St. Agatha's

Tonight, February 4^th, (I’m unsure when I’ll be able to post this) was the eve of Saint Agatha's, a traditional Basque holiday where the choirs of many Basque villages and cities dress up in typical costumes and sing traditional verses through the streets in honour of Saint Agatha. They came to the restaurant’s back door, knocked their staffs on the pavement to announce their presence and sang to us. Our executive chef and owner brought out bottle after bottle of champagne and demanded muchos platos of his signature jamon for the group. I loved watching how engaged and benevolent he was with them. He shook their hands, joined in certain verses, and knocked his own staff against the pavement with them. I felt temporarily transported to another era.