A Modern Writer's Adventures and Misadventures: June 2012

Spanish Wine Tasting

I love my wine! In the USA, I enjoy wine tasting at bodegas and wine shoppes. In Spain, I do the same. Esencias de Gourmet, a shoppe in Alcalá de Henares, does wine tastings either in the shoppe or in tapas bars. This time it paired up with Posada del Diablo and paired all of the wines with gourmet tapas. For 25 euros, it's a steal. It turns out that Posada del Diablo is from the 16th century. At that time, it was outside of the city (barely) and "witches" lived there. Hence "place of the devil." There, students would go and have their fortunes read by the cards. Here are some pictures:

This is the downstairs of Posada del Diablo. It's like old bodegas and stays at a consistent, fresh temperature year round.

The first wine we tasted. Except for Australia, Spaniards usually only drink Spanish wine, with the occasional Italian or French one thrown in. Napa Valley wines are almost, almost a legend. We paired it with sardines.

Javier: the owner of Esencias de Gourmet. He knows TONS about wine tasting, gourmet foods, whiskey, and gin, and used to have his own TV show.

The second wine we tasted, very strong in strawberries. We ate it with sardines.

Another shot of the group. Except myself and the girl at the left, everyone else was Spanish. I was the only non-native speaker.

The third wine. Very earthy. We ate it with pate.

The last wine we tried. We had this with a blood sausage spread that was amazing, along with a bell pepper jam. It's dry, but I think it's the ideal red for both men and women.

The wine tasting started at 9:30pm and I left at 1am, though I think the party went on longer. You must do this in Spain!

Alcala de Henares

Alcalá de Henares is a beautiful city and a World Heritage Site. Here are some pictures that I took this time.

A building that "connects" Plaza de los Santos Niños and Calle Mayor. The mural is relatively new.

An empty Calle Mayor, which is quite rare.

Plaza de las Bernardas at night

The statue of Catarina de Aragon and the tower where she was born

San Felipe Neri, a church. Miguel de Unamuno spent some time here

The statue of Miguel Cervantes in Plaza Cervantes

Plaza de las Bernardas during the day

The beautiful Plaza Cervantes. I never get tired of seeing it or taking pictures of it.

Road to Compostela

After going to Santiago de Compostela last year, I have been thinking about doing a pilgrimage sometime in the future. As of 2011, Alcalá de Henares is now an official starting spot for the walk. I probably won't start here because it's 628km to Compostela, which is a bit far. Nonetheless, I had a lot of fun finding the shells. There are 9 shells total, I thought I took pictures of all of them, but I may be mistaken...

The first shell, on the wall of the Magistral Catedral in Alcalá de Henares.

The first sign I saw last year, in the same plaza.

On the way to Las Bernardas

Before the one to Las Bernardas. This one is between Plaza de los Santos Niños and Calle Mayor.

In front of las Bernardas

In Plaza de las Bernarda

The last shell under the old entrance to Alcalá, in the walled city in front of Parque O'Donnell.

Palermo and Sciacca

Shortly after arriving in Spain, my boyfriend and I joined my grandmother in Sicily. We first visited Palermo and saw a few sites. It's a beautiful city with lots to see. Then we went to Sciacca, where my great grandmother was born. There we have some distant relatives who share a relation with my great grandmother. They own a jewelry store and design everything themselves, creating beautiful pieces of art. Sciacca is a quiet fishing town and we enjoyed walking around. It was a very short trip of about 2.5 days, but I got some good pictures out of it.

The view of Palermo from Santa Rosalia's Church in the mountains.

Santa Rosalia's Church above Palermo.

Another view of Palermo. I love the colors of the water!

The cathedral in Palermo

The view of the water in Sciacca

A cool spot in Sciacca

The house where my great-grandmother was born in Sciacca, upstairs.

Wearing My Knits

I started knitting when I was a child because I knew my grandmother did it and I thought it was cool. When I started knitting again, it was because my roommate and I could knit together and chat. I stuck with it, but she didn't. Now I know so many more reasons to knit: it takes away stress, it's good for the health of your brain, and it gives me something to do with my hands, rather than pick at my cuticles, etc. Most importantly, I feel productive when I knit.

It wasn't until this passed December that I started knitting for myself. After seven years of knitting continuously, I had only knit myself one hat. Now I have also made myself a gray winter shawl and a red lace shawl. I have worn each one once in public and that leads me to my newest reason for why I love to knit: I feel like a princess when I wear what I have made, and a sense of pride. Since I am a teacher, you can imagine my income level. Being able to wear ornate shawls that are worth hundreds of dollars, allows me to dress up a basic outfit. They are useful and decorative. Most importantly, I am a happier person while I am wearing what I made.

Needless to say, this realization has only made me want to knit more and to knit faster.

Happy knitting!