GB Triathletes in Cuevas del Almanzora

28 Jan

You will notice that I haven’t been posting much recently – the minute the family left after Christmas, I started cooking for the triathletes at the Kinetic PB training camp  and just finished last night!   It was fantastic fun, if a little tiring – 6 nights a week for girls and boys who had been training virtually all day long and therefore came back hungry and looking forward to some home cooking.

The camp has really taking off with triathlon teams from Manchester and Scotland choosing to train here, mainly because of the dry, sunny weather.  It can be chilly first and last thing, but during the day you can get 5 or 6 hours of lovely warm weather- a little different from theUK!

The latest athletes to make it out here are the GB Triathlete team who are manically training for their busy season ahead and what is after all an Olympic year.

We have high hopes for medals at the event which is to be held at Hyde Park this summer and so shall be watching out for any familiar faces!

I, too, felt like an athlete, but of the culinary kind – racing to shop, cook and serve substantial and tasty meals that I thought they would enjoy – they were an amazing bunch to cook for – no complaints and hardly anything they didn’t eat and so made life very easy from that perspective.

They had a gruelling but enjoyable time here – the roads are amazing for cycling (they went up to Seron – twice -an hour away by CAR!) – I think they loved the rugged scenery, the blue skies and the great location of their camp.  They even swam in the man-made lake at the camp – freezing at this time of year, the sea at Garrucha (crazy), but mainly used the indoor swimming pool in our local town of Cuevas.

Running, of course, is made easy, due to the lack of traffic, endless hill and mountain.

In the next weeks, they are all off to various parts ofSouth America– I can’t pretend that I am not envious, but only of the travel part – I am no athlete really!  We wish them all the best and hope they will be back again.

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Minnie (now Cleo) the Podenco has a new home

11 Jan

It was a sad day for us on Monday but a good one for Minnie – our friend Alan (Canon!) Bennett has been thinking about getting himself a canine companion for some time and after having met Minnie at our Christmas party, decided that it was time for a decision.

We all went for a walk on Saturday to see how they got along (Mick and I have been walking her on the lead and she is becoming quite good).  She is a real beauty and is going to be one elegant dog.  At the moment, like all puppies, she is full of life and quite a handful, but has her really good, calm moments and I think will make a very good pet for Alan.  I, of course, cried my eyes out when they left, but Minnie hopped in the back of Alan’s car quite happily and off they went.  She will miss us for a while, as we miss her, but long term undoubtedly she will be very happy with Alan.

We have become, unsurprisingly, very attached to Minnie and were adamant that she was not going to go to a rescue centre.  I had been in touch with an amazing girl who rescues Podencos on a regular basis, and finds homes for them.  She was going to help us with Minnie, but obviously we are delighted that after a month at Cortijo del Sevillano, we were able to home her locally where we will be able to see her thrive and grow.

Here is a picture of Alan and Minnie, now Cleo, in her new home – I wonder who is going to be the boss!

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Ballycastle Pancakes

9 Jan

Ok –how did that happen!!  A month has gone by with no blogging!  But as you will see from my last post, a third dog and a puppy at that, plus 10 of us here for the holidays kept me on my toes to say the least.  Now we are back to 2 humans and 3 dogs and still looking for a home for Minnie the Podenco.

 

Anyhow, I will start the New Year with a recipe for one of the things which I made over Christmas to have with drinks;  the recipe for which came from our friend David Rice.  You can call them drop scones, blinis or pancakes, are fantastically versatile and you can pretty much have them with whatever you like.  You can top them with maple syrup, honey or jam; bacon and poached eggs or as I have done in the picture, smoked salmon and sour cream.  They are utterly delicious and just really easy to make when you have a little bit of time to spare.  You can buy things like this easily enough but there is nothing like the taste of something freshly prepared at home.

 

To have a go, roll your sleeves up and follow David’s recipe!

 

Sift together 150 grams self-raising flour plus 1/2 tsp. baking powder with 1 tbs. caster sugar.

