I remember having to go through all our cupboards back in Sheffield, deciding what we would bring to Spain and what we would get rid of. Hindsight has shown, as with many people, that we should have brought a lot of stuff we didn't and some of the stuff we did bring really wasn't that important.
But I did have a cabinet in the dining room full of various glasses - and I remember thinking at the time that over the years I had never managed to have a full set of matching glasses for more than about a month - but I had lots of very nice glasses in sets of 5!
It started with my first ever set of glasses that weren't from coupons we got everytime we filled the car up with petrol. This was a set of 4 very pretty wine glasses, all hand etched and bought as a wedding present (the first time around) by my work colleagues. They were kept in the cabinet for special occassions and on their second outing they were reduced to 3 after I accidentally knocked one against the tap as I rinsed the soap from it to avoid having marks when it dried! I remember debating long and hard whether to bring the remaining 3 with me to Spain, after all they had been in my cupboard over 25 years and had survived much longer than my first marriage - but in the end, I didn't bring them.
I have always enjoyed a glass of wine from time to time, but over the last few years have found that I enjoyed it better from a small wine glass, when all the time wine glasses seemed to be getting bigger. So shortly before leaving for Spain I bought 6 small wine glasses, not expensive as I have learnt over the years that the more expensive the glasses, the quicker they are reuced to 5.
These survived the packing and the move to Spain. These survived the move from one villa to the other and then up to the new house. These didn't survive being used for dessert.
We had friends over last Thursday and then more on Saturday and Neil, in his culinary flair mood, decided that he wanted to do a dessert of different layers of jelly (homemade, of course) and that they would look better in glasses than dishes so the artistry could be appreciated. We had the 6 matching wine glasses and on Thursday there would be 4 of us - and of course we needed to try it before we served it to guests, so 2 extra for us.
He took so much care over his layers of Strawberry, Mango and then Kiwi fruit jellies, topped with custard over sliced banana and finished with a flourish of fresh cream & a strawberry. As he leant over for the 6th glass to put the final flourish he caught it on the work top and the stem broke clean away from the base.
And so, the tradition continues - once again we have a matching set of 5 wine glasses.
Last Saturday there were 6 of us (fortunately, one of the guys preferred beer with his dinner, so the set of 5 glasses worked just fine). Neil had this time used his 6 cocktail glasses to layer the jelly into and it looked very striking. These were from IKEA about a year ago, and I think were about €1 each - I have found that the length of time I can keep a set of 6 glasses together is directly proportional to the cost. The cocktail glasses survived until the meal, they survived until the washing up BUT they didn't survive long enough to go back in the cupboard. One decided to make a 'break' for freedom and jumped off the draining board and shattered on the floor tiles.
I can now, hand on heart, formerly declare and confirm that there is no longer a single set of 6 matching glasses of an kind in my cabinet.
How do I do it?
Monday, 18 January 2010
Friday, 15 January 2010
Don't you just love those 'Well I never....' moments?
On Boxing day night, (I always think there should be a proper phrase for it but I've no idea what!) we were invited up to our neighbours on the hill for tapas and drinks. Janet had been given a lovely recipe book for various tapas dishes and she wanted to try a few out.
She had also invited Maria and Bernardo, who are our nearest Spanish neighbours. I had met Maria once before, while sitting in the car at the roadside trying to do some internet stuff in those distant days of not having an internet connection at the house - wow, that seems such a long time ago! Anyway, Maria has a herd of goats, about 100, which she walks everyday for about 3 hours, and she was walking them past the top of our land when she passed me in the car. I had a chat with her, using all my best practiced Spanish phrases and she walked away.
We had heard about Bernardo, but had never met him.
So it was good to meet them both and, as they don't speak any English, the majority of the evening was spent with Janet, Graham and myself trying to have a conversation in both English & Spanish, and with the help of the dictionary we managed quite well.
Maria & Bernardo have lived a rural, farming life among the almond trees and have raised a family here, some of which are still local and others have moved away. One of whom, also called Bernardo, works at a restaurant in.....
Yes, you've guessed it.....this is the 'well, I never' moment.....
