When we travel to and from the UK we stop pretty much half way just near Bordeaux. A hotel just off the motorway, a place to rest for the night after about 1200km from Malaga and the pups can stay with us too.
This time we decided to take a slow trip back and stop for two nights so that we could actually go into Bordeaux and enjoy some of the sights of this stunning city. The weather was amazing, we walked and walked, we enjoyed great food and it was a wonderful way to start to unwind after many months of hard work and a long drive from England.
Do hope you enjoy the photos, they were only taken on the little camera as I didn’t want to be loaded down, but I think they capture the atmosphere of this beautiful place.
We never go hungry!
Steak Tartare
Cheese for Chica
Dessert for Big Man
Of course, there was ice cream and we all got to share!
Five months after starting on another project, we’re home back Up Our Mountain. Smile. Breathe In. Breathe Out.
Burgos Cathedral
We took a slow drive home via Bordeaux, Biarritz and Burgos. Seems we only visited places beginning with the letter B! Just playing catch up with life, blogs, family and home. Normal service will be resumed soon, thanks for bearing with me…I’ve missed you all.
We all know that one of the great pleasures of blogging comes from sharing, being inspired by fellow bloggers and getting excited by new recipe ideas.
I baked the loaves late at night, sorry about the dark photo…
I’m a regular bread baker now. My sourdough bread is made every 3 days or so, but sometimes I feel the need to shake it up and try a new recipe. A little while ago I saw a recipe over at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. Celia is the Queen of Sourdough and her recipe for a bread called Pan Cubano really called to me. The fact that it used Lard was probably the part which called loudest! In Southern Spain the pig is King and lard is used in many recipes. I’m in England right now but I felt nostalgic.
I didn’t use rendered pig fat in the recipe, I turned to my massive supply of goose fat which came from cooking the Christmas goose. You only need about a heaped teaspoon though, so I still have plenty leftover for delicious roast potatoes.
The bread turned out fabulously, although I didn’t get the characteristic slit in the loaf as I had no leek or palm leaves to lay down the centre of the loaf. Slitting them didn’t seem to make any difference but the flavour and texture of the bread was incredible. Celia advised me to freeze some of the loaves if we weren’t planning on eating them all at once. Great advice as I made four loaves, each of which gave me 2 massive, builder-sized sandwiches. The sandwiches were filled with thin slices of smoked gruyere and cold twice cooked pork – amazing!
Thanks Celia – for the inspiration and the amazing lunch…Go on, Be Inspired!
Fans of the fictional Agatha Christie Detective, Hercule Poirot will know what I am talking about. Those little grey cells in the brain which sort the information and keep things in order.
Clearly mine were on a go slow yesterday. I published a recipe for ravioli and today I was glossing paintwork and thinking about food, as you do. Thinking that it would be good to make more ravioli as they had been so good. Oh, I remembered, the taste of that fresh crab was amazing. Crab?! Yikes, I forgot to mention the key ingredient in my post. Which just goes to show that too many paint fumes combined with too much wine when cooking can indeed affect those little grey cells.
So to calm things down, I’m taking myself off to a peaceful place – a beach in the Cook Islands I visited at this time of year 9 years ago on my Round the World trip. Enjoy the view and apologies for the temporary brain malfunction!
Health and Happiness to you all, however and whatever you celebrate.
And all the very best to you all for a 2014 filled with health, happiness and togetherness. Thank you for your friendship and support over the year…here’s to the next one!
And probably one of the best tasting too! Christmas madness is starting to kick in around here. It will be a quiet but fun affair Chez Chica and Big Man – my parents are coming for Christmas so whilst it will be a small group, the food will still be cooked and enjoyed together, glasses will be raised to loved ones not with us, and of course silly hats will be worn.
As you know, Christmas tends to be quite a multicultural affair in our home. That way we get to enjoy the best of everything. Big Man is on his way back from a trip to Spain and hopefully his suitcase is full of tasty goodies from Andalucía. We’ll be eating Panettone on Christmas morning and after lunch we’ll hotly debate whether Turrón or Torrone is better. And in a change from the roast lamb or beef we generally eat, we’re going for Goose this year. Yum…it’s been a few years since I cooked one as they’re not so good for larger gatherings as although they have loads of flavour, you need to buy one the size of a bungalow to feed a crowd.
I’m making things that I know we’ll love (why wouldn’t I?!) and I know my mum, although not a big dessert eater, loves coffee flavoured ice cream. Big Man is of the opinion that a law should be passed to make it obligatory to eat ice cream every day and my dad and I will let them tuck in whilst we tuck into the cheese and nuts.
This is a Nigella Lawson recipe, and perfect for a last minute dessert if you don’t fancy making custard…
Ingredients (makes about a litre)
600ml of double cream (heavy or whipping cream)
1 tin of condensed milk (mine was 397g)
4 tablespoons of instant espresso coffee powder
Whip all the ingredients together until thick and soft peaks are formed. Pour into your freezer proof container and freeze until solid. No churning, no whipping. Remove from the freezer a few minutes before you want to eat it to let it soften a little and enjoy. See, I told you it was easy!
