Urban Culture Vulture: Girls Gone Wild: Legendary Edition

　　On Saturday, I attended La Lloronathon, a collaborative arts festival that celebrates the Mexican legend of La Llorona (“weeping woman”) during a four-day multicultural celebration. Thinking it would be a nice way to spend the afternoon with my mother, she and I decided to make an afternoon out of it. However, looking back, I realize the theme might not have enforced our mother-daughter bonding.

　　The afternoon gathering at South Mountain Community College shared all things La Llorona: stories, painting, drawing performance, dance, and chismes.

　　For those unfamiliar, “La Llorona” is a widespread Latin American legend that tells the story of a beautiful woman named Maria who drowns her children in order to punish her husband’s betrayal for marrying a wealthier woman. When the man rejects Maria again after she’s done this (surprise, surprise), she kills herself, but she is unable to enter heaven until she finds her children. According to legend, Maria wanders near bodies of water, searching in vain for her children and crying, “Ay, mis hijos! Ay, mis hijos!”

　　I was surprised then that instead of performance about the La Llorona, the play put on for the festival was “Medea,” a Greek tragedy.

　　Before the play started, I briefly met the director, Julie Holston, to ask her why she chose to present “Medea” for a Hispanic arts festival. Being only vaguely familiar with both stories, I wasn’t quite sure how they related. She explained that she decided to mix it up with the Euripides’ classic because it resembled the story of La Llorona pretty closely, and she wanted to tie the Mediterranean myth and Latin legend.

　　Similar to La Llorona, “Medea” is about the Argonaut Jason who abandons his wife, Medea, when the king Creon offers him his daughter.The play tells of how Medea gets her revenge on her husband for this betrayal by sending the princess a gold dress and diadem covered in poison, killing both the princess and the king. Medea continues to punish Jason by murdering her two children he fathered.

　　Holston decided to use playwright Charles Ludlam’s version of “Medea” because it adheres closely to Euripides’ storyline, but also humorously displays the absurdities of many ancient tragedies and Greek mythology (I should mention no children were harmed in the production of this play. The two children were played by large smiley-face balloons). Also, the Greek tragedy was given a twist as the chorus of five girls would switch off between speaking and chanting in Spanish and English.

　　Maria and Medea are both women who were betrayed by their husbands, who exacted their sorrows on their children, and who are known for their blood-curdling screams and cries. Though thousands of miles away from each other, the Greeks and Latin Americans created strikingly similar stories. Is the hysterical woman a cross-cultural concept?

　　After the play ended I realized how appropriately I had planned the mother-daughter outing. Leaving the theater, my mom commented, “Medea was really scary. She reminded me of the women on The Real Housewives.” Making astute cultural observations runs in the family I suppose.

Spanish culture - What is Spain known for?

　　Spanish culture is widely known for Flamenco music and dance, bullfights, fantastic beaches and lots of sunshine. But what is Spain known for? It has much more to offer than that. It is - and has been for thousands of years, one of the cultural centers of Europe.

　　"Spain is different!", Spaniards use to say. They don't specify compared to what: to the rest of Europe, to the rest of the world, or even to itself? We don't know either, but we do our best to supply you with lots of information about Spain´s culture so you can find the answer to this question and many others by yourself.

　　Spain has an extraordinary artistic heritage. The dominant figures of the Golden Age were the Toledo-based artists El Greco and Diego Velázquez. Francisco de Goya emerged in the 18th century as Spain's most prolific painter and he produced some wonderfully unflattering portraits of royalty. The art world in the early 20th century was influenced by a remarkable group of Spanish artists: Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí, ambassadors of the artistic culture in Spain.

　　Spain's architecture ranges from prehistoric monuments in Minorca in the Balearic Islands, to the Roman ruins of Merida and Tarragona, the decorative Lonja in Seville, Mudéjar buildings, Gothic cathedrals, castles, fantastic modernist monuments and Gaudí's intricate fabulist sculptures in Barcelona. They are all representative of the culture of Spain.

　　Another example of Spanish culture is the invention of the Spanish guitar, which was invented in Andalusia in the 1790's when a sixth string was added to the Moorish lute. It gained its modern shape in the 1870's. Spanish musicians have taken the humble guitar to dizzying heights of virtuosity and none more so than Andrés Segovia (1893-1997), who established classical guitar as a genre. Flamenco, music rooted in the cante jondo (deep song) of the gitanos (gypsies) of Andalusia, is experiencing a revival. Paco de Lucia is the best known flamenco guitarist internationally.

