Salobreña with Goyo and Charo

Last Saturday we had lunch with Goyo and Charo. They are very good friends with Manuel and Alice from Bucknell's Spanish department. We met them last year in Lewisburg when they were visiting Alice and Manuel. Manuel and Goyo have been friends since they were boys in boarding school in Madrid together. They have a beautiful setup in a piso just across the street from the beach with a pool, tennis court and patio. They also have three bedrooms and two terrazas.We brought them a red and white enamel bowl from Country Cupboard filled with candy surrounding a white candle with a red ribbon around it. We bought it in July and managed to eat all the candy I had filled it with from an old fashioned candy store in Old Sacramento, so we ended up filling it again with Spanish candy from Bel Ros in Carrerfour.

After having a soda and watching Charo clean mussels and stir paella, Goyo took us around in his car. He showed us el Castillo de Salobreña (the symbol for our favorite brand of mosto), the old sugar factory, the huertas (produce gardens) below the castle, and a really cool rocky pathway than ran alongside the beach. Aidan did his usual glass and shell collecting, Ian did cartwheels and Emma made designs in the sand. We passed an American style burger joint on the beach that was called, 'McPepe's'. I don't know why, but I thought it was hilarious. We drove back to the house and had olives, empanadas with cheese, spinach or tuna and tomato inside, and mixed nuts. The kids filled up on the nuts and empanadas. Then we had tortilla, Charo makes her very thin and wet in the middle. After the tortilla we had steamed mussels. Charo and Goyo were slurping them down with the salty water they had inside the shells. Collin and I ate them as well. I think Ian's days of eating everything are coming to an end. He didn't want to even try a mussel. Poor Collin was having an extremely hard time eating the mussels and Goyo told him he didn't have to eat them. Charo seemed to think I was really enjoying mine so she gave me the BIGGEST one. If you have never eaten mussels before, I have to tell you that they look like orange aliens curled up in pods and have a very salty taste and soft, yet rubbery texture. Then Charo brought out a paella that had what looked like a little bit of everything from the sea, plus a whole chicken. She proceeded to give GIANT helpings of paella to the kids, but only gave them chicken and rice. Collin and I got everything including: tiny squid, calamari rings, chicken (all bones and skin included), more mussels and shrimp. The kids claimed to be very full and left a lot of paella on their plates, but Charo had served up Hungry Man-sized portions. We had a store bought Tiramisu flavored cake roll, turrón blando and dark chocolate turrón for desert. Surprise, surprise--the kids' appetites returned in a hurry. Emma totally hogged the turrón blando. Goyo said she could take the rest home and she didn't want to share with anyone.

Goyo and Charo were singing songs that the kids had learned in school to and with the kids. They acted like grandparents to the kids. I wish we had hung out with them sooner and that they were coming to Thanksgiving. Aidan, Emma and Ian colored some pictures for them to hang on their fridge. Goyo and Charo kept praising them and saying how smart and cute the kids were. They were really amazed by Ian's gymnastic ability and kept saying, ''¡Qué barbaridad!'' Goyo kept saying, ''¡Qué rico!'' (about the food) and really rolling his rrrrrrrr's. Emma was copying him, including his hand gestures when he said it. We all had a really great time together. They are so nice and fun to chat with.

Collin took the kids down to the patio so Ian could blow off some gymnastic steam. While he was gone, I had some herbal tea and chatted with Goyo and Charo. We talked about Spanish cinema, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, how nice Alice and Manuel are, the kids' schooling, Goyo's English, and my Spanish. The table we were sitting at in the living room had a very long, thick table cloth on it and a heater hanging from the center of the underside to warm you up on cold days. Goyo said it was very common in Spain and that almost everyone has them. Seems like a great idea to me. I would love to have one in our basement in PA.

We said goodbye and went to the beach with just our family for a little bit before heading home. I got some cool pictures with the sun setting in the background. A little girl heard us speaking English and came up to us and introduced herself (her name is Claudia) and then sang first a number song and then a color song in English. She also asked me to take pictures of her. Aidan fell in the water, naturally, someone always does. It must be a rule or something that when you especially don't want to get wet, say in November, you end up doing just that. We drove home, all very tired and watched Jumanji.