Sunday, October 26, 2014

The Lubina of Malaga



Given as I am to calling the last palate pleaser the “best I have ever had” how many things within a given half year can actually be the best in my long, long life? And that all three of these overhyped phenomena were from Spain within the last seven months is just a little ridiculous. The alleged world beaters by the way are Zumo de Naranja at Casa Antonia in Gaucin, Lomo de Buey at El Churrasco in Cordoba and Lubina at La Cechalote in Malaga. Loosely translated they're OJ, steak and sea bass. Quiz to follow.

In the post two weeks ago I extolled the glories of fresh fish, an entry prompted by my stroll through the fish stalls of the old port in Marseille. And, though I have been mightily distracted by today’s jaunt along the color rich High Road from Santa Fe to Taos, the tale of the Lubina of Malaga must be told.
 
Early in the evening of my one night in Malaga I walked along the shore as dusk fell over the playa. Hordes of walkers, runners and cyclists lent an urban vitality to the balmy waterfront as I searched for just the right place for fresh from the sea pescado. I saw half a dozen palapas with open fires each adjacent to beckoning restaurants along the beach. The glowing pits told me that fish cooked the old fashioned way was in the forecast. I was not unhappy.

I drug it as long as I could but along about 9:30pm I picked La Cechalote empty or not. Well not exactly empty. There was a couple and their three year old. Seventy three and I have the eating schedule of a toddler.

I told the waiter that I wanted a whole fish, sardines and ceviche and would start with a Cava. He brought an icy tray with the fish of the day. Most had prices of around 15 Euros while two including the Lubina had the letters TP in the price column. I figured that this was something like our term “Market Price” but threw caution to the wind and ordered the bass. I am in the thrall of all things bass. He suggested tapas of the little swimmers and the ceviche.
 







 
That was a $40 fish and worth every centavo. It was, after all, the best fish in the world. The sardines from the adjoining stick were a close second. Fresh is best and fresh over a roaring wood fire is an eleven on a scale of 1-10.

After dinner drink priceless.



 
 
 
 
 


Sunday, October 19, 2014

Pretty and Sweet


Back in the sixties my boss Irv Robbins, the co-founder of Baskin-Robbins, said of the competition that, “All ice cream is good. It’s all sweet and cold.” Then he went on to tell us why our ice cream was better than the rest.  Fall foliage photography is a lot like ice cream. It’s all pretty and sweet.

Photographing fall color isn’t exactly my bag. It’s easy enough to get a pretty autumn picture but something else entirely to extract one that’s special. Neither of these lovelies make that claim but pretty for its own sake isn’t exactly a sin and I’ve got these postcards to prove it.
Autumn colors in every direction. The Taos Plateau in my rearview mirror.

Gathering storm from El Salto

Sangre de Cristo translates to Blood of Christ. It’s the name Spanish explorer Antonio Valverde y Cosio gave the mountain range that rises above Taos way back in 1719.

I’d always imagined that a lonely conquistador came up with the moniker when the rugged mountains blushed with alpenglow one evening centuries ago but I hadn’t seen the actual phenomenon till last week. If Tony saw anything like this his appellation was right on the money.

Sangre de Cristo foothills bathed in red from Casa Immel

Red sky at night from Casa Immel

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Fresher than fresh

 

Later I’ll make your mouths water with tales of fresh caught Lubina cooked over an open fire in Malaga and we’ll revisit the best steak in the world in Cordoba.  But first a word about the fresh.

On the next to last morning of my trip I scampered around the Vielle Port of Marseille trying to fill time before my 11am check-out. So with low expectations and one foot on the airplane I was stoked to wind things up with the highly aesthetic and very briny fish market at the foot of the port. The smallish operation of maybe twenty fish mongers showed me just why the seafood I’d eaten in Spain and in France was so sweet, so mild and oh so good for me.
 



 
 
It doesn't get fresher than this.



Sunday, October 05, 2014

I'll have one of each

Prosperity and poverty in Madrid

In movies this might be called a teaser or a trailer. I’ve picked one photograph from each place I visited the last five weeks. They're all are here because they speak to me in some fashion. This isn't a travelogue. That may come later. Some are photojournalistic. Others are more artful, even abstract. Some, like the one above, make a social comment. That one tears me up.
Agave and dew, Gaucin
What the well dressed merchant will wear, Avignon
Cassis at 10pm
Doll shop, Simiane la Rotonde, France
A dude taking a picture of a dude taking a picture, Arles
What I need after that Mezquita place is ice cream, Cordoba
The castle, Les Barroux, France
A runner on the malecon, Malaga

The highly stylized one train from another, the plains of Spain
Fleet of foot in Girona, Spain
The Alcazar, Seville
On the road to Ronda, Spain
The Roman Theatre, Orange, France
Cookie seller, Monieux, France
Man and man's best friend, Barcelona


Letting it all hangout, the Barceloneta neighborhood of Barcelona


Colors of the Drome, Sederon, France

That’ll about do it. This will either tease what’s to come or make you cry, “No mas!”