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Made in Spain
Whether you’re an expat chasing the dream, a traveller inspired by European elegance or a foodie seeking the perfect paella, Made in Spain is your insider’s guide to all things chic, cultural and quintessentially Spanish.
Join hosts Nalini Sharma and Laura Senior García for a glamorous mix of travel, food, fashion and the rich cultural narratives that make Spain a global icon of style and sophistication.
Nalini is a former Canadian TV presenter, who has previously covered red carpet and live events, and major news stories. She channels the same wit and curiosity to the Made in Spain podcast, offering sharp, unscripted takes on everything from Spanish traditions to expat surprises.
Laura, a seasoned leadership coach and global traveler, shares her deep, first-hand knowledge of Spain—not just as her birthplace, but as a country she continues to rediscover. With a British father and Spanish mother, she considers herself a global citizen with deep roots in Spain. Her insights connect Spain’s rich past with its modern evolution, offering a unique and personal perspective on life, culture, and luxury in Spain today.
Every episode of Made in Spain explores the country’s hidden gems and exclusive experiences, but it’s more than just a guide—it’s a conversation.
The show’s Slice of Life segment gives listeners an unfiltered peek into Nalini and Laura’s daily experiences – the joys, frustrations, and unexpected moments that make life in Spain, and beyond, full of surprises. Sometimes, it’s about the reality of settling into a new country – at other times, it’s about their travels, funny mishaps, or behind-the-scenes stories from researching the podcast. No matter the topic, listeners feel like they are right there with them, stepping into their world.
Made in Spain
Hidden Gems of the Costa Blanca
Ever wondered where the locals go when tourists aren't watching? Those secret spots that never make it to the guidebooks but hold the true essence of a place? This episode peels back the curtain on Costa Blanca's best-kept secrets—places that even long-term residents might miss without the right insider knowledge.
We journey to Elche, where generations of artisanal shoemakers create masterpieces one stitch at a time. At Brian Stepwise, we discover handcrafted cowboy boots that would cost five times as much anywhere else, made with techniques passed down through generations. These aren't just shoes; they're wearable Spanish heritage at surprisingly accessible prices.
The gastronomic adventures take us to El Crank, a chiringuito perched directly on Altea's golden sands, where the fideuà (noodle paella) has locals booking weeks in advance. Nearby, we explore Calangels in mountainous Polop—a family home turned restaurant where there's no menu, just whatever exceptional ingredients the owner sourced that morning from his network of local producers and fishermen.
Perhaps most surprising is our visit to Gata de Gorgos, an unassuming one-street town that houses Zahati—hat makers whose creations have graced Netflix productions and high-end boutiques across Europe. In their workshop, older generations of craftswomen spend ten hours handmaking each distinctive piece, creating statement accessories that combine traditional techniques with contemporary designs.
We wrap up our hidden gems tour with the delightful discovery of Valencia's coffee parties—afternoon dance events that bring nightlife energy to daylight hours, creating inclusive spaces for people to connect without staying out until dawn.
These treasures represent the authentic Spain we've fallen in love with—where craftsmanship matters, relationships with producers are valued, and traditions evolve while maintaining their soul. Listen now to add these special places to your Costa Blanca adventure, and remember to subscribe for our upcoming episode on Spanish wines and a very unique wine festival we recently attended!
welcome to the made in spain podcast. My name is laura senior and I'm here with melini sharma and we are your co-host. Super excited to bring you season three, episode four. Today's episode is called hidden gems of of the Costa Blanca and we're going to be covering fashion, food and fun places. Some of these places, I believe, are lesser known to, definitely to people who are not from the area and even to some locals that we've spoken with. So we do think that you're going to enjoy checking these out and hearing about our fun experiences. So super happy to be here with you again. I did want to mention that the first three episodes of season three if you haven't heard them we explored bilbao and the surrounding area of bilbao already missing it.
Speaker 2:Yes, I want to go back seriously missing it now because it's starting to get warmer where we are and Bilbao is definitely a lot cooler. So very excited to go to this hidden gems episode, but definitely check out those first three episodes. So we said we're going to cover fashion, food and fun places. We're going to start with a fashion find right that Nalini is actually wearing okay, we're both actually wearing our fashion finds we are wearing our fashion finds, but we're starting with yours, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'm wearing these boots from they're cowboy boots from Brian Stepwise, which is a local, and when I say local, I mean in Elche, which we've talked about Elche before. It is from where we are, maybe about an hour drive, and it is known for its shoe manufacturing. It's traditionally, I mean, a shoe town. It's where they have artisans, it's passed down generation to generation and I just I think one day I was just doing a little search, we were going to Alicante for an afternoon and I really wanted to find a local shoe designer to see if I could just buy something that was maybe a little bit unique. And I've really been looking for cowboy boots for the last, I would say, year. I haven't found anything that I liked. Um, and then this, this came up, brian Stepwise and I thought, oh, this is not the designer with the name Brian Stepwise. How?
Speaker 2:clever, is it, though Like? Stepwise, I mean it is so clever how they came up with that. Like the last name is Stepwise, but when you think about it it's like Ooh, stepwise.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, it's very, I mean it's very cute, the marketing is really cute. But I thought, okay, well, we'll go in, you know, and the store is actually in Alicante, it's um in the on the main, yeah, it's just on the main, the Maison Ave. If you follow it there, you'll find the store on a corner. And they're handmade. They are from Elche. They produce them in Elche.
