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Chasing dinosaurs June 24, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a comment

Millions of years before grape vines came to La Rioja, dinosaurs ruled here, putting their muddy pawprints everywhere. 

Today I drove to the valley of the Rio Cidacos, and saw the footprints in ancient mud.  Its an odd drive, miles with hardly any cars and good roads, a bit like New Zealand really.  Most of the way, it is  red stratified sandstone, coming at odd angles out of hills, the earth has been moving here.  Some spectacular sandstone hills have castles on top, looking like they were carved out of the living rock as perhaps they were.  When I sort out the camera problems, I’ll post a picture of the spectacular hill in the middle of Arnedo, castle atop.

I stopped at Arnedillo for a break and to walk along the riverbank for a while, part of a longer track that would make a nice couple of days walking.  Its a pleasant wee village, with the church at the bottom, rather than the usual top.  Later I came back for lunch.

The dinosaurs themselves were all over the area, and there are many signposted sighting points, as well as a good interpretation centre at Enciso, a little further down the river.  The first site out of Enciso has been set up as a park, with life-size models for children to play on and to give grownups a sense of scale.  It was the only one with parking, a difficulty on small rural roads.

In some ways, I was surprised at how small the footprints were.  A huge, three toed dinosaur created footprints only about 30 cm long, which seems small considering how large the model was.

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The restaurant next door June 21, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a comment

Dom’s friend recommends the Aldonando, and I’ve tried for two nights now, but suspect it must be closed for holidays.  Either that or it opens very late and as I came by at 11pm tonight, it must be outside even the normal extraordinarily late Spanish dinner times.  Fortunately, the Astelena, over the road proves to be very good.

I’m starting to think that Astelena is Basque for ‘try this place, it’s very good’ as the Bar Astelena in Plaza Constitucion is also excellent, and recommended by one of my Spanish tutors, Laura, with friendly staff who tolerate my linguistic fumblings and don’t laugh too much, and very good Pintxos.  When I sort out the camera, I’ll put a picture of the little squids on a skewer here.

However, tonight was the Restaurante Astelena, and started with a fish soup.  I’m not normally a great one for fishy things, but in this part of the world its essential.  This was rich and tasty and included half a dozen shellfish (definitely something I avoid unless I can see the sea), and a meal in itself.  Unusually for Spain, they have a good winelist of half-bottles, so I had a Marques de Riscal Reserva Rioja, which worked well with the strong fish soup, and with the cod steak which was my main.  This whole business of whites with fish only goes so far and a strong flavoursome fish doesn’t get overwhelmed by a smooth red.

Although San Sabastian is a gourmet paradise, it  can be a bit variable.  I’ve not had bad food, but sometimes the service leaves a lot to be desired.  La Fabrica in the old town doesn’t take people on their own, so I won’t be trying that one, and the place I did end up in last night ignored me so long, I ended up shouting across the room for the bill at the waitress who seemed to think her fingernails were more interesting than her customers. 

But the Astelena and the Aita Mari (blogged a couple of days ago) are both well worth it, and make up for the indifferent places in between.  They’re not cheap though - 50 euros this evening, and about 40 at the Aita Mari make them comparable with London prices.  Lunch today was only 9euros for a menu del dia at the Bar Amazonas in Plaza Bilbao, which was a mixed salad and then an Oxtail stew, plus half  a bottle of drinkable plonk, which should have been shared with my fellow student Shona, but she wasn’t drinking. Oh dear, how sad.

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Pintxos and wines by the glass June 18, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Travel , 3 comments

I think I’ve got the hang of bars here.  You walk into a bar, order a glass of wine, and help yourself to the fabulous array of small things on bread, or wrapped, or filled peppers which alighn the bar.

But something was wrong.  The wines were awful, and I saw other people getting different ones.  And it feels a bit odd just helping yourself to food.

With the wines, apparently most bars will have a number of fairly set varieties available by the glass.  Rather than just ordering white or red, you can order in grades - crianza (2 years in the barrel), reserva (5 years in the barrel), gran reserva (longer, and less likely in a bar) - or by variety - Bordon, Cato from Rijoa for reds, Txakoli, Rueda for whites. 

And while it is fine to just take the pintxos, you can have a plate, and put 3-4 on it.  Apparently locals don’t do this, they have one glass and one pintxos per bar, and the evening becomes an extended pub crawl.  The glasses are small though so its not as bad as its sounds.  Most measures seem to be about 125ml, unlike the ridiculously large 175ml minimum in the UK.

