Roll out the barrel

We were advised to eat a hearty breakfast so I really tried – it’s not that the choice is limited- it’s just my stomach is still full from the paella on day 2 of the course. The spread was again delicious, with local black pudding and “bacon” which really is just a thin slice of delicious Iberico pork fat. Today’s cake was apple cake which I wrapped up to eat on the bus. The cheese was warm, melted goats cheese with honey and pine nuts. The setting for breakfast is also lovely..


We all met up and piled into a luxury air-conditioned bus. We drove northeast, passing salt flats where flamingos were fishing. I panicked slightly when I read a message from Sev saying I should carb up before starting the sherry tour – I had had one piece of bread and a little pork at breakfast but decided to immediately bring out the cake and share it with the rest of the bus. I didn’t want to be the one too drunk after the first few sips! Our first stop was one of the oldest bodegas in El Puerto de Santa Maria, Gutiérrez Colosia. We had a great guide who showed us round the sherry cathedral and explained the processes. It was fairly warm and AnnieB handed round fans – I do like to see a man with a fan. The cathedral was very impressive, such an apt name as it did feel like a church with wooden pews and it smelt like the vestry at my mum’s old church…


We were ushered into a cool room where a table was laid with six glasses of sherry per person and a selection of snacks. AnnieB had also brought along some extra snacks, including some mojama (dried tuna) and some dark chocolate. It’s amazing how the different snacks go with different sherries (Husband doesn’t eat snacks so not sure how he would have coped). For me, the best pairing was the mojama with the Amontillado, closely followed by the goats cheese and the Oloroso. But, at that point I was no expert…


…but by time my selection looked like this….


…I clearly was an expert. (Thanks to Nick who allowed me to use his empty glasses as mine were still half full, honestly). AnnieB had also provided water and we were under no pressure to buy up loads of sherry which was refreshing. I have a built-in dread of being shown around somewhere and then forced to buy – when travelling as a student in Egypt, my friend and I were pulled off our camels on the way to the pyramids and led into a perfume shop where we were given many types of perfume to try. The hard sell started and, through fear of not being allowed out of the shop unless we bought something, we asked to see the smallest bottle they had – student-size. It was very small and cost us what little money we had with us for lunch, but we were released from the shop and our camel ride continued.

After a pit stop – which I should just mention had lovely adverts on the walls so I snapped a few…


…we set off for the next Bodega in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. This tour was also very relaxed and we tried the sherry straight from the barrels. Our guide was lovely – very informative and clearly loved his job. There was one barrel which is set aside for the workers in the cathedral and, to me, that was one of the best. AnnieB suggested I change my job and come to work in the bodega…


This was my favourite sherry tour – I love the gypsy girl whose face pops out all over the bodega and whose history with the founders of the bodega needs more research. Her original painting was on a tambourine, which is kept in a gorgeous room full of the history of the bodega.



The last photo above shows her image on the end of each row of sherry in the cathedral.

So more sherry which really did get better, finely balanced with a sip of water (another top tip from Sev) culminated in a Wellington sherry which was 60 years old minimum. Wow! It was my third best – the one immediately before that one was my second best (maybe a Napolean!)

Pleasantly light-headed, we headed off for more tapas and sherry, and wine in town. Beautiful potatoes which grow near the sea and are naturally salty, with tuna, onions and a little sherry vinegar, shrimp fritters (the freshest I have ever had), gazpacho, langoustines, octopus…. so much food!


But there was room for a little pistachio and chocolate ice cream.

If you have got this far, I applaud your persistence and award you a sherry next time we meet. Tonight I might just have a few beers but then again…


And just because, I loved this shop window. Buenos tardes!

Day of rest

Today was the day our bodies were rested from the food and sherry onslaught of the last two days. But not before the breakfast which was offered by my lovely B&B, El Cojibo. Pork three ways (Manteca, chorizo and the pink floppy one), homemade butter, apricot jam and kiwi jam, tomato sauce, cheese, orange cake, bread…. I had to turn down the offer of eggs. So I did the breakfast as much justice as I could — brought up to eat everything on your plate sometimes has its challenges.

