Spain - Summer 2012

Pinchos and Tapas

Saturday, 25 August

11 days left of the summer holidays and I am spending 10 of those days in Spain.  Good decision.  We are here for one reason and one reason only; La Tomatina!!  Any food I eat along the way is just a bonus.  And as it turns out, one great big fat bonus!  When I booked this trip I was so wrapped up in the idea of the tomato festival that Spain's unique cuisine completely passed me by.  Luckily the festival only takes up one day leaving 9 days to see the sights and taste the delights.  First stop; Barcelona! 

We stayed at a place called TwentyTu "high tech" hostel which was amazing and had everything you could possibly need as a back packer.  The night took us straight out to the tapas bars to dine l'espagnol style.  Why don't all bars do this?! Whoever conjured up the idea of Tapas is a genius.  They're like lots of little different appetisers that you use to satisfy your post beer munchies with instead of the usual bag of nuts.  Appetisers like deep fried calamari, a slice of Spanish omelette or some kind of sausage.  Then there are pinchos which are like 2 bite open top sandwich towers held in place with a toothpick.  Though apparently anything with a stick in it can be called a pincho (pincho is Spanish for spike).  We had a variety of both tapas and pinchos and washed them down with Sangria.  Then we went to another bar and had round 2 of exactly the same thing; tapas and pinchos washed down with sangria.  This is probably my favourite way to eat!  Simply picking at things the whooole night whilst chatting away.  Amazing! It is the perfect social food and at 2 euros a pop its not all that expensive.  We spent way more on drinks than food that night and I felt like I was grazing the whole time. 

Yesterday we were up early and ready for a busy day.  This was our only full day in Bacelona and we wanted to cram in as much as we possibly could.  The main attraction seemed to be the Sagrada Familia; Gaudi's 130 years in the making and yet still not quite complete Catholic basilica.  We could see it from our hostel but that didn't quite prepare us for its enormity.  Rising out of the underground you cant help but stand in awe when you turn round.  It is massive but then yet looks so fragile.  It reminded me a lot of one of those sand drip castles you use to make on the beach as a kid.  They just require a small wave to be knocked over.  Unfortunately we didn't anticipate the size of the queue to get in and though we would have loved to have seen the insides, it did not fit into our schedule.  It would have literally taken hours.  The Sagrada - big church, bigger queue.

Instead we headed off to Barcelonas famous market; La Boqueria.  This market had everything i'd imagine a market in heaven would have.  It had all the usuals for a market like fresh seafood, fruit and meat but then it also had bars (tapas of course) and other food joints.  My favourite was the seafood stall that on one side sold fresh produce from the sea and on the other side they cooked it!  It was here where I ate my new favourite kind of calamari.  Chopitos; little baby squid bread crumbed and deep fried.  And I had a whole tray to myself with a fish kebab for 5 euros.  Happy days.  Hanging from many stalls were several pig legs.  These weren't butchers but ham specialists.  Serrano ham (or "Jamon Serrano") seems extremely popular in Spain.  I didn't actually get to try any yet but there's time.  It's not cheap mind.  And Jamon Serrano seems to be the cheaper cut in comparison to "Jamon Iberico" which I think is a different breed of pig.  It can take up to 4 years to cure so I suppose its price tag is somewhat valid.  I have also heard that the price depends on whether it's the left or right leg!  I intend to come back and buy some to take home.  It's my dads birthday so it's going to have to be Iberico!  We went from the market to a castle via a metro and cable car. You get a great view of Barcelona from the carriage and the walk up would have been gruelling in the midday heat. We ambitiously bought a one-way ticket though as we figured it would be a nice walk back down.  Not much to see at the top but if you have got a spare couple of hours then it is worth a visit. 

