Eldership 2025 Spain - Total Family Indulgence

I don't know if people who have family close by taken it for granted. Or maybe they think it is a negative to have so many close to you who are in your business. But for our family, that has been flung across the globe for a generation, getting time to be with one another is a precious commodity. So our sole focus during our time in Madrid has been seeing each other and hanging out. 

In all my traveling in Spain, I have never actually spent any time in Madrid other than arriving, departing, and staying over at the airport. Between where RMG lives, where our Airbnb was, and where 2.2 lives, we were spread over a fairly wide swath of the city. But OMG the city is huge! The area we are in and that of RMG are massive, primarily residential areas that are pretty innocuous looking. On the other hand, starving student 2.2 lives in a flat with five roommates right in the heart of the city, the Centro. When we visited her, I could see what a monumental city, central Madrid is. I could see us spending a couple of days 

Since RMG and 2.2 both are in school, we organized our times having them visit us and us visiting them around their schedules. Having 3.0 staying with us meant that even when we were not with the two Madrid based relatives, we were still spending time with family. 

It has been delightful. 

Fotografica

Our local neighborhood did not have much to recommend it nor did RMG's. And we didn't spend a whole lot of time in Centro. So slim photo pickings for this post.

You have to love a country that has stores devoted to providing 'JOY'

 

 You also have to wonder if there is actually a market for commercially provided 'JOY'

Evidently there is.

 

 3.0 is committed to ascending the corporate ladder

 

 While Wife contemplates her daughter's career choices

 

Since we visited 2.2 in the heartland of Centro, I wanted to go to a nice cafe for drinks and maybe a bite.

She directed us through the Asian Quarter that surrounds her flat to a more upscale but not too touristy cafe off the crazy busy main drag with nice environs.

 

 

 So Grandpa, is this satisfactory?

 

 We ordered our drinks and I started to peruse the menu. I found a bunch of things I wanted to try. The others said they weren't really hungry.

 

Until I mentioned I was treating

 

 A much higher degree of enthusiasm

La Comida

Tortilla - despite having just had it for lunch at RMG's apartment, we were all down for it again because Spanish tortilla (potato and egg) is the bomb.

 

 Teriyaki Chicken with Popcorn Dust (It's real name on the menu)

 

 Wife and I somehow had in our mind's eye that this would be chicken wings. Nonetheless it was quite tasty. Though the popcorn dust was just meh.

This was the surprise dish of the evening

 

According to our resident Spanish speaker (level B2 candidate), the dish, Huevos Roto (which translates directly to be 'broken eggs') was to be scrambled eggs with truffles. Well I love truffles in eggs. Except this was no 'broken egg', It was two poached eggs, breaded and fried on a huge bed of truffled cream sauce with gobs of cured ham on it. It was really great!

 

Classic Croquettas

 

 

I thought I'd ordered five dishes but had actually forgotten one. Everyone said they were full, but I really wanted this for RMG, our vegetarian.

 

Grilled Vegetables

 

 

Just as in Italy, a simple dish like this is divine and a perfect foil for the fat heavy dishes we'd had previously.

Resident Vegetarian shows her approval