Should Seville’s barefoot nuns have faith in my cake-baking skills?

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Marianne under Recipes

When I was in New Zealand earlier this year, I stayed with a lovely lady called Val, who introduced me to Herman the German Friendship cake. Val was only part way through the 10-day cycle of making the cake, so I wasn’t able to join in with the fun. Besides which, I was travelling at the time, so it wasn’t very convenient.

Herman the German is a sourdough cake, often received from a friend as a “starter mix” and which sits on your kitchen counter for ten days, bubbling away, covered with a tea towel. Along with your starter mix, you also receive written instructions on how to proceed. On the tenth day, you divide the mixture to share with your friends, and bake your cake.

To be honest, since returning home to Spain from New Zealand, I’d forgotten all about Herman.

A few weeks ago, Sue, a FB friend and fellow expat blogger from Extremadura in Spain, asked if anyone was interested in sharing some of her starter dough for Herman’s Spanish equivalent: Bizcocho de las Carmelitas Descalzas de Sevilla (The Barefoot Carmelite nuns of Seville cake). I should imagine you were wondering where the nuns came into it!

Anyway, how could I refuse?

All we had to figure out now was how she would get the starter mix to me when we live about 500 kilometres apart!

Fate stepped in – in the form of The Open-Air Theatre Project, a small, rural community from the Alpujarra mountains in southern Spain with their dream of building an open-air theatre. To cut a long story short, Sue was on her way to meet up with the group, and she kindly diverted from her route to deliver my starter cake-mix, together with a sheet of instructions in Spanish (of course).

She also brought me five jars of the most delicious home-made plum, cherry, fig and loquat jam. YUMMY!

How lucky am I?

As soon as I got home from meeting Sue, I tipped the bubbling dough mix into a large pot bowl, covered it with a tea towel and, over the next ten days, followed the written instructions to the letter – sometimes adding ingredients, often doing nothing.

Today is the tenth day – so, this morning I set about dividing the mixture into four, in order to be able to give away three “starter mix” portions to friends and neighbours, added the extra ingredients and made my cake!

If you want to have a try yourself, you can get the recipe for Herman the German cake by CLICKING HERE. Don’t worry if you don’t have ~~any friends~~ anyone to give you the starter mix. You can always start the cake off, yourself, but I really liked the idea of the sharing bit. If you live near me and would like one of my starter kits, let me know!

Herman’s Spanish sister cake can be found by Googling “Bizcocho de las Carmelitas Descalzas de Sevilla”, choose one of the links and click on “translate this page” and Bob’s your Uncle – so to speak!

MY TOP TIP: After cooking for 45 minutes, take the cake out of the oven, cover with foil to prevent the top from burning, and pop back into the oven for a further 15 – 20 minutes to make sure the middle is cooked well enough.

So – should Seville’s barefoot nuns have faith in my cake-baking skills?

I think so – but I’d love to know what you think!

CBBH Photo Challenge: Ancient and Modern

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Marianne under Axarquía, CBBH Photo Challenge

Believe it or not, it’s one year to the day since I published my first CBBH Photo Challenge. How time flies when you are taking photographs!

Anyway, for this month’s challenge, if I were to I say “Ancient and Modern” – what would you think of? Would it be hymns, languages, history, art, the Olympics or maybe architecture? Within one photograph, I want you to show me your interpretation of Ancient and Modern.

Don’t forget that the CBBH Photo Challenge is a little different from some other challenges, in two ways. First, it’s only once a month – giving you lots of time to consider your entry before the end of the calendar month. Second, and most important, this is a BLOG HOP (after all, it is the CBBH – Conejo Blanco Blog Hop, meaning white rabbit in Spanish), so DON’T FORGET that in your post you need to add links to two blogs that you have visited and commented on, during the past month. That way, when we visit each other, we can HOP OVER to your links, connect with others and share a little blog love around!

I’ve blogged before about El Paseo de las Tradiciones in the white village of Cómpeta, but it’s a perfect example of the beautiful modern ceramic murals celebrating the lives of generations of the working people of the village, annexed to the 500 year old Church of Our Lady of the Assumption (La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción).