It’s been a while, I’m sorry. But I’m sure you understand. We’re trying to crack on with some work in our own little home before Christmas, and I thought you might like to see what we’ve done ready for Santa’s arrival.
A new fireplace! Well, it’s going to be our first Christmas here, so we felt he deserved to arrive in style.
Remember this monstrosity back in January 2013…the flat wasn’t even ours at this point.
Then we were gifted this gorgeous cast iron fireplace.
Sadly, the measurements didn’t quite work with our house and the chimney breast. But then, as if it was meant to be, we came across another one in an antique shop and Big Man got to work. He removed the old one, measured up …
So, you’d think I’d have learned by now that if you want a decent photo of food in a restaurant you have to eat at mid day, take a camera, not dig in first and ensure the light is good.
Oh dear, most of our best meals in Jersey were eaten at night, in dimly lit restaurants, with the photos taken on the phone and only after we had started eating and then remembered “ooh, must take a snap of this”!
But…being an honest Chica and wanting to share the experience with you, here are the photos in all their awful glory. Suspend your reaction to the bad photos and imagine the deliciousness of the actual food. Buen provecho!
Oysters featured frequently – and often at mid day with a glass of wine, so this photo is not too bad…
Mussels in white wine and Jersey cream…
A beautiful carpaccio of beef
Duck spring rolls in a home-made pastry…
Lamb shank…
Blueberry creme brulee…
There was also a wild mushroom and puff pastry tart, a bacon hock with borlotti beans, panna cotta, cheese boards, fish pie, fruits de mer, scallops…but if I tell you that the photos above are the best of a truly bad bunch…well, you get the picture.
So…I’ll leave you with a few more scenic shots and we’ll move on back to the cooking in the next post.
When I say home, I mean our Down by the Sea home. This year has not been a great for us when it comes to holidays. We had to cancel all our plans in the summer because of ill-health and death in the family. It’s the way life goes sometimes. We understand that. But thought we’d try just one more time with a few days away for our anniversary and headed to the beautiful island of Jersey.
Well, I think The Devil (pictured below, he turned up unexpectedly) had a hand in the proceedings.
We did enjoy some amazing meals and our hotel was lovely…but oh the weather! Rain, wind, cold, more rain, more cold and really strong winds. It’s a teeny tiny island and mostly should be enjoyed outdoors. Luckily the sun broke through every so often for a few minutes and we leapt out of out little hire car to snap a view.
We ate and drank amazingly well, and I’ll share some of our meals with you later. But for the moment, we’re staying put. If I mention going away on holiday for a while, please slap me round the face with a wet fish and remind me that There’s No Place Like Home.
Well, there was cooking too, but that doesn’t begin with “B”, although I could have added “Baking”, I suppose.
A recipe coming up soon, but a quick tour of the last 10 days in Bexhill. Oh, there you go, anther “B”.
Meetings with previously unmet, long distant cousins from New Zealand, gave us some happy meals together and a night out in Hastings to celebrate their annual Bonfire Festival (which has nothing to do with Firework Night, or Guy Fawkes Night).
Lots of loud noises, an enormous bonfire, spectacular fireworks and a very good evening with mulled wine.
Walks on the beach with the pups past the very typical seaside beach huts.
Building works continue with wallpaper stripping being my current job.
Time too for a little fun, and also some culture. Last night we went to watch the Moscow Ballet perform Swan Lake at the De La Warr Pavilion. It was Big Man’s first time at the ballet, so I was excited for him to see something spectacular, to have his breath taken away. Alas, it was not to be. A rather lacklustre performance with some seriously out of time ballet.
Some of the swans looked suspiciously duck-like with their thick thighs and broad shoulders and the White Swan and Black Swan were so very different I felt like yelling out to the Prince “Oi Mate, you need to get to Specsavers…she’s The Wrong Bird”.
All the way through I was distracted with thoughts of a very funny sketch by two female comedians French & Saunders and the world famous ballet dancer, Darcey Bussell…or Barcey Dussell as they call her. If you have 15 minutes to spare, pour yourself a glass of wine or make a cup of coffee and have a giggle with me.
And then over the weekend, the forecast of great winds in the south of England. Time to batten down the hatches and prepare. An enormous tree in a neighbour’s garden has been slowly pushing down our back garden wall.
Finally the local council gave permission for it to come down and fortunately the tree surgeons saw how dangerous it was and came round to start work before the “Great Storm” hit.
So, it’s been a busy time for us. We have been cooking up some good food too, and I promise you a lovely recipe of Chicken Cacciatore (sort of) next.
What I am sure of though, is that Ballerinas don’t eat food like this and that Builders like Big Man and Chica (whilst unlikely to ever sport tights with a cod piece or a sticky out tutu) need hearty dishes to see them through the hard work and the gale force winds.
So in 2016 I turned 50. I was in Italy for my 21st, 30th and 40th. To keep this birthday tradition going I always knew I'd be in Italy for my 50! This blog starts with my 5 week adventure in Puglia but my love affair with Italy continues.....
Chica Andaluza 