Speaker 2:They're not mass produced they're absolutely not mass produced. My understanding is that most especially, they're kind of the boots, like the ones you're wearing, are very much like one piece at a time, right.
Speaker 1:So you will have a choice of sizes. But I'm fairly certain if you don't buy it kind of right away, you may not get your size. So they tried to call it slower fashion, in that they're just not pumping everything out and sending it to all the stores. The designs are really clean, they're really beautiful, but I happen to pick up these boots for under 100 euro and if people are watching on socials or on YouTube, you can see they are gorgeous.
Speaker 2:And it's interesting how it works with shoes. It's almost like that Cinderella moment. Yeah, I was in the store with you and tried another pair on and we're both like, oh you know, those are really cute, they're super wearable. But then you tried these on. How did it make you feel?
Speaker 1:when I knew right away. I always know and she laughs at me because I know what I want before I go in a store. I'm never. I'm looking for what I want in my head.
Speaker 2:Nalini manifests clothes and shoes Like no.
Speaker 1:I know what.
Speaker 2:I want, I'm so, but have you seen it anywhere? How do you know they're going to have it? It's like cause I've already seen it in my mind.
Speaker 1:And if I don't see it, I'm not getting like I already know. So I knew I like a shorter pair Because I wanted to wear it in Bilbao and I thought it would be too wintry to wear cowboy boots.
Speaker 2:Which it wasn't. It wasn't. We ended up being cold for half of the trip.
Speaker 1:So that would be one of my fashion finds in the last, I would say, couple of weeks. You really do have to check it out. They're beautiful designs, relatively affordable.
Speaker 2:I actually think, quite affordable. And if you happen to be listening to this and we're still around the summer time or end of summer time, all the way up to October, you're going to be able to benefit from the summer sales the summer sales. And especially for the cowboy boots, I would say Absolutely Surprising quality sales, summer sales and especially for the cowboy boots, I would say absolutely surprising quality. When we went to the store they had the pieces of the leather that they cut from.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're all super high quality leather, unless nalini said affordable. One question had nalini do they? Because my understanding is for brian stepwise, it's their own stores. They don't it's their.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they don't retail in other shoe stores. I don't believe so. According to their website, they have 60 selling points. Whether that means it might be carried in El Corte Inglés? Wait, yes, it was right. I think it was.
Speaker 2:El Corte Inglés.
Speaker 1:But you're not getting the same selection.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:I mean, there are countless Spanish shoe designers and the more you research it, the more you look into it. It is really unappetizing to go into a high-end designer and drop $2,000 on a pair of shoes.
Speaker 2:I don't think it makes much sense, but hey, if that's what you want to do. From a branding standpoint, I will say this the website is brianstepwisecom and we haven't tried to see if you can buy from outside of Spain, but I definitely think it's worth checking it out. The prices there, I think, are probably the most competitive that you're going to find, and we have looked for where the factory is.
Speaker 1:It's in Elche.
Speaker 2:It's near Elche, it's Ashby, so just near elche, okay, awesome. So that's our first recommendation for fashion, and this hidden gem episode is brian stepwise. They do have sandals and everything else, but I would highlight the cowboy boots absolutely as the kind of find these.
Speaker 1:Listen, if I bought these in the us, they would have been 500 oh yeah, easily.
Speaker 2:So how do you? You call that kind of leather in English the suede, suede. Yes, suede, yeah, okay, beautiful. So now we are going to move on to one of the food finds. Okay, so, nalini, tell us a little bit about El Crank, because I know you have a place in your heart for El Crank.
Speaker 1:I do. I mean you introduced me to this restaurant.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think I may have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, last summer I joined your family for a little quick bite Fideua. Yeah, and that's actually my favorite thing they make there. I love it. So I mean we've talked about that that it's the noodle version of paella.
Speaker 2:Yes, the fideua.
Speaker 1:It's a really special little chiringuito. Do you want to explain what a chiringuito is?
Speaker 2:So a chiringuito the way I would describe it is something that is not quite a restaurant, and there's chiringuitos of all qualities and sizes. So sometimes, when you first hear chiringuito, you may visualize a hut. Like you know, you visualize something that doesn't really have closed walls. Right, it's on the beach usually, or very near the beach. There is a kitchen, there is a bar usually, but it's not like a full-blown enclosed restaurant.
Speaker 1:No, and it tends to be a little bit more casual. Not that you don't everybody is dressed nicely in that restaurant, but it's just a casual beach kind of vibe. But, elk Crank, first of all, it is very difficult to get a reservation. I actually checked today. There are some reservations available for Sunday and next week. Outside of that, if you're listening to this in July, give it a go. You have to make a reservation. You cannot show up. There's two seatings. You have a lunch reservation and then the slightly later late lunch, early dinner reservation. The lunchtime reservations are all gone. You can only eat there after four or five.
Speaker 2:Now it's full so el crank, which means the crab right in valenciano, okay, okay. So el crank is a, is a crab in valenciano and it is very much fish, shellfish oriented, as well as the fideua, and it is on the playa de la olla in altea. It's beautiful, so it's actually on the beach Directly on the beach so you can have lunch there.
Speaker 2:If you take, you know, your beach stuff afterwards, you can hang out on the beach for sure. I'd recommend maybe having, like you know, a white wine or a cava. It's a really great spot for that with your fish or your paella. And, as Nalini mentioned, it's very, very important Any time of the year that you're trying to go to El Crank. Make sure you reserve with plenty of time. Yes, you may be lucky, you may show up. Someone may have canceled, but the chances of that are pretty slim.
