I'm turning to stone

Stone in love: Barcelona makes me fall in love with stone again.

Pinche Gaudí genio.

The pavement in Paseo de Gracia



My favorite house in the world.

More on the Porras con Chocolate

I forgot to tell you that the porras con chocolate from Casa Aranda in Málaga are what I imagine junkies feel when they get high, only for your sense of taste. Heavenly, sublime, genius, incredible.
It is genius to pair the thick, creamy fragrant chocolate with the chewy, crunchy, light as feathers churros.
I need a fix.

I never thought I would say this:

No more food! (For the time being). (Til the crise de foie subsides). Don't you think for a moment that as soon as I get to Barcelona I won't be following the gastronomical recommendations of friends.
It's my great fortune I don't live in Spain, because if I did I would gain 20 pounds a day.


Breakfast every day of porras con chocolate at Casa Aranda in Malaga, where the fabulous waiters scream their orders as if they were urging the troops to battle.

Berenjenas con miel. Eggplant with dark honey.
Then pescaitos fritos all day long and cañas (the best little glasses of beer ever) and more food.


Montaitos and salmorejo at Bar El Pimpi, Málaga.
I am about to explode. What's going to happen to moi in Paris?

Cat Condos on the Mediterranean

On the way to dinner we met a colony of feral cats who live among the rocks abutting the beach. True heirs of Darwin, their patchy colors mime those of the rocks, so many of them blend in with the landscape.


It’s rather strange to see cats in such proximity to a large mass of water, but these live in these condos with a sea view (better than the commnuities of rats living in garbage bags on the streets of NY). Cats being cats, their gaze is transfixing. I think they gaze at us because they are hungry. But their eyes are still mysterious.

Talking about garbage, Málaga is kept spotlessly clean. There are armies of street cleaners and it shows.
I don’t mind a clean city at all.

Malagueña Salerosa

Darlings! Greetings from Málaga, Spain, where yours truly is attending an international wedding between French and Spanish subjects, and generally having a beautiful time in this mediterranean port city with lots of joie de vivre, a la española.


Yesterday we had a soupy paella overlooking a garden. At night we went to one of the little restaurants at the beach in Pedregalejo (about an hour walk from the center, by the sea) and had a fish and seafood feast for a very reasonable price. Fresh tiny clams, other spectacular clams called conchas finas, an amazing fresh grilled dorade, a perfect simple salad with lettuce, tomato and onion, and perfect glasses of beer, the way you can only get in Spain. I declared myself officially happy.


Today, a perfect breakfast of fresh orange juice and a pitufo catalán, which, is not a catalan Smurf, but a small baguette, like a Mexican bolillo with Serrano ham, olive oil and tomato. YUM.
Turrón ice cream at Casa Mira. Qué cosa más buena.
The weather is superb, sunny yet not hot. The wedding is tomorrow.

No More Cars in Times Square

Splendid idea. I say follow it with no more cars in Manhattan.

The Bronx Bomber

Sounds like Supreme Court Nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor is going to bring some much needed fun to the august court.

1. She from the Bronx. New York is in the house. Represent! She ain't gonna take no bullshit from the rightist bullies on the bench.
2. She's the first Hispanic Supreme Court Judge ever. Neat.
3. She's a woman and apparently a feisty judge. Fun!!!!!

To wit:

Judge Sotomayor has said her ethnicity and gender are important factors in serving on the bench, a point that could generate debate. “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” she said in a 2002 lecture.

Word.

She also once said at a conference that a “court of appeals is where policy is made,” a statement that has drawn criticism from conservatives who saw it as a sign of judicial activism. Judge Sotomayor seemed to understand at the time that she was making a controversial statement, adding that, “I know this is on tape, and I should never say that, because we don’t make law.”

Conservatives quickly pointed to such statements after word of her selection on Tuesday. “Judge Sotomayor is a liberal activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written,” said Wendy E. Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network, an activist group. “She thinks that judges should dictate policy, and that one’s sex, race, and ethnicity ought to affect the decisions one renders from the bench.”

Yay!

White House officials concluded that such statements, while perhaps providing fodder for opponents, would not be problematic enough to hinder her confirmation. Some officials have said in recent days that they relish the prospect of Republicans standing up against a Hispanic woman with her life story, because it would only damage the G.O.P. with a key voting bloc.

Bring her on!

On a clear day you can see forever

I'll pay $199 not to have to take off my shoes in the security lines at the airport. I absolutely loathe the shoe routine. There is this thing called Clear that for $199 a year promises to breeze you through security. I say the absence of aggravation is worth it. But they don't say if you still have to open your laptop and take off your shoes. And also, only at selected terminals at certain hours, which starts sounding like bullshit. Like for instance, 4 am to 7 pm at Terminal 3 in JFK. This means that if you are taking a red eye to Europe after 7 pm, you are not eligible. And then, supposedly you fill out the megillah of your life and then you go to a center to have your iris and fingerprints scanned and two weeks later they send you your card IN THE MAIL, how safe is that, where a regular Osama Bin Laden can nab it and use it.
Still, the dream of more pleasant air travel is powerful.

God of Carnage

It was better than I expected. Lots of fun, but not much else.
The set is gorgeous. The actors are all fine, but they seemed generic. Perhaps is because of the way the characters are written, more as stereotypes than as individuals. (Cf. the characters in the Norman Conquests, who are complicated people, not symbols thereof).
They are supposed to be 2 New York couples but they seemed unrelated to this city. My favorite was Hope Davis. She rocks. She is funny and real. Gandolfini is his usual adorable gruff bear, very natural but not very surprising. And Marcia Gay Harden and Jeff Daniels are fine but why do I feel they belong in Wisconsin?
Imagine Alec Baldwin in Daniels' part. That would be so much more fun. He would tear it apart. Or Marisa Tomei in Harden's part. Much more Brooklyn, much more pizazz. I also felt that the characters should be younger than these actors. Early 40s, more at stake and more to lose in the bargain.

Random Thoughts

1.
I feel blessed and overjoyed that I don't follow American Idol and I don't care. The same goes for any reality show.
2.
Satan (that is you, Cheney): shut the fuck up already.
3.
I'm seriously considering canceling Netflix. Each movie is costing me like $60 each. Much as I love it, I'm not using it anymore.
4.
It's finally beautiful out.
5.
I have become a master procrastinator.