Chickpea and chorizo soup with smoky paprika bread

Posted on March 23, 2013 by Marianne under Recipes

Well, we’ve arrived safely home in Spain after being Down Under for the past four months. We’ve had an amazing time, but it’s always good to be back in your own bed, and with more possessions than you can fit into a suitcase, isn’t it?

Although it has just started raining as I write this post, the three days since we arrived home have been sunny and warm, but the evenings soon feel chilly once the sun has gone down. So what better to warm us up than a bowl of hot soup, especially one full of Spanish flavours?

To make this delicious Chickpea and Chorizo soup, you will need the following ingredients:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 (340g) chorizo sausages (chopped coarsely)

1 large brown onion (diced)

1 medium red pepper (diced)

2 cloves garlic (crushed)

400g can chopped tomatoes

1 level teaspoon of dried mixed herbs (or use fresh if you have them)

750mls (3cups) chicken stock

400g jar of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)

For the Smoky Paprika Bread, you will need:

1 level teaspoon smoked paprika

1 clove garlic (crushed)

50g butter (softened)

1 loaf of crusty bread (sliced thickly)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium-high heat and add the chorizo. Cook, stirring until slightly browned. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the diced onion, red pepper and garlic to the pan. Cook, stirring until the onion has softened. Add the undrained tomatoes and the chicken stock and bring to the boil.

Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the chickpeas.

Remove two cups of soup and purée in a blender. Return to pan along with the chorizo. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. (I like to add a few whole black peppercorns to the soup to give it an extra bite).

To make the Smoky Paprika Bread – combine smoked paprika, garlic and softened butter in a small bowl. Spread half of the flavoured butter onto the bread slices and pop under the grill until browned. Turn each slice over, spread the remaining butter and toast the second side until browned and crisp.

Serve the soup with Smokey Paprika Bread immediately.

Que approveche!

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Fresh Figs Stuffed with Goat´s Cheese and wrapped in Smoked Bacon

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English Language Publications for FREE!

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Marianne under Axarquía, Laws and Customs

Whilst you are visiting any town or village throughout the Axarquía region, a selection of English language newspapers and magazines is available for you to collect, free of charge.

These publications, including Spanish Insight, SolTalk, Streetwise, Marketplace, Grapevine, Sentinella and Euro Weekly are useful for both tourists and residents alike. Each contains information about ‘what’s on’ in the local area as well as some well-written articles on a wide range of topics, recipes and items for sale – including properties. (You can CLICK on the links to be taken to the online versions of the publications).

Sadly, in order to make-ends-meet with their budgets, these magazines contain more advertisements and fewer articles as time goes by, but I guess that happens round the world.

You will find these free magazines in many estate agents, bars, cafes and other such popular places.

How do you like to discover what’s happening in your local area?

Travel Theme: Multiples

Posted on January 5, 2013 by Marianne under Axarquía, Photo challenges

Looking down from the tower of Còmpeta’s church at the many umbrellas shading customers at the bars and restaurants in Plaza Almijara.

This is my response to Travel Theme: Multiples

More photo challenges you might enjoy:

CBBH Photo Challenge: REFLECTION

Sunday Post: GOALS

Weekly Image of Life: WISHES FOR 2013

Spanish-Style Breakfast: Churros served with thick hot chocolate

Posted on November 28, 2012 by Marianne under Axarquía, Recipes

This is Churros con chocolate, a fried dough pastry-based snack dipped in thick, hot chocolate, and is a great favourite with Spaniards for breakfast.

Churros are typically fried until they become crunchy, and may be sprinkled with sugar. The surface of a churro is ridged due to having been piped from a churrera, a syringe with a star-shaped nozzle.

Try them – they´re delicious!

Whilst you’re here, why not have a look at these articles:

Fresh Figs Stuffed with Goat´s Cheese and wrapped in Smoked Bacon

Cost of Living – East of Malaga – November 2012

The Day of the Dead: A Celebration of Life

Cost of Living: East of Málaga, Spain – November 2012

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Marianne under Axarquía, Cost of Living

Whenever I travel, I´m always interested to know how much things cost and, every day, people from around the world find my blog by searching for the cost of living in Spain.

Back in August, I posted some receipts for groceries I had bought here in southern Spain, which proved to be a very popular article.

I also wanted to do something a bit different, so I decided that rather than post the prices of random items of shopping that you may, or may not be interested in, I would come up with a list of standard grocery items, which I will update the prices of, three or four times a year. This list can easily be changed, so if there are any other basic items you would like me to include, please let me know in the comments section, below. This way, if anyone else wants to do something similar, we can have a direct comparison between countries.

For this month´s prices, and to make direct comparison simple, I have once again used the Spanish Supermarket – Mercadona in Torrox Costa.

