Bramley Apple Pie

I'd better move over in the kitchen and give D some space to experiment. Most of you know I'm not into making cakes, pastries, biscuits and the like, although I enjoy eating them when offered. D. offen feels deprived of such naughties and recently had a yen for an apple pie. A friend brought the Bramleys from Gibraltar (apparently, these are the only ones that will do) and away he went.....the kitchen was chaos - even with frozen pastry - but here is the result:


This is the man who said food was fuel when we met 7 years ago. Happily, he's learned that eating can be an enjoyable experience and now relishes a variety of dishes from around the world. Maybe with his baking success, I can persuade him to experiment in cooking other things.

super de-luxe Mercado in Chiclana.

When we arrived in the area 6 years ago , the central market for fruit, veg, meat and fish was a place where you'd need to gird you loins to get through it. The aisles were very narrow and queues 3 or 4 deep; often a group would just be standing, talking, with push chairs and gridlock was not uncommon. Above is the snail man, who has had a stall outside the old market for years; wild asparagus is sold there too when in season and strange looking herbs. Behind him there's a big gap where the market used to be and here is the brand-new one.....spacious, air-conditioned, set in a plaza with fountains, benches, lottery vendors and activist stalls.

Here's one of the butchers and cold meats
And here you can see the wider aisles, with one of the fish and seafood stalls in the far distance.
Fabulous-looking fruit and veg, all said to be locally grown. It continues to baffle me that you can't move at some stalls for the customers queuing, while others are empty. Yet the prices and produce look the same.
In the centre of the market is a brand-new mall, two floors, marble floors, all expensively kitted out, several bars, cafes and even the churros and chocolat place - sheer indulgence. One cafe offers menu del dia of 3 courses for 5€ - what a bargain.

And, finally, I couldn't resist this pic of two delightful puppies in a push chair out with their owner, whose friend had the grandchild in another pushchair. No-one was taking any notice of the grandchild.

Visiting Siamese, part 2.

Lourdes, who lives about 10 minutes' walk away, and her son, Ezekiel, came today to let us know that Shanti (my secret name for our visitor) is their cat. They call him Gato (cat) and took him home in their car. He hadn't been home for 3 days and I guess he'd found a nice little billet around our house so's he could wake me up by yowling at 7 a.m. for some breakfast. We've said that it's better if we don't give him any food, so that he'll return home, but he's most welcome to visit any time.

So, all's well that ends well, eh.

A couple of very good articles this week on older people and how they are perceived by younger
people. Take a look at Ronnie at Time goes by (click on title) and D at 60 going on 16. This is what it's really like getting older - or so some would hope. Give me the garden and the slow life any time.

Grandma's Medicines.

And I thought it was the Guiness and a little bedtime tot of whisky that made Grandma Nellie so happy.


And to think she could have taken this instead. Sadly, at 90 she did need morphine just before she died. A few days before it happened, she sat up in bed suddenly, waved at my aunt and me, said "thank you very much for looking after me", laid down and there she remained until she died - in her own home, which was very important to her.



And as you can see, the children were not forgotten either.

I didn't see any ads for Laudanum, which delicate Victorian ladies needed frequently with a nice lie-down.

Spare ribs recipe

I got this recipe for spare ribs from Video Jug HERE. A great site for getting ideas (there's a search button) and then seeing it cooked step-by-step.

I'm cooking the spare ribs for the second time and here's how it's done. I guarantee you won't be able to get enough of them.......simply scrumptilicious (is that a new word):

Take one and a half kilos (3 lbs) of spare ribs, put in saucepan with sliced up 5 cm ginger, cover with water, bring to the boil, and then simmer for 10 mins. Skim frequently.

Mix up

2 tbsp. each of BBQ sauce, sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, crushed garlic, runny honey and brown sugar, plus 2 teasp. chopped ginger. Add 100 ml. dark sherry.

Drain the spare ribs and pat dry and into a pan with a little olive oil, brown the ribs on both sides.

Into a clean pan, put the spicy saucy mixture and simmer and stir for a minute or so. Transfer the ribs to this mixture and cook for 5 minutes....longer if you want, turning frequently. Personally, I didn't find that even cooking them for 15 minutes was long enough to make them succulent, so kept prodding them until I was satisfied. I guess it would depend on the quality of the ribs.

I'm serving them with noodles so that all those lovely juices can be soaked up. I'm not putting a picture up as they won't be on the plate long enough!

Siamese visitor

Those of you who read the gardening blog know that we have two brother and sister Siamese cats, Yin and Yang, who are 6 years old now. They are real characters and give us endless pleasure.


Well, here we have a visiting Siamese. He showed up about a fortnight ago, announcing his presence with the classic loud Siamese yowl. He came twice a day at mealtimes and for a while I wouldn't feed him, as he disappeared at night and I thought he must have an owner. He didn't look uncared for and was friendly enough, albeit a bit strange with half a tail and cross eyes!

You won't be surprised to learn that things escalated once I gave him breakfast. He's now taken up position on D's favourite chair on the patio and yowls in the evening for dinner when ours get fed. No, I'm not going to give him any until/unless I find out if he has an owner; so I'm ready to put a notice up locally on a telegraph pole.

Our two are tolerant of him, but get spooked when he tries to get in the house. Last night after creating a racket outside he got on his hind legs outside the sitting room window (which looks onto the patio) and banged with both front paws on the window. I think he's very determined to adopt us. Watch this space.......

The smell of Cornwall

It doesn't look anything sitting there on the plate, does it? But if you could smell it as I do, you wouldn't be able to wait to get your teeth into it. Wendy from Redruth in West Cornwall has moved to our town and has started her Cornish Kitchen, selling these wonderful pasties, baked to order. I ordered a dozen and salivated all the way home as the car was suffused with the smell of pastry, potato, swede, onion and meat. If you've ever walked down the main street of any town in Cornwall at lunch time, you'll know what I mean.

They've been a vital part of the Cornish people's diet for over 200 years. There are hundreds of stories about the evolution of the pasty's shape, with the most popular being that the D-shape enabled tin miners to re-heat them underground as well as eat them safely. The crust (crimped edge) was used as a handle which was then discarded due to the high levels of arsenic in many of the tin mines. No chance of my discarding my crust....Wendy's pastry is divine.

The size of mine here is relatively modest, by Cornish standards. I've been in pubs where they fill the whole plate....too much for one person. Favourite way to eat them is straight from the bag, sauntering along the Prom - fighting off the seagulls.