This was the view just before dawn…


I decided to walk off breakfast – big mistake. It was like an oven and every step was an effort. Everyone else who was out (admittedly not many) was hugging the 6″ of shade by the wall. I tried shopping but the shops were even hotter. I don’t sweat (see earlier blogs) but beads formed in every crevice, even in places where I didn’t know sweat glands existed. Returning to the sanctuary of my room, I felt like I had done 90 minutes hot yoga. I spent the next 5 hours cooling down. Whatsapping with Lindsey, a fellow AnnieB student, and we had shared the same experience “damplimplettuce” was a great adjective. So, with a few hours spare I checked out some places to stay in Kyoto – emailed the monastery and am hoping we get a night there. Plus had a brief look at eating places in Tokyo. I have a long wish list so Uncle Bert will have to help out, I think. But this is a definite definite!


Plus the eel place, the udon place, the sushi place. Have found a pizza place for the kids too!  😋

Read some of my book, The Essex Serpent. Book club members look away.  Am struggling with the fact that it is set in Maldon/Colchester and the Blackwater seems to be an integral part. It’s pricking parts of my memories which haven’t been brought to mind for a long time. But the writing is very good.

I dragged myself kicking and screaming (yeah, right) to the beach.  Returned to Zahora – my favourite. Thought I could buy a sun umbrella at the beach but the only options were leather necklaces with plastic shark’s teeth, sarongs or summer dresses. If you were looking for a great business idea, head to Zahora beach and set up a stall selling beach paraphanalia. Sorted.

So, with the potential to get badly sunkissed, I set myself up on a 20 minute cycle, swimming for 20 mins, lying on the beach 20 minutes, swimming 20 minutes. It worked a treat. Am not good on beaches and get sand everywhere so slapping on the suncream means I get a free exfoliation every time.


Lying on the beach you hear the tinkling of a bell every now and then and a fit young man appears with boxes of pastries. What’s not to like?


I popped in to the armana for a final vinto de verena limon, finished off a few more months in my book and headed back to Vejer. Luckily, another AnnieB student was sitting with a beer in the plaça de espagna so I had to stop and join her for a couple. (Note no sherry has passed my lips!)

A refresh and remeet with team AnnieB and we headed off to La Oficina for some excellent tapas and, you guessed it, some sherry! Pictures show just two – a delicious Iberico pork fajita and ensallidia (sp?)


Tomorrow is official sherry day and we have been told to have a hearty breakfast. God help me.

Tapas and Paco 

It’s very hot. I know we shouldn’t complain when it’s hot but i reckon it’s high 30s here. Writing a little earlier today as we have the evening and tomorrow off to sober up and digest the mountain of food we have cooked and eaten over the last two days. Most of the day we were chopping and slicing but we had a brief trip to the butcher who is a celebrity in these parts. Some people from Vejer went to watch Real Madrid play carrying a banner saying “If Sergio Ramos gives us his shirt, we will give him some lomo en Manteca” which is a local pork dish made by Paco Melero, the butcher of Vejer. The moment he removes his shirt and runs to the guys with the banner is available on YouTube. Overnight, Paco became famous and his small shop was bombarded by the worldwide press. Well deserved as it’s incredibly tasty! Here he is shaking hands with a fellow butcher who is on our cooking course…


So on today’s menu, we cooked tuna salad, prawns in garlic oil, orange and lemon cake, octopus salad, tortilla, meatballs and carrot salad. The octopus prep was the best – and it melted in your mouth. Not sure whether Waitrose in Godalming stocks a lot of octopus but will be on the hunt when I get home. And I want one of the octopus jugs like AnnieB’s – Zara home apparently! Tuna salad was good, meatballs were chorizo and pork so tasty and the carrot salad was nice. But the best dish was the prawns in garlic oil. Whenever I cook them at home they turn out dry and like cardboard. Next time, am hoping for the mouthwatering deliciousness produced by Pepe. The trick is to buy frozen prawns with their skins on. And to use a whole head of garlic. Can’t wait to try this at home.


Another new skill was cooking a tortilla. Potatoes were peeled and cut into chips and then large cubes. There was a ton of olive oil put in the pan and the potatoes were left to cook without stirring for 20 mins – a couple of small stirs and then onion and green peppers were added for about 10 mins. Then everything drained (oil saved for reuse). Eggs beaten and potato mixture added then poured into clean pan and stirred quite a bit to start with. Left for about 5 mins – tossed and left for a few more minutes. Delicious. My car crash tortilla which ends up half in the pan and half cooked are a thing of the past, I hope!

