August 23, 2023 Lunch -Restaurant at Hotel Casilla
Today was a little less hectic. We slept until 9:00 and then dressed and worked on our respective computers until 10:30 when we went to the Breakfast Salon for coffee. I also took three small bosellas/pastries; a raisin roll, a pain au chocolate, and a small palmier.
Then we drove to the big supermarket in Gangas, where we bought a bottle of vermouth, a bottle of cider vermouth, a bottle of Tempranillo Reserva and a baguette.
We then drove out of town to the Southwest, the same direction as yesterday except not as far to HOTEL and restaurante Casilla around 1:30. Amazingly when we arrived there was already another customer. The restaurant began to fill up after 2:00. The menu was more limited and there was no menu. We had to rely on the waiter’s recitation of the items.
Given our limited Spanish, we chose really well after we saw that everyone else was ordering what we ordered.
We both took the Comida del dia for 13€ without a beverage and bought a bottle of Monasterio red blend and two bottles of beer.
The meal was actually better than yesterday’s. Suzette started with a soup with garbanzo beans, potato and some pork ribs.
I started with a delicious chicken soup filled with 1 inch long pieces of vermicelli.
Since we each were served similar large bowls as yesterday, we were able to share. I thought my chicken soup was a bit salty, but every Spanish dish we have eaten at any restaurant other than the best, seems a little salty.
We both selected roasted pork shanks as our entree and soon a platter filled with four shanks on a pile of fried potatoes was served. Again the shanks were delicious, tender and juicy. We had ordered beers, but when the pork arrived we ordered a bottle of local wine and were served a bottle of Monasterio de Coria red, a blend of 70% Albarin Negro and 30% Mencia, Verdejo, and Carrasquin.p and a very drinkable well aged wine.
We drank the entire bottle and, amazingly, finished the pork and potatoes.
Every other customer seemed to order roasted pork shanks. Perhaps Wednesday is Pork Shank Day.
Then it was time for dessert.
Suzette ordered an apple custard made with eggs, milk, some flour, and topped with an apple glaze, perhaps it was Creme Catalana.
I ordered the chocolate dessert, which was a multilayered slice of ice cream interspersed with chocolate swiggles,
We were pleased with our meal and left stuffed beyond full.
After four comida del dia I can say that it has taken on a new meaning for me. I now understand that it is the meal of the day. One need only eat a small sweet roll with coffee for breakfast to get going and perhaps a tapa after work with drinks with friends to end the day’s food if one eats the main meal of the day at 2:00 (la comida del dia). At least that has been our experience so far.
After lunch we drove to another small third generation, family owned winery, Bodega Martine Parrondo where we had a 3:00 p.m. appointment and had a lovely visit with the owner and wine maker, Jose Maria Manana, who was very passionate about his wine. Even though the last two year’s crops had been reduced by an early frost he thought this year would be better and by all indications it will be because it was a warm day and he will be picking in less than one month.
He opened what he claimed was his last bottle of 2021 albarin blanco that won a silver prize so we could taste it.
The fruitiness and acidity exploded on the sides of our tongue. Albarin blanco is a crisp and clean tasting grape that is tamed into elegance by aging in oak. Jose also opened a bottle of red joven that contained Carrasquin and perhaps Albariño negro grapes and explained that Carrasquin is a strong grape and it is tamed by blending with Albarin negro to create a full bodied uniform flavor profile from front to back of the mouth.
We enjoyed our pleasant visit talking to Jose, touring his small but complete bodega where he ferments, bottles and ages his wine and left with warm feelings of friendship around 4:30. This was the type of experience that creates memories for a lifetime.
When we returned to the Parador around 5:00 we rested and worked on our itinerary to return to the coast in Cantabria and reserved times to visit three or four Paleolithic caves instead of going to Leon around September 17 to 20.
We will drive to EO Bay tomorrow and hope to find some interesting seafood.
It was another day with one big Comida del Dia that left us stuffed like little porky pigs like that that we ate.
Bon Appetit
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