 

Whisk in 3/4 cup milk and 1 egg to make a smooth batter.  Add a pinch of salt. Whisk to smooth.

 

Leave to sit for around 5 mins.

 

Griddle on cast iron or non stick pan greased with olive oil or unsalted butter on med. – high heat. Use a table or soup spoon to measure.

 

Turn when bubbles appear on top  — about 2 mins. either side. Depends on heat. You have to practice a bit but once you have had a go, you should find it relatively easy.

 

Cool on wire rack and then serve with whatever you feel like.

 

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Minnie the Podenco

7 Dec

In the never-a-dull-moment-living-in-Spain life, let me introduce you to Minnie (she looks like a little mouse!).  She was left in our friend Nevenka’s garden and I am afraid I am unable to walk away when it is on our own doorstep, so to speak!  There are fantastic animal charities here, but of course, they are bursting with tear-jerking stories of abandoned dogs and cats – Paws is our local one, but before we contact them, we are doing our best to home her ourselves.

As many of you know, the Inn is a bit full at Cortijo del Sevillano with Kevin, the Pointer and Digby the Jack Russell – both rescue dogs (well, Kevin found us and literally lay down on the doorstep).  At Christmas time one is even more given to acts of stupidity where these beautiful creatures are concerned – if you don’t want to be caught, don’t look into there eyes!!  I did and before I knew it there was a great big puppy cage in the hall.

She will going off to the Vet on Friday to be inoculated as it may be easier to home her if she is vaccinated. We are doing a bit of puppy training too in the hope that a well behaved dog will be an easy dog!  In the meantime, we are giving her lots of love, food and a bed by the fireside – if anyone knows anyone in the Almeria area who could perhaps give this wonderful animal a home, she and we would be forever grateful.

Please call us on 950 453 34o.

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San Jose

20 Nov

It occurred to me that I never blogged about San Jose, yet another fantastic beach fairly near us.  To get there, you have to drive in the direction of Almeria and then come off the motorway and through the Cabo de Gata, the natural parkland which goes on forever.  It is simply a stunning drive, I guess the equivalent of, say, Dartmoor and a long windy road goes right through it.  Obviously, there are severe building restrictions here thank goodness, but dotted around are sugar cube houses, a few rather beautiful houses and miles upon miles of hills and mountains in the distance.  Eventually you come upon the lovely little town of San Jose.

In July and August, it is of course incredibly busy with holiday makers, but for the rest of the summer months it is not crowded as really this is a little known corner of Spain.  There are several beaches around here, but the main holiday one is San Jose itself and is absolutely gorgeous.  A large, sandy beach, surrounded by great restaurants to eat and a few hotels sits at the back of the main street.  There are no sunbeds or brollies to be hired and so everything must be brought to the beach.  The water is sensational and like a bath to swim in.

During the Autumn, you can still enjoy a day out here as a lot of the restaurants stay open, and you can sit on the beach  and while away an afternoon quite happily as the climate is so mild so well into October and early November expect to pick up a tan!

There is also a very good little tourist information shop here with good maps and books, and a small selection of very nice gifts from the local area, pottery, olive oil, sea salt for those foodies among you.

San Jose is definitely in our top ten of favourite beaches in the region, so if you are staying in Almeria, it is a must.

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Gail’s Lime Farm Pie

6 Nov

Our friend Nevenka has 400 or so lime trees near the town of Vera– we call it the Lime Farm.  It is beautiful and until quite recently limes were quite hard to come by here and so she was lucky to have an entire grove of them!  Whenever Nevenka comes here or we go there, I come away with a bag full of the delicious things – my favourite cocktail is a Marguerita and so sometimes I juice up a load of limes and freeze it for future cocktail hours!  Other times, when I have been given kilos of frozen limes, I make marmalade.  But last week, with a basket full of fresh ones, I was keen to look up recipes that used a lot of fruit.  One of Mick’s favourite pud’s is Key Lime Pie.  So here is my take on the classic version – it works really well with the ginger biscuits instead of digestive, they are less fatty and compliment the zingyness of the limes. You can freeze them too, so I am going to get baking soon for Christmas time, as it is very light and refreshing after lunch or dinner, and since there will be 10 of us, it will be good to have a few things made up already to go.

