Tag: #vejer

I went for an early morning swim at Zahora beach – Vejer was still sleeping and the peacefulness and coolness was lovely. The beach was deserted and I  tried doing a bit of yoga but somehow my body and the sand didn’t really work in harmony. I swam for maybe 15 minutes – it wasn’t cold but I was worried someone might run on to the beach and steal my clothes et al – irrational worry but I kept checking my heap on the beach so “swimming” might not be an accurate description – more like treading water and flapping about a bit. Driving back from the beach I was exhausted – I had expected  to feel invigorated and set up for a full day of cooking followed by gala dinner. I was actually hungry, though, and when I got back to the b&b, there was another large offering waiting – today’s pork three ways was different again, and the jams were red pepper and melon. The cake was pineapple – all delicious.

I stumbled upstairs to my room and lay down for an short nap – set YouTube to a yoga nidra meditation for about the right length of time before meeting up with the team. Something went wrong with my timings and just as I was entering deep mindfulness my alarm on my phone went off and I was yanked horridly back into consciousness. I didn’t really recover myself until mid-afternoon (I think it was the first sherry that sorted me out).

So – last day of cooking and we had two new students who joined us for the day of preparing and eating Moroccan food. AnnieB served us mint tea which was freshly brewed and very delicious, accompanied by dates which we stuffed with walnuts. We then made some delicious macaroons – the boys were first rate at whipping the egg whites and folding them in gently. Then a mountain of chopping. I volunteered to chop the big tomatoes – which needed to be de-seeded and diced. It was exactly what my mind needed to bring me back from my meditative state – I made slow steady progress while the rest of the team seemed to complete many many other tasks. We were shown how to prepare sardines – slightly easier than anchovies but the same method. The fillets were then sandwiched with chermoula and lightly coated in flour and fried. Delicious – and I will definitely be doing these at home.  Photo below was taken after I had starting eating…was a bit too eager to get stuck in…

Sherry arrived and we headed up to the terrace to eat the fruits of our labours. Carrot and cumin salad, babaganoush (sp?), courgette salad, chicken marinated in a Moroccan marinade (grammar?) and BBQd with a standout potato and yoghurt dressing. Copious amounts of sherry and lots of bonhomie (must check out if there is a Spanish equivalent). A short hop back to my B&B and I fell asleep for a couple of hours listening to the test match special – England got bowled out and South Africa went back in to bat while I slept (Husband, I hope I have made you happy including a cricket titbit). A final shop and walk round, back to pack my suitcase and then to AnnieB’s for a glass of cava before setting off for dinner. It was a fabulous dinner – we were looked after very well and AnnieB kept pointing out local celebrities including the guy who runs the Almadraba and the lovely butcher. Many people came to say hello to AnnieB so I reckon she is also quite a celebrity! The food was amazing, needless to say, matched perfectly with sherries and wines. We started off with deep fried chilli olives…

…followed by langoustines with leeks and goat’s cheese with a beetroot sauce…

…sardines with sumac…

Pressa Iberica (iberica pork skewers)

…among a few others! My final two glasses were an orange dessert wine made locally by the owner of the restaurant – it was a great way to end the sherryfest. A short stumble back to my room and a lovely long nights uninterrupted sleep. It’s true – sherry is very good for your health. I even got a certificate for my cooking skills!

Am writing this at 30,000 feet as we head back home. I hear it’s been raining. As I walked back to my hire car, I realised I wasn’t going straight back to work Monday morning. My heart seemed to skips beat or maybe race a bit and a massive smile appeared on my face. I am truly blessed!  Jerez airport is great – no big queues, bought some sherry vinegar in a spray bottle a la AnnieB’s and some figs in PX. Will miss all my new friends and the lovey week we spent, just as I missed all my old friends when they went home midweek.

A week of catching up with homies and family – and of course, leaving the best till last, a journey home from stansted in Husband shiny new carmine red Porsche Panamera 😂

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.

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 🙂

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!

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 😂