Speaker 1:No, and pack your patience.
Speaker 2:Yes, I mean it's a casual beach vibe.
Speaker 1:They're not seating you exactly on time because usually the people at the table they have to be shuffled out Like you need to finish and leave. The next set of people are coming in.
Speaker 2:The one thing I wanted to mention about El Gran is, well, a lot of people think about going there at lunchtime because you got, you know, the beautiful view to the sea and all that. But it is very hot, especially if you go in the summer. Yeah, because it is open, so they don't have air conditioning. I actually love the vibe there in the evening.
Speaker 1:In the evening and there are other bars along the in the same road there that if you you know you finish your meal, you can just go to the other bar and have some drinks or snacks if you want.
Speaker 2:And you can book the sunset time as well. Yeah, if you want, and you can book the sunset time as well. Yeah, I'm not sure if the kitchen's open for the sunset time and you may be able to get a drink first and then, uh, food, maybe, because right now, as you know, like you know, the sunset is yeah actually yeah, you may be able to.
Speaker 2:It is quite late, so it depends on what time of the of the year uh you go. So that's a little bit about El Crank, and actually near El Crank, even though actually maybe just a couple hundred meters away. If you're in that area, and for those of you that you know are not into fish or fideuado paella, a couple hundred meters away you've got a meat restaurant that is extremely famous in the whole of Spain.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've eaten there. It's very meat-oriented. Meaty yes.
Speaker 2:So that is Calloan, yeah, so that is C-A-J-O-A-N, yeah, and it is recognized as one of the best meat restaurants in Spain. Yeah, so you've got the Wonders of the Sea very close with El Crank and then you can go to Callajuan, but that is absolutely another one that you need a reservation for.
Speaker 1:You do. This is where we had our traumatic oyster experience.
Speaker 2:Yes, so Cajuan in Altea.
Speaker 1:So definitely recommend that one.
Speaker 2:It's the biggest oysters I've ever had. That's one thing about oysters, you know it's like they're all nice and everything Bigger is not better.
Speaker 1:Okay, with an oyster. I'm just going to say that, when it comes to oysters bigger is not better. And then we have another cool little restaurant which is very close to us and you are good friends with the owner, so do you want to tell us a little bit about that?
Speaker 2:Yes. So I would like to share with our audience about Calangels in Polop in Alicante. Polop is actually where Nalini lives. This is definitely a hidden gem. It's not somewhere that you're going to find. If you're not looking for it, so shout out to paco and calangeles or calangels, I should say, in valenciano.
Speaker 2:So that is very much a very family. Uh, traditional valenciano not just spanish, but valenciano food uh, restaurant in polo, and it is in a old town house. They have been there. It is actually the original house was from the family who runs it, their grandparents, and up till not very long ago, the grandma was still somewhat involved in the cooking, but obviously in a more casual way, not like, okay, you're gonna come here and cook every day because we, we all know if you cook.
Speaker 2:You know it can be a real, um, intimidating thing to have that level of commitment at a restaurant, but it is very special and they have dishes from this specific area, like the mincho is one of them, which it kind of looks like an empanada, right, but it's really good. And then the one thing that I always love about paco in calandres is that he has all the connections with the local sources. So, for example, if someone catches a really beautiful lobster, you know on the on the coast in Altea or something they'll call him, and you know he'll be kind of first pick, do you want this lobster? Do you want this gallo de San Pedro? Or you know all these cabracho, whatever the fish is, he usually gets kind of like first, uh, first take on it.
Speaker 1:And I mean you've gone there before. When we went, that was the first time we had gone. It was a holiday. Yes, I think it was Father's Day Spanish.
Speaker 2:Father's Day, I think it was.
Speaker 1:It was a holiday, anyway. We went and it was as if you're going to somebody's house. That was my experience. You're sort of walking into somebody's little townhouse but it is a restaurant and it's one seating I guess they have for that particular time. For the most part, yeah, and they don't. There's no menu. They give you what they have. So they have a vegetable garden where. That's where they're getting the vegetables from what it's. Like you said, if he has a fresh fish or meats or what have you, that is what they're preparing. It's not as if you don't have a bit of a choice or they can't make some modifications, but you are getting the things that they have in the kitchen that day, which is the freshest yes, super fresh.
Speaker 2:Also very different winter and summer menus, which again makes perfect sense. He'll always prepare some very special gazpachos and kind of elevate it with some flowers and you know a few bits and pieces, but, like in the winter, there you have to go and have the what we call plato de cuchara or the, you know the spoon dish, which is like the pilota valenciana, you know. So you have like the actual kind of soups and stews, way heavier, Definitely not what you want to be eating right now.
Speaker 2:No, but in the winter it's a real hearty. You know it's a lovely place to go, also when it's kind of cold outside.
Speaker 1:And the cava that he served us it was. I remember the name it's called Snow. Yes, because that had stuck with me that, oh, it's actually called Snow, and it stuck with me that, oh, it's actually called snow. Um, and the waiter said to us that he does not put. I said it's actually delicious. Um, I think it's produced locally. And he said that he does not put something on the menu, whether it's a drink or food, that he hasn't tried himself.
