Monday night, we went to our first Spanish casino, Gran Casino Aljarefe, which is in the municipality of Aljarefe about 15 minutes outside the city of Sevilla. The casino has a very nice room for table games —such as roulette, blackjack, and poker — and another small room with some video slot machines. We had a great time, but Jerry was disappointed with the number of machines, which means he’s in no great hurry to go back — for which I am eternally grateful.
 |
| PROMOTIONAL PHOTO. |
Our plan was to have dinner at the casino, which has five restaurants. But since it was Monday night, the only place open for dinner was the casino’s Japanese restaurant, Kaori. It was very different from the Japanese food we’d get in California (which I’m sure is very different from what we’d get in Japan). The variety of chocolate desserts, at least, were delicious — if very un-Japanese.
 |
| MEXICAN TORTILLAS (LEFT) AND SPANISH TORTILLA. |
The food looked very nice but was unexceptional in taste. The most interesting part of the meal was Miguel’s “tortilla.” This was unlike a Mexican tortilla and it was also unlike a Spanish tortilla. It was a pancake of sorts with a mixture of ingredients and, as it was being served, it was topped with dried tuna shavings. The tuna is called katsuobushi (or bonito) and is dried, fermented, and smoked skipjack tuna, which is then shaved. Due to the heat of the tortilla, the tuna shavings pulsed and moved. I thought the tortilla was covered with live moths. As it passed in front of Jerry, he asked, “Is that alive?” We all found it a bit creepy. Jerry and I had no interest in trying it and Miguel and Teré both ate it and said it tasted “weird,” with or without the dancing tuna flakes.