Another Ramble in Spain!

I shall be continuing for a while so do join me in my rambles about our Spanish holiday.  We spent 2 weeks in a place called Mijas in Andalucia, between the Costa bit and the Pueblo on the Costa del Sol.

Whilst up the mountain in the pretty Pueblo bit we encountered amazing views down the mountain to the coast. This view took in the town of Fuengirola which is about 25 kilometers from Malaga airport.  We were not overly impressed with that town.  Very commercialised for the English tourist, bless them!  There are times I cringe when I think of what our country neighbours must think of us.  Do we really need to stick to our English diet of English breakfasts (cholesterol on a plate), burgers, fish and chips, pies etc?  When I go abroad I want to sample some of the local fare.  Since we were near the coast we ate fish nearly every day.  It was wonderful and ranged from huge prawns cooked in garlic to hake/dover sole lightly fried/whitebait and whatever else was to hand.  The fish was landed every morning so you really were able to enjoy fresh fish wherever you went.

A typical set menu would be comprised of a choice of 3 starters (Gazpacho soup, which was served cold and made from tomatoes and red peppers, avocado served with prawns, pate) followed by a main course which again had a choice of 3 (fish of the day, pork chops or lamb) after which a dessert was offered and you could choose one of the three (creme caramel, ice cream, apple tart).  All that for 8.90 Euros or roughly $9.  Of course you had to have a drink with that!  I usually had a glass of a crisp, cool white wine and then wondered why I always wanted a siesta in the afternoon!!  Of course you could always eat a la carte but even then the dishes where not expensive.  One day, we had a mixed Paella which included rabbit, chicken, mussels, prawns, calamari along with various vegetables such as peas and carrots thrown in.  When ordering this dish it will invariably be for two people and is always cooked fresh so the waiters warn you there will be a wait of around 20 minutes or so.  It is well worth the wait!

Often on our visits to Mijas Pueblo we used to take a stroll in the beautifully kept public gardens which encompassed the remains of fortress walls and allowed the viewer to sample breathtaking views of the surrounding area.   Such a selection of pretty wild flowers were abundant wherever we walked.

In the picture to the right I have tried to show you an area that looked like a series of caves but more importantly, the pigeons that roosted there were amazing!

You could imagine during the very hot summers the birds would need to be able to shelter and stay cool.  After being used to seeing the birds on the ledges of high buildings it did seem strange to see them flying in and out of these caves.

In this picture you can see a couple on the right side nestling up to each other.

As we walked on we saw other sights but I will describe these in my next posts.

Meanwhile I leave you with a couple more views that we so enjoyed.

From these pictures you can see how this village is famous for its white washed houses.  In my next post I will show you some lovely houses in the older part of the village.

The first of my ramblings about our recent Spanish holiday!

Hubby and I just returned from a wonderfully, relaxing holiday in Spain.  We wanted a break and could not, at first, decide where we would go.  I had never been to Portugal or Greece whilst DH had but we had both visited Spain before on several occasions so decided on an area with which we were not familiar.  This area was to be in the Costa del Sol district.  Primarily for a little sunshine since the weather has been pretty dreary in UK of late!

After scouring the internet (what on earth did we do before?) we found some accommodation that looked like it might suit.  Due to the nature of our business it is imperative that we have internet so this was a major requirement.  Anyway, we found a self catering apartment which was built alongside the owner's house.  This was to be a couple of miles down from a very pretty village called Mijas (pronounce Mee-Has) Pueblo.  There is another Mijas but this has the word Costa add to imply it is nearer the sea.

Mijas Pueblo or just plain Mijas is famous for its white washed houses which cling to the hillside.  Many tourists visit, especially Japanese women who enjoy coach excursions to the area whilst their husbands play golf at the many golf clubs nearby.  One of the attractions of the town would be the donkeys or burros who gave rides around the town.  Personally, I thought them a sorry site, smelly and not something I fancied doing.

There is no 'nightlife' as such which means you will not get the average bucket and spade mob here.  What you will find are many restaurants and cafes which spill out on to the pavements.  Sitting in the warm sunshine enjoying a glass of cool wine/beer and a wonderful meal is something to look forward to!  You did notice that those restaurants whose tables and chairs were not in the sun were not utilised as much as those that were!

Here we looked down onto one of the many squares which showed a lack of clientele due to the tables being situated in the shade.  However, I am sure that in the summer months when temperatures reach the high 90s many people will be glad of the welcome shade.

Over the next few days I will 'ramble' on about our stay in this lovely town so do come back and see more pictures!!!

Family and Food!

Family and food, the ultimate comfort, you just can't beat it!

It was DH's birthday on Saturday so a few weeks ago we thought it would be lovely if we could gather as many of the kids and their respective partners together. This sounds so easy! It is not. Bearing in mind we all lead busy lives, some working shifts and some living in different parts of the country it is no mean feat to try to make sure there is a date when everyone will be available.

Anyway, long story short...... this Saturday being All Saints Day as well as DH's birthday we tried and actually succeeded!

Now that we knew who was coming the planning had to start regarding food. Everyone is used to coming here and eating well. Some our our children are excellent cooks, adventurous whist others due to time constraints manage very well. I always wanted to instil the fact that as long as you can read you can follow a recipe. Once a week many years ago when the kids were young each had a turn on a Saturday to plan, prepare, cook, serve and eat a homemade meal. The only stipulation had to be that everyone would like the type of food. I would get their shopping list on the Friday so that Saturday afternoon, or earlier, each child would take it in turn each week to cook their meal. Some were naturals, others a little more challenged! One of them decided to create pizzas for us all. Lovely thought until I saw the mess in the kitchen created during the base making process and lots of flour. And so, we come back to today.

Since everyone might be arriving at different times a 'sit down' meal would not be practical so I decided on making a variety of curries plus a cottage pie (made with beef whilst Shepherd's pie is made with minced lamb) for anyone not too interested in eating curry.

Thursday I did the shopping whilst Friday was taken over with cooking. Nothing like making the curries the day before to allow the flavours to mature and mingle.

The curries I made were cumin scented chicken curry, prawn curry, Korma chicken curry. Rather than just cooking ordinary rice I made a large dish of vegetable Biryani rice full of a good Basmati rice, cauliflower florets, peas and onions. As accompaniments I added poppadams, plain naan bread over which I had sprinkled some cheddar cheese with sliced red pepper (the hot stuff) and then placed in the oven until the cheese melted. Obviously there would be the usual mango chutney and raita (cucumber, yoghurt and mint).

As you can see it was a tight squeeze getting all the dishes to heat up in the oven!

Afterwards for dessert we had creme caramel. Don't you just love licking the bowl from which the pudding was released; all that caramel which sits there ready for eating!

To accompany this we had a tarte tatin which, I have to admit, was shop bought but nonetheless had a lovely sharp lemon taste to cut through all the curry flavours that still lingered.

With both puddings I used a recipe I saw in a recipe booking called Autumn Fruit Salad. Basically, pears and apples cut up, dowsed in icing sugar and then placed in a very hot frying pan to caramelise the outside of the fruit thus leaving it nice and firm on the inside. Once that is done, add some blackberries which I still had in the freezer and add a little Calvados (apple brandy).... yummy. All that was missing was a touch of cream!

Once we had all partaken of this feast it was time to sit and play with our grand daughter who held court and enjoyed all the attention from her aunts and uncles. Now I know I am biased but isn't she cute?