San Juan de los Terreros!
Now, I did remember, through a slightly intoxicated state, when were at Pepa's for Halloween, one of the waiters I was talking to told me that he was from Velez Rubio. Hey Ho, it turns out that our nearest Spanish neighbours are his parents. I know Velez isn't a massive town, but it does have about 7,000 inhabitants so I still think that is a genuine 'well I never' moment.
Such things just never fail to amaze me!
She had also invited Maria and Bernardo, who are our nearest Spanish neighbours. I had met Maria once before, while sitting in the car at the roadside trying to do some internet stuff in those distant days of not having an internet connection at the house - wow, that seems such a long time ago! Anyway, Maria has a herd of goats, about 100, which she walks everyday for about 3 hours, and she was walking them past the top of our land when she passed me in the car. I had a chat with her, using all my best practiced Spanish phrases and she walked away.
We had heard about Bernardo, but had never met him.
So it was good to meet them both and, as they don't speak any English, the majority of the evening was spent with Janet, Graham and myself trying to have a conversation in both English & Spanish, and with the help of the dictionary we managed quite well.
Maria & Bernardo have lived a rural, farming life among the almond trees and have raised a family here, some of which are still local and others have moved away. One of whom, also called Bernardo, works at a restaurant in.....
Yes, you've guessed it.....this is the 'well, I never' moment.....
San Juan de los Terreros!
Now, I did remember, through a slightly intoxicated state, when were at Pepa's for Halloween, one of the waiters I was talking to told me that he was from Velez Rubio. Hey Ho, it turns out that our nearest Spanish neighbours are his parents. I know Velez isn't a massive town, but it does have about 7,000 inhabitants so I still think that is a genuine 'well I never' moment.
Such things just never fail to amaze me!
Monday, 11 January 2010
Our weather is bizarre!
The last few days have been really cold (OK, not as cold as the UK has been for the last fortnight), it's been around -2c at night. The days have been incredibly windy and coming from the north so they've had a real cold edge, so much so I went to the market on Saturday and bought cold weather stuff - thick tights for under my trousers, woolly hat and big scarf.
As it started to get dark yesterday it started to snow....
and snow.......
and snow!
The forecast had said snow was likely above 800m and we live at 1085m. I can be so precise because we live at the summit of our hill which has a road sign declaring the summit point - 1085m!
We have been leaving the heating on all night and 24/7 heating goes through our little gas bottles at an alarming rate. The people where we change our bottles are becoming our new best friends. While we wait for our big tank we have no choice but to use the small bottles but where they have been lasting about a week, at the moment they are barely lasting into day 5. We have a system of 4 bottles, 2 on/2 off. This means when 2 run out we switch them over to the other 2 and can then disconnect the empties and take them to exchange for full ones.
By the time we went to bed it had stopped snowing but was incredibly cold. I didn't think we would have anymore snow as the sky was clear and I could see stars - not a snow cloud around.
What I didn't expect was to get up this morning and find...............
....... it had more or less all gone!
Overnight the temperature had risen from -2c to +4c!
I can only assume it was the wind direction that had changed. As we drove into town to change yet more bottles there was a few traces of snow still hanging on to the north facing slopes of the mountain but they would soon be gone.
By mid-afternoon we were seeing sunshine and +10c.
In the sun the thermometer was showing +20c.
The forecast shows the next 2 weeks are mild, daytime temperatures around 14-16c! The snow is only expected at heights above 2,000m, well above us.
Bizarre!
As it started to get dark yesterday it started to snow....
and snow.......
and snow!
The forecast had said snow was likely above 800m and we live at 1085m. I can be so precise because we live at the summit of our hill which has a road sign declaring the summit point - 1085m!
We have been leaving the heating on all night and 24/7 heating goes through our little gas bottles at an alarming rate. The people where we change our bottles are becoming our new best friends. While we wait for our big tank we have no choice but to use the small bottles but where they have been lasting about a week, at the moment they are barely lasting into day 5. We have a system of 4 bottles, 2 on/2 off. This means when 2 run out we switch them over to the other 2 and can then disconnect the empties and take them to exchange for full ones.
