour. We naively thought it was all over. D-Day had ended and it was time to clean up the cluster fuck and messy, greasy floor we had slid around on all evening. Out of nowhere, twenty customers appeared at 10:00pm for dinner and we were not ready. In a quick rebound with two tickets on the pass, we cleared down our workspace and got into a sweaty, heated frenzy. Pans flying, porcelain banging on the metallic counters and then... the lights went out. I stood over the fierce grill flames, turning meat by fire light and dodging sizzling juices spraying in my eyes. We pushed through, delivering every order in record time, but the twisted truth is that I loved every minute of the madness. It was a great accomplishment by everyone in the kitchen and I really enjoyed the work.

Lia and I leave for Spain on Wednesday. I feel like I am going to my homeland. Viva Ethpana.

Night Out

So the other cook, Manuel, turned 26 on Wednesday a week ago and he wanted Lia and me to go out with him and his female friend to a club in Montepulciano. It was great to finally get out and be social after almost none of that for two months. To Manuel's disappointment, there was neither prostitutes or cocaine involved... We had a great time and took some pictures. Here are my favorites.

Canadian Tuxedo

Many Italian men and Europeans in general did not get the memo that these are out of style. They all wear them and have these hoodies under them or attached in some way. For full effect, just imagine Keifer with a nice leather man purse.

P.S.- I will be posting more frequently, probably ever other day or so. I apologize for not posting more often.

Anticipation

I am anticipating many things as of late. At this exact moment it is the fact that nobody is here to eat and it is 8:30pm. Where are all the customers? The Mille Miglia came through town today, so i spent the majority of my time this morning and afternoon looking at antique cars speeding passed me. There were some new cars also and every famous European car maker was represented from the 30s to today (BMW, Mercedes Benz, Ferrari and Audi just to name a few).

My mom, brother and Jim came to visit, conveniently using me as an excuse to make it over here. I was very happy to see them and we had a great time in Rome and then in San Quirico, visiting Pienza, Montepulciano and Florence. After, my brother and I packed up our bags and trekked to Bologna and finally Venice. We had a great time, ate great food and saw a lot of art!

Now for a little ranting... If God was ever literally present here on earth in human form, he must have been Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Looking up at the Rape of Proserpina and David was realizing that something bigger was at work in the universe. I came to truly understand that some skills are not just learned but also given to a person at birth. This was an ah, ha moment to say the least. We also saw the Sistine chapel on our tour of the Vatican (which was ironically hellish in both number of tourists and temperature... A scary realization of what i honestly picture Hell to be like). I was really looking forward to, not only seeing and taking in these great works of art, but also using my other senses to get a full albeit naive effect of what Michelangelo might have experienced while painting. At first I was disappointed and surprised at the stench of body odor pouring through the halls but I decided that this is what he must have smelled way back then. He was lying on his back for hours in a chapel without air-conditioning, painting with relentless intensity and intricacy over every detail in that chapel. No wall left untouched and no color, imperfect. This was his masterpiece and I am glad that I could smell what he had to have smelled in that room.

And to end... I am also anticipating the arrival of my girlfriend, Lia, here to Italy on next Tuesday. Somehow I convinced her to come visit and stay a little while to help out Lorenza. We are excited to see what life here has in store and I am happy to experience it with her. Life can not get much better right now (I immediately realize how annoying and cliche that is but I am not sure I am in the mindset to care).