Sticking to Spanish tradition we had a quick siesta back at TwentyTu before putting on our dancing shoes for some Salsa classes.  We spent the evening down on the beach side of Barcelona where we heard the Salsa classes were going to be held.  Dinner first and though I wanted to hold out for Valencia for paella the temptation got the better of me.  I figured it is still Spanish paella just not from its city of origin.  Two of us shared a mixed seafood paella to fuel our disco engines and wiped the platter clean.  The Paella was great but the ultimate fuel was to be found in our Salsa club (Habana Barcelona); Mojitos!!  Looking around it was clear that 90% of the people there were more at the intermediate/expert level rather than the absolute below beginners level like myself.  Furthermore, Salsa is very much a man lead kind of dance so the girls were fine.  Me on the other hand... Well my dancing skills are comparable to a drunk Mr Bean on crack.  It was going to require a lot fuel.  A number of Mojitos later we were having great fun.  There were actually times when I felt like I vaguely new what I was doing!  I probably didn't but I definitely caught a glimpse of an old man copying my moves!  Or I just smiled at an old man who was mocking me...  Either way it has properly fired me up to try and learn properly back in England.  

Valenthia

Tuesday, 28 August

Why do I always feel like I am trying to show off when I say "Valenthia"!?  A five hour coach for about 20 euros took us from Barcelona to Valencia where we had booked a weeks stay in a flat from homeaway.com.  The same website where we got our Sadinia villa from.  It was a great little place right in the centre.  For our first full day we decided to go to the Bioparc.  I have done a few zoos in my time and this one is way up there with Singapore zoo.  It was really good! A very pleasant surprise.  We spent pretty much the entire day there!  Just sitting in its cafe is amazing whilst glugging a cold horchata; a super refreshing milky (but does not contain milk!) Valencian drink made from tiger nuts.  I love it and have had several from street vendors since then. 

Yesterday we did some site seeing after a morning on the beach.  First was the Cathedral of St Mary of Valencia which claimed to hold the Holy Grail.  Sorry what?!? The REAL holy grail!?  What on earth is the holy grail doing in the middle of Valencia?!  Surely something like that belongs in St Peters Basilica in the Vatican!!  We had to investigate.  With a sceptical mind we paid 4 euros to enter and took a quick guided tour.  Turns out that the cathedral did house a chalice that was officially dated to a few years BC and so quite possibly was the one used in the last super... I don't know.  It was a nice tour anyway.  From here we walked a length of the river in which they turned into an elongated park.  An ingenious idea for a river that kept flooding the city and would have made a beautiful bike ride had we the time and fitness for it.  The evening took us to more tapas (seriously can't get enough of it!) at a restaurant called Gino's in busy central Valencia.  Four of us shared a selection of mussels, cuttlefish, seafood paella, patatas bravas, little fried peppers and crispy fried aubergine.  The Spanish have got it so right! I can't think of another way you could eat so many different things in one sitting.  It's totally the way forward. 

This morning I was awoken by the clanging of metal poles and the general bustle outside of my window.  It turned out that the roads had been closed off and transformed into a great big street market! Excitement was relatively short lived as it turned out to be more of a car boot style market with nothing really to munch on.  Didn't matter though as we had already planned to visit the Valencia food market today.  Probably half the size of Barcelona's market but still good enough to nose around.  We followed this with a trip to the Fallas museum which I think is definitely worth a visit.  Las Fallas is a festival where people make amazing sculptures out of paper mache and then set fire to them! The best sculpture of the festival, however, is saved from incineration and put in to the Fallas Museum.  It shows off every winner since 1940 and so you can follow the fascinating changes in society through each sculpture.  We spent the afternoon on the beach where I tested out my new goggles (bought for the tomato festival) and chilled in the sun.  Early evening, after sunning ourselves, we ate our first proper Valencian paella in a beach side restaurant.  Rabbit, chicken and snails made the perfect paella which we were warned would take around 40 minutes to prepare and make.  If only I didn't have to share it.

Tonight we prepare ourselves for the reason we came here in the first place.  La Tomatina is tomorrow!! I have my goggles, I have decided what to wear and the morning plan is sorted.  Am I prepared?  Probably not.

La Tomatina!!!

Wednesday, 29 August

Today was possibly the craziest day of my life.  Regularly I stood back in my mind and thought "what the @#!*/ am I doing?!".  A day of many first times started with a 4:30am alarm where my excitement for the festival couldn't yet punch through the fact that it was 4:30 in the morning.  Though the festival wasn't until 11ish we aimed to catch the first train out to Bunol as we didn't want to take any risk of not getting there.  As excitement peaked through my tiredness it was starting to get pushed aside by anxiety.  So many people have warned me about it being very rough and dangerous and I had read quite a bit too.  What the @#!*/ am I doing!?  The train station was only a few minutes walk from us and there were already a few people there.  By 6 AM the place was heaving.  Thank god we decided to come in early! 

