Walking and Cooking in Andalucia

 

It's now two and a half weeks since I returned from my holiday in Spain, and I still haven't had time to visit my plot.  Thank goodness I put in some work there before I went away but I have to admit I have only just got around to setting any seeds.  However, I'm hoping this lovely warm weather will help them germinate quickly.  The chitting potatoes are waiting to be planted too.  The problem is, I returned to a garden which needed a lot of attention, and a list of DIY and general house maintenance jobs.  Over the past few days I've got to grips with most of the garden and cleaned down the whole of the conservatory, roof and all.  Today I started on a load of ironing, cleaned all the downstairs windows, inside and out, and painted two new fence panels and trellis, back and front.  There is no ladylike description of how I feel.

 

The holiday was amazing, but very active (as I had expected).  It was my first venture away on my own, although I met up with a lovely group of twelve, plus our leader and his wife.  We stayed at a stunning, little hotel - the Molino del Santo, at Benaojan, near Ronda.  To be highly recommended.  The week included walking in the Grazalema National Park, and along the river valley not far from the hotel, plus visiting cheese, meat and olive oil producers and, naturally, wine tasting which took place in one of the oldest houses in Ronda.  On three afternoons we returned to the hotel for cookery lessons in traditional and modern Andalucian cuisine, and enjoyed sampling our results, which were included with the delicious evening meals.  At the end of the holiday we were all presented with our diplomas.  I am hoping, if we have a productive year on our plots, that I might be able to reproduce some of the dishes, such as the gazpacho (with a twist) - made with equal measures of tomatoes and strawberries and topped with almonds and truffle oil!  Perhaps this might be an idea for the harvest supper?  Our chef allowed me to cut up and prepare a large squash from his own grandfather's garden.  I don't know if I was more nervous of making a mess of it, or of his very large and very sharp chef's knife which I had to use.  Why is there always someone who has to say  "Be careful!", which makes me more anxious than ever.  Glad to say I still have all my own fingers.  Actually, none of us ended up sporting one of those blue plasters and I must say that we did remarkably well, bearing in mind the chef  gave all  his instructions in Spanish, and we had to make our own notes on how to prepare the dishes, by watching him.  Everyone did so well, and it was great fun. 

 

On our one day off, some of the group went off on the train to visit other places of interest.  There were a few others who clambered up above the village to see prehistoric cave paintings, but I opted for a gentle stroll along the riverside, with another woman, to see the Cueva del Gato, with it's beautiful turquoise pool, where we just sat and listened to the birds and watched the butterflies.

 

At this very moment, I would quite like to be lying on a warm, Greek beach, doing nothing but gazing out to sea, with a glass of cold ouzo.  However, if this good weather does hold, I suspect it will be a bit more DIY over the next few days, and a long awaited visit to the plot, maybe on Sunday!