Speaker 2:So it may not be a michelin star restaurant, but it might as well have a michelin star the way he cooks standing is that at one point he was offered a michelin star and kind of going in that direction, but it would have meant a lot of things commercially that was not aligned with his and his family's, because his sister is the one that runs the kitchen, right, okay, so he's like the metro and he recommends the sommelier and you know he's obsessive with wine, right, and he was actually away the day we went on a wine discovery tour.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, it's a really big thing for Paco is all the wines, all the cabas. You always find something new, different and exciting that he'll have. Very rarely is he going to serve you the typical thing.
Speaker 1:No, there's nothing typical and first of all, there's not really a menu and secondly, the restaurant is packed. It was full.
Speaker 2:One surprising thing that I will say is for any of our audience, and that is Calangels. So I'm going to spell it out that's C-A-L, apostrophe A-N-G-E-L-S. If you ever go there and he happens, or whoever serves you, tells you that they have lobster that day, they will offer an option of having the lobster deep fried. I know that sounds ridiculous because you're like how would you deep fry a lobster? But it is probably one of the most delicious things I've ever tried. So it's this fresh lobster. They just kind of break it up three tap, tap, tap, and then they kind of just flash deep fry it. It's absolutely delicious. Definitely want that. Yeah, so that's in Polop. If you're visiting Calandias, I would recommend to stop by at the little font, the bolob, as well.
Speaker 2:Like you know, the chorros where you can get the fresh water. So that would, that would be definitely recommended. Ok, so that's a little bit about Calangels. Ok, next on our list Laura. So next on our list we have Zahati.
Speaker 1:OK, this is a much longer story.
Speaker 2:Yes, a little bit.
Speaker 1:So you are wearing your hat from Zahati. Zahati is located in a little town called Gata de Gorgos.
Speaker 2:You said that perfectly.
Speaker 1:It's a very interesting little town, not far from where we are, maybe an hour or so. So how did? First of all, how did we discover the hat store there?
Speaker 2:I was trying to think about it. Oh, I know how we discovered it. I have to say thank you to robson turner right the our trainer, you know, sometimes trains with us who's just opening up a gym in javia. When we were talking about the podcast and what we're doing, rob said oh, you guys should go check out zahati. This was months ago. Yeah said, you know, it's very kind of unique little place and they make all these hats and they've kind of become quite big and I started following them on Instagram and online and, oh my goodness, I was just like instantly in love with some of the designs Because, as some of our audience may have figured out if they follow us on socials, we are hat people.
Speaker 1:Well, we've recently become hat people. I don't know, I've always loved hats, but it's a recent obsession. But the recent Netflix series with Blake Lively which is called Another Simple Favor that's the name of the Netflix show. The cover picture is of her in a white shirt, a black skirt and she's wearing this massive hat. And the scene in the movie she it's this huge hat, her face is covered and she kind of swans down the stairs of this hotel but her face is covered and it turns out it's that that hat is from Zahati and she found that hat in a store in Italy somewhere Whoa that carries their merchandise, and thought it would make a perfect part of her costume in the movie.
Speaker 2:I can guarantee it was not their PR team that got that done.
Speaker 1:It's not, so let's set the I don don't know the stage set the stage a little bit so it was founded by sandra mira.
Speaker 2:Okay, in 1890, wow, so a little while ago. I don't know, but I would hazard a guess it wasn't called sahati at the time. Okay, that sounds like a very kind of like fresh new style branding. Right, it's got the word hat in it as well. So to me that sounds a lot more recent. But the actual company that makes these hats was formed in 1890. They are to picture gata de gorgos. I'm not laughing, it's just like a small town one main street on another street it's not a town it's a one road town it is a one road town.
Speaker 2:It is not a town that you'd go like. You know, we've spoken about altea. We've spoken about valencia, granada, bilbao, benedorm, all these different places. These are larger towns where you've got a lot of different things. It's a really tiny town. It's a very tiny town. We struggled to find somewhere to have breakfast, but we did. Yeah, uh, when we went there. But most of what you're going to see in gata is weaving like the basket.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the summer bags that are very sort of, you know, iconic, I think, for Spanish. You know the style yes.
Speaker 2:I mean, you can buy a basket bag there for 10 euros between 10 and 20 something, depending on the level of the design, and I'm gonna. The other day, I actually saw someone wearing the Loewe ones. Going back to our first episode that we spoke about yes, it's got the Loewe logo on it. Yes, it has the little piece of leather with Loewe, but the actual basket itself is not far off. No, it is. It really, isn't it?
Speaker 1:isn't. I don't have a Loewe basket bag.
Speaker 2:I saw one very up close the other day and I was staring at it. The lady that had it was like okay, is this way different? But it was funny because we actually did buy a basket bag that day as well. We was at Gada and we were both complaining about you know, they don't close, so everything is out in the open. And the older lady at the store that I thought was very huge, she's like Loewe doesn't close there.
Speaker 1:So you know we don't want to close ours. Okay, so we go in Zahati. It's almost at the beginning of the town when you drive in. And they're not the only hat maker in town either. There are other few high-end hat makers.
Speaker 2:I think worth mentioning probably Cygnus. Yes.
Speaker 1:Their hats are very expensive.
Speaker 2:Some of them, they're, there's a range, but cygnus I think s-i-g-n-e-s. Yeah, and we'll, we'll, um, we'll, include all the links so that you can go check these little hidden gems out, uh. But yeah, cygnus is right, right at the beginning. Their factory slash place there.
