August 26, 2023 Lunch - Bar Portillo in Rinlo Dinner - Tapas on our porch
A day with a new seafood is a day of new adventure.
Today we may have discovered our favorite seafood restaurant so far in Rinlo, a tiny fishing village about ten miles west of Figueres.
We started the morning by eating breakfast at the hotel. Today we enjoyed the ham and cheese quiche and our new favorite, a small bowl of yogurt with granola at the bottom and fruit compote on top, plus the usual pastries and brownie and lemon sponge cake. Today I ordered tea and Suzette ordered coffee with hot milk.
We then drove up the EO River on our Asturias side to a bird sanctuary in the shallow area that extends to the east between Castropol and Figueres. Unfortunately, there were few birds. Apparently its bird population swells in winter when migratory waterfowl arrive from Northern Europe.
We then drove further south along the EO past Castropol to Vegadeo where it was market day. I initially was disappointed because there were more clothing stalls than food stalls but soon changed my mind when I realized we had bought all the food we needed yesterday and Suzette started taking a keen interest in some of the clothing. Suzette soon found a lovely pink/purple colored shirt for €15 that fit her perfectly and bought it. So our trip to the market was a success.
We decided to try to return to the coast and head west of Ribiedo to see what small beach town we could find.
We crossed the EO at Vegadeo into Galicia and drove along the river until we came to a by-pass around Ribeiro to the ocean where we turned West and drove to Rinlo, a small fishing village. We drove through the small port where there were two or three restaurants and found a parking place on a side road about 250 feet up the hill. It was a beautiful sunny day and so we decided to walk to the little plaza, go to the bathroom, have a drink, and then walk to the beach.
That plan changed soon for two reasons. When we arrived at a small bar and restaurant named Bar Portillo at 1:00 I saw a chalkboard sign that offered a daily special of percebes. We tried to sit outside but the waiter told us the outside tables were all reserved and pointed us to a table just inside the door of the restaurant. We sat at a table beside the door. When he asked if we were going to eat, I asked, “What are percebes?”
He answered in perfect English, “Barnacles.”
I answered, “We are going to eat.”
He soon handed us a menu in English and we ordered beers.
There were many tempting seafood items but we soon saw a table near ours served what appeared to be a platter of a dozen or so of the largest mussels we had ever seen. Suzette said, “I would like mussels”, so we were set. We also ordered a basket of bread and butter. The bread turned out to be the wonderful light brown bread that is fluffy but has a bit of heft from the addition of whole wheat flour.
Soon a 250 gram platter of goose necked barnacles arrived of the type Jose Andres ate on his PBS Spanish food series. We had to ask the waiter how to eat them and he showed us how to open the soft outer shell covering the neck with your fingers that allows you to remove the shell exposing the neck and then you suck the neck out of the plated end with your teeth and tongue, We got pretty good at it after a few and there were dozens. The barnacles are sealed at both ends and the waiter told us, “You must break open their soft goose neck shell to release the water and then you can suck out the barnacle.”
Then the mussels were served and they were the largest and most tender mussels we had ever tasted. They literally melted in your mouth.
Suzette initially said she would not eat a barnacle but after the first several she changed her mind, especially when accompanied with bread and butter.
As we ate something truly remarkable occurred. The sky darkened and it started to rain heavily and the reserved table customers poured into the restaurant bar area and stood or sat at the bar and looked at us with envy or disgust, as we sat and ate our lunch at one of the few tables inside.
The meek had inherited the earth.
It was a strong rain and as soon as everyone and their now wet food were inside the waiter cranked down the umbrellas and tied rope around them them to keep them from flapping. The rain persisted and since we had failed to bring our rain jackets we decided to order coffees and a bowl of Arroz con Leche (rice pudding) for dessert. This rice pudding was quite wonderful. It was not only super creamy and flavored with the usual anise, but also lemon and the top was dusted with ground cinnamon. We took our time eating the rice pudding and sipping our coffees until the rain slackened.
The bill for the most interesting seafood meal of the trip so far, of barnacles, mussels, bread, beers, dessert, and coffee was 38€. This confirmed our decision to switch our itinerary to drop Leon and instead to return to small towns on the coast toward the end of the trip.
As I blog this entry around 5:00p.m. on Saturday afternoon there appears to be a regatta of sail boats on the bay outside our window.
The sky has cleared and it has turned sunny as we watch the sail boats round the mark in the middle of the River about 1/2 mile from our porch.
We are trying to coordinate the two point verification for Google with Willy or Luke to access my cell phone or home phone, so there has been a delay in publishing the blog entries.
We went to the big house and after an hour Suzette, with the assistance of Luke and Willy to transmit codes for two point authentication from Albuquerque was able to add her I phone number as a verification number.
We were given silverware and napkins and returned to the room and made a picnic dinner with ham and chorizo slices, aged goat cheese and a soft blue cheese, a baguette dipped into olive oil to soften it, figs, and a date for dessert with a lovely red smooth 2018 vino Albari Tempranillo Reserva
from the Valdepenas DOC as smooth as silk.
We watched the sunset along the coast light up the clouds and Picos and listened to music as we sipped red wine and relaxed on our lovely porch for a calm ending to another unforgettable day.
As Robert Pidcock put it so well in devising me on the wording of my motion to stay proceedings in the probate case. I need a break from legal practice to recuperate. It seems to be happening.
Bon Appetit
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