We had to catch a metro to the main station and then from there had to catch the train to Bunol.  Hearts sank as we got off the metro and saw the queue for the main train station.  Seemingly endless; we cried inside and joined the back of it.  Some people hopped into taxis whilst those that couldn't afford a taxi watched on in envy and wallowed in their own self pity.  It was grim.  But not for long!  Gradually word spread that the fat queue was solely made up of people wanting to buy tickets.  We already have our ticket!!!  All anxiety, tiredness and drizz was obliterated as we ran towards the station screaming and waving our tickets in the faces of the queue bound.  I have never been so excited!  On the train absolutely everyone was buzzing and more then ready for the madness to come. 

On arrival we followed the crowds through streets lined with buildings covered in blue plastic sheets and past fully kitted out stewards that made me feel a little under prepared. We settled at what would soon be the centre of action.  Right next to the greased pole with the ham on top.  Yes that is what I just said... A greased up, two story tall, wooden post with a whole pigs leg hanging from the top.  What the @#!*/ am I doing?!  Tradition has it that as soon as someone manages to climb the pole and release the ham; the tomatoes will be released.  We watched them grease it up good and proper and then stood back and admired the brave try and scale it.  Just a single failed attempt, as a man jumped on and then slid back down, made it instantly clear that it was not a one man job.  We watched on as people trampled all over each other wanting to be the first to the top.  We saw several people face plant the post after being launched into it and heard a number of thuds as people fell off and the crowed parted from under them.  After the first wave of madness people started to work together.  Every time they edged a little higher they would flick the grease into the crowed as we all cheered.  What the @#!*/ am I doing?!  By this point I was covered in beer, sangria, grease and sweat (very little of which was my own).  The vibe was amazing and didn't seem rough at all.  People had brought big bottles of alcoholic cocktails and sangria and offering it to everyone!  Waiting like baby chicks in a nest it was poured out in to our opened mouths with the majority going in my hair and down my shirt. 

Wave after wave of people failed to get the ham.  Human ladders, pyramids and just general piles of people did not manage to get there.  One lovely girl scaled the post and the crowed went crazy.  Not because she had scaled new heights, as she must have thought, but because she had failed to notice that one entire boob was completely hanging out.  She welcomed the applaud and cheer of 40 thousand people with a smile and obliviously climbed back down.  Though great attempts were made nobody got high enough to unhook the ham.  The blast of a canon indicated that the inevitable release of tomatoes was upon us.  This was it!  Being in the centre it took a few minutes for the madness to reach us.  We could see the cloud of tomatoes getting closer to us from both sides.  I put my goggles on.  What the @#!*/ am I doing?!  A single lone tomato landed near me and everyones eyes fired up with excitement.  I remember thinking how strange it was how much hysteria can be caused by one tomato!  Before I knew it I was ankle deep in a cool, sloppy sludge.  I lost the girls straight away.  As the tomato trucks go by you are bombarded with tomatoes and you have no choice but to take cover.  No time to even open your eyes, never mind throw something!  It is so cramped that just bending over to pick up some ammunition was difficult and made you worry that had you gone down would you ever come back up.  Once the trucks passed and the crowed spread it was every man for themselves. 

The goggles served no purpose whatsoever.  Tomato juice just seeped in and it caused more pain then protection when taking a direct hit.  I took them off and carried on.  What the @#!*/  am I doing?! This is frickin awesome!!!  I am getting absolutely battered and all I can think about is how I have never had this much fun!  The best is getting people from far and them having no idea it came from you.  Within about ten minutes it pretty much went from a tomato fight to a pasata fight.  There was barely chunks of tomatoes never mind whole ones.  The street was just a red river of gunk and attack was more of a scoop and pour then a pick up and lob.  After a while the main frenzy had died down and people were just sitting and playing in the stream.  Nobody was rough or aggressive at all and everyone was just having a really good time.  A second canon blast signified the end of throwing and meant I had to go find the girls.  Good job we arranged a meeting point before hand!

Heading back was less fun as the adrenaline wore off my eyes started to burn a little and I gradually felt less and less comfortable.  In the heat the tomatoes dried to your skin and scalp making you itch all over.  Locals spraying hoses out of their windows helped somewhat and once I got some fresh water to my face I felt better.  BBQ's lined the walk back and a spicy sausage bap took the mind of feeling rank.  Unfortunately the train tickets and money that I had wrapped in a plastic bag were sodden but the sun managed to dry them out quick enough.  Never had I craved and enjoyed a shower so much.  Full on life experience... DONE!

Plenty of fish

Saturday, 1 September

Curiosity got the better of me the other day when I opted for the pickled anchovy flavoured ice cream over the sweet strawberry, sticky toffee and rich chocolate flavours.  It was not good.  Infact I had a two scooper of which the other one was Spanish omelette flavour.  They tasted exactly as the title suggested so I don't really know what I could have possibly been expecting.  I did my best to offer it out to the others but in the end it had to go in the bin.  By Thursday we were down to just the two of us and we decided we would kill time with an all day combined ticket in the City or Arts and Sciences.  For a start, the park just to look at, is seriously impressive.  Like something from the future.  The science building was designed to look like a whales skeleton!  Our ticket included half a day in the Science Museum, a film in the IMAX and then an evening in the Marine Park (35 Euros).  This place properly blew my mind.  I have never seen anything like it.  We could have easily had the day just in the Science Park and kind of wished we had.  I learnt so much!  I now know exactly how much water is in my body, how difficult key hole surgery is, that the hottest part of my body is my arm pit and that my friend sits entirely on her left cheek where as I sit perfectly normal.  

We ended up sticking to our plan and went to the IMAX to watch a film about the Nile.  It was a first experience for me and pretty cool.  Though put me in a warm darkened room, in a seat that's more horizontal than vertical, the inevitable is going to happen.  All I could tell you is that the film was about the river Nile... and that was in the title.  Off to the "L'Oceanographic"!  Aquariums are cool, I like them a lot.  This was a whole new level of cool though.  Seriously breath taking and without a doubt the best aquarium I have ever been to.  What the hell, why are there so many cool things in Valencia?! A park the length of a river, a brilliant zoo, two world famous festivals, Paella!!, the HOLY GRAIL!?!? and now these two beauties.  We watched a fantastic dolphin show and spent the whole evening until late visiting and revisiting the various exhibits.  It is massive and I could never get bored here.  In one exhibit we witnessed something truly special.  A real treat for the eyes and ears - two walruses mating!  Now how many people can say that they have seen that?  I'm thinking about adding it to my world experiences list.  Don't save the City of Arts and Sciences for a day when you have nothing to do like we did.  Put it at the top of your list of things to do in Valencia... after Paella.    

Yesterday we did some final errands, ate one last Paella and caught an over night coach to Barcelona.  We couldn't help but visit La Boqueria market one more time for breakfast.  Spanish omelette, churros, coffee.  Good times.  I bought some Jamon Iberico to take back too.  La Tomatina was the reason for this trip and in the end it played just a small part in the whole experience.  A frickin amazing part but comparatively small nonetheless.  The two national dishes of Spain are Paella and Tortilla Espanola (Spanish omelette) and I have ticked them both off several times.  I can now say with quite some confidence that I have eaten Spain.  And I would do it again.   :o) 

Also see my La Tomatina Survival Guide

Sardinia, Alghero - Summer 2012

 Rich for a week

Friday, 11 August 2012

The Haven caravan park in Felixstowe was our standard yearly family holiday and I have warm memories of fish and chips on stoney beaches and joining in with tacky "Cabaret times".  It has been 8 long years since then (and any family holiday) so this year we decided to do it in style.  A beautiful 7 bed, brand new villa (Vista Blu) in Alghero was a big step up from the sardine tin caravans of the old.  Barbecue, pool, terrace... Brilliant!  We arrived with just enough time to get some dinner in the centre and so we dropped our stuff off and caught a taxi to Alghero port; a bustling medieval centre with cobbled roads and honeycomb walls.  With a family of 7 and no designated leader it took a while for us to pick a restaurant but we finally sat down to a place with horse meat on the menu!  Now if i was in France i would have had no choice but to order it.  Instead i went for one of Sardinia's very own; Fregola pasta! A cross between large cous cous and tiny gnocci it tasted great with the seafood medley and sauce i had with it.  Sardinian dish number 1, done!  My brother had the horsemeat so i managed to pinch a taste.  A texture of beef steak with a bit of a liver after taste.  I was happy with my Fregola. 

Sitting outside for breakfast on the first morning i actually felt rich sipping on my real Italian espresso and eyeing up the pool.  This is the life.  Three of us decided to cycle to the nearest shop to buy some more breakfast goods which was a nice downhill breeze all the way.  Filled our bags with bread, cheese, cured ham, eggs and milk and then slogged it back uphill all the way.  In late 20's heat and a bike chain that kept coming off i was feeling a little less rich and looked as if i fell into the pool whilst cleaning it.  Day 1 of our holiday had started and we began to plan our stay. 

The first day was billed as a lazy day where we roamed around the port, booked a few trips for the week, did a big supermarket shop (where we accidentally bought 24 litres of fizzy water - they love that stuff over here), chilled by the pool and had a BBQ.  We came to the executive decision that hiring a car would have been more expensive and inconvenient (some issue about getting a fine for driving through restricted traffic areas in a hired car) than using taxis so all the activities we booked included transport.  Yesterday we had an all day boat cruise from Alghero port for 45 euros.  We visited a few caves before dropping the anchor at a crystal blue bay for swimming.  My brother brought a little fishing rod with him and so an afternoon of swimming and fishing was perfect.  The fishing was a slight problem though as when we caught our first fish the whole boat was watching and we felt obliged to throw the fish back.  That could have been dinner!  Slightly annoying but we didn't want to fall into a stereotype of the Indian family trying to catch their dinner.  Though that was exactly what we were trying to do! Anyway, with the intention not to upset the onlookers, we threw the fish back and a frickin seagull swooped down and grabbed it!?  We may have lost dinner but lunch was being served.  It was a little more basic than i was expecting and so a tad disappointing.  A bowl of basic tomato pasta followed by a plate of a mixed seafood salad.  It was alright.  

  

Before leaving for Sardinia I put a list of top food places together using recommendations from blogs and forums.  Last night a few of us went on the hunt for some of them.  The Focacceria Bar Milese was suggested as one of the best and the taxi driver confirmed this on the way.  We decided that we would have starters there and then mains at Poco Loco which was a recommended pizzeria.  Bar Milese turned out to be next door to the restaurant we ate in on the first night!  We did notice that everyone around us seemed to be eating some kind of sandwich at which i probably scuffed at in a "i can get that at home" kind of way.  I now know that i 100% can not get this at home.  They have a number of different fillings but their biggest hitter is the "milese".  I stood in awe watching them fill these massive focaccias with great speed and technique.  The place was heaving with people and a ticket system was being used to ease the crowed.  I ordered two for €5 and got the ticket number 657 to listen out for... what the hell is 657 in Italian!?  After a good 15 minutes I just showed them my ticket to find that mine was there waiting.  Not to worry though, the Focaccia Milese was well worth the wait.  Tomatoes, tuna, egg, salad and ham with some special sauce in a fresh and fluffy focaccia.  Easily without a doubt the best sandwich i have ever had.  After an hour of searching for Poco Loco our focaccia was nicely digested and we were ready for our pizza.  Pizza ordered by the meter!  Great quality as well as quantity; we just about managed to push down a whole meter between the four of us. 

I have spent the best part of today by the pool trying to contain my excitement over tonight's plans.  Tonight we are eating at a fixed menu seafood restaurant which tripadvisor seems to rave about the sheer mass and quality of the food.  Reviewers have written in capitals "MAKE SURE YOU GO HUNGRY!".  Genuinly can't wait!

The See-Food Diet

Saturday, 12 August 2012

As a group, i can't even begin to think how much we have eaten.  Several BBQ's and a few 5 star all you can eats later my waste line is widening and stomach bulging.  Friday we had the seafood buffet in the evening and so we all planned to have a light lunch so we were nicely hungry for our seafood pig-out.  However, having spent a large part of the day by the pool we lost complete track of time and accidentally had lunch at 5PM.  We literally finished eating, looked at the clock and instantly presumed that it was a good 4 hours out.  Confirmation from another clock told us that we had messed up.  

So With full bellies we went anyway and ate plate after plate of the most amazing seafood ever.  The restaurant was called "Mabrouk" and cost €40 per head including unlimited drinks and wine.  The free wine was useful as we developed a tactic to get a little tipsy so we could eat more.  I don't know if it worked but if you were to pick out a family in that restaurant who you thought had just eaten before they came; you would have not picked us. We polished those plates better than a dishwasher.  We were welcomed to our table by an array of delightful cold appetisers of octopus salad, pickled sardines, mussels, swordfish and some crispy fried aubergines in a rich tomato sauce.  These were followed by a plate of culurgiones (a Sardinian type of ravioli) in a fish ragu, a tray of sea food risotto and a birds nest of spider crab linguine! This was just our second course out of 5 and though my mind was telling me to pace myself my belly was telling my mind to go suck eggs.  No spices, a few herbs and extremely fresh produce is all it takes to keep a usually loud family silent for half an hour.  The crab was by far my favourite as every strand of pasta oozed with crabby goodness.  The squeaky clean platters were taken and replaced with the mains; A whole sea bass, deep fried calamari and grilled prawns.  By now the gaps between the buttons on my shirt were revealing skin but we still managed to reenact a game of hungry hippos pounding the table until nothing remained.  A choice for desserts and then digestives of various Italian Liqueurs; Grappa, Limoncello and two types of Amaro.  If we weren't pissed already, this saw us off. 

Today we took a tour bus to Bosa for €18(return).  Bosa looks how I imagined Sardinia to be in my head.  Each building a different pastel shade to the next, dusty cobbled roads and old ladies drying tomatoes out in the sun (so annoyed i didn't think to get her in the photo!).  We walked up to the Malaspina Castle during the peak heat which was well and truly, absolutely pointless.  We even had to pay to get in! To look at old rocks...  We didn't really do much in Bosa but it was still nice to see.  Further more, on the way down to the beach we ate a cactus fruit straight off a cactus and then found fresh figs growing on a tree and ate those too.  I've never had cactus fruit before.  Luckily a friendly local saw us holding it with a question mark above our heads and taught us how to eat it.  You could never do this in England! Tomorrow is my mums birthday so I have booked us an afternoon at an agriturismo called Sa Mandra.  Agriturismo seems to be the name given to a farm restaurant where all the food served up is grown and bred on site.  Sounds pretty impressive if it is true and my mum is a proper organic snob so perfect birthday present.  Another five star all you can eat jobby but this time meat instead of seafood.   Lets hope we remember not to eat beforehand... 

Pigging Ourselves

Tuesday, 14 August 2012

I love how Italians eat.  A proper Italian meal takes a good couple of hours to be seen through.  The apperitivi is like a pre-starter and is pretty much just a round of drinks and maybe some tiny bites.  Then it is the Antipasti which is almost the equivalent to our starter but it is usually a cold dish of some sort.  Cuts of ham, cheese etc.  The "Primi" and "Secondi" is from what I can work out our main course split into two; the carbohydrate part (Primi) and the meat part (Secondi) or something along those lines.  Where we would have fish and chips they would have some fancy potato dish for Primi and then after have a fish dish all on its own for Secondi.  Dolce (dessert) is next and is followed by Digestivi which is another round of drinks but somewhat stronger. 

On Sunday we had another epic meal at an agriturismo called Sa Mandra.  The term agriturismo is usually given to accommodation on farming land but we specifically went to eat.  Sa Mandra is properly out in the sticks and when we arrived it felt like we had gone back to the days when fields were ploughed by cows and cows were milked by hand.  All the old farming contraptions were on show and bread, olives, cheese and cuts of pork were out to pick at with glasses of wine to wash it down.  All, they say, produced on site.  The sweet scent of roasting meat fills the entire farm and so i followed my nose to find several little piggies skewered around a fire in a fireplace.  This was one of Sardinias most recognised home dishes; Porchetto or slow roasted suckling pig. 

We followed the full Italian meal plan.  For the anti-pasti we had several types of cured hams and a variety of cheeses.  Sheep's cheese seemed common and had a light, creamy flavour.  Primi was pasta with a wild boar ragu and more culurgiones.  Secondi was stewed pigs lung, stewed lamb and the Porchetto.  Nothing to fancy, all cooked with little masking of the natural flavours.  The piglet wasn't as good as we hoped.  It had very little flavour and its texture was so soft it became a bit pasty after a couple of chews.  A suckling pig has only drank milk all its life and so the lack of flavour kind of makes sense.  Its young, so not enough fat to make decent crackling either.  Still, i love the idea of it roasting on the fire and that picture still makes me salivate.  I can't help but think that it would have been awesome with a Thai sweet chilli dip.  The experience overall was great and I enjoyed walking around the farm after seeing the animals and vegetable patches.  In the end, however, it was more expensive than Mabrouk and not as good.   

Sunday evening we took our makeshift rods to the port for a spot of fishing.  We did manage to catch a few and had we brought more bait i recon we would have had some biggens.  But i suppose that's what they all say.  We planned to have our last BBQ  yesterday with the fish we caught.  7 people and 6 very small fish... It didn't take much math to realise that we needed an early morning trip to the fish market.  We went to two different markets; the first was along the port and wasn't very busy, the second nearer the park.  Fish is expensive here!  For some reason i thought it was going to be dirt cheap but we bought a large cuttlefish for €34 and lobsters were selling for €120 per kilo!?  That's ridiculous!  The last thing on my list of things to eat in Sardinia was not going to happen.  Doesn't matter.  We bought a load of prawns that were recommended to be eaten raw (raw prawns?!), a couple of kilos of mussels and a few steaks of swordfish.  The prawns were almost sickeningly sweet when eaten raw.  I could have dunked it in my morning espresso as a sugar substitute.  With coals on, marinades made and table set up in the veranda we got to work.  My job was the cuttlefish which took far to long to dissect and prepare with a blunt knife.  It was no Mabrouk but it was a damn good seafood feast nonetheless.  And probably less than a third of the price.

  

I forgot to mention Bottarga which is something i have only seen here.  It is a very expensive item of cured fish roe which you can slice or grate for a super strong sea taste.  I had it in a panini in Bosa (but didn't know i had at the time) and on a pizza for lunch today.  I only learnt what it was after seeing it in a really smelly meat and cheese shop.  Probably too strong of a taste for pizza but grated into a pasta dish would work wonders. 

After our BBQ we lazed all afternoon and evening until we decided to go out on a hunt for spaghetti.  It didn't end well as we found ourselves in a "Jamaica Inn" (what were we thinking?) eating microwaved spaghetti carbonara.  Ok exaggeration (i think) but it wasn't good.  Our last dinner on holiday wasn't going to ruin our final impressions of Sardinia.  This place is a foodies heaven.  Food seems more of an experience here rather than just a means to an end.  Something to take your time over and enjoy.  This is true for Italy all over i think.  We have loved it all over.  Great food in the sun with a kitchen, pool and barbecue has made an awesome holiday for a foody family and beats caravaning in Felixstowe hands down.   :o)

The French Alps - Summer 2012

Just a few weeks after Newquay and i am on another school trip, this time in the French Alps.  I am not too keen on writing up school trips so i will be keeping this brief.  It started with a gruelling 24 hour coach trip with 35 kids.  Sounds awful but i kind of enjoy having an excuse to sit and do nothing for a whole day.  A 100% guilt free laze.  The last couple of hours was a stunning (and a little stomach turning) meander up the Alps with our final drop off at "Hotel La Portette" in Les Orres.  After freshening up we spent the afternoon in a swimming pool on the beautiful mountain side.  The ideal past time after the long journey and mid 20's heat. 

The Alps is famous for its winter skiing but the summer brings out a whole different load of activities.  The ski slopes become downhill mountain bike tracks for the mad with the ski lifts carrying the bikes and bikers to the top.  Our first activity was an adventure jungle with high ropes (left) feeling much higher being on the side of a mountain.  No time for me to be scared though as it was my job to encourage the kids that its all completely safe as i nervously lean out to prove that the rope will catch me.  This ended up being a common theme throughout the trip as after a quick lunch back at the hotel we had an afternoon of rock climbing.  We had to walk a good half hour up a mountain before we could even start climbing.  It is certainly a little scarier climbing a rock which base is already pretty high up.  Nonetheless, with little judging eyes watching, i got up there (above). 

One busy day followed by another.  The coach took us to the top of a mountain where mountain bikes awaited us.  A 2 hour down hill dash took us through villages, past farms and over streams.  Out of all the activities, if there was going to be an accident, it was going to be this one.  And yet this was the one which the kids were least scared of!?  At one point the instructor stopped us at the top of a slope and said in broken English "this hill has many bees".  Bees? I wrongly presumed that he made a mistake in his English.  Could this get any more extreme!?  Damn it was fun though.  My backside was sore for days after but completely worth it.

As if a 25km bike ride was not enough for a days work we went on to do a Via Ferrata in the afternoon.  I had never heard of one of these before.  It is the Italian name given for a climbing route across a mountain face aided with metal staples.  Aided with metal staples because it would be completely impossible to climb the flat vertical rock face without them. Now this was scary!  Oh my days it was scary.  Forget staying strong for the students, i had a full sized turd in my pants.  Some students refused point blank before starting, many gave up half way (and had to abseil down) and the rest braved the whole thing.  I managed the whole exhilarating experience and lapped it up.  It was amazing.  

The rest of the week involved white water rafting, chilling on a lakeside beach, roaming around towns and a 6 hour mountain trek.  The lake beach had a brilliant inflatable park with trampolines and icebergs to scale and jump off.  An hour playing on that with the students really takes i out of you.  I was shattered and had a proper lakeside snooze after.  For the mountain trek we took the chairlifts to the top and hiked back down with a picnic stop half way.  A real french picnic of wine, cheese, baguette and pate munched sat next to an aqua blue mountain lake.  Perfect!  Other than this, food took a back seat on this trip and pretty much acted as fuel for the energy draining activities.  A medley of ham, cheese, baguettes, croissants and cereals made breakfast.  Lunch and dinners ranged from steak hache to tartiflette.  So pretty good french fuel on the whole!  The trip was fantastic and I genuinely don't think i would have enjoyed it as much as i did if there weren't any students.  It's a bit like having children round for Christmas.  Their excitement makes you excited.  The French Alps are breath taking in the Summer and i am massively looking forward to coming back in the Winter to slide down some slopes on yet another school trip.  Love it.  :o)       

Newquay, England - Summer 2012

One of the most famous holiday destinations for the English summer and the unofficial capital of Cornish surfing.  I am here on a school trip with 41 year 9's and a few members of staff for an action packed 3 days.  The first evening was spent on the beach; bathing in the North Atlantic ocean.  Bathing is probably not the right word to use as this conjures up images of relaxing in a hot bath with a good book.  Instead i should use a word that represents wind, rain, screaming children and testicular dystrophy.  Ok so i exaggerate... the kids didn't scream that much. 

The following day was rained on constantly but moods weren't dampened at all during activities like archery, quarry crossing and rock climbing.  Having accepted that we were going to get wet anyway, we had great fun!  I wouldn't really have bothered writing this trip up but it turns out that there's a few things i would like to keep a record of.   For a start, i learnt how to surf! I actually caught a wave and stood up on a surf board!? No longer will i have to be the inferior man that hires a body board instead of a surf board when at the beach.  Catching a wave is actually easier on a surf board but getting up on the damn thing is another story.  There are several parts of the process that all consecutively need to go perfect.  First you need to pick your wave as the wave needs to break just as it hits you; no sooner, no later.  Then you start paddling but you don't want to start paddling to soon otherwise you miss the wave breaking. Once you have caught the wave you need to stay on the wave by leaning your body in the correct direction.  Then you need to know when to stop paddling, get onto your knees, get onto your feet and then stand up.   I regularly got to the knees stage, rarely got to the feet stage and twice got to the stand up stage.  Be it for a fifth of a second or not, i stood up.  

The second day took us kayaking, coasteering (jumping off rocks) and Pico sailing.  So much fun!  The weather held out for us too!  In terms of local delicacies; i had a few Cornish rattler ciders on the beach side and a couple of the all famous Cornish Pasties.  I can't go to Cornwall and not have a Cornish Pasty.  It's like going to the English coast and not eating fish and chips.  I of course, had both.

It actually felt like a proper holiday.  The students were beautifully behaved and so 80% of my being there became redundant.  It's brilliant! Well and truly knackering... but brilliant.  Oh the life of a teacher.  :o)