Speaker 1:I don't really know if they even have a store open to the public I mean, we were there friday afternoon and everything in the town closes by 1 32. I mean it's dead. You're, you're out of luck if you're thirsty, forget it.
Speaker 2:You're not getting not the most commercially oriented place. So you know you again picture this. Hats from Zahati have been featured on a Netflix movie, like Nalini said. Not just have they been featured in the movie. The poster for the movie includes the hat, their hat.
Speaker 1:So we go into the store. It's very cute from the outside. They have a big hat on the outside.
Speaker 2:It's like pink on the outside.
Speaker 1:Pink yeah pinkish and I mean you walk into like it's hat heaven. There's just hats everywhere. They have a huge stock. Really kind of cute interesting store. It's supposedly female run, so it's all women in the store. They have been doing it their whole life, making these hats. I think, I read that on average, one of their hats by hand takes about 10 hours to make. Okay, well, I mean you can find any kind of hat you want in there, really, and if you don't find it and you're like, oh, I want this one, but I want it in this color combination.
Speaker 2:They'll make it.
Speaker 1:Now they are, let's say, older ladies and not the most friendly. You'd be hard-pressed to find english or castellano in that store.
Speaker 2:So it's not happening my comment to nalini after visiting the store, and again I'm we're still going to continue buying hats from sahati. I actually bought one as a present the other day for someone. I love the hat, but I think that the way that they've oriented their brand is very much online. If you look online, you've got all the influencers wearing the hats. They're posting about it Weddings, this, that, the other, the Netflix stuff. So in your head you think, okay, we're going to go to the store their only store is there.
Speaker 2:Their hats are sold at these really high-end stores. We saw them in Bilbao. Yeah, you know, they're sold at these really high-end stores elsewhere.
Speaker 1:That's how Blake Lively found the hat in another store in Italy.
Speaker 2:So they retail through kind of cube, boutique-y sort of places. But you know again, this is their only store. So in your mind you could build an expectation that you'd walk in there and they'd have some kind of advertising of what's happened on Netflix or someone greeting you at the door or something.
Speaker 2:No, no, that's not happening. And again, no, like don't get me wrong. The second time I went to the store, I will say the ladies were nicer because I think they maybe recognized me from the first time and they were hoping that I wasn't gonna ask them any more questions because, like, do you want to talk about what you are?
Speaker 1:you asked me, like no, I said I'm like, do you think they speak English in the store? And she's like they don't even speak. Spanish in the store okay, they're not even gonna speak to you in Spanish. I'm like okay, well, then you ask her. So I said, ask this lady some questions.
Speaker 2:I actually asked. Could I ask you a few questions and she said no. I'm like what do you mean? Like I'm actually I am going to buy one of these hats, but I just want to ask a couple of questions. But then I will say that she did soften up a little bit.
Speaker 1:While the other lady, she came out and she took out her phone and then she started to google the hat blake lively.
Speaker 2:Oh look, yeah, you know. Have you seen this?
Speaker 1:yeah, one of our hats. We're like yeah, that's why we drove an hour and a half but we would.
Speaker 2:but we will say this, though, and I this warmed my heart particularly, uh, when they talked about the lady that is more like the one that does their social media, because I kept going on about your Instagram, your Instagram the lady was looking at me like what are you talking about? They don't really know if they have an Instagram or not. So the one of the ladies who's a younger generation, who is on Instagram and all this kind of stuff she has, I think she's also the designer, the head designer, and she has given them the opportunity to be super creative.
Speaker 2:And the woman said it is such a pride to be able to create these pieces and not to be limited by you know. Ok, this is the kind of hat you're going to make and that's it, and then to see them being worn and be successful.
Speaker 1:Right, and it's really from a small little village. I cannot stress that enough. It's a small little village with this. You know they've been doing this from the early 1920s up until now. But then, now that we're talking, saying this out loud in their defense, I think we're just so used to having everything marketed to us.
Speaker 1:You know, where we expect to walk in. It's like oh, you were featured on Netflix, well, you should have. You know, the posters and this and that, whereas there's just these little old ladies making hats and we walk in with. We're going to ask you questions, you know. And the second time.
Speaker 2:I went, I was like how much is this? It's like, oh, let me check they. The second time I went, I was like how much is this? She's like, oh, let me check. They don't even have the prices on the hat. So yeah, it's very special. I think it's worth it though.
Speaker 1:It is worth it. Listen, it is interesting to do these little day trips because you learn a lot from it. You do and then we walk down the street in the lunchtime heat, in the sun with the Zahati bag. I think the whole village was. I mean, they're like who are these people? We go to the other stores, so there's like a line of stores that they just sell the basket things. So whether it's um bags or hats or fans, and the first store we walked into there's these two older ladies. One is in a wheelchair because she fell down.
Speaker 1:She had an ankle problem soon as we walk in, laura has hers a hot tea bag and I see a hat and laura's like how much is that hat? And I was like, do you want to know? She's like a sixth of the price I'll wear that one for the next episode. The ladies. They were laughing at you.
Speaker 2:They were, but I will say this Afterwards I did some research because they're like oh yeah, we get the hats at the same place, at the same factory. It's not true.
Speaker 1:But they're like you spent all that money on those hats. But they were very sweet, funny ladies.
