Carnival

I was exhausted after the weekend and the long mountain drive, and sat up on the terrace watching a couple of swallows courting on the TV ariels. We went out about 7 pm and came across the local Carnival 2007 which we thought we had missed, which ended in the blue church square, with dragon dancers, costumes and masques, and assorted singers……video of singers to follow.

Home via the old Granada/Malaga Road

Sunday 4^th March

We got up early as P was catching a morning flight from Malaga back to London, and had breakfast of eggs, goats cheese and Iberian ham the C prepared for us. After researching the route home from their useful guide books and maps, we left about 10 am to find the mountain roads, picking up the old route from Granada to Malaga from their guide book “25 back roads of Southern Spain”….a must for serious explorers.

We stopped off at Rio Frio which is renowned for its trout farms and fish restaurants. We had to pay a man with a cap and a whistle 1 € for the car park, although I’m sure it should have been free, although several car park attendants are required to manage the huge numbers of cars and coaches that flock to the restaurants on a Sunday.

We drove over the mountains via Alfarnate, Colmenar and along the mountain ridge of the Parque natural de los Montes, with fantastic views all the way to Malaga, getting home about 3 pm. We had been a bit apprehensive about the tiling when we left, but it was all complete with brown grouting, except for a bit at the bottom which Tommy had concreted rather than fitting slivers of tiles….another little job for him when he turns up next week.

Finca las Encinas & Eclipse

Iznajar & More Cooking

Saturday 3^rd March

Saturday dawned cold and clear, as we are high in the mountains, and we had a leisurely breakfast prepared by C. Afterwards, we drove into Isnajar with M to do a bit of sightseeing and to buy paella pans. We visited the Church and ornate cemetery at the highest point of the town. We then went in search of a paella pan for P who wanted to take one home, and after no success at 2 or 3 ferreteria/general purpose shops, found a shop with a huge range, and P plumped for a large 38 cm pan that serves 8 people for 4.10 €. I decided to get one too as such a bargain…!!

We then spent a lazy afternoon preparing the ingredients for Cordices en salsa de naranja (Quail with oranges) as a starter, and Asado de rape con habas, chorizo y almejas (Roast monkfish tail with broad beans, chorizo and clams), followed by a Tarta de chocolate (Chocolate truffle cake).

The afternoon preparation and cooking did not take as long as last night, and we sat down to eat about 8.30 pm, finishing in good time to see the Eclipse of the Moon @ 11.40 pm, which I guess most people watched around the world. However, as we were so high in the mountains and the air so clear, the visibility was superb, and it rounded off a wonderful couple of days.

C and P have reformed their large Finca (house) to a very high standard, with 3 double en suite rooms (the original exposed olive wood beams everywhere) in addition to their own living quarters, allowing them to run small but select cookery courses and rural bed and breakfast accommodation. Click on Finca Las Encinas for further details.

Cooking in Iznajar

Friday 2^nd March

I spent about 5 hours administration on my Bristol house purchase, using fax, e mail and phone calls in several Locutorios to my Solicitors, Bank, House Insurers etc…..quite a hassle buying a house from Spain !! J was getting itchy feet by Noon, as we due to leave for my cooking course weekend in Iznajar, and as I didn’t finish till after 1 pm, after faxing off final instructions, she was not happy !! Our departure was not helped by a contretemps with Tommy re tile cement ….a debate on the colour….J wanted brown and Tommy just wanted to use grey cement. As J was in no mood to discuss, I suggested he did brown cement matching brown edge tiles or leave it until Monday.

It took about 1½ hours to drive to Iznajar, a small town by a large lake in the mountains, on the edge of the Subbetica National Park. This is south of the olive oil capital of Baena, and all one can see for miles around are olive trees …..hundreds of thousands of them in this area alone. We arrived about 2.30 pm to a warm welcome to Finca Las Encinas , a cookery school run by a charming couple C and M, with P the other cookery student, who had arrived from London the previous evening..

After a delicious chicken salad for lunch, P and I got straight down to the cooking, kneading the facaccia dough P had made earlier, and putting it in a flat pan swimming in quality virgin olive oil, vegetable preparation for the Paella de Valenciana, and juicing the lemons for the Tarta de limon., washed down with plenty (1.5 litre bottle) of Rioja ……a bit “Keith Floyd” for cookery programme addicts with long memories.

J, who was not doing the course, sat out on the terrace reading. After a break, tasting the freshly baked facaccia bread with olive oil, and some morrocan seed bread P had made earlier, we re-started about 6 pm and scrubbed the fresh mussels, prepared and sliced the squid, peeled the king prawns, and cut up the rabbit and belly pork for the paella.

After a long evening of cooking the paella, we all sat down about 9.30 pm for a superb meal of Ensalad de oruga, cilantro y esparragos (Rocket, coriander and wild asparagus salad), the paella and the tarta limon, followed by brandies and a long chat, getting to bed well after midnight.

Tiling and guttering

Thursday 1^st March

Another warm and sunny day. I got up early, and after breakfast, drove to the ferreteria to buy caucho for the bedroom ceiling, arriving back about 9.30 to find Ricardo already there, and Tommy just arriving……might get some serious work done today.

