SPANISH COUSINS in La Fresneda, Spain

Our first stop in Spain was Alla en Frente, a beautiful restaurant owned by Antonio Ruiz Sanchez..... who employed his family.  This included Encarna (above), and his brothers: Paco, Joaquin and other cousins.   Antonio's sister (Josefina) and brother (Juan) had other employment.  Steven told me the restaurant was classy, beautiful and truly elegant.  In fact, he raved about it and explained that their Ruiz cousins (Pedro from yesterday's posting) owned a different kind of restaurant next door.  But --- when we arrived in front of the beautiful restaurant, it was empty.  We learned later, there were several tries to save the business --- the last was changing it to a pizza parlour.  Nothing worked.  Money was dim.  Everyone was laid off.  The restaurant was closed.  

Encarna had been the cook in Alla en Frente.  She is married to Paco Rosa (in photo above).  We drove around the corner to their house and all the hugs, laughter, kisses on each cheek and food embraced us immediately.  I met their daughters, Encarnita and Natalia and later --- their son, Francisco.  Encarna does not speak English but Encarnita speaks enough so we could converse in kindergarten stages.  What a beautiful family.  I still remember the wonderful food --- one of the dishes was a salad with peas, potatoes and corn.  When I asked what the white creamy sauce was, they said it was a mixture of mayonnaise and milk.  I never learned the specific answer and wish I'd asked more questions.  It was delicious.

The girls never stopped smiling.  Once, they even burst into laughter when Encarna was discussing her name and the name of her daughter, Encarnita.  In Spanish, 'carne' means meat.  All her life, she wondered why her mother named her meat!!  Steven and I explained that ENCARNACION (their true name) means carnation, a flower.  She beamed and nearly danced around the room.  This woman is over forty years old always thinking she was called meat!

The girls also are quite upbeat.  They are on Facebook.  They use the internet.  They are boy crazy. And they are adorable.  Encarnita had a tattoo on her leg that brought my smiles out in a wild glow.  This is Encarnita on the left, Natalia on the right.  And see Encarnita's tattoo --- :)

After they fed us, hugged us, photographed us and tried to make me understand their Spanish... Later, we all jumped in two cars and drove up into the hills to Encarna's father's house.  ANTONIO RUIZ is the patriarch of the family, 76 years old, who made us feel very welcomed in his home.  We sat on an open veranda where colored azulejos (blue and white ceramic tiles) lined the very large porch and surrounded the edge near the railings.  ENCARNA introduced us to her twin brothers, Paco and Joaquin,who look nothing alike but both offered their hugs and Spanish-cousin welcomes.  (Joaquin is the twin  brother with glasses)

 

During our visit with old Antonio Ruiz, Encarna led me down the beautiful tiled steps across the flower-filled yard and bent beneath the fronds of huge trees that lined the driveway and backed up next to the house.  Higos (Figs).  Fresh figs.  She pulled several off the limbs and handed me a bunch.  Then she pulled off the rinds and showed me how to eat them.  Once I started, I couldn't stop!  They were delicious and it brought to mind my life in Woodland, California as a child:  Figs littered the sidewalks when I was little and during my walk to school, my joy was squishing them all over the cement walk.  I'm sure the teachers loved it when I walked across the classroom floor.  I never liked figs except in Fig Newtons.  Since my day with Encarna and her family, all I remember about that day in the Spanish sun are hugs, laughter, food and FIGS!