Post Cards from Madrid

OK we’re all settled in to our apartment in Madrid.

Its ridiculous. I will remember this the rest of my life.

I know I will be back here, Luc wants to buy the apartment so maybe we’ll all be back here one day, it is so incredibly beautiful. Ancient and large with high ceilings and thick wood polished floors. Each room so elegant and the views! Those high full length shuttered windows that step out onto tiny iron balconies…The kitchen is my domaine and I'm so happy shopping all the fresh markets and cooking up a storm. This is the reason I came here; it is a chefs dream. The bathrooms make me want to cry, the marble is so thick & the tub is heaven, the fixtures are so nice. The food here is delicious, ahhhhh crusty jamon manchego sandwiches and icy mugs of beer 1$ each. We are right next to Plaza Mayor the town center in the Gothic district and its all christmassy. The boys adorably have chosen to share a room b/c the bed is so giant and neither wanted to be on the other side of the apartment alone. Its full of big modern art and ancient furniture all antique and beautiful. Get this, here in Madrid theres normally 2 breakfasts; 1st breaky early is churros hot n' fresh (they make them right there in front of you) with this Spanish hot chocolate that is like thick chocolate warm pudding. then 2nd breaky around 11am is tortilla (kind of a golden potato omelet) and beer and these fried eggs that are orange in the yolk not at all like we have. its so perfect!! We found a flea market that went on for miles yesterday we nearly danced through! We are going to go to the Prado then a soccer game tonight (futbol!) .

Love, Lynette

Day three....

It's snowing today, how magical Madrid looks in her white white cloak! We went to the Prado museum and saw Goya and Velasquez works and loads of Italian art too and look forward to comparing them to the pieces Picasso did when studying these same works. But of course the café was my fav, the jamon and sweet winter melon … oh honey. These tiny pasterias with the most beautiful little bits of food art and nougat and marzipan and it’s all Christmassy and the tapas are yum! I can't wait to do our new tapas stations. I have to say a lot of our tapas we already do are spot on and could really hold up here as very authentic, especially our Paella; it's (I'm proud to say) pretty great and the Spanish chefs I've met here would be impressed with our renditions. That said, I'm learning like crazy! So many new tapas and fab ideas I'm like the tapas paparazzi with my camera! We’re cooking tons, the seafood is awesome, Spain is second only to Japan in per capita seafood consumption and the fish and shellfish are just sweet, the delicious green olive oil and I got a nice flake salt, the saffron and paprika’s are the finest in the world. I am working on acquiring a taste for Spanish brandy; it's so delicious and smooth. We went to my favorite pharmacia Santa Maria Novella, hair products, cream from almonds and fragrance made by Florentine nuns for 400 years, they have one here. Madrid is so not touristy. We really feel like spies among them, aliens almost trying to delicately forage our way through the curvy cobbled streets and tiny shops; this one hats that one ribbons, you know? It’s very Italian in style, many areas remind me so much of Italy and its very nice to not be assaulted with ashtray and plastic magnet stores and bad food. The shoes and clothes are very fine and I only wish the rain would let up but the next week in Barcelona looks like it’ll be dryer. It’s not bad snuggling under umbrellas though and tucking inside for a café con leche. I resisted all day yesterday but perhaps today I’ll have a churro and that thick hot chocolate again…

Love, the luckiest girl in world!

PS This is my son, Cougar, enjoying a pot of Hot Spanish Chocolate fondue

Is it wrong to blog a blog?

I just saw a adorable wedding we did last season on MiBella's Blog I wanted to show you http://blog.mibelleinc.com/2010_01_01_archive.html. We are admittedly laxed on blogging here at PJ...the last month has been a flurry of exceptional holiday events and then we close our doors for two luscious weeks and off we go! The team scattered from Canada to Madrid to celebrate an incredible year of events and weddings like never before. It was so rewarding for me to sit with the management team on the end of the Santa Barbara Pier, eat hot Chipino and share some good wine and champagne right before we all took off and hear everyone's exciting plans. After seeing them all work most weekends of the year a bit of down time is long overdue.

We've begun the new year with renewed zest for life and the events for 2010 already have everyone quite excited. I was in Spain for the holidays and am dieing to replicate the delicious tapas we grazed on. I rented an apartment so I could COOK; the markets of Spain are some of the best in the world and the inspirations are endless.