a taste of Basque

I visited a special Basque friend named Hur Diez. I help coached Hur in basketball when he attended school in Silverdale in the mid 90’s. He picked me up at the Summer in the USA office in downtown Donosti and drove me to his quiet and beautiful town of Orio. He showed be the house he had been building for the past ten year – fabulous home. We watched a little of Spain vs Slovakia FIBA basketball on TV then, down to the beach to get a quick swim. Actually, it was riding the waves in and out from the pristine sandy beach. The salt water was comfortably warm and soothing. Body surfing the larger waves acted like a Jacuzzi. We sat in the sun for a bit to dry off, then back home to shower and off to dinner – it was steak night.


We walked a short distance to downtown Orio with its narrow one way streets. I was amazed no pedestrians had been hit by the cars and scooters zipping by so quickly. We stopped for a moment at a computer station to add minutes to the European phone I was given to use. Asador Xixario Restaurant was our destination. They used a huge outside grill to prepare fresh seafood and steaks. When the prawns came, I had to ask Hur to show me how to eat them because I had never been served prawns with the shell and head still attached. He squeezed lemon over them and I was instructed to suck the outer shell to get the taste buds prepared for the treat inside. I was shown how to twist off the head, do a little more sucking, peel off the shell( which is harder than it looks – Hur is an expert), squeeze more lemon in with the butter on the plate which the prawns were served, dip the prawn into the lemon and butter mixture, close your eyes and take a bite – leaving the prawn to rest on the taste buds for a moment. Mmmmmm. It may seemed like a lot of work, but it was worth it.

The steak was prepared the Basque way – more rare than many would like it with lots of garlic. Look at the picture – it speaks for itself!

Then off we go to Zarautz – about a 10 minute drive to his favorite ice cream place. I had a lemon sorbet cone. It was great. Finally, we went to his parents favorite coffee bar on the beach, had coffee and savored the great day God had given us.