Lunch with Jesus and Phillip

I returned to El Masroig last week and was happy to find our neighbor, Phillip, still here. Phillip is a British marketing and public relations guru who makes his home across the street from us. He's bright, articulate, well-traveled and excellent company. His friend, Jesus (see the Breakfast with Jesus post), invited us to lunch yesterday at his casa pairal out beyond the Ermita.
To start, Jesus offered us some of his homemade vermouth and some potato chips laced with Tabasco sauce. Potato chips are considered appropriate for Americans around here. The vermouth was a new batch and a little drier than the last. It was excellent. According to Phillip, Jesus rarely makes it the same way twice. Additionally, I learned that green walnut husks are added to bring some tannin and the characteristic "amaro" flavor essential to quality digestivos.
We moved on to the first course of mussels. I think they were the best I've ever had. They were so fresh and tender and tasted very lightly of the sea. Jesus made a dipping sauce that was slightly picante. The mussels were eaten right off the shell.  They were served with a garnatxa blanca that Jesus made in 2012. It was wonderfully rich and elegant and I think one of the best whites in Catalunya. Unfortunately, there's not very much of it.
We finished the wine with the rabbit stew. Everything Jesus served was authentic Catalan and it was wonderful to enjoy such a meal with such great company. You can see the stew in the photos and I only regret that it wasn't possible to capture the aroma for you.
After lunch, Phillip requested some of Jesus' homemade aguardiente (grappa). I've never had a positive experience with grappa. Most of them taste like steel wool soaked in kerosene. Jesus' grappa, however, was excellent! It was smooth and delicate on the palate. I had one small glass but the other chicos put a respectable dent in the bottle. That may have had something to do with the two hours of lively conversation that followed lunch. It's always fun for me to get fresh perspectives from folks from different parts of the world.
Phillip and I made our exit after almost five hours with Jesus. I was at home recovering from lunch when Francesc Masdeu showed up on his tractor and invited me to dinner at his parent's house. I went over there at 9:00 and had a lovely time. It was great to see Maria and Francisco. They seem to be doing pretty well. Francesc, as usual, works all the time and looks after his parents on the weekends. He recently looked at 2583 (his number) apartments in Barcelona in order to find a new place to live. It seems he and Marta found one they like.
I finally waddled home at 11:30. As you can imagine, I didn't get much done today.