To make enough for 8-10 slices

 

You will need a loose-based flan tin 9” in diameter lightly oiled – mine was a bit bigger and so if yours is you might want to increase the lime filling by half the recipe again.  The friends who ate it yesterday didn’t think it was necessary but if you like a deeper “pie” then feel free to do so.  The quantity for the  ingredients for the base was fine as it was.

 

For the base

 

95 G butter

 

225 ginger biscuits, smashed up to resemble crumbs

 

(if you have grape nut cereal in your cupboard, substitute 50g of the biscuits with them)

 

For the filling

 

Zest of 3 or 4 limes

 

150 ml freshly squeezed lime juice from 5 limes (depending on the size)

 

3 large egg yolks (when you have made the pie, immediately make some meringues and freeze those too!)

 

400 g tin of condensed milk (hence no additional sugar needed)

 

Small tub of whipping cream, whipped!

 

Grated dark chocolate (more for the look than the taste)

 

 

To serve

 

Some twists of lime dipped in sugar

 

 

 

Method

 

Pre heat the oven to Gas mark 4, 350 F or 180 C

 

Melt the butter and mix in the biscuits/grape nuts.  Empty into your flan case and then press down and make sure it goes up a bit at the sides to stop any leakage from the filling.  Place on a baking tray in the centre of the oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden

 

Then make up the filling.  Whisk the egg yolks and lime zest together with a hand whisk for 2 minutes.  Add the condensed milk and continue whisking for another 5 minutes or so to get some air into the mixture.  Add in the lime juice and give a final whisk. Pour onto the base and return immediately to the oven for around 20 minutes (a bit less in a fan oven).  Remove, cool and then cover in clingfilm and refrigerate, overnight if you like, but a couple of hours should do it. Then whip up the cream and spread or pipe it over your pie and put back in the fridge just to give a final chill.

 

 

 

To Serve

 

Grate good quality dark chocolate over the pie, decorate with a couple of lime twists and there you are.  It is a lovely easy pudding and really delicious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Angus and Hereford Steak Restaurant, Garrucha

28 Oct

As a lot of you who have been here know, we are very lucky in the vast selection of restaurants near the Cortijo – within 5 minutes away to 25 minutes – that is usually our limit particularly if we are going for dinner.   One in the middle, 15 minutes, is the Angus and Hereford Steak Restaurant – it is just fantastic if you are a carnivore.  It is on the main road into Garrucha, known for its fish restaurants.  It has no view and one purely goes there for the food and the service, both of which are always great.

Obviously it is known for its fantastic steaks (clue in the name!) but you can have an array of different main courses, including a fantastic rack of lamb or a huge mixed kebab on a skewer to name a couple.  They also have a decent selection of tasty starters, but really, a salad is more than enough as they serve you warm bread with alioli (garlic mayo) and chimichurri sauce (chilli and oil) so unless you generally have a massive appetite I would forego anything else.  All the cuts of beef are divine – I usually have a rib eye steak – but the sirloin and fillet are also excellent. They make lovely big home made chips too, so with a glass or two of Rioja and you are all set.

The staff are always glad to see you (obviously!) and the service is really attentive.  At the end of the meal, you are always asked what drink on the house you would like (not a dodgy liqueur either), whatever you like.  Although not the cheapest place to eat here, they have kept their prices the same for the last couple of years, and certainly you would be hard pushed to get a better steak anywhere. If you haven’t been there yet, I urge you to give it a whirl.

Angus and Hereford Restaurant, Garrucha telephone number: 950 460 588

 

 

Photography in Almeria

17 Oct

We are so lucky here as we are near the most fantastic natural park called Cabo de Gata (Cape of Cats).  It is only around 40 minutes away and also near my favourite beach, Agua Amarga which I have written about before.

