Getting off of the grounds is A Process ... first we trek to the far end of our long building, then hail a golf cart to take us to the Transportation Center. There, a staffer confirms our destination, orders up the cab, tells us the cab ID number, and confirms with the driver that we'll arrive exactly where we intended to go. No errors allowed!
Barcelona Tapas is just a couple blocks from El Arrayan, where we often have our "good dinner out" when in PV. They are each embedded into a steep hillside, where the sidewalks are often a couple FEET above street level, and the streets are very uneven cobblestones. The old city for sure. The driver pulled up at a nondescript, gated entry and we were there. The restaurant seemed to have FIVE levels, straight up the cliff, and even the lower levels had a gorgeous view of the Malacon and the old downtown church.
We clambered up to the demonstration kitchen, as clearly this would not be a hands-on class. We and another couple were sitting nearby, but hadn't commandeered chairs at the viewing area. Another group swept in, led by a tall, loud woman who announced to us, "YOU'RE being polite ... WE'RE just going to take our seats!" And they did. So we then chose seats as far away from all that as we could, and were joined by the other couple who turned out to be delightful company. Sometimes annoyance gets you to a good place.
The chef arrived, as did other students; there were about 20 of us in all. He would be making paella, and naturally he started by making a good stock. Big bowls of very fresh fish heads and chicken parts were displayed to us, and so it began. As the stock simmered (various vegetables added, of course), a red snapper ceviche was made right before our eyes. Chef kindly kept that separate from the shrimp until the last minute, so I could enjoy the dish. That was portioned out and passed around, along with the first-of-many glasses of wine.
Stock is ready, now add rice...
and stock (30% seafood, 70% chicken)
Arrange the other components (shrimp, scallops, pork tenderloin, mussels)...
and simmer for a while, adding saffron towards the end.
Our ceviche was followed by a salad
and a seafood croquette, my substitution was two generous squares of beet (must have been a heck-of-a-root!) sandwiching some goat cheese -- fun!
Gradually the paella began to take shape, and it became clear that this was not a dish that really needed a RECIPE ... it's more of a clear-out-the-'frig idea. This notion suited us fine, but clearly distressed some who were looking for specific direction. Ah well.
Eventually we repaired up several flights of stairs to one of the formal restaurant levels, where the paella and a variety of breads (and more wine) were served up.
Chef was at our table, along with our new friends and another diner. Pleasant conversation, gorgeous view, great food. Our overall conclusion was that we were neutral about paella in general, but this one had some very good components.
We were impressed with the prowess of a parasailer...
and enjoyed another trio of fine desserts.
Well into the afternoon, time to get moving toward grocery shopping. A street urchin earned a few pesos bringing us a cab, we gave him a rose which somehow had come into our possession to take to his mother. Maybe. In any event, the cab was able to navigate out of the steep, narrow, uneven streets and out to the shopping center, which was hopping.
We've gotten good at division-of-labor for the first shopping trip; Linda was dispatched to Sam's to buy wine, Claudette took grocery and housewares items, I hit meat/dairy/produce. Walmart has an odd habit of being out of some staple produce item every year we come; this year they did not have a single poblano pepper. WHAT?? But we found the other things on the list, got checked out and found another cab back to the room. Alien vehicles are sequestered while staff pack customers' personal items into secured luggage racks, and our cabbie was not happy with the tender loving care the staffer lavished while packing our groceries into plastic totes. But it all worked out, the food arrived at the room and got disinfected & refrigerated.
We had planned a light dinner, but it was entirely unneeded. We tucked into a little guacamole & hummus, toasted to a very successful day and went to bed!
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