By the time we went to bed it had stopped snowing but was incredibly cold. I didn't think we would have anymore snow as the sky was clear and I could see stars - not a snow cloud around.
What I didn't expect was to get up this morning and find...............
....... it had more or less all gone!
Overnight the temperature had risen from -2c to +4c!
I can only assume it was the wind direction that had changed. As we drove into town to change yet more bottles there was a few traces of snow still hanging on to the north facing slopes of the mountain but they would soon be gone.
By mid-afternoon we were seeing sunshine and +10c.
In the sun the thermometer was showing +20c.
The forecast shows the next 2 weeks are mild, daytime temperatures around 14-16c! The snow is only expected at heights above 2,000m, well above us.
Bizarre!
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Fresh stuff.
I always love shopping for fresh stuff. This morning we wanted a variety of fruit for some desserts we are doing (well, Neil is doing) for later this week when we have friends coming over for dinner. We use a small shop, again - it's someone's front lounge which they have converted into a shop on a normal residential street - and the stuff she sells there is fabulous and so cheap. We decided we would splash out on some strawberries which are not cheap at this time of year but smell and taste delicious - but they are €5 a kilo (that's a lot of strawberries and we only needed 1/4 kilo).
When I tipped it all out ready to put away, it looked so colourful I couldn't help but take a photo. The stuff that looks like spring onions is actually wild garlic, a very strong flavour and really pungent smell, we have to double bag it before storing in the fridge or every time we open the fridge door we're nearly knocked off our feet, but it's fabulous for cooking in stews and stuff.
Something we are still experimenting with are the chillis we buy here, Neil hasn't been able to find any hot enough for him and this morning, a lady in the shop suggested we would probably need to grow our own, so that's something else to plan into the vegetable garden next year!
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
'Cabalgada', the 3 Kings Parade.
Spain celebrates the Day of the 3 Kings in a big way, and today - the 6th January, is a nationwide public holiday. There is a parade on the night of the 5th January symbolising the arrival of the Kings and so, well wrapped up against the cold, we drove down into town to see the parade.
The parade circled around town and ended up outside one of our larger stores that has a whole basement floor dedicated to toys & games at this timeof year, and who had donated lots of gifts for the Kings to give out to the local children. A lovely gesture, but we missed it because we were back in the bar having a warm.
The square is very pretty at night, with all the lights on,
and there was a big crowd and lots of children waiting for the Kings to go past, as they throw out boiled sweets for the kids as they drive around town.
The floats are pulled by huge tractors, and I especially liked this big orange one.
The King's looked quite splendid in their costumes and I hope they had good thermal underwear on, because it was freezing cold last night.
The parade circled around town and ended up outside one of our larger stores that has a whole basement floor dedicated to toys & games at this timeof year, and who had donated lots of gifts for the Kings to give out to the local children. A lovely gesture, but we missed it because we were back in the bar having a warm.
For more on this tradition is Spain, take a look here:
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Finally, I remembered my camera!
For a number of weeks I have been trying to remember to take my camera when I go into town, and finally - this morning, I remembered!
Velez-Rubio is surounded by mountains and can be seen well before we get there on the motorway, it takes about 15 minutes from our house, 10 minutes on the mountain road and 5 minutes on the motorway.
There is a lovely new roundabout and archway as you enter the town, and you can't see it from this photo - but there are fountains in the roundabout as well.
Where ever you walk around town, the mountains are always present.
This is actually the main street through the town. It is just wide enough for one car and when we first drove onto it we really felt that we shouldn't be there - but it really is the main road through town.
There are little squares and pedestrian areas all over, I love this one because of the fountains that come out of the floor, run down and then re-cycle the water through a series of grates. It isn't always working so I was pleased to see that we timed it right this morning.
All over town, there are lovely, quaint, cobbled streets:
And not all of them are wide enough for traffic:
But some are wide enough for 2-way traffic:
The Town Hall is in a lovely, big square which also has bars around where you can chill out with a coffee and watch the world go by:
And next to the Town Hall is the big church, which dominates the sky-line as you drive towards Velez.