I must admit – I was pleased that I had noted down these prices in August, or otherwise I wouldn´t have known about the pleasant surprise awaiting me – THERE HAD BEEN NO PRICE INCREASES AT ALL, AND MANY OF THE ITEMS HAD ACTUALLY COME DOWN IN PRICE! YAAY!

This was even more of a surprise as there was a hike in IVA/VAT tax rates at the beginning of September. Whilst it´s fair to say that four of the price-reduced items are “seasonal fruit and veg” , six others are not, including a whopping 1.07 € off a packet of washing powder!

So, here´s the Standard Grocery List I used last time (with prices as they were in August) – now with November´s prices in RED alongside.

Standard Grocery List

Milk (semi –skimmed UHT, own brand), 1 litre 0.54 €      0.54 €
Loaf (white, baguette 250g)   0.45 €    0.45 €
Eggs (12, own brand caged, medium) 1.35 €     1.35 €
Chicken breasts (1kg, boneless, skinless) 5.50 €     5.50 €
Apples (1kg, green, Golden Delicious) 1.35 €     1.00 €
Oranges (1kg) 1.39 €     0.89 €
Bananas (1kg) 1.25 €    1.15 €
Potatoes (1kg) 0.92 €    0.89 €
Lettuce (1 head, Iceberg) 0.85 €    0.85 €
Water (1.5 litre bottle) 0.45 €    0.36 €
Domestic Beer (1 litre bottle, Cruzcampo) 1.29 €    1.20 €
Fish (1kg Salmon steaks) 8.75 €    8.75 €
Toilet rolls (pack of 6, own brand) 1.95 €    1.95 €
Washing powder (Box, 35 washes, Elena brand) 5.94 €   4.87 €
Olive oil (1 litre, extra virgin, own brand) 3€    2.75 € (5 litres 12.99€)
Coca-Cola (1.5 litre) 1.09 €    1.00 €
Butter (250g, own brand) 0.98 €    0.98 €
Sugar (1kg, white) 0.95 €    0.93 €

New items on the list:

Coffee (ground, 250g, Santa Cristina) 1.79 €
Beef mince (Store brand, pre-packed, 1kg) 5.43 €

I´ve also included my store receipt for a few groceries I bought from the German supermarket Lidl which has stores throughout Spain. Most of these items not included on my standard grocery shopping list.

Currency Conversion from XE €1 = 1.27 USD
0.80 GBP
1.22 AUD
1.27 CAD
1.55 NZD
11.15 ZAR

Other household expenses

Gas: We don´t have mains gas here – we use bottles of butane gas. In August, a 12.5kg bottle of Butane gas cost 16.45 € – they are now 16.10 € . One bottle used to last (on average) 21 days (for two people… though around 4 weeks in summer) for all hot water, showers and cooking. During September we had a new gas water heater fitted and, even though it has a larger capacity for water heating than the previous one, it appears to use significantly less gas. It´s early days yet, but the first bottle lasted five weeks (rather than three weeks). I´ll keep my eye on how that goes.

Electricity: Last time I told you that for a 3 bedroom/2 bathroom detached house in the countryside with a swimming pool, we paid an average of 90 € per month. I may have underestimated this a bit. The cost of consumption for us is slightly lower in winter with heating/lighting, as opposed to air conditioning/lighting/swimming pool pump running for 8 hours a day, in the summer months. Our electricity company Sevillana Endesa has raised their prices significantly recently and monthly bills now appear to be averaging 120€.

Water: We are not connected to mains water, so when we bought our house part of the purchase cost was for a share in a local water company. We have a water deposit to store our house water. Our water share gives us an allowance of up to 17,500 litres of water each week at reduced cost, after which the price rises steeply. Needless to say, we don´t use this amount of water, even allowing for swimming pool top-ups and garden irrigation. The water company, Patamalara, doesn´t always sent out their bills regularly and much of the cost appears to depend on the amount of repairs that have been undertaken on the system, but over the past twelve months our annual water bill has amounted to 92 €.

IBI – Council Tax: Paid yearly to the local council. This year´s bill is 338€

Internet: 29 € per month with unlimited downloads (within reason). Speeds up to 3 Mbps

Petrol/Gasoline: In August 1 litre of 95 octane petrol was 1.49 € – now that price has fallen to 1.40 €

Vehicle excise duty: We have a Peugot 307 and pay 51 € per year.

Eating out: Glass of wine or beer, including one tapa is 1 € – 1.50 €. Menu of the day (three course meal, served at lunchtime, including bread and one glass of beer, wine or a bottle of water) 8 – 10 €

How do prices compare where you live?

You might also enjoy these articles:

Menú del Día: Great food at a budget price

Cost of Living: East of Málaga, Spain – August 2012

Goats on the road: I kid you not