“Perfecto”
I am now fluent in Catalan. What a fantastic word to describe so many things. The use of one word is so helpful when travelling the world. I went to Paris in high school with my French class and remember having a goal of getting through the day with one word: “Oui”. Again, it is a perfect word.
This story brings back the old joke:
- What do you call someone who speaks many languages: Multilingual
- What do you call someone who speaks two languages: Bi lingual
- What do you call someone who speaks one language: American
The joke is sad, but true. We Americans are spoiled because in so many places around the world we can get by with our one language. On the other hand, I remember telling my friend in Holland how advantaged his children would be as they spoke: Dutch, English, German and French. He told me that he doubted that they were advantaged at all because the Dutch children were forced to spend a disproportionate amount of their intellectual energy on language versus American children being able to have more focus on math and science. Who knows what is true. I do know I love having one word to focus on: “Perfecto”.
Barcelona has been a great place to build on our supper club mission. We started our first night by having dinner with two old supper club friends from Memphis. Linda Stevens and Steve Cooper just happened to be in Barcelona with her sister and brother in law. We had a wonderful dinner at Patron. The waiter took the lead and kept up a flow of Tapas and sea bass prepared a few different ways. “Perfecto”.
(Dick, Karen, Steve, Linda, Susan and Paul at Patron)
We spent a day with a Danny (www.inourbarcelonatour.com) touring the city. The works of Gaudi highlighted by La Sagrada Familia really stood out. Many of us have toured cathedrals, but this place is different. I had been to Barcelona 20 years ago and to see the progress and the beauty was special. The work has progressed enormously. So much so that one feels compelled to come back to see it finished. They say it will be done by 2026 (100thanniversary of Gaudi’s death), but I suspect that a final completion is a long way off. The place is amazing. It is the only cathedral in the world where you have to pay to get in and people line up by the thousands every day. “Perfecto”.
There are two major supper club food themes that we are bringing back from Barcelona. Tapas and seafood are everywhere you look. The Tapas theme is fantastic for supper clubs as the sharing of food is a great way to socialize over a meal. The seafood of this city on the Mediterranean is spectacular. We had dinner last night at Botafumeiro restaurant and had some amazing seafood. “Perfecto”.
Tapas of grilled pork, sausage and codfish croquet
Razor clams with herb butter
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