Sunday, 27 January 2013

Andalucia

I'm still in a very Spanish mood, so let's continue our little trip to Andalucia. I mentioned some bits and pieces on the last thread, but I think it's better to illustrate the historical facts with some pictures.

El Alhambra and Generalife

The Moors ruled southern Spain for 800 years and were finally kicked out by Fernando and Isabel, los Reyes Catolicos. When the last Moorish ruler left Granada, he went to the top of the minaret in the city's outskirts, looked back and wept. His mother said to him: "Now you cry like a baby over what you couldn't defend like a man."

The Arabs left some precious gifts: Fantastic architecture and flamenco music.













Cordoba

The mosque of Cordoba is considered the most magnificent outside Mecca. Isabel la Catolica planted a catholic altar bang in the middle of it after she got rid of the Moors.





This altar would look OK in some other place...


Seville

Seville is very beautiful (incredibly hot in the summer) and I'm particularly fond of the Sevillanas, the local music.




Saturday, 26 January 2013

Las Alpujarras


My maternal grandparents were born in Granada, Spain. I still have many cousins over there and have visited the family a few times. One memorable trip was in 1979, my first, when I was still married to my first husband, Martin. Most of my mother's cousins were still alive and there were many young second cousins, making the family gatherings nothing short of epic. We counted 33 people at a restaurant where all the tables had to be joined to accommodate us!

One of my mothers' cousins, Paco, was a salesman for a wine producer of the Denominación de Origen Valdepeñas. His patch covered an area called Las Alpujarras, on the Sierra Nevada. He invited us to go with him on his rounds so we could see the lovely whitewashed houses adorned with geraniums, the narrow streets and all that. So we went.

The first couple of villages were OK, not too high, but Paco's enthusiastic style of driving on those narrow, winding mountain roads was beginning to alarm us, especially as we were due to climb higher and higher. Martin was turning a funny shade of green and we were definitely scared. We were stuck with Paco until he finished his rounds and the only solution at that point was to start joining in the wine tasting. The wines were excellent and if we plunged down the mountain, at least we would be too merry to care!









Thursday, 24 January 2013

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Peanut butter delights



I did a bit of googling about "peanut butter" and found out that it wasn't always combined with jelly.

Ye Olde English Coffee House made a "Peanut Butter and Pimento Sandwich" and The Vanity Fair Tea-Room served peanut butter with watercress.

There's a fine establishment in Arizona, Chez Pallottine, where the finest peanut and mustard sadwiches may be found...