　　His friend Camarón de la Isla was, until his death in 1992, the leading light of contemporary cante jondo. In the 1980s flamenco-rock fusion (a.k.a. "gypsy rock") was developed by the likes of Pata Negra and Ketama, and in the 1990s Radio Tarifa emerged with a mesmerizing mix of flamenco and medieval sounds.

　　Bakalao, the Spanish contribution to the world of techno, emerged from Valencia.

　　

　　EVER since the center of culinary innovation shifted to Spain with the ascent of El Bulli and other like-minded restaurants, New York has been awaiting its own specimen of contemporary Spanish gastronomy. For some reason, it hasn’t happened, at least, not entirely successfully.

　　José Andrés, a Spanish celebrity chef, has brought his brand of culinary alchemy to American cities as far removed as Washington and Los Angeles, but not to New York. GastroArte near Lincoln Center is better at undermining form than offering flavor, said Sam Sifton, who gave it one star in The New York Times earlier this year, when the restaurant was still known as Graffit. You can eat wonderful traditional Spanish food in New York (vast platters of paella, shrimp sizzling in garlic, Galician-style octopus, the world’s greatest ham) but the practitioners of contemporary Spanish cooking have yet to commit themselves to the challenge.

　　Luis Bollo, the chef at Salinas, a Spanish restaurant in Chelsea that opened in June, is one who tried. Back in 2000, Mr. Bollo came from San Sebastián to open Meigas, a Spanish restaurant in Lower Manhattan that offered the full range of foams, gels and whiffs of essence. Perhaps the time, or the execution, was not quite right. Mr. Bollo soon abandoned what William Grimes, then The Times’s restaurant critic, called “the hocus-pocus,” and returned to solid, traditional cooking, including a soft succulent suckling pig that I can still taste to this day.

　　But the restaurant closed in 2001. Mr. Bollo left town for almost a decade, opening restaurants in Connecticut. Now he’s back with Salinas, and New York’s Spanish restaurant culture is the better for it, even if he digs more deeply into traditions of Spanish cooking rather than probing its outward boundaries.

　　You will not find hocus-pocus at Salinas, but you will find tripe, an ingredient that can make mature adults recoil in childish fear but in Mr. Bollo’s hands achieves a wonderful, belly-warming magic of its own. It is braised with tomato (and, shhh, veal feet, which add richness) to a point of melting tenderness, then served with bits of chorizo, ham, smoked paprika and, as a crowning glory, crisp little chickpeas that offer a perfect crunchy contrast. On a recent chilly night, this dish made me sigh.

　　Salinas is long and narrow with three rooms. In front is a small bar and lounge. A middle section with a stone wall and long mirror looks vaguely like a split-level den. The rear, a wood-and-stone dining room with a gas fireplace and a nifty retractable roof, is where you want to be. In the warm weather it’s a gorgeous open-air dining room. In the chill, you don’t even know you’re in a courtyard. The dining room is incredibly dim, though. Anyone older than 40 will need an iPhone flashlight app to read the menu.

　　I can’t remember which financial genius decided that a menu of appetizers and main courses was not enough. The pre-appetizer menu of small plates has made restaurant meals more expensive and more filling, and, in the case of Salinas, somewhat blurs the divisions. Classic, simple tapas like grilled bread spread with fragrant olive oil, garlic and tomato, or slivers of jamón Ibérico glistening with funky ham perfume are mingled with more complex starters like the tripe, or an elemental plate of large shrimp with garlic, white wine and lemon. Delicious, you’ve seen it before, and you can’t go wrong.

　　Crujiente mahonés, flatbread topped with cheese, honey, thyme and sea salt, is likewise simple and irresistible, the spices combining almost like zaatar, the Middle Eastern seasoning. Not all the tapas selections achieve liftoff, though. Croquettes made of veal cheeks, mushrooms and apples were mushy and monochromatic.

　　Certain ingredients, like the smoked paprika and all manner of pork, appear repeatedly in different guises, often to great advantage. Mr. Bollo’s pulpo appetizer is about as cutting-edge as anything gets on the menu. Slender coins of octopus (flavored with the paprika) are dropped on puréed potatoes like white pepperoni on a beige pizza, with crisp sautéed greens alongside. Though it has the visual appeal of a manila envelope, it’s an arresting take on the traditional pairing of octopus and potatoes.

　　Equally lovely, and presented in more familiar form, are pumpkin-and-chicken soup, rich with broccoli rabe, potato and, of course, bacon and chorizo; and tender, earthy quail wrapped in bacon and served with juicy quince.