Yummy Almeria has recently teamed up with Martyn Thompson, an experienced photographer and all-round good guy to offer landscape photography courses in the Cabo de Gata and the surrounding areas.

All of the photos in this post were taken by Martyn who has a unique knowledge of the park and is the perfect person to show you how to get the most out of your digital camera (rather than like most of us, just using an automatic setting!) and will take you to the best places to create some amazing images.

As well as the Cabo de Gata area, Martyn acts as a guide to those who are interested in exploring and photographing in Europe’s only desert here in the heart of Almeria.

We love the ideas he comes up with like the “full moon” photography excursions he has recently run, where you rely on a super long exposure to capture everything by pure moonlight.

If you own a digital camera and are interested in learning how to use it better and taking control of your pictures, or just want to get out with someone who is something of a local expert and get started then please contact us via email for more details – (gail19602011@hotmail.com).

Whether you are a beginner or an experienced photographer, we can organise a trip and/or lessons to help point your camera in the right direction and with some great guidance!

Hotel Santa Isabel la Real, Granada

2 Oct

We had some guests staying last week and they decided that as Granada is only a three hour drive away, that they had to go and visit the Alhambra.  I always encourage people to go there – it is one of my favourite places in the world and in fact those of you who come here for longer than a week, it really is lovely to do a little overnight trip somewhere else. Granada is an enchanting place and definitely worth the effort.

We go reasonably often and on one of our trips we went with an old school friend, Di, and her husband Pete who now live in Perth.  They researched our little three day trip and came up with the most gorgeous place to stay in the old town, Santa Isabella Real.

It was, it has to be said, a tiny bit tricky to find, but once you head for the old town and have a map, actually it is not too bad.

The hotel is, like a lot of smaller hotels inSpain, set around a central courtyard.  It is very simple, but absolutely gorgeous.  The rooms are fairly small, but beautiful, beds are luxurious as are the bathrooms and there is a lovely sitting room downstairs, and a breakfast room.  There is not bar in the hotel but frankly, when you are in Granada where there are hundreds of places for a pre-dinner drink or a late nightcap, it really doesn’t matter.

I would really recommend this charming hotel – it is not budget prices, but nor is it hideously expensive either and if you go in summer, the rates are really reasonable as all the Spaniards head for the coast. Breakfast is also included in the room rate, uncommon here for some reason; it is a relaxed affair and there is plenty to choose from.

Check out the website, www.hotelsantaisabellareal.com if you are planning a trip here.

Santa Isabel la Real Hotel, Granada telephone number is 958 294 658

Piedmont Roasted Peppers

25 Sep

This recipe is just fantastic – it is so simple, healthy and delicious – I serve it as a starter quite often as it is light on the tummy,  or a lovely easy lunch during the week, where I make one whole pepper each and serve with a piece of crusty bread.  If I am dieting, I just go easy with the olive oil (a teaspoon will be fine).  The peppers here are fantastic, large and plentiful.

It is so easy to prepare and can just be popped in the oven an hour before you want to serve.

So, if you are making it as a starter you will only need one large red pepper between two – don’t try and make it with green peppers, they are much more bitter and it doesn’t work.

For 4 people as a starter

2 large crisp red peppers

3or 4 large ripe tomatoes

8 tinned anchovy fillets

Couple of cloves of garlic

Extra virgin olive oil

Black pepper

Small bunch of basil leaves

Pre heat your oven to gas 4, 180 c, 350 F

Cut the peppers in half, through the stalk and cut out the seeds.  Place in a roasting tin.

Skin the tomatoes by plunging them into boiling water and leave for 5 or so minutes.

Cut into quarter and stuff into the peppers.  Peel and slice the garlic and sprinkle over each pepper.  Snip a couple of anchovy fillets over and season with black pepper (no salt needed with the anchovies).  Put a good glug of oil over each pepper.

Put the roasting tin on a high shelf and roast for 50 or 60 minutes.

Serve straight from the oven with the juice spooned over with lots of crusty bread.

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