Un Pez Gordo

I'm handing over the reins for a few days. 'Ol Duende is off to the old country and has taken the camera with him, so I'm going to take leave of my senses and party for a few days. Bliss. I've invited Carmen round for a late supper on Friday. If I'm lucky I might catch the big fish and get all sticky with her and not her doughnuts. Me? MickeyBiscuit? Here? In the casita with Carmen? At three o'clock in the morning? With my reputation? What were they thinking of?

Factoid: Spanish Words & Phrases - Pescados - Fish & Seafood.

boquerones > fresh anchovies
calamares > fried squid rings
gambas > prawns
almejas > clams
angulas > baby eel
atún > tuna
bacalao > dried salt cod
bonito > type of tunny fish
calamares en su tinta > squid cooked in its own ink
gambas a la plancha > grilled prawns
langosta > lobster
langostinos > king prawns
lenguado > sole
lubina > bass
mejillones > mussels
merluza > hake
mero > grouper
platija > plaice
pez espada > swordfish
rape > monkfish
salmonetes > red mullet
sardinas > sardines
trucha > trout
zarzuela de mariscos > assorted grilled seafood

Tremendo

Tremendo. Oh aren't I the funny one. My Spanish is getting really local now. Anyway, had a tremendous day in the woods. Isn't it amazing just how many different species of tree there are. I counted 158 and then gave up. Saw a few Pine Processionary Caterpillar nests. Nasty little buggers they are. Tell you about them one day. In the meantime stay safe. Besos.

Factoid: The Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster) is a pine native to the western Mediterranean region. The range extends from Portugal and Spain north to southern and western France, east to western Italy, and south to northern Morocco, with small outlying populations in Algeria and Malta (possibly introduced by man). It generally occurs at low to moderate altitudes, mostly from sea level to 600 m, but up to 2000 m in the south of its range in Morocco.

Refinería De Azúcar

Carmen the Bonita Senorita I've got a soft spot for popped round today with some doughnut nibbles. What a kafuffle, first the little blighter got stuck to my paw. It was dripping with sticky sugar. Then I dropped it on my tummy. It got stuck to my whiskers, my nose, everywhere. And it didn't even taste that nice when I finally got it to my mouth. I didn't let on to Carmen that it was quite yucky. Just grinned like a Cheshire cat and licked my lips, and my paws, and my tummy, and and. I wish Carmen had offered to help. That would have been nice.

Factoid: Around the towns of Motril and Salobrena, on the southern coast of Spain, sugar cane is still grown, an interesting remnant of a regional agro-industrial complex that has existed for a thousand years. Unfortunately the practice is about to come to an end with the closure of the last remaining sugar mill to produce sugar in the whole of Europe.

The Muslim Umayyads first introduced it in the tenth century, and it persisted throughout the medieval and modern centuries, despite rather marginal growing conditions. In favoured valleys, such as the Vega of Granada, the countryside around Seville, and along the rivers near Motril and Málaga, sugar cane found a warm climate that in most years escaped freezing temperatures.

Agua Tranquilo

Took a stroll down to the river and waterfall today. It's all so different there since the storm. All my old pontificating spots were washed away, but I'm slowly finding new ones. I really like this spot where the river almost stops. It's really tranquil. Well it was until Boots appeared. Peace shattered. "Go on chuck it, go on, yeah, yeah, I'm ready." Be on your guard against a silent dog and still water.

Still water. Walk with me. Take my hand. Debajo de las aguas inmóviles.

Factoid: Sant Aniol is a still water from a 40,000-year-old spring in Spain. The Aigua de Sant Aniol company has their spring in Sant Aniol de Finestres (Girona - Spain) in the privileged setting of La Garrotxa Volcanic Park . Aigua de Sant Aniol rises to the surface from 55 meters depth after slowly filtering over time, providing unrivalled purity.

Capullo De Rosa

Ahh, fin de semana. Sabado. Clear blue sunny sky. Empty casa. What shall I do today? I think I'll have a day butterflying. You get a sense of achievement from butterflying. Start 100 things, finish none, but hey you started them. Nope, I'm going lie on the terrace, all day. I'll probably take a break and have some tapas y agua. It's cool being a cat in your senior years, no one cares what you do. They expect you to siesta all day. Highly recommended. Ooh, look a rose.