　　Of course, we haven’t even gotten to main courses, which, thankfully, include Mr. Bollo’s suckling pig. If it’s not exactly the one I remember, it remains one fine piece of swine, soft and sweetly flavorful against the crisp, crunchy skin. Rosejat rápida is a brilliant dish in which crisp, short strands of fideo pasta are topped with chicken, chorizo, tiny cockles and saffron aioli, a smoky, savory bowl that one can easily inhale. Grilled chicken is served, naturally, with cubes of crisp ham as well as Swiss chard, garlic and a lemon sauce. The dish is moist and delicious in a way that other chicken breasts can only envy.

　　For all the good that Mr. Bollo offers, his paella negra, in which the rice is turned black with squid ink, is fairly uninteresting. With the usual array of clams, mussels and fish (but no discernible pork), it was a routine rendition, and unaccountably salty on two occasions.

　　One other criticism I can’t help making is of the wine list, which offers a preponderance of full-bodied, dense, powerfully fruity and oaky Spanish wines that don’t go very well with subtle foods. Easier-drinking options are not obvious, but I would suggest a white and red on the list, Zarate’s refreshing 2010 albariño and the 2006 Pirineos, made from the rarely seen parraleta grape grown in the Pyrenees region of Somontano.

　　It’s perhaps too much of a concession to mainstream American restaurants that Salinas offers a pastel de chocolate for dessert, the usual molten cake by another name. Yawn, but it is well done. Equally familiar is a crema de vino, essentially a crème brûlée (or a crema Catalana) but flavored with Rioja, also well done. Best of all is the most classic, torrija caramelizada, simply a slender loaf of bread pudding exalted to a plane of high deliciousness, imbued with cinnamon, nutmeg and citrus, served with a scoop of coffee gelato for good measure.

　　New is exciting, but old can be brilliant.

　　Salinas

　　★★

　　136 Ninth Avenue (19th Street), Chelsea, (212) 776-1990, salinasnyc.com.

　　ATMOSPHERE Dim and casual, polite and well appointed.

　　SOUND LEVEL Loud but not boisterous.

　　RECOMMENDED DISHES Crujiente mahonés, shrimp with garlic, jamón Ibérico, braised tripe, pumpkin-and-chicken soup, poached octopus, rosejat rápida, grilled chicken, suckling pig, torrija caramelizada.

　　WINE LIST Top-heavy with dense, powerful, modern Spanish wines.

　　PRICE RANGE Tapas, $7 to $20; appetizers, $12 to $19; main courses, $23 to $44; desserts, $9 to $10.

　　HOURS Tuesday and Wednesday, 6 to 11 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday, 6 p.m. to midnight; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; closed Mondays.

　　RESERVATIONS Recommended a week ahead.

　　CREDIT CARDS All major cards.

　　WHEELCHAIR ACCESS One step at entrance.

　　WHAT THE STARS MEAN Ratings range from zero to four stars and reflect the reviewer’s reaction to food, ambience and service, with price taken into consideration. Menu listings and prices are subject to change.

　　Eric Asimov will review restaurants until a new full-time critic is named.

Tributes paid to British couple killed in Spanish flash flood

　　Tributes have been paid to a British couple who died after being swept away in a flash flood in Spain.

　　Kenneth Hall, 72, and his wife, Mary, 70, from Bootle, Merseyside, were at a market in Finestrat, near Benidorm, when torrential rain caused a river to burst its banks at about midday on Friday.

　　Friends described the retired holidaymakers as "the most devoted couple you would ever want to meet". The couple, who were on holiday in the area, were shopping at a market when a wave up to a metre high surged through a ravine and hit traders and customers.

　　A friend, Pat Mercer, 62, said the couple were regular visitors to the area. "They went to Benidorm twice a year. They loved it out there, they went there for the last 20 years or so. They were fabulous, they were the most devoted couple you would ever want to meet."

　　Questions were being asked about whether the incident could have been avoided after it emerged that the local council had been fined for building the marketplace on a ravine bed without obtaining the necessary permission.

　　The ravine bed was covered with an asphalt base that can prevent water from draining away during thunderstorms. The Spanish environment ministry had told the council not to hold public events there until further work had been carried out, according to local reports.

　　The Halls are understood to have been dragged away in the current as water flowed through the marketplace, overwhelming cars and stalls. According to local reports, the couple's bodies were found trapped under a trailer. Two other people were taken to hospital, while a 90-year-old was missing but was later found unharmed in a nearby street, according to Spanish media.

　　The couple had three sons, Kenneth, Keith and Chris, and a daughter, Carol, who had recently given birth. The Halls had also recently become great-grandparents, Mercer said.

