A GARDEN PARTY IN CASCAIS AND LATE NIGHT DASH TO LISBON FOR ENCOUNTERS IN AN OLD BROTHEL

Lots of excitement for the Extemadura country bumpkins  as we dash over the border to Lisbon for super weekend garden party in Cascais. A cousins reunion all planned by sister Vicky in her lovely garden. Our one remaining tia was there, Tia Lena, 86 years old and still sprightly.

A most heart warming time catching up after years and a few  of the childrens' life times. Stupendous food contributed by all, buckets of gin & tonic with crushed juniper berries, lots of CAKE...sumptuous chocolate and ginger, tiers of picture book fairy cakes. 

Non stop reminiscents about the oddest moments and members of family history, our latest doings and fads, fancies and follies, lots of fun and laughter, meeting new friends, all accompanied by my entire ipod jazz/ salsa/blues collection.

And then................after a little pause some of us zoomed into Lisbon for a night prowl around Cais Sodre, an area of former sleazy repute by the docks where naugty sailors would seek some pleasure behind the classic but decrepid façades of post earthquake 18th century buildings divided into warrens of little rooms now converted into bars and restaurants .

The one we chose was called "Pensao Amor", it's a huge building with many rooms designed  with post modern irony, playing on the old brothel days with louche settings, all plush, mirrors and chandeliers, amusing murals on the stairs. A cosy room with armchairs is the library dedicated to erotic/soft porn literature, some very interesting early editions of formerly banned books printed in Paris.

VICKY CONTEMPLATING THE DODGY BOOKS

It was packed on Saturday night, packed with tourists gaping and housewifey types (Manfred's comment). Apparently weekdays are better, when one can really take in the amazing collection of junk and tat that has somehow come together to create an amusing and comfy place with more than a few resonances from the good old days.

Some great memories to take back to our tranquil life at Finca al-manzil.

CORPUS CHRISTI IN TRUJILLO

On a Sunday during our June cooking and art week at the Palacio de Piedras Albas was the celebration of Corpus Christi.
We were so lucky to experience the whole fiesta in the streets and from the loggia of the palacio, the very best place to observe the plaza.
PLAZA MAYOR IN THE EARLY MORNING, SOON THE PREPARATIONS START……

ROSE PETALS, CYPRUS AND ROSEMARY ARE SCATTERED IN FRONT OF THE SHRINES

SHRINES ARE ERECTED WITH SYMBOLS OF THE FEAST, EUCHERIST, ANGELS AND STARS


CHILDREN APPEAR IN THE STREETS DRESSED FOR THEIR FIRST COMMUNION


SANTA MARIA CHURCH FILLS WITH PROUD PARENTS AND ANGELIC CHILDREN

AFTER THE CEREMONY THE PROCESSION LED BY AN ANCIENT PRIEST PROCEEDS THROUGH THE TOWN TO THE VARIOUS SHRINES
                                                                                                                                                                                        


THE PROCESSION REACHES THE PLAZA AND THE SHRINE BELOW THE PALACIO

WE HAVE A WONDERFUL VIEW FROM THE LOGGIA


THE GIRLS SCATTER ROSE PETALS IN CELEBRATION

CACERES MEDIEVAL MARKET

OLIVE HARVEST: OUR EXPERIENCE OF PICKING, MILLING AND PRESSING

A BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE BATTLE OF ARROYOMOLINOS

The bi-centenary of the battle was in 2011, last year the celebration was washed out by torrential rain and it looked as if this one would be too as we have just had a week of heavy rain but it was wonderful to open the shutters on Saturday morning and see a pristine blue sky and the sun coming up over the mountain. The re-enactment takes place on the nearest Saturday to October 28th the date of the battle of Arroyomolinos, a significant battle in the Peninsular wars 1808 -1815.
It was another great effort by the local people of Arroyomolinos, imaginative period costumes and the uniforms were quite convincing, horses behaved with perfect discipline but plenty of  spirited charges and general roistering around.
I captured a few little minutes of the battle, if the camera seems juddery it's because every time another incredibly loud cannon shot went off I jumped out of my skin, there were plenty of minor rifle shots too. Imagine how loud the real battle was, with thousands of men shooting and hundreds horses thundering around the battle field,  must have been a frightening chaos in the sombre light of dawn during a drenching thunder storm.
Here are the French and British arriving on the battlefield with Spanish civilians, one with video camera!

SEMANA SANTA

A very wet week for this years holy week, what a shame, all the preparation of pristine robes and beautifully decorated floats now looking very bedraggled in the constant showers with little sun in between.
The best time to see the processions is at night, somehow the rain doesn't seem to matter so much although the candles and lanterns splutter and the barefooted penitents have to splash thorough puddles. The sombre drum beats and dolorous brass bands certainly seem in tune with the dreary weather. We watched for a little while but quickly retreated into a bar heaving with de-hooded brotherhoods and gorgeous senoritas wearing their towering mantillas, noise level off the scale as usual but who cares?  Despite the underlying solemnity and undoubted fervent faith behind so many Spanish fiestas there is always a great atmosphere of joy aided by lots of alcohol and delicious food. What more can one ask......drama, mystery, bizarre costumes, flowers, candles, incense, music AND wonderful wine and food. Pity about the rain but the sun will be shining again very soon.

RECOLECCÍON DE LA ACEITUNA- THE OLIVE HARVEST

We are in the second month of the olive harvest. In the olive groves all around the finca we see groups of men shaking the olive trees vigourously with long poles. They don't just bash the trees, it's a more precise movement, inserting the pole firmly amongst the branches and agitating firmly. Olives rain down onto either the bare earth or nets, thankfully nets are coming back into fashion after years of cheap chemicals used to kill every blade of plant life in the olive grove, supposedly making collection easier.........dust covered olives?

 

Olive trees are alway beautiful but much more so in a green meadow rather than a field of dust where systematic poisoning has killed off all the natural flowers and plants.

We are trying to interest the local farmers in going totally biological and only using organic methods for pest control, this is difficult and made more so by the lack of co-operation from the local lagars, olive mills. They don't seem to be interested in building up a reputation for high quality organic oil. In some ways one can see their point, they get tons of very mixed quality olives and produce a reasonable olive oil for an economical price. Why change?

In frustration there are a few olive grove owners who have resorted to buying their own mobile olive mill, small, neat and made in Italy. It works for those who wish to have their own guaranteed organic oil; grown, harvested and bottled on their own property.

The reward of all those chilly early morning harvests  in December and January is the sight of the first gush of gorgeous deep green oil flowing from the first pressing, one's very own  extra virgin olive oil, hundreds of litres of it.

Cook with it, bake with it, drop it into the bath, make soap and lotions from it and most of all dip freshly made bread into a pool of oil, a little salt..........and why not some local jamon....heaven!

Please go to our cooking holiday blog for a few delicious recipes using olive oil.

http://cooking-extremadura.blogspot.com/