We've gone out the last two nights in search of some school-night entertainment. So far we're one for two.

Monday, we saw Portuguese jazz singer Maria de Madeiros perform at Luz de Gas. Lee and I had to stifle laughs at how bad the singing was as we made our exit about six songs into the show. To be fair, the musicians were great, and the venue is fantastic. Plus our tickets were free.

Last night, we took a Vietnamese cooking class at a place called Romeo & Juliet. I've said for awhile the Vietnamese cuisine is my favorite, so I had pretty high expectations. We made a green mango salad, pork skewers and a orange milk dessert. Everything was half prepared for us so there wasn't any serious work to be done. It helped that you could order drinks between preparing course. We made good use of our cava bucket both to keep our bottle cold and to wash our hands. Of course Lee and I were uber competitive trying to be the best at supreming oranges (it felt like a Top Chef relay!), doing everything the fastest, etc. The teacher actually told us we were one of the best groups when we left. That was pretty much all I needed to make the 30 euros we spent worth it!

Plus, we sat next to some very friendly Spaniards, one fo whom is a partner at the chocolate shop Cacao Sampaka, which Ferran Adria also happens to be a partner at. His name was Albert, so I had it in my head that he must be Ferran's little brother, Albert in cognito for a night of amateur cooking fun. Upon google image searching later that night, I realized that's not the case. However, this might be a our eventual ticket to an impossible reservation at El Bulli. We'll see!