Factoid: Motril Earthquake Day. On the 13th January there is a procession to give thanks for the scarce damage caused during the earthquakes of 1804 and 1884. This is one of the oldest annual traditions when the town remembers when a series of earthquakes caused serious damage in the municipality. The images taken out in procession are the Virgen de la Cabeza and Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno. During the earthquakes the inhabitants prayed to these images to bring an end to the tremors and at last they came to an end.

The was also another event on this day, the tremors are still being felt ;-)

Playa Salobreña

“Among the many thousands of things that I have never been able to understand, one in particular stands out. That is the question of who was the first person who stood by a pile of sand and said, "You know, I bet if we took some of this and mixed it with a little potash and heated it, we could make a material that would be solid and yet transparent. We could call it glass." Call me obtuse, but you could stand me on a beach till the end of time and never would it occur to me to try to make it into windows.” Bill Bryson quotes (American Writer, b.1946)

Need I say more!

Factoid: The jewel of the Costa Tropical. Salobrena is a whitewashed town clinging to huge lump of rock just back from the shoreline, topped by a Moorish castle and surrounded by lush sugar cane plantations.
Salobrena has eight kilometres of coastline about half of which are made up of the popular beaches of La Guardia, La Charca and Salobrena Beach. To the west of Salobreña the coastline is peppered with small coves and beaches. A mere 45 minutes from Granada, and just over an hour to the Sierra Nevada, Salobrena is also ideally situated for exploring the Alpujarra, some forty minutes away. From October to April, you could be in the happy position of being able to ski during the morning and sunbathing and swimming in the afternoon.

Calentamiento Global

Glory, glory, glory. Out on the terrace at 9 this morning. Woken up early by the butano man. Why does the butano man have the loudest horn in the world and why does he have to use it to its full extent? We all know the butano man comes on Thursday morning! I'm going to spend the day in the sun doing zilch, nada, nuffink. I'm in heaven.

Factoid: Scorcher in Spain this Summer. The year 2006 was the hottest for Spain in almost 150 years, but 2007 will be worse, with the warmest summer since the 17th century, the Weather Institute reported. Last year was the hottest year in history with temperatures 1.34 degrees centigrade above the average, according to the INM. That number exceeded those of 2003 by 1.32 degrees, which up to that moment had the record with a heat wave that caused thousands of deaths in all Europe. The Weather Institute assures that the four biggest heat waves in Spain have been since 1995 but affirms 2007 could beat records. The reason is in the climate change, experts reported.

Planta Con Puntas

There's been a lot of talk recently in the news about global warming. Being the botanist that I am, one thing I've noticed on my travels this winter is the number of plants in bloom. Blooming plants in January! Has spring come early? This spiky chap is in Antonio's garden. Bet its spikes are not as sharp as my claws though.

Factoid: Climate change could affect long established patterns, the study says A Europe-wide study has provided "conclusive proof" that climate change is responsible for spring arriving earlier each year, researchers say. Scientists from 17 nations examined 125,000 studies involving 561 species. The season was beginning on average six to eight days earlier than it did 30 years ago, researchers said.
In regions such as Spain, which saw the greatest increases in temperatures, the season began up to two weeks earlier.

Hormiga Gigante

I don't believe it. Went out this morning and there crawling around the terrace was a giant ant. I mean giant, really, really, really big. It did give me a fright, scared the mierda out of me. After I'd calmed down and on closer inspection I realised it was Don D. playing silly buggers. Got my own back by spending the morning pacing around meowing as loud as I could. Boy do I have a loud meow, he was not happy.

Factoid: A species of Argentine ant introduced into Europe about 80 years ago has developed the largest super colony ever recorded. It stretches 6,000 kilometres - from northern Italy, through the south of France to the Atlantic coast of Spain - with billions of related ants occupying millions of nests. While ants from rival nests normally fight each other to the death, ants from the super colony have the ability to recognise each other and co-operate - even if they come from nests at opposite ends of the colony's range. The Argentine species (Linepithema humile) probably came into Europe on imported plants, pushing back the 20 or so indigenous species of European ant.

