Biking & Baking in Las Alpujarras

I walked up the steep little path from our kitchen garden this morning with a basket containing 7 large, ripe tomatoes, 2 green pimientos and 14 deliciously sweet wild figs (higos).  I spent 2 hours gathering and breaking up dry wood for kindling, making small piles for different sizes.  We will need every scrap when teh cold evenings set in, and getting it up to the house will be a chore, but poco a poco we will manage it.  Anything smaller than my little finger can stay on the land as mulch, but the rest will go for firewood.

Yesterday I made a blackberry, mulberry and almond cake.  Pretty good, though I am sure it can be improved on.  Here´s the recipe for a decent-sized cake:

225 g fruit; 140g softened, unsalted butter, diced; 140g ground almonds; 140g self-raising flour; 140g soft brown sugar (or caster); 1 egg; 2 tbs milk; 2 tsp vanilla extract; 2 tsp ground ginger; 1 pinch salt; icing sugar to dust, optional cream.

1. Wash and dry fruit; sprinkle with a little extra sugar, about 1 tbs.

2. Butter, flour & line an 8 or 9 inch cake tin.

3. Beat together in teh following order: butter, sugar, almonds, egg, cinnamon & vanilla.  Fold in the sifted flour together with a pinch of salt.  Add the milk as you fold in the flour, to get a soft mixture.

4. Spread 1/2 mixture into the tin and level off.  Cover with the fruit, pressing it lightly into the mix.  Cover with the remaining mix and level off.

5. Bake in centre of a pre-heated oven at 180C or 350F for about an hour.  Check at 45 minutes and if browing too fast, cover loosely with foil.  Test with a sharp knife at 1 hour.

6. Remove from oven and leave to cool thoroughly.

7. Once it is well-cooled, turn the cake out onto a plate or rack and sprinkle lightly with the sifted icing sugar.

8. Serve with cream if you want to be indulgent (like me) and if it´s 11am, a cup of coffee might be nice.  Or Earl Grey tea.

YUMMIE!!!

Last word today - if you´re in Pitres on Sat 4th, there´s some singing and poetry in the ayuntamiento at 21.00 hrs.  But much nicer will be the practice session on Thurs at 21.00 hrs in the Atalbeitar plaza.  Just head out of Pitres towards Trevelez and it´s signed on the right, 2 k down the hill.  Park outside the village and walk into the square.  A fountain, a bar, a tree, some music.  What more could you want?

Does anyone know where we could get hold of a LHD headlight for a MotoGuzzi 1100 Sport, out here in Andalucia?  It has failed its registration ITV because the dipped beam is wrong.  Ideally we would get a secondhand one, but any thoughts or contacts would be great.

Muchas gracias amigos!

We are recovering from a number of fiestas, in our village plus Bubion, Ferreirola and elsewhere.  We have processed, fancy-dressed, clapped, sung, danced and drunk our way through all sorts of great events.  We have seen El Zorro getting burnt, the Virgen being blessed and soem terrible music being played.  Also some excellent music, flamenco and tango too.  I have worn the costume of an ancient Egyptian, drunk anis with brandy at 9am and dined off churros with chocolate; watched the final of the futbol 5-a-side in Pitres, tried a paso doble with a moustachio-ed Spaniard and generally had a wild time.

Steve has been baking bread, making tagine stews and delicious mulberry pies with home-made custard, and generally indulgin both of us.  I shall be a little fatty soon!!

In addition, I have started to write about our experiences here so if anyone has any contacts within the publishing world, can they let me know.  This will not be Driving over Lemons, nor War and Peace, but I have lots to say and some good local stories.

Bye for now.

Wow it’s hot! We close the shutters and the doors at midday and don’t open them again until after 6pm, just to keep the heat out! I love it, but it does drain you. All outdoor work has to be done at cooler times and leaving the car (or the bike) in the sun for even 10 minutes is horrendous.

It was a good weekend though. Stevie and Lynn from Glasgow met us in Pitres and we had a great time, talking our heads off over an impromptu lunch. They had done a big walk up the Poquiera Gorge last week but got badly bitten by horseflies, so were taking things easy. Watch out anyone going that way - these creatures will go for you even through your Tshirt.

Last night we went down to Mecina for an outdoor concert on the era (old stone threshing floor). This is the start of the Musica en Las Montanas season, with small events happening throughout the Alpujarras (see John’s blog on Alpujarra Hoy for details), and we love the settings. The music varies a lot - on Friday 6^th there’s a Rock/Blues/Jazz/Funk event from 22.00 hrs that is either there or on the Ferreirola era. Worth a visit!?

This morning we headed for Granada, to try and get the correct headlights for the Ford, before we can get it plated/registered. We are trying to do the vehicles ourselves and have had a visit from the man who checks that your paperwork corresponds to the vehicle in question. That all went well and as soon as he contacts us again, we will go to Motril to do the next bit. But today was headlights. We stopped at the first breaker’s yard we could see (Padul, right by the road) and got a really good pair for 48 euros, which we thought was a fair price although Steve did offer to arm wrestle the man for them. Raised a laugh!

Time to go and get some white paint on the walls - and probably on myself to!