The College Board Redesigns the AP® Chemistry and AP Spanish Language and Culture Courses

　　As part of its ongoing commitment to ensuring that Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) courses reflect college-level expectations and progress in each discipline, the College Board is pleased to announce revisions to the AP Chemistry and AP Spanish Language and Culture courses and exams. These changes take effect in the 2013-14 academic year and were made with the input of faculty members and scientists from many of the nation's finest colleges, universities and secondary schools.

　　"The Advanced Placement Program is the gold standard in American education, offering high school students the rigor of college-level course work," said College Board President Gaston Caperton. "The high standards embodied by the AP Program have the power to successfully prepare students for the challenges of the 21st-century global economy, enabling them to achieve their dreams for the future."

　　The AP Program evaluates its courses and exams regularly and revises them to deepen the focus on critical thinking skills and to reflect the most recent developments in each discipline. Revised courses in AP French Language and Culture, AP German Language and Culture, and AP World History debuted in classrooms in fall 2011; revisions to AP Biology, AP Latin and AP Spanish Literature and Culture will take effect in the 2012-13 academic year.

　　"The improvements made to the AP Chemistry and AP Spanish Language and Culture courses and exams are the product of the diverse expertise of faculty from dozens of the nation's finest colleges, universities and secondary schools, who have designed these curricula and assessments to represent the best practices in their disciplines," said Trevor Packer, senior vice president for the Advanced Placement Program and College Readiness.

　　Advances in AP® Chemistry

　　Working in collaboration with the National Science Foundation and eminent educators nationwide, the College Board revised AP Chemistry to promote a balance between developing solid content knowledge and applying that knowledge to the practice of chemistry.

　　The revised course allows students more time to master the quantitative aspects of chemistry and to test, evaluate and refine explanations and predictions of natural phenomena. In moving away from the lecture-and-demonstration model toward a more hands-on, interactive approach to studying chemistry, the course also enables students to take risks, apply inquiry skills, and direct and monitor their own progress. The new AP Chemistry Curriculum Framework provides clear learning objectives, based on what colleges expect students to know and be able to do by the end of an introductory college-level chemistry course.

　　"The redesigned course engages students in a broad range of scientific practices, such as experimental design and interpretation, estimation, and drawing connections across topics," said David Yaron, associate professor of chemistry at Carnegie Mellon University. "The goal is to promote and reward instruction that gets students to think more deeply about the material."

　　AP Chemistry is currently the 11th most popular AP course. More than 122,000 students at nearly 8,000 high schools enrolled in the course during the 2010-11 school year.

　　Advances in AP Spanish Language and Culture

　　Revisions to AP Spanish Language and Culture align with the instructional goals reflected in the Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21st Century. These national standards tie foreign language instruction to the "5 Cs" -- Communication, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities -- to make learning world languages more authentic and integral to living in an increasingly global community.

　　The course now promotes explicitly the best practices of AP teachers and college professors, who draw on authentic materials and thematic instruction to deepen not only students' understanding of the target language but also of the culture and communities of the Spanish-speaking world.

　　The course also includes clear learning objectives, which help teachers identify what students should know and be able to do across the three modes of communication: Interpersonal, Interpretive and Presentational.

　　"The redesign of the AP Spanish Language and Culture course and exam is a major step toward building students' communicative competence in Spanish, with a focus on students demonstrating what they can do with the language rather than what they know about the language," said Marty Abbott, executive director of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

　　AP Spanish Language and Culture is currently the 10th most popular AP course. Approximately 123,000 students at nearly 7,000 high schools enrolled in the course during the 2010-11 academic year.

　　Additional details about changes to AP courses and exams can be found at http://advancesinap.collegeboard.org/ . This website also offers educators information on resources and professional development opportunities designed to support teachers in implementing course revisions.

　　About the Advanced Placement Program

　　The College Board's Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) enables students to pursue college-level studies while still in high school. Through more than 30 college-level courses, each culminating in a rigorous exam, AP provides willing and academically prepared students with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement or both. Taking AP courses also demonstrates to college admission officers that students have sought the most rigorous curriculum available to them. Each AP teacher's syllabus is evaluated and approved by college faculty from some of the nation's leading institutions, and AP Exams are developed and scored by college faculty and experienced AP teachers. AP is accepted by more than 3,800 colleges and universities worldwide for college credit, advanced placement or both on the basis of successful AP Exam scores. This includes over 90 percent of four-year institutions in the United States. In 2010, 1.8 million students representing more than 17,000 schools around the world, both public and nonpublic, took 3.2 million AP Exams.

　　About the College Board

　　The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of more than 5,900 of the world's leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success -- including the SAT® and the Advanced Placement Program®. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators and schools.