The continuing saga of I eat my way through Spain, and still haven't gained a lb (I checked a luggage scale at the bus terminal, and if anything, lost a few walking the better part of 8+ hours a day for all but 3 days, and those I got at least a couple hours):

Morning: 2 cafe con leches and gratis churros at a bar/cafe that is apparently the go-to place for the post-partiers at 6:30 am. But some were still drinking beer. Culture shock there.

In Avila, availed myself to chocolate con churros as recommended by some random stranger. Eh. It's a lot like pudding. Eh.

Waiting for the bus back to Segovia, stopped for a glass of wine (because who can turn down spanish wine?) and got a gratis bocadillo of jamon, tomato and olive oil. I'm not sure if it was meant to be gratis, because it was on the price list, I ordered it, and it was more that 1.80EU, which was the wine alone.

Later, stopped by Limon y Menta and got some sweets. Think teeny pralines (but not brown sugar) of piñons, another of almonds, piñons and raisins (the size of a half dollar, maybe) called crocantinos; a traditional segovian almond sandie called a mantecado and a raisined rosquillas yema (think donut but not.) Had just a bite of each. Conclusion: CROCANTINOS!!!

Waiting for the Segovians to get their asses together dinnerwise, I went the free tapas route. Had a nice tinto rioja and mushrooms. Mushrooms sauteed with chorizo, but not greasy. OH MY GOD. So good. Now I love mushrooms, but there are mushrooms and there are mushroom. These were Mushrooms. You could taste them over the chorizo.

Then, dinner. Decided to pig out, literally. After reading many offerings and being put off by pretension or lines, found a little out of the way place with 4 or 5 families in residence. Starter of a giant white bean (local) chorizo stew. It's a traditional thing. The serving they gave me was 2 meals in itself. I need to recreate it. Then the limb of a roast suckling pig. It was good. Solomillo-tender like the pork I had the other night. And quite tasty. But piglet! Then desert was a whisky tart. Oh and rioja and bread and water. I was full.

So I wandered down to the aqueduct and back and a little sideways. And found this adorable bar and restaurant , Redebal (frankly everything is a bar and something here if food is served) tucked in a corner twisted behind another (I have a habit of going down rabbit holes streetwise.) The proprietress looked like a 20s movie star, and the place fit her and I just had to go in. I ordered a verdujo, and she picked out as tapas a hard toasted slice of bread topped with a pate of those same local white beans and garbanzo and something else in there that made them magic, topped with thinly sliced bit of some sort of hard cured pork drizzled with an almost sweet green olive oil. It was so good and I wanted more, but I was so full at that point, I just asked for a drink suggestion. She brought me a cava with hibiscus and limon caviar. I have no idea what that means except it was tasty.

I do dream of spinach still, though!

Allyson you are not dumb. Not being the right person for the job is not a failure.

Oh, I know that somewhere in here. I just need to lick my wounds for a little while.

Thanks for the nice words.

holy cow do I ever need to go to Spain!!!

holy cow do I ever need to go to Spain!!!

seconded

And this is me, not even trying that hard. I don't eat out much, so it always feels off unless I'm doing takeout. So this is not a lot of sit-downs. Though the tapas thing...well, everyone pretty much sticks around for a drink and tapas and migrates unless they are with a large crew. The mushroom place catered to a younger crowd, but man, their offerings were good.

Yeah, now I want to go to Spain!

Allyson, you are fantastic, but listen carefully to what the interviewer tells you. Interviewing is such a skill, not necessarily related to doing the job. We just had someone in who I swear was giving memorized answer at the beginning, but really loosened up and was much better eventually. But I know her problem was just trying too hard!

Allyson, in addition to interviewing being a skill in itself, the job market is tight.

You are smart, you are competent, you are good at just about everything you've tried. You have had two books printed. And you have pretty hair.

Allyson, that one of the interviewers wants to actually talk to you after is a good sign -- ie that they feel strongly that you were a good candidate and a good person. That they'd give up some of their precious time to meet with you again is a big compliment, truly.

The hardest thing for me is when I've had what I'd consider a good interview, made a strong case for my skills meeting and exceeding the job requirements, completely thought that the interviewer(s) were on the same page... and then never hear back, or get a short "No, thanks" through a third party.

Back from the first day of Malice. Bought some books(including one I thought was coming out June 1, not May 1, but I'm not complaining), got some free. 3 of the 6.5(one of the freebie books is an American Girl story) I got, I already had. There's also a short story from one of the guests, printed as a pamphlet. Unfortunately, it's from the Poirot Award(media) Honoree, Lee Goldberg. Yeah, that one.