Toca El Timbre

So you've heard the tale about being crapped on by a bird being a sign of luck, si? Well I think my luck was in today. Ring the bell. Out for a stroll and wham, splat, just missed being flattened by a pile of stork poo. As you may also know, storks are not small birds, they are big blighters and therefore being hit by a discharge from a stork would be somewhat detrimental to my wellbeing. I won 20€ in the El Nino lottery so that was lucky then. Yo no voy a misa.

Factoid: In Spain, one often observes Storks nesting in the upper reaches of cathedrals and bell towers. Of course, storks are easy to spot…because they’re enormous! They have six-foot wingspans. And if you think the birds are big, you should see their nests. Spaniards seem to embrace the stork. Churches and other towering municipal structures actively encourage their presence by erecting platforms on which they can more easily build their nests.

Cerdo Salado

It's matanza time. There is an air of excitement throughout the village. The knives are being sharpened, the garlic and onions peeled. It's going to be feast and fiesta for the next three weeks. Didn't we just finish three weeks of feast and fiesta? Oh, I almost forgot, I'm in Spain. It's 52 weeks of feast and fiesta. Tummy's grumbling, must away.......

Factoid: The first stage in the jamon curing process is when and the hams are packed in piles of salt to help dry and preserve them. The length of this salting process depends on temperature and the weight of the ham but is usually around one to two weeks. The minimum amount of salt is used because a Serrano ham that is over-salted becomes heavy and tough over time. The salt is then cleaned off and the hams are hung up to dry, for between one to two months, at a temperature of between 5ºC to 10ºC and a high humidity of 75% - 80%. This period is called 'asentamiento' and concentrates the flavour by drying out the moisture and infusing the ham with the remaining salt. Next comes the real curing process which turns the white fat to yellow, transforms the meat into its deep ruby colour, and gives Serrano ham its characteristic aroma. This lasts between six to twelve months with the meat adapting to the temperature and humidity of spring and summer. After the first month or so of this, the hams are covered with a blue-grey mould. It does not look very appetising but this is what gives it its aroma because in the summer, as the hams sweat off the fat, the odour of the mould infuses into the meat. During the last month or so of the curing period the hams will go through 'maduracion'. This is when the temperature and humidity is dramatically increased to spread the fats throughout the ham and increase the flavour. After this carefully controlled process the hams will have lost 20% to 40% of their weight and will be considered ready to enjoy.

Los Reyes Magos

Ouch, ooohhhhh, my head hurts. Joined in the procession of los reyos magos suitably attired in hard hat. You don't really stand a chance when hard boiled sweets are raining down on you by the '000's. I ducked and dived but to no avail. With bruised eyes and sticky paws I made it to the church square where I drowned my sorrows with copious cups of sweet hot chocolate. Yummy. Must work on a protection plan for next year.

Factoid: While most of the world has already begun packing up the Christmas ornaments, throwing out the tree, and finding a place for all of their gifts, Spaniards are continuing the celebration. January 6, Three King’s Day, is the long awaited day in which the three Kings bring their gifts. On January 5, children go to a parade where they see the three kings arrive to their city, and take the opportunity to ask them for gifts. Later, before going to bed, children leave their shoes out in a visible spot in the house or on their balcony, go to bed hoping that when they wake up they will find gifts left by Mechior, Gaspar, and Balthasar. For breakfast or after lunch, families often have the typical dessert of the day, the “Roscón de los Reyes”, a large ring shaped cake that is decorated with candied fruits, symbolic of the emeralds and rubies that adorned the robes of the three kings. Somewhere inside the cake there is a surprise, and the person to find it will be crowned King or Queen of the house for the remainder of the day.

Terremoto

Had just snuggled down for the night when I felt a series of judders. Huummmmm me thinks, has my diet changed? Nope! Didn't give it any more thought and drifted back to my dreams. Scanning through the news in the morning I discovered that there had been a minor earthquake just up the road. I'm going to build a shelter next week.....just in case. Have another earthquake to deal with this evening, los reyos magos will be in town chucking gazillions of sweets to all and sundry. Where is my hard hat?

