El Dragón

Had a great day with the middle and the little! I saw this place on a Valencian Facebook page and I just knew we had to go!a dragon…in the mountains near our home. Now for those that don’t know, Hattie loves all things dragons. She has stuffed animals, she has the squishmallow but really it all begins and ends with the popular book series Wings of Fire. I would have loved for Leah to join us but she was under the weather a bit due to her second COVID vaccination…tough break.

We started with a hike in The Sierra Calderona Natural Park with the goal of reaching El dragon de la Calderona. Conceived in the early 2000’s it was damaged by a forest fire and they’ve been working to restore it the past few years. One of the artist explained that it was damaged but then patrons would break off scales and horns to keep as souvenirs. For the last few years it’s been an artist destination. They have their studios tucked away inside and the have guest artist from time to time. Today we watched Jean Peut-Etre do screen printings of frogs.

 It was a really interesting piece of art tucked away on a hillside. We went for lunch afterwards and I had to snap a picture of Mitch’s coffee cup…”May you live in interesting times”…oh, the irony!

Salut

A little day drinking happened with my favorite guy today!!! What an experience for these Midwesterner’s. So last week Mitch treated me to a flamenco show for Valentine’s. Today I treated him to a Paella cooking class. It started at the Merkat de Ruzafa. We shopped for the ingredients, talked to a few “shopkeeps”, sampled some Easter fuet and then headed to the kitchen!

It was a beautiful day to be in the city. Not a cloud in the sky and temps in the low 70’s. Jordi, José and the team at My First Paella Gastro Experiences treated us to some delicious Sangria and some wonderful tapas. The queso y jamón was terrific but the mussels were my fave, cooked in some lemon, orange and garlic.

After tapas, we started the Paella cooking experience. Everyone in our group was English speaking. In fact there was a mother/ daughter duo from Chicago and one from Rhode Island. We enjoyed some lively conversation while learning the ins and outs of paella marisco. I let Mitch be a little more hands on…he’s the master chef at our house. We sautéed the seafood, he chopped the onions and more. We learned a lot and enjoyed a great meal and some wine. We’d give it a 5 star review. If you’re ever in the area, give it a try. I’m so glad we did!

Olé

 A Valentine’s we won’t forget! Mitch treated me to flamenco dinner theater last night and it was wonderful. The costumes were fantastic, the footwork was truly amazing. At one point there was a Spanish guitarra sólo while the ladies did a costume change and the guitarist was phenomenal. The ladies danced together to start the show and then each did a solo before returning to the stage together. Mitch made sure we had the best seats in the house…we were front row center and during one dance my napkin blew onto the candle and we about lit the place on fire! Then towards the end of the show she swung her beautiful flamenco skirt out and it hit me and about knocked over the water goblets! We saw them smile and nod at each other over that one. The food was good, the show was great, the partner who planned it all was the best part! Olé

Formigal

 Skiing!!! In the Pyrenees!!! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous. The only place I’ve ever skii’d was in French Lick, Indiana. Would you just look at these kids!?!? Talk about a once in a lifetime opportunity!!! Leah and Kiersten have spent the last week up at Aramon Formigal on a school ski trip! They’ve never been skiing before, and they were a little nervous, but ended up having a great time! Leah actually argued more than once that she was NOT going. We’re the worst parents ever making her go on a school trip.

Ski school was included and they picked it up rather nicely. I got three phone calls a day and several texts from one kid…and hardly heard from the other one at all!!! It was Bug…she couldn’t be bothered, she was too cool for mom. By the last day they were going down some “black flag” slopes and at the end of the trip neither one was ready to leave. They both said they need to do it again SOON! So another great adventure for the Schultz girls, first ski trip ever was in Northern Spain, on the border of France in the Pyrenees. Amazing!!!