Sunday, December 7th "A Long Lunch in Umbrete"

Umbrete has become our escape from Sevilla from time to time as Granada's sister is now living there. We headed out in three cars to eat at Casa Ruiz, just next to the big church in the center. This place is one of the best restaurants in Umbrete and rivals most in Sevilla. In the summer a lot of people head to the pueblos around Sevilla for lunch and to escape the heat of the city. In the winter it's well worth the trip, too. With a party of 12 people we managed to squeeze in and enjoy a long lunch. After 3 hours we managed to finish off 10-15 raciones, several bottles of wine, a few pitcher of beer and champagne. Then dessert and a walk back to Maribel's house where we had coffee, more pastries and a few mixed drinks.

The long drawn out dinners in Sevilla and Spain are something to get used to for most American's. I think I've adjusted quite well - too well in fact. But on the weekends a meal can change from 2 hours to 4 hours, and then with coffee and then a drink or two to "help your digestion" you may be looking at a 6 hour event. In our case things went longer as we headed back to Sevilla to catch the Betis-Real Sociedad match on tv. We were treated with a 0-4 win in what was the best Betis match so far this year.