The domes of the church can be seen from all over the town:
Tonight is the parade of the 3 Kings, a big celebration in Spain, and we are going back into town to watch it. It's going to be cold this evening so I dare say we will be popping into one or two of the bars for a drink and a warm through. Hopefully, I'll remember my camera again.
Velez-Rubio is surounded by mountains and can be seen well before we get there on the motorway, it takes about 15 minutes from our house, 10 minutes on the mountain road and 5 minutes on the motorway.
There is a lovely new roundabout and archway as you enter the town, and you can't see it from this photo - but there are fountains in the roundabout as well.
Where ever you walk around town, the mountains are always present.
This is actually the main street through the town. It is just wide enough for one car and when we first drove onto it we really felt that we shouldn't be there - but it really is the main road through town.
There are little squares and pedestrian areas all over, I love this one because of the fountains that come out of the floor, run down and then re-cycle the water through a series of grates. It isn't always working so I was pleased to see that we timed it right this morning.
All over town, there are lovely, quaint, cobbled streets:
And not all of them are wide enough for traffic:
But some are wide enough for 2-way traffic:
The Town Hall is in a lovely, big square which also has bars around where you can chill out with a coffee and watch the world go by:
And next to the Town Hall is the big church, which dominates the sky-line as you drive towards Velez.
The domes of the church can be seen from all over the town:
Tonight is the parade of the 3 Kings, a big celebration in Spain, and we are going back into town to watch it. It's going to be cold this evening so I dare say we will be popping into one or two of the bars for a drink and a warm through. Hopefully, I'll remember my camera again.We just love walking around town, hopefully, you've enjoyed seeing a taste of were we now live.
Saturday, 2 January 2010
Not a good way to start the New Year.
A few days ago, Neil woke early complaining of a sore throat. When he woke a couple of hours later he had a heavy head cold. Good wifey that I am, I drove down into town to get some stuff from the chemist, having described in my best spanish what was wrong with him and answering a few simple questions from the pharmacist.
€12 later I had some sachets of stuff to be diluted in water and taken after eating and a nasal spray.
So, day 1 was a streaming head cold, day 2 was fatigue and congestion.
Day 3 - was my day 1, yes, in true share and share a like - he had passed it on to me. Fortunately Neil was starting to feel a little better so it was his turn to look after me. Today is my day 2 - and I'm no longer unable to move without taking my box of tissues with me. It was just as well that there were plenty of sachets in the box as we are now both taking them, they look a lovely orange colour but the flavour couldn't be less orangey if it tried. It is best to have something sweet available to have immediately after drinking them - what an excuse to eat chocolate!
We were invited out for New Year's Eve but didn't go because Neil felt so unwell, and we haven't been out of the house since. So, the first few days of the new decade have passed us by in a bit of a blur. Hopefully, we'll both be over it in the next couple of days, in the meantime the dogs are taking themselves for walks and the days pass by with us realising just how much rubbish is on TV, despite having all the Sky programs to choose from. Remind me again why I pay so much every month to Sky!
€12 later I had some sachets of stuff to be diluted in water and taken after eating and a nasal spray.
So, day 1 was a streaming head cold, day 2 was fatigue and congestion.
Day 3 - was my day 1, yes, in true share and share a like - he had passed it on to me. Fortunately Neil was starting to feel a little better so it was his turn to look after me. Today is my day 2 - and I'm no longer unable to move without taking my box of tissues with me. It was just as well that there were plenty of sachets in the box as we are now both taking them, they look a lovely orange colour but the flavour couldn't be less orangey if it tried. It is best to have something sweet available to have immediately after drinking them - what an excuse to eat chocolate!
We were invited out for New Year's Eve but didn't go because Neil felt so unwell, and we haven't been out of the house since. So, the first few days of the new decade have passed us by in a bit of a blur. Hopefully, we'll both be over it in the next couple of days, in the meantime the dogs are taking themselves for walks and the days pass by with us realising just how much rubbish is on TV, despite having all the Sky programs to choose from. Remind me again why I pay so much every month to Sky!
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