Speaker 2:I swear to you, if we had stayed any longer in their store, we would have been having lunch with them they were just happy to talk to us it was actually pretty comical because at one point, you know, I was like, oh yes, the heart is like really grown. They have a really big, you know, online presence and so on and so forth. And the lady's like, so I started again like social media and so on. She's like, yeah, we're not good on like technical things, translation. It's like there are no online presence whatsoever, which is a real shame because some of these family-run businesses will die with this generation because they haven't had an opportunity or a younger generation in the family to take it forward.
Speaker 2:No, and they have super cute hats and bags and I will wear that one for the next episode.
Speaker 1:Okay, do it, and you picked up a couple little gifts. So we were asking for this poor old lady. She's like looking for the bag, because it had an initial on it. And then it came to the point where we said, no, no, no, we'll find it Like, just show us where the storage room is, we'll go get it.
Speaker 2:My favorite find from that shop was actually the fan, and again for those watching on socials or on youtube, uh, but these were like three and a half euros I know they're super cute.
Speaker 1:Anyway. There's a several, several stores you can go through. They have different, slightly different products and whether it's a hat or some have a little bit of clothing in it. That's about it. For Gata on that street I'm going to say Just one more mention on Sahati.
Speaker 2:They have had a bag design go pretty viral which looks like a fan. Oh yeah, it's really nice and then when you turn it upside down, it has like these kind of things that hang. It's super cute, really nice. So really check it out. And that is z-a-h-a-t-i zahati, and I would find them online, find them on social media, if you want to make a statement at any party that you go to you can buy that hat there buy that xxl.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have like five or six designs of the xxl hats. Yeah, they and you will have your blake lively moment, even if you're not on team lively.
Speaker 1:So yeah, there you go.
Speaker 2:So that's a little about sahati, and last of our finds, of our hidden gems. Uh, before we go to our slice of life, we're gonna talk about our coffee party.
Speaker 1:Oh, the coffee party. Oh my gosh. Wow, laura, we've done. I'm being honest, we do a lot for the podcast. They're all fun things. It's not really you can't call it work, but we basically drove. Well, Laura drove to Valencia with us in the car. For a coffee. We drove to Valencia for a coffee slash coffee party.
Speaker 2:So it's a new trend starting to take shape here and it's fun. It's yes, you can find them on TikTok or Instagram and they do this Derali coffee party. They're a couple.
Speaker 1:Yes, Not husband and wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, Boyfriend girlfriend, but super nice. Super cute couple, Really nice yeah.
Speaker 2:They're both gorgeous and DJs, DJs and their music. Their vibe is Afro House and we did interview them and we'll put the interview up on socials as well for you to watch. But just great little couple and it's so nice to see kind of younger people doing cool things that are a little bit different and not staying in the norm no, and a coffee party.
Speaker 1:It's taken, you know kind, know kind of by, you know by storm in Canada.
Speaker 1:That's what they said and I did actually see just following social media and stuff like that Coffee parties in Toronto, where you know it's one o'clock in the afternoon and you're in a coffee shop and everybody's dancing. There's a DJ. I don't know if they serve alcohol at the parties in Toronto. I know, yeah, here. Your ticket includes either two coffee drinks you can get two or one alcoholic drink, so you can choose. The doors opened around five-ish. I think they were a little bit delayed, but around five they opened. However, outside everybody is ready. It's not a party where you show up late because you want to look cool. No, people are ready for the doors to open. They get in there, the music is on, they're in the line for their drink and then they start dancing. Yes, it's very funny. It's like a really cool kind of like energetic, full on vibe for that short period of time and then you leave. You go home or move on.
Speaker 2:I think there's a couple of interesting facts about it. I think maybe about 15% approximately of the people there were Spanish Right. I think everybody else was an expat. There was a good mix of people of different ages, a very good mix, very good mix.
Speaker 2:I think that it was great that I think some of us I'll include myself don't want to go out at three o'clock in the morning, and it's a way to dance if you like music and interesting how life works. The reason I came across this Doralee coffee party and this couple is because I do love music. I love all kinds of music, but I do like techno a lot and I was following this page that does like raves in bakeries in Belgium or something, and people will go in there and like buy a loaf of bread and all of a sudden there's a DJ and there's 10 o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 1:It's kind of fun it is fun.
Speaker 2:And then they came up in Valencia Right and we reached out to them Lisa, who is the lady who's a part of the couple. She immediately replied Super nice people and they were very, very welcoming and I really wish them all the success in the world with these coffee parties, because I do think culturally it's a great thing to add not just to the nightlife culture in this country but also to be more inclusive of people that don't want to go out at 1 o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 1:And the reality is not. Everybody wants to have a drink.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no there's definitely a sober vibe to it, very like you can go and not be drinking no, you, most people there were having a coffee I have to say I wish I could have coffee at six o'clock in the afternoon. Then I will have to go party till three o'clock in the morning because I cannot sleep after that. You know, there's no way. I saw people having multiple like espresso coffees at 6 pm.
Speaker 1:I'm like how are they doing this, I think the trend will spread because. Valencia is a bigger city and where we live.
Speaker 2:I would 100% say if somebody Laura threw a coffee party at somebody's cafe, laura through a coffee party at somebody's cafe, but I will say, not saying anything. Original coffee parties in valencia. We said it. Yeah, they are the originals from valencia. I know there's other people doing it now in valencia as well, but yes respect.
Speaker 1:Look out for it.
