Life between the mountains and the sea
It’s that time of year again, the annual Arroz con Leche festival in Cabranes. On Friday the traditional umbrella was stuck up the tree in the main square to ward off bad weather for the duration of the festivities. A back-up marquee was also erected but they needn’t have bothered. The umbrella did its job […]
Yesterday was a blissful May day. The sun shone, school and work were closed and we spent a long day in the outdoors, putting behind us an April that I shall be glad to see the back of. (You know the kind; stressful.) We headed over the mountains to León, to the municipio of Senas […]
It’s the beginning of September and my trial as a Spanish restaurant cook is drawing to a close. Oh, did I not mention? Well, it wasn’t intentional. Let me explain. As the old saying goes, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. So, when my son started at a local school here last September […]
I may have mentioned before, but it is Autumn in Asturias. The leaves have turned. The cider lorries collect the roadside sacks of apples daily. And round every bend on every winding back road huddles of people clutching baskets, carrier bags and, of course, sticks hunch to their task of collecting chestnuts. As do we. […]
This photo was taken a fortnight ago outside La Cuadrona bar in the village of La Hermida, Cantabria. It represents a moment of breakfast bliss. Firstly, note the two large cafés con leche. The coffee served in Spanish bars is almost always excellent (these certainly were) and is uniformly cheap (1.10 euro up to1.40 for […]
For the last three weeks the sleepy village of Santolaya de Cabranes (pop. 174) has been home to 26 university students drawn from the four corners of Spain, participants in a summer theatre workshop camp which culminated in a hugely successful performance of ‘teatro en la calle’ on Friday night. The picturesque village served perfectly […]
The 25th January was Richie’s birthday and after a nutritious breakfast of flumps (Jack’s marshmallowy and only ever so-slightly self-interested birthday present to his father) the day progressed into a galloping gourmand gourmet odyssey. It was a gloriously sunny day as we headed to Gijon, which with its beaches, restaurants and the best play park […]
Today I feel like a real Spanish mamá. I just cooked some croquetas from chicken left-overs. It doesn’t get much more Spanish than that. Well, except maybe if I cooked it whilst wearing a supremely practical blue housecoat. And in a spotlessly clean house….Well, anyway…..today I cooked croquetas. And they were great. Croquetas are a […]
