Everything for nothing!

With the touch of irony in which my life is rich, the Internet chose the penultimate day of freedom to work on the sunny uplands of the Third Floor which it has never done before. 

The result was that I took my breakfast in bright sunlight in a silent dog & child-free environment listening to the web giving me Radio 4 and an extended interview with the ever-glib Mr Blair.  Who did nothing wrong while in office.  Again.

Ah, my mind goes back to that election night (well, early morning) when all right-thinking people stayed up long enough and late enough to see Michael Portillo lose his seat and consequently open a celebratory bottle of Champagne and eventually go to bed confident that the next morning would bring a new dawn. 

They do say that those who appear to be the most cynical also hide a deep streak of sentimental Romanticism.  And of course they pay the price when reality hits.  As it always does and disillusion sets in.  All the more harshly by being expected by the external character and desperately hoped against by the internal one.  If that makes sense!

All comments made in this “Last Weekend” (see the film version with Ray Milland as a sad, harassed teacher hooked on the TES Internet site indiscriminatingly downloading project idea after project idea and hallucinating rubrics creeping out of packs of printing paper) must be read with the realization that in less than 48 hours classes will start filling up with the raw material than will keep me occupied for the next 10 months.  With no half terms!  God help!

To those who ask if I am prepared for the first day of term.  Me!  A teacher of over thirty years experience!  I answer: of course I am not!  What true teacher ever is!  And that is my guiding philosophy.  Give me a few minutes and I will able to work it up in eduspeak and it will sound convincing!

The last of the available tapas has been consumed!

The Olympic Canal is a fine venue in which to finish.  I was sitting on the terrace outside the restaurant with a good view of the canal, the castle and the various users, ranging from an elderly gentleman in a single skull to groups of kids trying to navigate rafts made of barrels across the canal to retrieve a flag.  Groups of primary children were being kitted out with life jackets which were absurdly over-size while parents coated them with sun block so that they ended up looking like junior apprentice vampires!

The tapa itself was elegantly served in a pastry tart case which contained peppers and lemon wrapped in smoked salmon topped by caviar.  There was a picante side salad with chopped tomato and a more than decent glass of red wine.

The waiter was a thoroughly decent sort of bloke and engaged me in a testing conversation about my experiences in getting my Ruta de la Tapa sheet so full.  He asked me directly which tapa was the best, as I had tasted all but one of them, but I declined to make a specific choice.  I certainly think that if the tapa is anything to go by then the restaurant in the Canal Olympico is certainly worth a visit.

As I cannot get to the last restaurant as they (very unsportingly) have gone on holiday for the last fortnight of the Ruta, I will now have to make my decision about the best tapa.

The best of the 29 tapas I have sampled are (in no particular order) with the name of the restaurant and its address in Castelldefels, followed by the printed description of the tapa:

·               Gustokoa Restaurant & Cocteleria (Av. Santa Maria 3) – Pinxo de Vieira sobre crosta de jaburgo y olivada negra

·               Restaurante la Finca (C. dotze 25) – Brocheta de langustino y pollo a la salsa de queso

·               Restaurante Sidral d’Eva (Pg. Marítim 185, local 1) –Revuelto de bacalao

·               Restaurante Rincon de Galicia (Plaça del Mar 1) – Pinchito mar y montaña

·               Restaurante Mar Blanc (C. Ribera de Sante Pere 17) – Paté de cebolla tostado con desmigado de morcilla

·               Restaurante Olave (Passeig Marítim 259) – Mejillón de roca a la plancha

·               Restaurante Can Pere Martí (Passeig Marítim 289) – Caracoles en salsa de tomate y jamon jabugo

·               Restaurante El Elefante – Canelón de salmon y cangrejo al aroma de wasabi con tartar de tomate al gengibre y cilantro

·               Restaurante El Mirador De Canal Olímpico (Av. Del Canal Olímpic, s/n) – Delicia de salmon olímpico

And the winner is, as they say in all the best shows after an appropriately tense few seconds as the ham fisted celebrity tires to open the envelope: Restaurante El Elefante with the tapa of Canelón de salmon y cangrejo al aroma de wasabi con tartar de tomate al gengibre y cilantro. 

It won, in my view, because it was beautifully presented; it had a well orchestrated combination of tastes and it was accompanied by an excellent glass of wine.  Who could ask for more!

Following the advice of the waiter in the restaurant in the Olympic Canal, I will still enter my sheet with the words “CLOSED” written on the single restaurant that I did not get to. I live in hope that there are not that many anally retentive people in Castelldefels who would have made the same efforts that I have to get round as many of the establishments that I have! 

Wish me luck!