Speaker 2:Look out for it and if you're in valencia, seek it out, because, by the way, the tickets were all gone. There was sold out. You, there's people coming up to the door like, oh, what is going on here? Yeah, it's cute, it's a, it's a fun vibe yeah, and then, of course, you've got the people like walking their dog at 7 pm. You know where the windows are wide open and going like what are all these people doing in here? Anyway, on to our slice of life slice of life.
Speaker 1:Slice of life. This is a good one. I mean, it's good and bad. How do we start? Actually, there's nothing good about it, it's just an interesting story our food and drink is good for this slice of life well, it's, let's just say it's interesting it's interesting okay, let's do it's a stomach challenging combination. You know me and my stomach.
Speaker 2:Nalini has a. What do you call it? Iron stomach, iron guts, iron guts I have iron guts, okay, so tell us a little bit about this Nalini.
Speaker 1:So this is a prized. Maybe you could loosely call it a delicacy. It is white asparagus grown particularly in the region of Navarra in the north of Spain, harvested at night.
Speaker 2:What's the story with the harvesting it at night? I know you shared that with me, but I don't get it. Is it because, like if they harvested it during the day, the color changes?
Speaker 1:yes, so it's not exposed to sunlight light, so that is why they stay. It stays white, it's grown underground, underground, okay underground.
Speaker 1:Um, it is a real sort of skill because they don't. They do it at night, like in the dark in the farms. They have just the little headlamps they wear. And it's a real sort of skill because they don't. They do it at night, like in the dark in the farms. They have just the little headlamps they wear. And it's a real skill to be able to find them and harvest them, and then they're sent directly to the factories and then either put in glass jars or tins. Um, they're not. You may look at it and think it's a pickle. It's not a pickle, it's preserved in water.
Speaker 2:So it's just water.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's just a water solution and they're considered to be the ghost of the asparagus family.
Speaker 2:So I love white asparagus. So it's interesting, because even this morning I went for breakfast and I asked the lady if she could put white asparagus in my bocadillo and I realized, like I so like. Let's say, for example, you order like a vegetable sandwich here, they sometimes put it on.
Speaker 1:It's really good.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 1:Okay, I have not tried this. I've tried it one time, and I cannot remember what it tastes like, okay, so let's go with this. I read a recipe from Jose Andres where he does a white asparagus gazpacho.
Speaker 2:Okay, but would that be with the fresh ones or the canned ones? No, this one Okay.
Speaker 1:I'm using my. Is it good? It is actually really good. I have it all over my dress, but it's fine. It's okay, you're wearing black, I'm in a bit more trouble.
Speaker 2:It's asparagus water, but it is good it is. I'm in a bit more trouble asparagus water, but it is good. It is good. I love them so. Fun fact you know how your pea smells kind of different when you eat asparagus?
Speaker 1:yeah, it will happen with these as well oh, yay, something to look forward to after the podcast. It does. It does happen with these as well. It's not just a green asparagus. Um, can I say something funny? I read this, uh, his recipe for white asparagus gazpacho, he said, because I'm a huge jose andres fan we made the omelet that we'll do that in the next oh my god, his microwave omelet. It's yeah, it's fantastic. Um, anyway, he says. When you go to a summer market, the question you should ask is will it gazpacho?
Speaker 2:will it gazpacho? Which is actually really good. So if you're like buying vegetables or fruits, can you turn it into a gazpacho so you can. It's not a thing, it's a verb like when we I think it's really cute like when we um did the cucumber one and we got all these nasty comments online going.
Speaker 1:That is not gazpacho Listen, you can gazpacho pretty much any summer fruit or veg, Sorry people Haters gonna hate. Yeah Also Jose Andres said it's fine yeah.
Speaker 2:There you go, If he says it yeah it's fine, awesome, okay.
Speaker 1:Followed up by a chaser of fresh orange juice, which this might seem strange that we're featuring it. However, my son has a friend staying here. He's from Toronto, where oranges come in boxes. Orange juice comes in a box, not sunny delight, yes, or any other brand name, it doesn't really matter. Here we're very fortunate to have fresh oranges wild growing pretty much anywhere you can imagine. Um, it's relatively inexpensive and you can go to almost any supermarket and just you press the machine and the oranges tumble down and you get fresh orange juice.
Speaker 2:So we got this one this morning. Yeah, uh, before shooting today. Uh, from a fresh squeezer machine at the supermarket. It's a couple euro, I think it was 3.90 per liter. Right, there's a lot of I mean that's, and you know, let's taste it, yeah.
Speaker 1:After the asparagus, after the such a good combination, yeah, it's sweet, it's delicious.
Speaker 2:It's really really good.
Speaker 1:And there's no alcohol in this.
Speaker 2:By the way.
Speaker 1:Moving away from our normal alcoholic record, it's just orange really, really, really nice, orange delicious yeah so that's sort of. I mean, if you come to spain and you visit the supermarket and maybe you're stocking up some things for an airbnb, please get the orange juice, it is and not just the orange juice.
Speaker 2:Buy some fresh oranges. You when you peel them. Actually it's interesting because you remember when we went to visit marcia de ralte with the olive oil. Yeah, you can peel the oranges, particularly when they're on the more acidic side, and you put a bit of olive oil and salt in it and it is so good like fresh oranges. So I would say, for people who are traveling to spain, heavily recommend, when you come here, the orange juice and the oranges from the valencian region. Yes, because that's where you're going to find the the best citrus and um.
