Ever miss recess? Family game nights? Dedicating a whole day to just having a good time?

I don’t blame you—adulting is hard. Sometimes all I want to do is go back to being a kid, when I could completely lose myself in a game of cards or kickball and momentarily forget about the rest of the world. I miss the carefree way I made new friends and laughed so hard I couldn’t breathe—even with people I’d only just met.

Apparently, I’m not the only one suffering from this particular brand of nostalgia. A few years ago, the lovely and talented Majida Mundial (a longtime Madrid resident who hails from New York) decided to do something about it.

She created Let’s Go Ánimo, a company dedicated to helping people have fun, meet new friends, and release the inner child that lives on inside us all.

Majida, the founder of Let’s Go Ánimo, cracks up with The Playground participants.

Every month, Let’s Go Ánimo hosts The Playground, a night of board games and friendly competition that’s every bit as fun as it sounds. At first glance it may seem like your average expat networking night; it’s held on Thursday evenings on a trendy Malasaña street, everyone speaks English, and yes, there’s wine involved. But the similarities end there.

When you walk in the door, you’ll be placed on a team with other attendees who you’ll compete with throughout the night. The games are different every time—you might play Jenga, Scattergories, Cards Against Humanity, Limbo, Twister, or an endless number of other classics. The winner of each game is awarded points for their team, and at the end of the evening there’s a challenge round to crown the overall champion. Expect plenty of fun, prizes, and unlimited surprises. 

A fierce Twister competition puts players’ balance to the test.

Of course, there are some things that set The Playground apart from the game nights of your youth: namely, alcohol. The €10 entry fee includes a drink and a few small tapas, and you can buy more throughout the night if you’re still hungry (or thirsty). Beer, wine and tinto de verano are usually on offer.

If you’re shy or nervous about meeting new people, The Playground will leave you no choice but to let loose and get out of your comfort zone. Awkward icebreakers, dance-offs, improv activities… everything is fair game.

Pro tip: you’ll have more fun if you go all out and really get into it—apathy and introversion might be acceptable at a normal bar or networking night, but here they just won’t fly.

In addition to the monthly Playground events, Let’s Go Ánimo organizes special activities and celebrations throughout the year. Sometimes there’s a particular theme; the Christmas edition held in December featured a white elephant gift exchange, an ugly sweater contest, and no shortage of holiday cheer.

Participants strut their stuff in an ugly Christmas sweater fashion show.

Other past events have included picnics in the park and Thanksgiving-themed fun. Let’s Go Ánimo also offers corporate team building workshops, and Majida even teaches Sevillanas dance classes in English, if that’s your thing!

Stay up to date on upcoming events by joining the brand new Facebook group, The High-Vibe Tribe. According to Majida, “This group is being created to build an international family-like community of passionate people all over the world who believe that being an adult does not have to equal living a dull life, and that living the fulfilling life you dream of is not only possible but necessary!”

So if you’re tired of the same old language exchanges and afterwork meet-ups, and you want to try something totally new and unique, mark your calendar for the next edition of The Playground—or any of Let’s Go Ánimo’s events—and get ready to have the time of your life.

Info

• Facebook, Instagram & Website
• Location: El Salón del Artista, Calle de la Palma, 50
• Metro: Noviciado & Tribunal

On Calle Apodaca, just around the corner from the Mercado Barceló, is a little restaurant called Bar Pajarita. And I’m so excited to be able to do the honor of writing about it for Naked Madrid. Why, do you ask? It’s been on the go-to list for quite a while, and also on mine. One of my friends, who constantly raves about it, kept saying that I needed to go. This furthered my intrigue, but as time went by, the timing wasn’t right for me to get my first Pajarita experience. And then, one hot, summer night (one of many in this never-ending Madrid heat wave), I FINALLY got to see what Pajarita is all about. I was in luck as she was my partner-in-crime for the evening, helping decide which dishes to try.

We split four items, which was a perfect amount for dinner. The chef plays with a lot of different flavor profiles; this you can get a vibe for right away when you see the black napkin folded in the shape of a bow-tie (and in Spanish pajarita does in fact mean bow-tie) on top of your place-setting. This fusion of traditional ingredients and unique preparations is what makes it so playful, and so good. And that’s the point of the experience at Pajarita; they want you to have fun eating. You can eat with your standard fork and knife, or you can take the chopsticks at hold the napkin as a bow-tie when you walk in and eat that way too (or, as they say on their website if you dare).

We first started off with the quekas, which are quesadillas with mushrooms. The pico de gallo and the sunflower seed pesto were placed perfectly in the middle. While quesadillas often make for a challenge, these were perfect finger-food

Quekas

The next one, which was my hands-down favorite, were the huevos divorciados. Now don’t let the name (divorced eggs) fool you; the thing is that one one side that looks like potatoes is actually the egg white. As the name implies, the whites and the yolks are separated. And like a good Spaniard, you put the egg white as if it were a potato by dipping it in the yolk and mixing bites of seeds and lima beans.

Huevos divorciados- the “must-have” dish

We rounded out dinner with bacalao (cod) on top of a sweet potato purée and little squirts of mayonnaise…

Delicia de bacalao

…and one of my favorite meats, solomillo de buey on top of a pimientos de padrón mustard.

Coruñés 53

It definitely lived up to my friend’s hype, and I can’t wait to go back again and again. I also need to go back because we didn’t have dessert.  I’ll definitely work through as much of the menu as I can, but I will be (and still am) dreaming of the huevos divorciados going right into my mouth. On a quiet street in Malasaña, Bar Pajarita is a perfect place for dinner with great food and playful fun. It’s more fun if you have someone (or a few people) to have fun eating with.

Restaurante Pajarita