All this was washed down with the obligatory five different types of sherry. All tasted better than the last. And pudding was a cake that was even better than yesterday’s chocolate cake, served with creme fraiche and fresh peaches.


After all that, I slept for two hours in my new abode and now I am feeling a bit hungry……

By the way, lovely Husband, if you get this far, this is one for my Christmas list 🙂

Fish day

Woke up feeling a little worse for wear and the rooftop yoga session was tough going as room spin hadn’t really abated. The idea of breakfast also didn’t feel so good. But a cup of green tea and some solpadeine brought everything back into balance and we set off for our fish day course. We headed off by taxi to Barbate fish market – where we bought a lot of fish – prawns, squid, clams, four big local fish, razor clams and anchovies. Was very busy so I offered to queue and buy the vegetables – my limited Spanish and a very kind greengrocer worked a treat. We then went to a tuna factory shop and bought some tins of tuna. Driving back to AnnieB’s house we stopped off at a bar and had some Manteca on toast – very delicious. Back in the kitchen, we prepped the anchovies, ate raw prawns, made a salsa verde, drank sherry, ate razor clams, drank more sherry (although I didn’t really want to drink so much so sipped slowly). We also made a chocolate almond cake and smothered it in raisins soaked in…. yes you guessed it… sherry! We salt- baked the big fish. I can honestly say I have never eaten as much or drunk as much in my life. The best dish for me was the fried anchovies – very simple but so tasty. Stumbling back around 5pm for a few hours siesta before heading back for the evening session – cooking paella. Beers first before sherry. We also had more anchovies and some fried squid. The paella was superb and I now feel more confident cooking shellfish. Am tired, full and not drunk so will be fresh for the meat day tomorrow. Sadly, the rest of the team are heading back to the uk and I am moving into a B&B – which is conveniently located about one minute stagger from AnnieB’s kitchen.  Hasta mañana!

Sherry – who knew?

So, mum and dad have a sherry at 11am every day. Never realised why till right now. I think I have drunk a pint of sherry – starting at fino and ending up at olo rosso extra large. Not sure I can really write a blog with one eye but safe to say I have had a fab evening, eaten everything from octopus to the meat between the pork ribs and now it’s time for bed. Enjoy the photos. Can explain everything in the morning 😂

Spanish yoga

Given that I knew I was going to a yoga practice at 11am, I had a lie in helped by the absence of the builders who were clearly celebrating the sabbath. So we arrived at the sculpture park in good time and assembled in a shady spot for some meditation. Imagine sitting in a circle listening to guided meditation in an unfamiliar language – you would keep peeping to see if you were still meant to have your eyes closed, wouldn’t you?! Was unfamiliar with a good 20-minute meditation session before starting a practice but that’s fine. Opened my eyes in time to see the rest of the group heading off with their mats to the hammam. A few minutes later we started our physical practice. Again, everything was in Spanish but we just folllowed the teacher. This worked a treat until we had to lie down – at which point visibility was reduced so I had to gauge the next moves by checking out a guy who was half visible on the other side of the room. All in all I think we did pretty well. We might have been a few bars behind the rest of the group but we were invited at the end of the practice to be part of the photo shoot to promote the yoga activity in the sculpture park. So they must have thought we were ok. A brief walk round the park and a few diversions on route, we ended up back at Zahora beach and the boat restaurant. I chose well – repeating the salmojero and fresh fish, followed by a light passionfruit mousse with a slight creme brûlée topping. Washed down by tinto de verena and a glass of local white wine. I am living the dream. Weirdly, the restaurant gave us free sun hats (free key rings first time, maybe a t shirt next time!).  A scary few minutes when attempting to walk back after a swim – with the tide receding, a massive rock system made egress very hard. Safely back on dry land we spent a lovely hour or so drying off as the sun got lower and the beach slowly emptied. My favourite time to be on the beach. Homeward bound and shower. A quick whatsapp call with the Porsche Panamera Man and my lovely son. Seems as though the car is VERY BIG, SO BIG. Not made it into the garage but there’s plenty of time for that. So tomorrow is Rooftop yoga, shopping and Bolonia beach. And then I start a tough week learning how to cook and eat Andalusian food – how tough is that? 

