A week of cycling, work, eating and drinking.
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On Monday (I had taken the day off since Tuesday was a holiday), I cycled to Relleu, a town I had not visited for a while. This is the road from Aigues to Relleu. It has some good climbs and very pretty landscapes:
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Relleu is a small, sleepy town. This is what passes for an event here–the municipality was trimming the trees along the main thoroughfare, and passers-by stopped to see and to chat with the workers:
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Relleu is 35 km from my house. I then go home via Orxeta, hitting the coastal road N332 between Benidorm and Villajoyosa; the last 25 km of the ride are just about getting home. But before that, in Orxeta, I looked at the Amadorio river, which is normally much lower than this. One can tell we have had a wet winter:
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Looking the other way, this is the Embalse del Amadorio, an important reservoir for our area. Like the river feeding it, it was much fuller than it has been in recent years:
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In the afternoon, I went to the Alcampo supermarket. I love their fish counter:
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A couple of pictures from home. One of the cats waiting for me near the gate of our subdivision, hoping that I am bringing food (I was):
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The magic cactus, inherited from my mother in 2001, went nuts this week. This is Thursday evening:
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And this is Friday morning:
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On Thursday night we had the monthly wine tasting at the office. The bodega is called Pio del Ramo, with a Dutch owner, Alain de Neef:
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This evening, he had teamed up with the owner of a local wine bar/tapas bar, a French chef called Emanuel, or simply Manu. Here Manu explains the tapas he had prepared to accompany the wine:
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Alain’s assistant serving the wine:
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Anne Marie, a retired executive secretary who has remained in Alicante, never misses a wine tasting:
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The tapas looked and tasted good:
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Foie:
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Once the tasting is finished, the presenters tend to relax and enjoy themselves for real–they are no longer at work at this point:
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A couple of images from the centre of Alicante, near the Mercado Central. A very local bar:
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Out of business:
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On Saturday, our friend Assumpta and Elio invited us for a barbecue. We brought some wine from Mallorca which was quality-tested in the kitchen:
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Elio’s son Luca was manning the BBQ. I suppose this is an integral part of every Argentine’s upbringing:
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Entrañas and ribs–the cuts used are not fancy but they come out sooo good:
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It’s ready:
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There were only five of us, but the quantity of meat could easily have fed double that number. No problem, it just meant lots of leftovers for the following days:
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Luca serving, Elio recording with his newly acquired toy:
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At the table:
