Thank you Blogger for being the platform bringing me from random Facebook postings to blogging. Sometimes it seems like full time unpaid work but on the whole I have enjoyed it.

However, the time has come for me to say goodbye as I migrate my postings from here to WordPress. Given that I spend so much time blogging I have started to feel like a professional and dare I say that WP is just that.

Anyway, thank you to the people and developers behind Blogger.

My blog can now be viewed at my website http://www.theflexible.co.uk - it is a work in progress.

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Curry. What better way to bring people together. 

In rural Spain it is not easy to pop out for what in the UK is the most common takeaway, curry. 

So a few days before setting off to India I held a curry night at Casa Adora attracting nationalities from UK, France, Belgium and Spain. Oh and Diabetic Tony from the Midlands. 

They all agreed it was picante! 

For the curry lovers here was the menu: 

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Goat meat is not easy to source in rural Andalucía unlike Brixton or places in the Midlands, and notwithstanding the number of goat herds I have seen, it was still very surprising when I stumbled across it at Carrefour - I grabbed a leg, like you do. Cabrito, a word of Spanish origin, refers specifically to young, milk-fed goat and that's what I purchased.

According to Wiki: As of 2010 goat is the most widely consumed red meat, eaten by more than 70% of the world's population. It is a staple of Africa, Asia and South/Central America, and a delicacy in a few European cuisines.

Despite being classified as red meat, goat is leaner and contains less cholesterol and fat than both lamb and beef, and fewer calories than beef or chicken; therefore, it requires low-heat, slow cooking to preserve tenderness and moisture.

I followed one of Gordon Ramsay's recipes, more or less anyway - Mauritian Goat Curry, delicious it was too.

Make a chilli paste by whizzing up a small red onion, 2 garlic cloves, 2 chillies (seeded if desired), a knob of fresh ginger, seasoning and oil ... 

Cut the meat into bite size pieces and brown in a little oil, setting aside.

Fry off the chilli paste, then add turmeric, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, cinnamon stick, a star anise (use fennel seeds if you wish) cardamom pods, brown sugar, few curry leaves, chopped fresh tomatoes, stock...

Add meat back to pan, you can add some cubed potatoes at this stage too, bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Open a bottle of wine then return in 3 hours or more... you may want to open another bottle - the meat should be tender and the curry will have thickened up.

Serve sprinkled with fresh coriander leaves, Indian apple pickle and naan bread on the side.

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This is a great package.

Breakfast, brunch, light lunch or canapés and is a wonderful taste of Spain. So simple and easy to prepare and once you’re in the habit of consuming this regularly then you are half way to your Mediterranean nirvana.

There’s many ways to make and serve this recipe that is eaten every morning in cafés and bars by hungry Spaniards across the country (and the islands, no doubt) but here is my versión simple.

Grate two ripe tomatoes discarding the skin but collecting the flesh, pips and juice then drain off most of the juice in a sieve.    

Meanwhile, lightly toast some rustic bread and when done rub a cut clove of garlic over the toasted dough. Today, as I don’t intend to kiss anybody, I crushed and finely chopped my garlic and added it to the tomato pulp.

Spread the pulp over the bread adding a drizzle of extra virgin olive, a light sprinkling of salt and a grinding of black pepper.

You could, of course, add herbs, cheese, ham, chilli, sausage, quail egg, etc.

Tomatoes contain high levels of lycopene an antioxidant which helps prevent heart disease and is protective against a growing list of cancers (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition). And for men tomatoes are extremely important in promoting prostate health according to studies in the USA. Lycopene is contained in the flesh of tomatoes and more is released during cooking or processing – we’ll call grating... processing. 

Looks good enough to eat

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Football First and not just on Sky...

OK, listen up. Football is very important so tomorrow there’s a little dilemma. The Confederations Cup is currently taking place in Brazil and tomorrow, showing live in one of the bars in my village, will be a semi-final match between Spain and Italy. The winners will meet Brazil in the final on Sunday.

My dilemma? Watch the football or go to my Spanish class:

Football. Case closed. 

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I have no excuse not to recover my sixteen pack. I walk but that's not enough so after acquiring a bench and some (light) weights I have today set about pumping the neoprene in order to increase my cardiovascular capacity and general fitness as I seem to have developed a touch of asthma in older life. 

And what is more, since arriving in Spain my borderline blood pressure has increased (increased, how did that happen?) to the wrong side of the line so putting a little laziness to one side I have motivation now, don't I? 

Here's the boxes... 

And here is my outside fitness set-up, funny that I had two washers left over from the assembly. 

I know that the fitness studio is not colour co-ordinated but as I have a walled garden not too many neighbours will notice. 

Anyhow, I noticed I was sweating from the pre-workout set-up as I sat down with my banana (see how serious I am?) and the manual. The first thing I read was: Notice: See your medical 
doctor before embarking on a fitness regime. Huh, you know about men and doctors... 

This is me a couple of months ago in Alicante when visiting my little sister and her man, Andy, sporting a twenty pack so a sixteen pack should be easily achievable, shouldn't it? Andy (is in white, he also has a 20 pack). 

Anyway, the first day wasn't so bad except for the odd fly causing an irritation but I suppose that's the downside to having an outside fitness studio. I'll let you know how my muscles feel later. 

Now is it Cruzcampo time? 

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It should be red, green and silver reflecting this healthy and simple salad of silver anchovies, home made grilled red peppers, a little red onion, lambs lettuce, lovely radish and ripe tomatoes. Finished off with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a sprig of parsley and black pepper. All the produce is Spanish except the black pepper. 

The official flag of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean is a rather insipid blue and white affair, don't you agree? 

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Goodbye England. 

I left mid-June 2012 for my new life on the overnight ferry from Portsmouth to Dieppe with Florence my car pulling a trailer containing my worldly goods. Needless to say it was raining when I departed.

Florence somewhere south of Madrid

I felt a little like Del Boy as the car was packed to the gunnels so that I couldn't see out of the rear window and I'm sure the trailer was overloaded too. My son is in the logistics industry so he arranged for 2 pallets to be delivered to me and as the only piece of furniture I brought with me was a wine rack it now makes me wonder what my stuff consisted of. 

Anyway, after ambling through France, staying  with Manu in Limoges, Tracy & Colin in the Limousin, Suzze & Henry in the Tarn, I was in my new country in 10 days - the temperature was 38°C, and I was just in time for the cherry festival in Castillo de Locubín. 

Viva cherries, I love them. 



And the first thing I cooked in my new 
kitchen was Linguine Vongole in a le Creuset frying pan which had been temporarily lost whilst packed in a box from a previous move in 2008.

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I normally post stuff on Facebook. Randomly. And although it is a good way of keeping in touch with friends and family somebody suggested I should create a blog which I ignored until recently.

So for reasons unknown I used Blogger to create my blog. And here I am at the end of May 2013 posting my first page.

Some while ago I was born in Clapham in south London just 3 miles from Stamford Bridge which is home to my team and as long as you do not support Man United, Liverpool, Arsenal or Spurs then you are welcome to post comments here. I’m just kidding, of course I love you all, well most of the time.

I live amongst zillions of olive trees in Spain's Andalucía which is rich in history, gastronomy and olives... And one day I’ll get to see properly the magical cities of Granada, Jaén and Córdoba and their palaces, castles, little known treasures and tapas.

My home is in a small pueblo blanco with a population of 642 people where I live alone at Casa Adora with my herbs, travel wall, Andaluz patio and music. And now my blog too.

Food is a passion of mine, I enjoy sourcing the ingredients (that is not always easy for some items in rural Spain), preparation and cooking from scratch each day. My soon to be sister-in-law suggested I should be on ‘Come Dine With Me’ but I am not competitive about it. Food just needs a bit of attention, imagination and love. Although I admit it always tastes better when it is for two… a glass of something chilled usually helps also.

And if you want a feel for my blog then this is how I think you should look after enjoying pasta made with a rich and slow cooked tomato sauce. This is my grandson, Alvaro, who lives in Almería with my eldest son’s family. 

 

Note: If you do not like Spain, food, wine and football then you'll probably be better off not following my blog. But anyway give it a try, go on you know you want to. Oh and remember to press the Share button!   

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