I had quite the weekend. I'm in Germany now, not sure if I mentioned that. But I am. I got here last Wednesday for some work stuff. Of which there is something to tell. But I'll wait until next week to tell it...
But anyway, as usual, Schrobenhausen is not very exciting. But I went to spend the weekend in Spain with my friend Roberto. He's from Valladolid, just north of Madrid, and moved home from Shanghai back in like March or April. I was planning to fly Friday after work, and since work finishes early on Fridays in Germany, that meant around 2pm. So I got to the airport and was making my way through security when I got an email that my flight was delayed, which meant I had 15 minutes for a connection, which would clearly not work. So I paid extra to change to a later flight that night and make sure I made it, because Roberto had something good planned for us for Friday night in Madrid. So I had about 6 hours to kill, so went into the city to see friends for a bit, since it's only half an hour away by train. All was going very well, until I got back online at 5pm to find an email saying they could not get me on the 7:30pm flight I booked, but could put me on one at 6pm, which I couldn't make. So, I spent the next hour on the phone with them, which resulted in me flying to Amsterdam, spending the night in an airport hotel, then flying at 7am to Madrid (which was delayed). Clearly not ideal. But I made it! And then we hopped right on a train to Valladolid.
Now, Valladolid is famous for tapas. There's other stuff, too. Roberto told me all kinds of history about how they're an old capital and all kinds of fun stuff. But what really matters are the tapas. This is where Spain's national tapas competition happens every year, where chefs come from all over the country to pair with local restaurants and make tapas for competition. Those tapas then stay on the menus in the bars and you can eat them year-round for next to nothing. We started out with some traditional tapas at a couple bars (of course with wine), the first one being a croqueta, which I learned is not always made from a potato base. Blew my mind. So a few tapas and a couple glasses of wine later, we went to Roberto's house, where his mother had prepared us a feast of paella, steamed crab and prawns, and grilled lamb chops. It was unbelievable. I had heard of her cooking prowess, and none of it was exaggerated. Then I sat there for like 4 hours just chatting away in Spanish with Robert and his sister and parents, which was pretty awesome because I got to practice Spanish, but also because who spends a Saturday afternoon just chatting without even looking at their phone anymore? Especially for 4 hours. It's so rare, and it was so great. So that went on until about 8:30, when we left to go eat more tapas and drink more wine. Roberto pretty much just took me from one tapas bar to the next, snacking on things, until we finished up with a gin and tonic at a hip, little local bar at 1am, and went home to sleep for like 5 hours.
Sunday we woke up pretty much in time to catch a train to Madrid and meet up with a couple of his friends, then go eat more tapas and have a vermouth. Apparently vermouth is a super Spanish thing these days. Roberto was telling me about how there's a bunch of artisanal vermouth being made all over Spain, and all the cool kids are drinking it, so we had quite a few over the weekend. Anyway, so it was vermouth and snack, then back to the airport for me. Which, considering the weekend, could not go well. My flight was delayed 30 minutes, we circled around Munich for an hour before landing, my ride wasn't there when I arrived, and after he did show up, we had to wait another hour for someone else to come join us. It was not fun. At all. But it was worth it. It was great to see Roberto after not having seen him for a few months, and to meet the family, and to actually try all the amazing food and drink his home is famous for which he's been bragging about for years. Also, it is super cheap. We walked all over Valladolid eating tapas and drinking wine, probably at about 7 different places, and I did not even spend 100 Euros. The last place we had 5 tapas, all award winning, one even having won the best tapa of the year back in like 2015, along with 4 glasses of wine, and it only cost 18 Euro. So insane. So in summary, horrible travel, but amazing weekend, even if it was cut nearly in half due to delays.
And now a bit of music. Today it's great new music from not new artists who I maybe didn't pay attention to or wasn't a huge fan of before. The first of whom is Parquet Courts. These guys have been around for years and have a bunch of albums, the latest of which, Wide Awake!, just came out in May. The title track from the album and one of the early singles is absolutely fantastic. So much fun. So I listened to the album. And I did not like it. But this song! So good!
But anyway, as usual, Schrobenhausen is not very exciting. But I went to spend the weekend in Spain with my friend Roberto. He's from Valladolid, just north of Madrid, and moved home from Shanghai back in like March or April. I was planning to fly Friday after work, and since work finishes early on Fridays in Germany, that meant around 2pm. So I got to the airport and was making my way through security when I got an email that my flight was delayed, which meant I had 15 minutes for a connection, which would clearly not work. So I paid extra to change to a later flight that night and make sure I made it, because Roberto had something good planned for us for Friday night in Madrid. So I had about 6 hours to kill, so went into the city to see friends for a bit, since it's only half an hour away by train. All was going very well, until I got back online at 5pm to find an email saying they could not get me on the 7:30pm flight I booked, but could put me on one at 6pm, which I couldn't make. So, I spent the next hour on the phone with them, which resulted in me flying to Amsterdam, spending the night in an airport hotel, then flying at 7am to Madrid (which was delayed). Clearly not ideal. But I made it! And then we hopped right on a train to Valladolid.
Now, Valladolid is famous for tapas. There's other stuff, too. Roberto told me all kinds of history about how they're an old capital and all kinds of fun stuff. But what really matters are the tapas. This is where Spain's national tapas competition happens every year, where chefs come from all over the country to pair with local restaurants and make tapas for competition. Those tapas then stay on the menus in the bars and you can eat them year-round for next to nothing. We started out with some traditional tapas at a couple bars (of course with wine), the first one being a croqueta, which I learned is not always made from a potato base. Blew my mind. So a few tapas and a couple glasses of wine later, we went to Roberto's house, where his mother had prepared us a feast of paella, steamed crab and prawns, and grilled lamb chops. It was unbelievable. I had heard of her cooking prowess, and none of it was exaggerated. Then I sat there for like 4 hours just chatting away in Spanish with Robert and his sister and parents, which was pretty awesome because I got to practice Spanish, but also because who spends a Saturday afternoon just chatting without even looking at their phone anymore? Especially for 4 hours. It's so rare, and it was so great. So that went on until about 8:30, when we left to go eat more tapas and drink more wine. Roberto pretty much just took me from one tapas bar to the next, snacking on things, until we finished up with a gin and tonic at a hip, little local bar at 1am, and went home to sleep for like 5 hours.
Sunday we woke up pretty much in time to catch a train to Madrid and meet up with a couple of his friends, then go eat more tapas and have a vermouth. Apparently vermouth is a super Spanish thing these days. Roberto was telling me about how there's a bunch of artisanal vermouth being made all over Spain, and all the cool kids are drinking it, so we had quite a few over the weekend. Anyway, so it was vermouth and snack, then back to the airport for me. Which, considering the weekend, could not go well. My flight was delayed 30 minutes, we circled around Munich for an hour before landing, my ride wasn't there when I arrived, and after he did show up, we had to wait another hour for someone else to come join us. It was not fun. At all. But it was worth it. It was great to see Roberto after not having seen him for a few months, and to meet the family, and to actually try all the amazing food and drink his home is famous for which he's been bragging about for years. Also, it is super cheap. We walked all over Valladolid eating tapas and drinking wine, probably at about 7 different places, and I did not even spend 100 Euros. The last place we had 5 tapas, all award winning, one even having won the best tapa of the year back in like 2015, along with 4 glasses of wine, and it only cost 18 Euro. So insane. So in summary, horrible travel, but amazing weekend, even if it was cut nearly in half due to delays.
And now a bit of music. Today it's great new music from not new artists who I maybe didn't pay attention to or wasn't a huge fan of before. The first of whom is Parquet Courts. These guys have been around for years and have a bunch of albums, the latest of which, Wide Awake!, just came out in May. The title track from the album and one of the early singles is absolutely fantastic. So much fun. So I listened to the album. And I did not like it. But this song! So good!
And then we have Young Fathers. These guys are more interesting. They're a Scottish rap group who won the Mercury Prize in 2014, for their debut album. At the time I didn't really get it. I heard the album, but I was not a huge fan. And then a year later they put out another album, and again I listened, but wasn't too impressed. But now, they've put out their third album, Cocoa Sugar, back in March, and that one is amazing. Really a fantastic album all around. Maybe in my top 10 this year. And it has a ton of amazing songs. For example, In My View.
Good stuff, right? And then there's Toy, which I think is the first single I heard off the album, and I really liked it right away, which surprised me since I was never really impressed with them before. But this year, they seem to have gotten it right. Something about that third album.
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