Here you can see the 15th century Cathedral in Seville, with its famous Giralda Bell Tower, as viewed from the very modern Metropol Parasol. More popularly known as Las Setas (the mushrooms), this huge wooden structure was built between 2005 and 2011 in the heart of the city. It seems people either love it, or hate it. I LOVE it!

Back in May, I visited the city of Granada and, whilst we were having lunch in one of the wisteria-covered restaurants in Paseo de los Tristes, in the shadow of the Alhambra, I grabbed my camera when I saw a jet appear above the turrets of the ancient monument. It was this shot that first gave me the idea of this month’s theme.

And finally, this modern stone architectural structure (known in Spain as a mirador – or look-out point) is sited to take advantage of a the scenic view over the UNESCO World Heritage Cazorla National Park in Jaén province. The Parque Natural de las Sierras de Cazorla, Segura and La Villas, to give its complete name, is Spain’s largest national park and the second largest in Europe. It’s marvellous to just gaze out and wonder at who has looked across these same mountains in days gone by.

My Featured Blog Links for this month:

** Spain for pleasure follows the adventures, misadventures and quiet musings of an earnest (British) expat living “la vida loca” in Granada. I was amazed (and envious) to read Josh’s tale of when he played a part in the best EVER water-fight in Lanjaron, but one of my favourite posts is his “Piste 2 Playa Project” when he took the ultimate day trip from Granada to ski in the morning in the Sierra Nevada mountains and sunbathe on a Mediterranean beach in the afternoon. Quite why he had to do it dressed in a giraffe onesie (especially on a nudist beach) is beyond me – but that’s Josh for you!! When he’s not having such interesting adventures, Josh earns his keep teaching English as a foreign language, so if this is something you might be interested in, head over and take a look at his blog. You’re sure to find something of interest – I always do!

** con jamón spain are a couple of Brits who have recently moved from London, England to live in Órgiva, in the popular Alpujarras region of Andalucía, for one year. Set in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Órgiva is situated an hour and three quarters’ drive east from Málaga, and 45 minutes south from the city of Granada. Con jamon spain are a couple of carnivores who have totally changed how they live over the past few weeks, and have discovered how to make delicious vegetarian pizzas, using fresh produce bought from the local Thursday market. Their regular posts make me want to jump in the car and visit Órgiva, right away – especially if it involves watching goats eating sugar cane, right at the end of their road! I’d love you to pop over, say “HOLA” to them and follow their adventures – I’m sure you’ll have a great time 🙂

CBBH Blog Hop

So that´s the CBBH Photo Challenge for August, folks!

Remember, all you have to do is post your entry by the end of the month, tag your entry ‘CBBH Photo Challenge’, link back to this blog and, most importantly, don´t forget to add links to any two blogs that you´ve commented on during the past month, so that we can all HOP OVER and have a look. Make sure you FOLLOW THIS BLOG so you don´t miss next month´s exciting challenge!

For more information on how the CBBH Photo Challenge works click here.

I hope everyone taking part enjoys the exposure the CBBH Photo Challenge offers to featured blogs and, who knows, you may end up finding a new favourite! I´m looking forward to seeing your interpretations.

[CBBH logo Image credit: (cc) Mostly Dans]

Triana Bridge, Seville

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Marianne under Photo challenges, Places

At the stroke of midnight on December 31st 1999 I was standing in Plaza Nueva in the centre of the Andalucían city of Seville with thousands of other people, to welcome in the new millennium. So, it was with some nostalgia that I returned for a few days recently, to be reminded of the delights that Seville has to offer – both old and new. I’ll be letting you know all about that in another post coming up soon, but for now, I want to show you the Isabel II bridge, more popularly known as Puente de Triana.

Until 1852, the only way across the Guadalquivir River was by using a makeshift bridge, originally formed in 1171 by chaining 13 boats together between the river banks. In 1847, French engineers Fernando Bernadet and Gustavo Steinacher began work on the Isabel II bridge, linking the Gypsy neighbourhood of Triana with the city centre of Seville.

It’s a pleasant stroll across Triana bridge which has become known for its love-locks, a custom by which padlocks are fixed to a gate, fence or bridge by sweethearts as a symbol of their eternal love. Because of the numbers involved, this practice has now become frowned upon, and the locks are periodically removed.