Factoid: A small earthquake registering 3.8 on the Richter scale struck parts of Malaga and Granada early this morning. There was no serious damage or injuries, but nearly two hundred people called the emergency services. The epicentre of the quake was in Santa Fe to the west of Granada. Hundreds felt the tremor in Granada, and the town of Armilla, Loja, Santa Fe, La Zubia, Ogíjares, Cijuela and the city of Malaga and some parts of Murcia. Residents in Santa Fe said they felt "nervous and worried" but were reassured by police. It is the strongest quake to hit this part of Spain for the past three years. The region is no stranger to seismic shocks. Spain’s National Geographic Institute states Granada experiences an average of three earthquakes each day, although most of these are not strong enough to be noticeable. In 1884, an earthquake tore through the town of Alhama de Granada destroying 5,000 homes and leaving 800 people dead. The disaster, which created Alhama’s dramatic gorge, is thought to have been the worst of its kind in Spain’s history.

Hojas De Caramelo

Toffee managed to get me away from the comfort of my bed today. He had this mad idea that he wanted to play hide and seek. He also managed to hoodwink Don D. y Señora Comecocos into his game plan. He picked the short straw so we all went and hid. I found a great place up an oak tree. Don D. went to Bar Olivo and Señora Comecocos found a tranquil spot on the river. The only things Toffee had found after an hour were 5 oranges, 17 walnuts, 8 avocados and 12 lemons. He gave up trying to find us. I was the only one who appeared from hiding. I told him to go and hide. Like a puppy with a bone he scampered off. I counted to 50, looked over the ledge and there he was. He had made so much noise rustling in the leaves it wasn't too difficult. He got all sulky. Still haven't seen Don D.

Factoid: 1528, Chocolate Arrives in Spain: Cortès presented the Spanish King, Charles V with cocoa beans from the New World and the necessary tools for its preparation. And no doubt Cortès taught him how to make Chocolate. The Spaniards mixed the beans with sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. The results were tantalising, coveted, fashionable, and reserved for the Spanish nobility which created a demand for the fruits of his Spanish plantations. Chocolate was a secret that Spain managed to keep from the rest of the world for almost 100 years! It is no secret that Chocolate has enjoyed a reputation as an aphrodisiac ever since Conquistadores first became aware of the "pagan" ways of the Aztecs who regarded chocolate as a medicine, but probably not as an aphrodisiac.

Naranja Balón De Playa

Spent a couple of hours on the beach today. The beach in early January I hear you cry. Si, la playa. Warm and calm. We walked, we talked and we chased balls, well Toffee chased balls. We watched the sun go down. Toffee tried to chase that too. We got cold. We went home. T'was jolly pleasant.

Factoid: “Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.”

El Ultimo Suspiro Del Moro

Had a very lazy day, slept in my igloo on the terrace for most of it. Need to recharge my batteries to be ready for Three Kings.

Factoid: On January 2, 1492, King Boabdil surrendered Granada to the Catholic Monarchs, Isabel of Castile and Fernando of Aragón. It signalled the end of nearly 800 years of Moorish civilisation in Spain.

Boabdil reined in his horse and surveying for the last time the Alhambra and the green valley that spread below he burst into tears. "You do well," said his unsympathetic mother, "to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man." The spot from which Boabdil looked for the last time on Granada is still shown, and is known as "the last sigh of the Moor" (el último suspiro del Moro).

Feliz Año 2007

¡Bienvenidos 2007! They do know how to party here, the celebrations went on through the night, fireworks were still streaking into the dawn sky at 7am. We all had a good night, I managed to avoid the 12 grapes. How many resolutions will be kept? I don't make New Years resolutions, with my holistic lifestyle and no vices there is nothing that I need to change. Spent a very pleasant afternoon with amigos enjoying a few copas y tapas enjoying the sunshine.

Factoid: On January 1, 1999, Spain, along with ten other countries in the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) decided to give up their own currencies and adopt the Euro (EUR) currency: Euro bank notes and coins began circulating on January 1, 2002. At that time, all transactions were valued in Euro, and the "old peseta" notes and coins were gradually withdrawn from circulation. The peseta ceased being legal tender on 28th February 2002.

ESP / 166.386 = EUR

EUR × 166.386 = ESP