#bigday

While welcoming the sun on the roof terrace, Husband was taking delivery of “the beast”, a carmine red Porsche Panamera. He texted it was his #bigday. I believe it was. Meantime, shopping was on the menu followed by great tapas in the central market. A beer then a sherry then some wine. The tapas was very good. Great place just to sit and linger over some white anchovies, a few slices of pork and some sherry (or have I mentioned that already). Day 3 in the big brother house and we have attuned to the Spanish timings. Siesta on the roof terrace while some laboured in the kitchen skinning tomatoes and making gazpacho. A trip to the beach with the compulsory 30-minute search for a parking space. Beach not so fab – Barbate – reminiscent of trips to Bournemouth when I was little. Many many people – happily no other non-Spanish audible. Cloudy and a bit chilly but home beckoned and we chilled out prepping the next feast. Gazpacho was awesome. A flamenco fashion show in a stunning setting rounded off the evening followed by a meal which would have been fit for a masterchef final. Had too stay awake but check out these pictures!

Can’t really focus

Quick late night resume while my ears are ringing from the Saturday Night Fever album which played out as we cleared up from a delicious dinner of gambas and tuna. Lovely day – sun salutation on the roof where the sun miraculously joined me for my last breath. Listened to the stories about qigong – didn’t foresee that stories was to be a main theme of the day. Jumped in car to Chiclana which en route turned to a trip to Cadiz with accompanied history of the singeing (sp) of the King of Spain’s beard and other interesting facts by the resident Melvyn Neil Bragg. Cadiz is lovely – the mercado central is the oldest market in Spain and the fish took my breath away. We stopped for numerous sherries and some shrimp fritters. Then headed off for some culture at the cathedral and tower. Some decided to go shoe shopping. Then we all joined in save for Melvyn who decided to sit in a doorway and paint (no upturned cap, no signage). Most of the other attractions were closed so we drove back via El Palomar beach – great waves. Then home for gambas and tuna. Lots of wine, my special magic trick (you know the one) and. Game of who am I. The bee gees sung us out. Sayonara, buenos nochas and hasta luego, amigos!

Amarna Zahora

Woken up by the bells at 8am and realised my intake of sherry and wine might have exceeded normal limits. A few rounds of sun salutations on the roof terrace sorted that out and a shopping trip to the local covered market, where pointing and smiling came in handy, was followed by breakfast with the ripest peaches and melon. A trip to the beach at Zahora was planned but before we could go, I had to move the car from the expensive car park and find a free place. In Vejer, anything car-related can bring on high levels of stress – not helped by the fact that I had lost the parking ticket. We were saved by a very dashing young man who acted as the go-between for us with the car park attendant. We reparked in a free car park. The other car had been given a parking ticket as the lines were green or blue rather than white. Who would’ve known?! Quite a while later, we were heading for Zahora beach – recommended by a great friend. It was lovely. To swim in the sea and dry off with a warm sun, with your feet sinking into warm sand – this is what a holiday means. After some real relaxation, we walked to the beach restaurant – amarna – and had a great meal. Marine salmorejo, tuna carpaccio, sea nettle risotto, tuna steak with ginger and an aubergine and courgette salad. Washed down with some tinto de verano. It was so good. Will definitely go back. 

A lovely late afternoon walk along the beach where the sky put on a great show. Home to more sherry, prawns and padron peppers and a fish stew. I could reload and repeat this day very easily.  

Vejer car parks

First day of holiday and started it early – 3.15am – so that’s before the sun rose. Leaving Essex behind, Stansted airport was buzzing at 5am. What? How? Why? My Waitrose large sandwich bag didn’t meet security requirements so I had to decant all my liquids into the Airport Regulation plastic bag before proceeding through to the sparkly black path through duty free where vendors shouted their wares “fancy a tipple before boarding? Buy one get one half price” IT’S 5 O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING! Flight was uneventful save for me falling asleep within minutes of boarding and vaguely hearing a comment about the life vest being in the panel above my head. Car hire went well – few extra dents than shown on the diagram but all sorted. Driving from the airport was sweeet. Arriving and trying to find car parks, not so sweet. But, at this time of night, and after a few beers, sherries and a couple of glasses of white wine, then the car parking is fine. I didn’t need to spend a good hour trying to locate a certain car park which turned out to be unreachable from one side of town. With delicious tapas from a lovely restaurant and the safe arrival of my other friends, I can say with confidence that my holiday has started on a high. Hasta luego!