Tommy started measuring up the tiles for the front of the house, and Ricardo cracked on with the upstairs bathroom lights (3 halogen spots in the ceiling, so not a quick and easy job). It was also messy and dusty as the light holes had to be drilled out of the yeso (plaster) ceiling + channels in concrete, so another big mess !!

Tommy started the actual tiling….we had thought Ricardo would do it as the master tiler, starting around the door 3 tiles high. There was much debate about the border and how it should look at the entrance.

I cauchoed the bedroom ceiling, and painted round the bathroom spots at Ricardo’s request, whilst J cleaned and supported them as she has found it impossible to work and be at the beck and call of both Ricardo and Tommy.

I made several trips to the ferreteria for a casing tube for the terrace lights, and also for a new patio light, as it was in the way of the new guttering which also arrived today. The latter trip involved a lengthy search in the depths of the ferreteria, and the boy eventually found Chinese one priced @ 3,500 pesetas …. so pretty old stock….21 euro !! J didn’t want to buy it, but I felt sorry for the boy and bought it.

Ricardo brought more guttering pipes in the afternoon, and then announced he was going now, and that Tommy could finish everything, as “he needed to go home for a siesta as he had worked so hard” !! …..and the Chinese light is crap …..no good….take it back !!” Tommy worked hard all afternoon tiling and measuring up for guttering.

Dia de Andalucia

Wednesday 28^th February

We awoke early, just in case Ricardo or Tommy appeared as promised. As there was no sign of them, we planned a full days cauchoing and painting. I scraped the bedroom ceiling before driving to my favourite Ferreteria on the other side of town, but it was closed …..odd, but they must close on Wednesdays. I then drove back to another ferreteria , but it too was closed, as were most businesses on the Poligono. It was dawning on me that it must be a Public Holiday, reinforced by the light traffic.

I checked up on my web page listing Bank Holidays and Saints days, and sure enough, 28^th February is Dia de Andalucia which we thought had been on Sunday. Without caucho, we had to rearrange the painting schedule, concentrating on the bedroom walls rather than cauchoing the ceiling and painting it as planned.

We also made up the table for the mediterranean blue terrace set , and celebrated before going out. We dined out at one of our local Chinese Restaurants …excellent meal of spring roll, special fried rice, half crispy duck with oranges, and beef chop suey + bottle wine, all for 20 €…!!

Ordering the kitchen and sink

Tuesday 27^th February

We awoke early to another fine day, and after breakfast, and caught up with work photos of previous days. We then drove to Pizarra to buy a trendy sink at Pavisan, stopping off at the river to birdwatch……saw several new birds including 2 white herons/s in the trees, and 2 different black and white birds…..one with a white eye and a black breast (maybe a grey plover, which breeds in the arctic, and migrates to Africa ) , and another with a white breast and a black eye (identified as probably a little ringed plover)…..both feeding on the river bed together.

We drove back to Beltran to re-look at kitchens in accordance with the new plans…..very helpful people and after changing the design slightly, we ordered kitchen for 391.5 €…..not bad by UK standards ……but have to add sink @ 135 € and fridge freezer @ 150-275 €. They said it would be ready in about a week…..!!

We dined at the BP Garage for dinner, but we did’nt receive the usual friendly welcome, and we soon found out…….about 50 guests for some sort of celebration arrived over a 40 minute period, with our man constantly running through to the restaurant across the way with starters…..not a good day for us to dine obviously.

Pics of today not related to text.....tiles in front room to decide gaps between them, and the dresser we picked up for 25 euro at Fuengirola market.

Painting & Kitchen designing

Monday 26^th February

Awoke to another sunny day, and we got back to work on the house. We painted most of the day, including the front of the house, porch and patio.

Most of it was finishing work which took quite awhile. Whilst painting in street, Ruin man appeared with a photographer , who took a single shot of the ruin…..Estate Agent ? ….on the market ? …..Ruin man acknowledged me but no clues about putting house on market, other than he had a brief word with the Dutch lady…..so there maybe a clue from her sometime ?

After lunch of Spring rolls on the porch, we finished painting around the arab tiles and the porch roof in the afternoon, clearing up about 5 pm. We then had a kitchen designing session, with J coming up with the best design, if it is possible to get that combination of units.

Tivoli World

Sunday 25^th February

We thought today was Andalucia Day, and visited Tivoli World at Benalmadena in the afternoon for a festival of music and dance to celibrate Dia de Andalucia. The first hour of the celebrations was excellent, featuring girls from the various Malaga dance academies , some as young as 5 years old. Hopefully the pics and short video capture the atmosphere…….video to follow.

We then decided to have lunch at our grandstand seats waiting for the next Act…..the International Show at 2 pm featuring a Spanish ballet company. However, the show never materialised….. it was billed to be on at 3 pm at the other stage, but that never happened either.

We then explored Tivoli World, which is a mix of a mini Disney World and a fairground, with a big wheel, free fall tower and water spume….see pics…..great place to take kids up to 15 years probably. Walked back to the other stage about 3.45 pm and caught the end of the Far West Can-Can show….we think….very tacky but quite colourful. ….video to follow.

Another different show was billed in half an hour , so we waited at a table without being served, and then caught the same act again…..!