My name is Elisa Carter, and I arrived in Spain from the USA with my father William, Guillermo, and my family in 1954. We lived in a small boarding house downtown and it was there that we met Don Antonio, owner of Casa Botin, where we often went to eat.
My mother wanted to prepare the traditional Thanksgiving turkey in November, but unfortunately it didn't fit in our small oven. Because of his friendship, Don Antonio generously offered the famous Botin oven for its preparation, and that is how we were able to celebrate our traditional holiday in a special way.
In 1975 my parents finally left Madrid and retired to the USA but the friendship between the two of them remained. Don Antonio continued to communicate with my father through the Christmas pictures he drew in pen and ink of the various corners of Casa Botin.
Two decades later, I returned to Madrid for a visit and went to greet Don Antonio on my father's behalf. He remembered me, as the little girl, and asked me if I was coming for dinner. The restaurant was packed and I told him that I had no reservation and that I had come just to say hello, but he insisted that I had dinner, inviting me to a glass of sherry with tapas of ham, while I waited for a table. I told him that I was a Spanish teacher in the USA and that I shared with my students the Christmases I sent to my father, which also had the letter upside down. Then, Don Antonio insisted that I should have some of my own, bringing me 12 different rolled up drawings as a gift.
These, I have framed them and today they are in my kitchen in Alicante where I now reside, as a great memory of Casa Botín, and of Don Antonio, with his generosity, kindness, and of the friendship between him and my father.
