It's been an easy and relaxing week with a couple of nights out at Umbo, an outstanding tapas restaurant at Plaza De La Reina. The gazpacho of yellow tomatoes and mango with a cucumber sorbet is definitely worth making at home, the cod tips with onion confit and aioli makes us wish we could buy fresh cod like that in Melbourne and the battered rabbit ribs were very interesting! We also love their lamb koftas with mint cream and their moist mini Spanish omelette with chorizo sausage.
The reason why we went a second time in one week is because on the second occasion we had firstly been with David to the opening night of a new artist's exhibition at Rialto Living and then we needed to meet Caty and the children for a meal somewhere nearby. We definitely wanted David and Caty to try Umbo and it was a good decision because the catering for young children was also excellent. Umbo is named after the huge tree which was planted many centuries ago in the Plaza to provide a meeting point for tranquility and rest.
One day during the week we drove out to the area known as Son Bugadelles in Santa Ponca, where there are several big furniture stores and some outlets, but our interests are the marine store and the Italian food and wine wholesaler. Greg can always find something to buy in a marine store and at the Italian wholesaler we were able to buy freshly made tortellini (some filled with mushrooms and some with spinach and ricotta) and a sauce of tomatoes and basil. We also stocked up on Barolo and Brunello wines so with the pasta, wine and a salad we had an easy but delicious dinner. We were reminded of the time we visited the same food and wine store with Chris and John Wipfli and had purchased food to create one of the best meals ever, so we toasted our Melbourne friends over dinner and wished they were here to enjoy Mallorca with us.
Yesterday was most unusual for Palma in August because it rained intermittently throughout the day and there was even a cool wind! It was a pleasant relief actually after days of also unusually high humidity.
Thankfully today we are back to a bright blue sky with full sun and a sea breeze. Perfect for us to go sailing. We had planned to find somewhere for a swim, but once we were out on the bay the breeze was quite refreshing and it was just as enjoyable to keep sailing. We have new cockpit cushions which look very smart (made to fit properly, unlike those on the boat when we bought her) and they are extremely comfortable. It's hard to explain how idyllic this is out here at present, on a beam reach with just enough wind to keep us moving gently through a calm sea at about 4.5 knots. No other boats are anywhere near us as we look back to Palma and the spectacular Serra de Tramuntana ('mountains of the north wind') behind. The sea is a bright navy with sparkles of sunshine. Greg is having a 10 minute kip in the main cockpit and I am in charge!