Trying to Catch Up

We're back from our little trip but before I get started on that (it was amazing) I need to catch up on what we did on the Sunday, June 4, before we left.

Naomi's mom was going back to Australia on Monday, June 5 and we were invited to a going away lunch being hosted by Jackie and Sebastian. We were to be there at 2:00 PM and of course we arrived early (what else is new). We rang from the street and a voice calls out from above "Hola ? " Alex explains in Spanish that we are friends of Naomi and Leone and are here for the lunch. In a quizzical tone he says we must have the wrong apartment, there is no lunch here. We were all set to walk away when he bellows, "Es una broma" Just kidding. I knew I was going to like him from that point on.

Naomi and her Mom

Jackie and Sebastian have a beautiful apartment in Raval. The ambience is fantastic. Alex fell in love with it so now I have an idea what I am in for when we return to Toronto. I'll try and convince her that there are NO apartments that old in Toronto. Even the climb up the stairs was memorable.

The living room was at the street end of the apartment and the door to the balcony was framed by flowers and vines.

Sebastian is a chef and hails from Germany. You could tell by the cooking gear tha someone was seriously into food.

Lunch was amazing. We had smoked salmon with bread, washed down with cava to whet our apetites. The first serving of paella was made with black rice (rice stained with the ink of squid) and was fantastic. We ate and drank most of the afternoon.

Around 7 or 8 Naomi and family depart . We hadn't left the kitchen and around 9 or 10, plates came out of hiding and dinner was served. I'm sure that by the time we left, we had emptied S and J's pantry, fridge and any other container that held food or drink. Needless to say, we didn't stroll out of there until at least 1:30 AM. They are all great people with very interesting lives and careers. I hope we end up seeing a lot more of them.