Thanks to my ‘individual class’ tutor at the language school (more on this later) I have now practiced the whole coversation, and tried again this afternoon, with much better results.

me pones un Bodron  = May I have a glass of Bodron
me cobras? un bodron y dos pintxos = I’d like to pay for a glass of Bodron and 2 pintxos.
Don’t use please and thankyou, they think its odd the way we say it all the time.

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Aita mari - a table by the sea

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Cafes & Restaurants, Travel , add a comment

Give me good food, a decent wine and a view of the sea, and I’m happy.  And so, yesterday evening, I found myself upstairs at the Aita Mari, overlooking the harbour, something crisp and white from Navarra in one hand and a menu in the other.  It feels like holidays.

I started with a tower of vegetables, and I’d show you a picture, except that the laptop, having refused point blank to talk to my phone, is now being rude to the camera.  What’s a girl to do when her devices aren’t speaking?

I was amazed at the vegetables.  For a country which must grow half of europe’s greens, Spanish food often lacks more than a simple salad, and can be very meaty.  It might be the machismo thing, but it was good to see brocolli and cauliflower for once.

I then moved on to a filet of Lomo, a white, succulent fish.  I’m not great with seafood, and hate fish that comes whole, but ‘pescodo sin cara’ seemed to do the trick.  Filete was probably the word I was looking for.   It melted in the mouth, and didn’t leave enough room for postres.

Chanson et le diner avec mes amis Christiane et Jock June 16, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Cafes & Restaurants, Travel , 1 comment so far

One of the best things about living in London, and prefering not to fly for holidays, is that holidays start in Paris, thanks to the wonder of Eurostar, and a few friends here.

I’m trying to plan a celebratory weekend with friends later in the year, and someone suggested Le Limonaire, in the 2nd arrondissement, a short trip from where I was staying in the 3rd.  We went to try it out.

Le Limonaire is everything you expect a Parisian cafe / bistro to be with one major exception.  Small, slightly run down, full of locals, good food and fabulous artists.  Dinner was a tuna terrine on salad, followed by a beef stew on rice and a creme brulee (at least one cliche allowed with every meal).  We started with a bottle of a fairly non-descript red the name of which escapes me, and then moved on to a carafe of the vin du moins, a fresh, clear beaujolais which was very drinkable on a muggy summer evening.  We were joined by an older lady who lives locally and comes here often, but spoke no English - she’d hated it at school.

After the meal the compere told us to turn off mobile phones and not to smoke, much to my amazement, given normal Parisian habits.  Apparently Paris too will have a smoking ban from Jan 2008, and join the league of civilised places discouraging that foul and obnoxious habit.

And then the entertainment started.

When two blokes took the stage with squeegee boxes, my heart sank.  But this was not the badly played piano-accordion of a thousand buskers who one gives money to in the hope that they would go away.  Instead, what followed was excellent, and absolutely at the limit of my French to understand.  It was obviously satirical, with songs about political figures, and although I couldn’t really get the jokes, the audience were having a great time.

Next up were two women, an Argentinian percussionist, Vanesa Garcia, and a chanteuse with a beautiful strong voice,  where I just sat and enjoyed the music, without worrying too much about understanding the words.

The third act was a male singer, who was apparently singing something quite obscene, but entertaining, and then finally a guitarist, who switched to a ukelele for a while, very funny with lots of silly noises.

With my limited French, I felt I missed out on a fair bit, but it was a great evening anyway - the music, the ambience, the food, trying to speak to people, spending time with my friends.  It must be fabulous to have something like this in your neighbourhood.

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Please donate to Amnesty June 14, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a comment

A nasty pack of delusional blokes with a long history of support of paedophilia and rampant misogyny say you shouldn’t, because Amnesty has said that if you’re raped (something these chaps are very familiar with) you should be able to get an abortion.

It’s beyond me why these institutions that peddle hate and misery are given tax breaks, listened to in high political circles and protected from laws about discrimination which they themselves wish to be above.

Donate to Amnesty here.

The buzz is over June 11, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , add a comment

After 10 days, at least half a dozen planned visits by electricians and the like (some of which definitely happened), the buzzing is gone, my front door locks and we have lights in the stairwell.  All is well in Cranleigh House. 

That is a truly pathetic performance on the part of Camden Council.  I feel sorry for the poor people in their call centre who have to deal with it all, fronting for an utterly incompetent organisation.  I’ve lodged a formal complaint, and have been told I’ll hear back by 2 July.

I would like them to fire the contractor, Ensign, who claimed to have fixed it at least twice when they hadn’t, and who didn’t turn up on Friday evening. 

