Eviiiiiiiita Eviiiiiiiita

Saturday, we had a program activity. We went for a lovely walk up the mountain, Tibidabo. There’s an amusement park up there, but that’s not why we went. We went for the food.

Calcots are mild green onions that look like leeks. I’m fairly confident that they only grow in Catalunya, the region of Spain in which I am currently getting funky. They’re harvested in the winter. I heard the story that a calcot famer accidentally dropped one of his giant onions into the fire. Being a frugal man, he pulled that sucker out, peeled off the charred layer, and ate the good stuff. Shortly thereafter, he was known as a culinary genius for creating the calcotada.

A calcotada is grilled onion, and it’s, also, the whole oniongrilling-winedrinking-bibwearing event. That’s why we climbed the mountain. Yass. We wore bibs. First, they gave us grilled bread. We rubbed tomatoes and garlic on it and poured olive oil on it. Second, we had calcotadas. You peel the charred layer off, dip the onion in some romesco sauce, tilt your head back, and drop the onion in your mouth. Third, they gave us salad and olives and roasted red pepper. Fourth, we had grilled ribs and sausage with a garbanzo bean dish and french fries. Fifth, they served some cream puffs with chocolate sauce. The next Evening with Rob and Jay will be a calcotada event.

We also drank wine from a porron. It’s like a community water bottle. You just grab it and pour some in your mouth. That thing on Mrs. Hellstrom’s desk wasn’t a bong; it was a porron.

Three more classes started this week. Two of them are in Spanish. That’ll be something. I have two marketing classes, one in Spanish and one in English, and the same guy teaches both of them. He’s a Spaniard who learned English in Miami. He has a Cuban accent. He tells jokes and stories for at least half the class. Today, he cracked up over the “rapid penetration” approach to marketing. He says it’s much better to penetrate slowly.

My senora’s grandkid is howling at the moon right now.

I got sick this week, sinus infection or something silly like that. I tried to wait it out, but those damn Spanish illnesses are persistent. This was good fortune, however, because I had the opportunity to meet a Barcelonese doctor. Nice guy. There were books all over his office, very fine leather bound books like Don Quixote and whatnot. And I looked at them.

Today, I got to chill with my senora because I stayed home from school. We watched a cooking show together. The host was a talker. It was a half hour show and all he made was pork chops with a beat sauce and a sprout salad.

Tomorrow night, I’m going to Portugal to visit my sister. But she won’t be there because some Germans just gave her a job to hoop in Germany, so she leaves tomorrow. Also, I think that I might clip my fingernails tomorrow.