Dinner with Lluisa and Albert

Lluisa and Albert were so generous to invite us to dinner last week. Philip had two young ladies visiting and they joined us. Kate and Imie grew up together and are still good friends. Kate went to Oxford and Imie went to Exeter. Kate worked for Philip when she was at Oxford.

Albert and Lluisa have a lovely home just outside El Masroig. We were introduced to their very charming sons, Alberto and Lluis. Alberto is studying geo-technology in Brighton and Lluis will go to Barcelona in a few weeks to study computer programming. They both speak very good English and it was a pleasure to get to know them.

The dinner was superb. Albert bought some Pyrennean steaks and we grilled them. Lluisa prepared some wonderful side dishes. There was mucho vino and several people practiced with the porrón. The porrón is a traditional drinking vessel that's passed around. If you know how to use it, individual wine glasses aren't needed. Catalan meals are all about sharing so the porrón is a lot of fun. Even if you don't know how to use it, it's still fun if you don't mind a little wine on your shirt.

We arrived at Lluisa and Albert's just before 9 p.m. and staggered away just before 1 a.m. under the light of an almost full moon. It was about a 15 minute walk home and the nighttime view of El Masroig from the south was absolutely enchanting.

¡Gracies Lluisa i Albert!

 

 

Castle and beach day

 

Our friends, Katie, Deb and Rhett, flew over with me. Deb and Rhett came to see us in 2012 but this is Katie's first trip to Europe. Aside from a four hour delay in D.C., the trip went smoothly until I lost Rhett and Deb on the motorway outside the airport. Fortunately, they had GPS in their car and were able to get to El Masroig about the same time as Katie and me. We did some sightseeing in the area. Rhett wanted to change his rental car at the airport in Reus and we went to Salou afterward.

 The next day we went to the beach at Hospitalet. It's still my favorite beach in the world.

We ran into our usual watch vendor. After five summers, we've become old friends. He's a cheerful lad and very patient with the gringos. Katie bought a nice blue watch and I hope it's still running. We made the obligatory visit to Miravet. It was Katie's first castle. I regret that Deb and Katie forgot to bring their tiaras but more about that later.

It's been a very dry year here. The vineyards are looking good and we have a better crop than most people. I put down 20 liters of water per vine on Wednesday just to give them a little drink. Marc Tost has been doing a good job.