finally some peace and quiet at work

arrived today and it was sooooo quiet. A big change from the last couple of weeks. Tonight I started a veal glace, called either fondo or jugo de carne here. Some big bones today, roasted'em up real nice in the oven, leeks, celery, onions....no carrots used in this one, even though that is what I prefer. Also simmered with champinones, tomate, and shallotas after the initial straining of the bones. On the last go around its infused with rosemary and thyme.

Roscón de Reyes

Yesterday was my first Reyes, or Kings day here in Spain.....so Mette and I got a Roscón de Reyes, a special cake for the day. Inside there were three surprises, a king figurine which Mette found, making here king for the day :-), and I found the dried haba, meaning that I had to pay for the cake :-(. The other surprise was truely a surprise, a little Maggie Simpson figurine. Good cake, dipped in hot chocolate....I like some of these spanish traditions. The night before there was a huge parade in the city, on Alfonso el Sabio; unfortunately I decided to go to El Corte Ingles and got caught on the other side of the city for over an hour, trying to find a place to cross and get back home. The parade had a lot of floats with kids on them, throwing candy and small toys out to the thousands of people lining the street.
Now, we are enjoying a pleasant 3 day weekend at home together, after a long holiday 10 day seguido work week. Things should slow down a bit now, but we are also in for some interesting changes at the hotel next month, when Carmen the exec chef is going out on maternity leave for 4 months.