ARZAK

Jeez im tired. Takes ages to upload these pictures!
Arrived in San Sebastian today to start my work placement, or 'stagier' if you will. You all know the story - one of the best restaurants in the world, blah blah, michelin stars etc.
So, it turns out I am living with a Frenchy from Bordeaux, he seems alright. We are in an apartment, in the city, its not fancy. Frenchy is a student, not a chef as I was led to believe - therefore this is student accom, that tells you enough eh? Ha, actually my room is really erm.....quaint. Ahem. No, here are the pros: Balcony overlooking old palm trees in a park, fold out bed - folds out of a cupboard (always wanted one!) Frenchy has WiFi which I rent off him for 5 EUR a week - this is a real bonus, um.... sounds shit eh? Nah really this is sweet. Some other chefs are sharing rooms - hi guys! What really sucks is this place is filthy, absolutely grot ghetto. I am not brave enough to walk in bare feet, and you do NOT want to know what happened when I gave the toilet seat a precursory wipe down with some toilet paper. Too much info? Oh yeah, and this place is a fire trap; SUPER old building with dodgy wiring, burnt out lights and sockets everywhere, really old bar-element heaters in the rooms, no smoke alarms, and when you turn on more than one hotplate the rest of the apartment loses power. Wow. Anyway - man of solutions speaking - the balcony is about eight feet off the footpath, an easy break roll and I am safe, and when I get a chance I will install some alarms. Apparently a girl is moving in soon, so hopefully I can spruce this place up before she arrives - it is simply not fit for a lady. Oh, while I am complaining - washing machines in Spain are a bit primitive - I have come to realise that sequential washing modes are not commonplace here. To get your wash finished you have to hang around and turn the dial onto each new phase: Fill with water (waiting) wash (waiting) drain (waiting) low spin (waiting) rinse (waiting) drain (waiting) spin (waiting) drain (waiting)......... is this annoying?
I had an appointment to go and see Pello at Arzak at eight PM. I just got back. Sitting here with some rum, just relaxing really - I was pretty nervous.
Rocked up on time, not a minute early, not a minute late. Walked into the kitchen - heaps of chefs, about triple what I was expecting. Found Pello, he is a senior chef but not sure what title. He had absolutely no idea who I was, absolutely none. Just looked at me like "who the F are you?"..........not going well. He asked someone else. Shrugs all around. As I soon came to realise, they have about 25 stagiers at any one time, and they come and go like gipsies. So he, Pello, picks up the diary and finds my name "oh, ICEX" Around about this time I am thinking that things are not going so well. He says "how many days are you here for?" I say "um.....six months" and he just raised his eyebrows. I sat down with some chefs and had dinner. It was simple but good, no one really talked to me - just another f**king stagier....
Dinner, or cena, was............ your going to love this fellow ICEX chefs - Ensalada con atun, tortilla de patatas y chorizo. HA HA HA HA AHA HA. (Inside joke)
But actually, the tuna was quite firm, but soft, and not dry. And the packing material was transparent, carried well with the flavour. Ha!
and the tortilla was still warm, and the chorizo was quite soft and sweet - one of the best I have had. So I was quietly eating, struggled with the fork a bit coz my hands were shaking - no one noticed because they were head down eating like only chefs do.
Then Elena arrived.
Wow.
Let me tell you, there is only one Elena Arzak.
When she smiles, her whole face smiles, unbelievably so. Even when she stops smiling her eyes still radiate warmth like two benevolent supernovas. Hard to explain, but it kind of reminded me of the Dalai Lama, the way his face glows. Such is Elena. Totally enamoured here.
Thank christ she knew who I was. BIG relief.
After dinner I walked back into the city - Arzak is up on a hill - and found a really nice tapas bar that is famous for its white anchovy - boquerones. There is a regional specialty around here, a really really dry alcoholic drink called Txacoli (I have missed some letters) and it is similar to cider. Paired with tapas it is quite tasty.
Tomorrow morning I am going to hit the beach at sunrise - there is a couple of foot rolling in and some very tasty banks. It is also freezing, currently nine degrees and raining - onshore wind too - but lets just see it stop me!
A few dawn waves, a nice healthy breakfast, then off to work at 10 AM (luxury). Here goes........
P.S below is a few piccies from the not too distant past.
Jazzy J
P.s I got through all the chat in Arzak using only Spanish, and I only pretended to understand about three times - getting better.
P.P.s after dinner I got to know some of the chefs, and got a kitchen tour. Most of the stagiers are under twenty five and from Latin American backgrounds. This is good because I am counting on being a little bit unique - this is a useful tool for professional advancement in a large brigade.




This is an avocado tree. Up until I saw this I thought avocados grew in the ground, just like mangos.

Avocado lovers unite, buy land in Malaga - it is avo heaven, just look! I took this photo in the gardens of the old Prussian consulate, which is now an Escuela Hosteleria - hospitality school. Apparently, back in the day, Mr Hemingway came to the consulate and stayed for two months. While there he wrote 'Verana Peligroso' - Dangerous Summer. Not sure if you know it? plot is: Bunch of wealthy socialites come to a summer house for a holiday, there is a murder, and the last avocado has gone missing - full of intrigue and twists, pure genius.
I just made that up, about the plot.

This shot is taken from our last night together at the Hotel Verada Madrid. I gotta say - man I get a good photo every now and then eh?
We got trashed this night, after we drank the bar dry we went up to Seattle's room, put some beats on and stood around free-styling like a bunch of retards, man it was fun! Pascal from Switzerland was pretty good, despite the fact he has very little English vocab. He just went "one, two, three,.......yeah.....yeah"
and bobbed his arms all ghetto. Classic.
bit of space to fill here.......
yip............
lots of gaps..........
struggling........
have you heard the one about.........
nah that's rude.......
......
..
.....done!

This is what it looks like when you take something that has been cooked in a bath of liquid nitrogen, and stick it in your mouth. All kinds of new sensations going on dentro me copa.
The reason I am breathing through my nose is because my lips are frozen together - liquid nitrogen is super super cold, but actually its pretty harmless, you can pour it on your skin and it just sizzles and beads off as if it were mercury. What I just ate was a citrus and olive oil foam. Once it hits the liquid nitrogen it freezes instantly into a solid shell, with an empty interior; like a meringue of sorts. Super tasty, and a little freaky!

This is the Sacred Family Temple in Barcelona - Gaudy's tribute to the big Hezoos himself (Jesus).
This photo does it no justice. Seen from the hillside to the south of the city, it seems to rise out of the sprawl like some gigantic crustacean-ous stone monster building. It is so organic, so so organic that it really defies normal modes of perception. From a distance, it seems as if it is alive.
Awesome thing is: it is not nearly complete. Currently it has 8 towers, eventually it will have 18. Currently it is 112 metres tall,  when it is finished - 160.
Hopefully it is completed in my life time, it could be, but it is mired in superstition and controversy. Big shame.