But now I understand what needs to happen to get something done with the Council repairs department.  Terrier like persistance by as many people as you can galvanise, contacting as many people as you can find.  Ringing them up every day, being polite but ranting a bit so they get the idea of just how frustrated you are, keeping careful notes of every promise made and broken, so that you can make a detailed case if you have to.

It shouldn’t have to be this hard, now should it?

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Fish cooked on the banks of the Tigris June 9, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Cafes & Restaurants, London , add a comment

Just had lunch with my friend Aboodi who, although one of the most British blokes I’ve ever met, was actually made in Baghdad.  We went, which will not surprise those who know him, to an Iraqi restaurant in W2, by Marble Arch.  Le Chef Masgouf is named for a traditional Iraqi dish, where a fish is caught, flayed and grilled on the riverbank.

We started with some tabbouleh and hummus, and deep-fried meat pastries, which were delicious, and then shared a Masgouf fish between us. 

Simple, fairly cheap (about £40 for two, with no booze bill because its dry).  The service was a little slow, but that’s fine when you just want to sit and chat with friends.

A strange buzz around Camden Repairs. June 8, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , add a comment

Now normally, I’m quite happy to be the leaseholder of a council flat.  This is a good area, the neighbours are quiet and friendly, and generally Camden are quite good.

But the repairs department are putting me through a nightmare of kafkaesque proportions at the moment, and I am slowly going insane.

After 10 days, hours on the phone to Camden repairs, our communal door is still not working.  It buzzes constantly, as if someone in a flat was leaning on the unlock button on the door intercom.

It started about 10 days ago, and the next day, I rang Camden Repairs to be told that a neighbour had already rung, and  It would be fixed the next day.  It wasn’t,  and we all endured the weekend with the loud buzzing noise.

On Monday,  I spoke to Camden Repairs and was told that an engineer was going out that afternoon.  By Wednesday, it still wasn’t fixed, and I spoke to someone else.  I  asked to speak to his supervisor, but they were all in a meeting.  I was told it would be fixed the next day.

That was yet another fantasy in what was becoming an increasingly surreal situation.  When I got home that night, the buzzing had stopped and the door was locked.  But the intercom didn’t work at all, and there was no light in the stairwell.  I guess either a fuse had blown or someone had managed to work out how to turn the lot off.

And so, this morning I rang again, and spoke to the extremely helpful call centre operator.  Apparently another neighbour had rung to complain about the lack of lighting.  Amazingly, they managed to get someone out to actually fix that, which, of course brought back the buzzing.   This is not the result my neighbour (or any other sensible person ) wanted, but apparently the contractor decided to do precisely what he was told, and engaging an ounce of common sense was too much to ask for.

And then, at about 5pm,  Ali told me that a contractor was on his way.  I  raced home from work, got there at about 5.45, but no sign of a contractor.  My neighbours hadn’t seen one either.  I doubt this contractor has turned up to any of his appointments for us, if he has, he certainly hasn’t done anything useful.  Then I rang the emergency out of hours number, who say that they’ll send an electrician before 10pm tonight.  I’ll  believe it when I see it.

So now, I’ve done an ‘official’ complaint, and I’m about to email my patch manager and the Councillor in charge of Housing.  Might even have to turn up at a District Management Committee meeting, where I’m supposed to represent my block.  Tomorrow, I may post some photo’s of Camden’s fascinating electrical work.  The distribution board is macrame.

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Online in the real world June 4, 2007

Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Blogging , 4 comments

I am walking through Leadenhall Market at lunchtime today, when a tall bloke in a suit with bright green sunglasses comes up to me. ‘Cathryn’ he says. ‘Hello’, says I, madly trying to work out where I know him from. ‘Camden Kiwi’ he says. I think about backing away slowly.

He explains that he works for my current client, and shows me his pass, so he’s kosher. He found my blog through a technorati dearch he has on the client’s website, which I must have mentioned here and has since subscribed to this blog, my work site and my del.icio.us feed. Having seen me around, he’d been meaning to introduce himself. He knows my online persona quite well.

We chat for a while about online social networking and how rss feeds haven’t caught on as well as they should have. I’ve deliberately made my online presence fairly easy to find, partly because the work side of it is a marketing tool, but somehow, this feels a little wierd. A permeable membrane, rather than a brick wall, lies between offline and online worlds, but normally I point offline friends to the online world, rather than the online world suddenly appearing on a city street.

So John, if you’re reading this, it was lovely to meet you. Sorry if I seemed taken aback, it was just a little odd.

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