The Girl from Ipanema

There is a joke here, so keep with me.

The midday meal or la comida here in Granada is always offered Monday to Friday (it is the law if the restaurant is open) and it is the most economical way to eat at a Spanish restaurant. It normally includes a starter, a main course with a side dish, a dessert or coffee and a glass of wine or a beer for a fixed price; we pay 7.00 euros in the restaurant close to us in the city.

The meal comprises of a Primero course, which is huge and could be a thick soup of sausages and beans or my husbands favourate a fried egg with boiled rice and tomato frito, usually there is more choice at the Primero stage. Then it is followed by a Secundo course, this is either fish of meat; the only way to be served anything near to a vegetarian option here to ask for something "sin occos" or without eyes!

So now the joke; we did not get it for ages, but the waiter thought was one of the funniest jokes he had ever had to pleasure to tell and really made the most of what the situation offered him.

I asked for the same thing I always ask for; a flan (crème caramel) usually served with lashings of squirty cream. And so I said "un flan para me, sin nata" (without cream). The waiter repeated my order (oh how they LOVE to repeat everything here) "Si" I said "flan Sin Nata" The tears of mirth were now rolling down his cheeks and yet we still looked on puzzled. (Think Fawltey Towers and Manuel here) Were we were losing something in translation?

Eventually we got it, just as Manuel started singing The Girl from Ipanema. I had ordered a Frank Sinatra, so, not that funny, but it made the day complete for our Camarero!


The Girl from Ipanema