Happy New Year. It's been a while since my last entry but I've been busy and distracted.
Ivan had to make 40 cakes for yesterday afternoon, ordered by the village hall for the village people. Today was the day of the Three Kings and it is Spanish tradition to have a particular cake with secret gifts inside covered with dried fruits and sugar and filled with whipped cream (which I made). So Ivan made 40 over two days .. we also provided them with some liquors and hot chocolate. That was a nice little event in the school. This is because there are elections this year and someone is thinking on his feet, campaigning already. This was a first for Juzcar or so we are told.
New Year's Eve was just alright. No one we knew was here for the dinner. Ivan's parents could not make it either , a first. We had seven rooms booked so seven couples for dinner and no one else, which was a bit disappointing. In the last two years, there were people from the village in for the dinner as well and this year, nothing. So it was small. Last year, we also had a group of our friends that came down from London & NYC to spend NYE here. Some we already knew and others were new friends but it was nice and a fun evening. This year was missing that.
Anyway, we had people in the hotel until 03 January so a bit extra business. And yesterday the cakes and chocolate for Juzcar which was good.
This afternoon, after Ivan and I took the dogs for a walk, Francisco came by with our new coffee table that he made from the old front door of the house. He then invited us to stop by his finca as he and his brother-in-law were in the process of making homemade liquor with lemon flavour. So we went up there and had a few tastes of his recently made wine, mosto, and liquors, not to mention some homemade sausage. There were quite a few guys there by the time we arrived. Francisco has so much booze that he's made both from his grapes and liquor and any which way you count it, he has a lot of it! I asked him what he was going to do with all this and his response was that it goes quicker than you would think. Late afternoons like this very one helps to kill off a good portion of his supply... after all there were at least 10 of us there.
The weather here recently has been just gorgeous. I've been wearing shot sleeves and there have been guests dining on the terrace, outside. This is the kind of weather I would have expected for southern Spain, not the cold we've had the last two winters. But then, I know this is not normal weather either. It's so mild in the day that the house in the evenings is not cold at all. It feels more like we've gone directly to spring. And the purple crocuses are already out all over the mountain. This is normal for this time of year already. If this warmth keeps up, I would expect to see some wild flowers already starting to bloom. We shall see... depends on how long this mild climate keeps up for. I'm talking 18 degrees cel here on 06 January.
Anyway, we will be closing for a few days from 19 January for our vacation. We're going to visit some friends. Francisco will take care of Diego everyday providing his meals and taking care of the dogs.
I want to post some of the photos I took of the 40 cakes Ivan made while making them but they're not ready yet so I'll do that next time.
So that's it for now. Time to prepare some dinner.
Ivan had to make 40 cakes for yesterday afternoon, ordered by the village hall for the village people. Today was the day of the Three Kings and it is Spanish tradition to have a particular cake with secret gifts inside covered with dried fruits and sugar and filled with whipped cream (which I made). So Ivan made 40 over two days .. we also provided them with some liquors and hot chocolate. That was a nice little event in the school. This is because there are elections this year and someone is thinking on his feet, campaigning already. This was a first for Juzcar or so we are told.
New Year's Eve was just alright. No one we knew was here for the dinner. Ivan's parents could not make it either , a first. We had seven rooms booked so seven couples for dinner and no one else, which was a bit disappointing. In the last two years, there were people from the village in for the dinner as well and this year, nothing. So it was small. Last year, we also had a group of our friends that came down from London & NYC to spend NYE here. Some we already knew and others were new friends but it was nice and a fun evening. This year was missing that.
Anyway, we had people in the hotel until 03 January so a bit extra business. And yesterday the cakes and chocolate for Juzcar which was good.
This afternoon, after Ivan and I took the dogs for a walk, Francisco came by with our new coffee table that he made from the old front door of the house. He then invited us to stop by his finca as he and his brother-in-law were in the process of making homemade liquor with lemon flavour. So we went up there and had a few tastes of his recently made wine, mosto, and liquors, not to mention some homemade sausage. There were quite a few guys there by the time we arrived. Francisco has so much booze that he's made both from his grapes and liquor and any which way you count it, he has a lot of it! I asked him what he was going to do with all this and his response was that it goes quicker than you would think. Late afternoons like this very one helps to kill off a good portion of his supply... after all there were at least 10 of us there.
The weather here recently has been just gorgeous. I've been wearing shot sleeves and there have been guests dining on the terrace, outside. This is the kind of weather I would have expected for southern Spain, not the cold we've had the last two winters. But then, I know this is not normal weather either. It's so mild in the day that the house in the evenings is not cold at all. It feels more like we've gone directly to spring. And the purple crocuses are already out all over the mountain. This is normal for this time of year already. If this warmth keeps up, I would expect to see some wild flowers already starting to bloom. We shall see... depends on how long this mild climate keeps up for. I'm talking 18 degrees cel here on 06 January.
Anyway, we will be closing for a few days from 19 January for our vacation. We're going to visit some friends. Francisco will take care of Diego everyday providing his meals and taking care of the dogs.
I want to post some of the photos I took of the 40 cakes Ivan made while making them but they're not ready yet so I'll do that next time.
So that's it for now. Time to prepare some dinner.