Speaker 1:The white asparagus is available year-round in any supermarket, so not an issue, but they are actually harvested between april and june, um, and that's why I just thought we would feature it so absolutely awesome. Okay, now so uh, laura's gonna tell a very sad tale so for our slice of life.
Speaker 2:We're going to tell the beginning of a story that will let's see how this ends the end will be revealed after we shoot our episode about Madrid, which will happen within the next couple of weeks. So Nalini and I talk almost on a daily basis, but obviously I tried to give her some space and not call in the night or anything like that, because that would be weird. And she received a call from me a few weeks ago. It was actually like 10 30 pm and I was freaking out because I looked down at my engagement ring. I was actually working on the laptop. I looked out of my engagement ring, which I decided to wear today, has been put away for now and the main uh diamond that's in the middle of the ring was missing. It fell out. It fell out and I hadn't, you know, felt it, nothing. I just looked and you can see it right there. There's a big, massive hole in the middle Right.
Speaker 1:So imagine, ladies, you have your engagement ring. It's in a setting, the setting is still intact, the prongs are still there. You've not done anything crazy, you've not been in a boxing fight. Or you're tapping away on your computer and you look down and the stone is gone 100% gone.
Speaker 2:I had no idea where it went. The ring is from Suarez and that's why we decided to tell the beginning part of the story in this slice of life, because we are going to go to suarez, in madrid, where the ring was purchased, and see what they say. Because I did call them and say hey, like you know, my engagement ring is now partly missing and what are you going to do about it? Anyway, to make things very interesting, you can imagine, at 10, 10, 30 PM, I was running around the whole house looking for this stone with a 98% feeling that I was never going to find it because it's, you know, one chance in a billion. So I went to bed, didn't sleep very well that night at all, thinking that, you know, again, there's like a sentimental value as well.
Speaker 1:No, and listen, it is something that okay you, it's lost, you can't do anything about it. No, you know you, you can retrace your steps. You can maybe phone somewhere you went and say did you happen to find a big diamond? Yeah, and put it away for me yeah, thank you may or may not happen exactly, so I mean you yeah but it was bad anyway.
Speaker 2:So following morning I wake up, I go to wash my hands in the restroom and before I turn the tap on, through the corner of my eye I see something twinkling and I'm like it's a stone. I found it, which is the most incredible thing. I would have never thought I was going to find it.
Speaker 2:So it's being put away. And now we're going to go to Suarez de Madrid to see what they say and how they resolve the situation. And I am very curious to see, you know, what kind of service they offer. Because, as a reference I mentioned to Leni, you know I wear sometimes my grandmother's ring that I'm also wearing today. It is 150 years old and there are no stones missing. Nothing's ever fallen off. No, you know this ring, it was not cheap by any means and it's, you know, less than seven years old. So it's very hard for me to comprehend. As you said, I'm not a boxer. You know this stone would fall out and that, by the way, they didn't have any. If I would have not found the stone, I'm very certain they would not done anything to compensate for that which is atrocious.
Speaker 1:OK, so just don't lose the stone.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to.
Speaker 1:Between now and Wednesday when we get on that train.
Speaker 2:We're going to have words for sure, so that was our slice of life.
Speaker 1:I mean, yeah, terrible, but at least you found the stone. We'll see what happens.
Speaker 2:More coming soon, so we're going to do our sentence of the day. Okay, but before we go to the sentence of the day, I did want to mention about our next episode For the wine lovers. We are going to be talking about wine in the next episode and a very, very unique wine festival that we visited just over the weekend yeah, it was fantastic, awesome okay.
Speaker 2:Sentence of the day okay, this one is, uh is kosher, so we're keeping it politically correct for this episode. The sentence of the day is a rey muerto, rey puesto. Okay, a rey muerto, rey puesto.
Speaker 1:Okay, a rey muerto, rey puesto. Uh, okay, something dead.
Speaker 2:So do you remember what a rey rey is? Uh, the, the, the, the, the, the king, oh, the king, oh the king.
Speaker 1:Oh so okay, so the a rey muerto the king is dead.
Speaker 2:Once the king like a king dead. Yeah, rey puesto. Okay, a king dead, a king replaced, right, okay, what do you think that means?
Speaker 1:um, probably you just go from. I would say it might be a political statement, a little bit more of a political statement, that if you know, it's just like one is there and then it's just another one in place, no change so it signals that we're all replaceable, uh, either at work or, you know, with family, etc.
Speaker 2:Etc. Well, not really with family, but sometimes people will use that. Let's say, for example, when someone breaks up with someone and the week later they have a new partner right and they say a rey muerto, rey puesto like one king dead, a new one's there, yeah, so it could be used in politics too. Yes, it's like all of us are replaceable, you know, like all of a sudden it's like, oh, someone may never picture this country without this prime minister. But the following week there's a new one, and you know, life goes on. So.
Speaker 1:Good.
Speaker 2:A rey muerto, rey puesto.
Speaker 1:Okay, life goes on. That's hopefully we'll replace your ring.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Until the next episode. Thank you for joining us. Don't forget to follow. Don't forget to follow. Please subscribe and leave some comments. You all are very quiet. We are getting a ton of downloads and we are getting some fun comments online on socials, but we want to hear from you on Spotify and Apple Podcasts especially.
Speaker 1:Yeah please, all right, bye, bye. The Made in Spain podcast is an Everything's Rosie production with executive producers and hosts Nalini Sharma and Laura Senior, with special thanks to production assistant Ayrton Nath.