As you will gather, I took the above photo whilst enjoying an evening cruise along the Rio Guadalquivir. I love the way the lights from the bridge are reflected in the gently flowing water.

I also want to take this opportunity to announce the winner of my recent draw to win 6 handwritten postcards from Spain is …… Sylvia of Another Day in Paradise!

CONGRATULATIONS – I WILL BE SENDING YOUR FIRST POSTCARD VERY SOON 🙂

Weekly Photo Challenge: Nostalgic

Travel Theme: Motion

Capture the Colour: Red, Green, Blue, Yellow and White

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Marianne under Axarquía, Photo challenges

After being nominated by Islandmomma a couple of weeks ago for the Capture the Colour Competition organised by Travelsupermarket.com – I´ve finally got around to getting my act together!

The competition has five categories, one for each of the colours – red, blue, white, yellow and green. Each category winner will receive an iPad3, and the overall winner will receive £2,000 to be spent on travel……which would come in very useful.

Despite having travelled extensively, I have decided to keep these photos within the theme of this blog, East of Málaga – except for one, which I took in nearby Seville. So, here goes!

RED

Surely you´ve heard the expression “like a red rag to a bull”? Well, I think it can be taken quite literally during the Bull Run in the white, mountain village of Frigiliana. This event is held each year, early on the Sunday morning of the Feria weekend, in June. A much smaller version than the Bull Run held in Pamplona, both in terms of attractions and certainly in the size and age of the bulls, it is nonetheless no less exciting for those participating. No bulls are harmed at this annual festival.

Notice that the guy´s feet are both off the ground and a blur as he nervously glances over his shoulder to try to ensure that there remains sufficient distance between him and the charging young bulls!

GREEN

Here you can see El Patio de los Naranjos (Orange Tree Courtyard) within the confines of Seville Cathedral, viewed from the near the top of the spectacular Giralda Bell Tower. What I particularly like about this photograph is that you can see the pointed shadow of the top of the Giralda Tower in the foreground and that the vivid green leaves of the orange trees are the only focus of colour, drawing the eye to them even more.

The Giralda tower is unusual to climb as there are no stairs, but ramps around the four sides, with viewing windows every three or four levels. The ramps were installed so that in years gone by, horses could be ridden to the top. Sure saves the legs up the 37 levels!

BLUE

The framing structure overlooks the Presa de las Bermejales, a large lake (and man-made reservoir) situated in the west of Granada Province, on the northern boundary of the Natural Park of Las Sierras de Tejeda, Almijara y Alhama.

This secluded spot, far from the usual tourist trail, is a haven of tranquility especially during the very busy month of August. It´s a beautiful place to spend a peaceful few hours or days, enjoying nature at it´s best. I love the way the silhouetted structure frames the layers of hazy blue mountains disappearing into the distance.

YELLOW

East of Málaga wouldn´t be Spain without a giant-sized paella being cooked over a wood-fire at Chiringuito de Ayo on Burriana Beach in Nerja. Surrounded by palm and banana trees, Ayo´s Restaurant is something of an institution, serving up delicious food for over 40 years. There is no need to book a table but you will have to take your chances, along with everyone else, in trying to secure the next one coming free – but that´s all part of the fun! Locals flock to Ayo´s in their droves to sample the mouth-watering paella, there is always a great atmosphere AND you can can queue up for a second plate – free!

Mmmm … you can almost smell it from there, right?

WHITE

My final photograph was taken during Spring-time from my house in the countryside, looking down the valley towards the Mediterranean Sea. Of course, the water isn’t visible as there is a thick sea mist pouring inland.

On days when the mist rolls in, there is a constantly changing scene. Sometimes the white-washed fincas on the opposite side of the valley can be clearly seen. Other times the cloud completely surrounds the valley below our villa and obliterates our view of everything.

This is a magical time. It’s as if we are the only people on Earth and the house becomes “our castle in the clouds”!

MY NOMINATIONS

I know there are only a few days left before this competition closes on August 29th 2012, and you may have already been nominated, but here goes:

Diana at Canadian Travel Bugs
Toby at Travels with Toby
Tamara at A Foot in Two Campos
Rommel at The Sophomore Slump
Emily at Emily Luxton

Which photographs would you choose for blue, green, white, yellow and red?