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Coffee Please!

Everywhere you go in Andalucia you may need to learn a slightly different vocabulary in order to order your coffee just like you like it. As an example, here’s a guide to coffees in Málaga.

Nube: Literally means “cloud”. This is just enough coffee to flavour your hot milk.

Sombra: Literally “shade”. Slightly more coffee.

Corto: Literally “short”. Less than half the glass is coffee.

Mitad: Literally “half”. You guessed it.

Largo: Literally “long”. More than half a glass of coffee.

Manchao: Literally “stained”. Just a few drops of milk in your coffee.

Solo: Literally “alone”… Yep.

Now if you’re really picky, you can also ask for a “semi-corto”, which is in between a “corto” and a “mitad”. There’s also a semi-largo that takes you in between a “mitad” and a largo.

Personally I prefer decaf, but I don’t want instant. Therefore I always ask for my coffee – a “nube” in this case – followed by “descafeinado de máquina” (por favour).

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Visit the Coast in Autumn

I love visiting the beaches of Andalucia in the autumn – no matter what the weather.

At this time of year there are so few people on the coast that it’s easy to park and the beaches tend to be deserted. Perfect! When else can you take long, quite walks on beaches that are packed out in the summer?

To be honest, I even take the children to the beach this time of year along with their sand toys and a blanket. I find that as long as it’s not raining or windy, the weather is ideal for playing on the beach. We generally don’t go in the water – unless it’s one of those exceptional days when the temperatures are fine for wading (and we do see so many northern Europeans enjoying a good swim as well).

I highly recommend small cities like Almuñecar this time of year. In fact, it’s one of my favourite autumn/winter coastal destinations. This beautiful little seaside town has such a wonderful promenade, a great climb to the lookout point, lovely beaches and parks and plenty of restaurants. If it’s a sunny morning, stop by one of the tiny restaurants on the beach that cranks out fresh churros with thick, hot chocolate – or a coffee.

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Día de los Santos

Another holiday in Spain! It seems like we just finished the lovely “Puente de Pilar” (The Pilar Bridge Weekend) when everyone was celebrating the patron saint of the armed forced (and the rest of the world was celebrating Columbus Day). For those who are new to Spanish customs, these long weekends are called “puentes” because even if the holiday lands on Thursday or Tuesday, it will still run into the weekend by simply creating a convenient bridge (by taking the Friday or Monday off as well as the corresponding holiday).

Today is a day to head for the local cemetery for the annual clean up session. Florists will be open today so that everyone can buy fresh flowers and decorations for the niches.

Of special interest to those with a sweet tooth is a pastry that is only sold this time of year. Stop by your local bakery and ask for “Huesos de Santos” (Saint’s Bones) to try it out.

In some villages in Andalucia this will be a day of toasting as well. This is known as the annual “tostón” and it involves roasting chestnuts and savouring them with a small glass of anis. You can learn more about this and other events in Andalucia.com’s festival pages.

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War on Plastic

Single use plastic bags are on their way out of Andalucia, thanks to the latest National Waste Plan (Plan Nacional de Residuos), which aims to cut the use of these handy helpers by the end of next year.

According to a report in this weekend’s Diario Sur newspaper, Spain is Europe’s number one producer of plastic bags and takes third place when it comes to consumption. In fact, it’s estimated that each person goes through nearly 250 plastic shopping bags every year - and the UN calculates there are about 18,000 of them floating free per square kilometre of salt water on our lovely planet. This is not only an ugly sight, but a danger to fish and birds. And remember, these bags will be here for our great, great, great grandchildren and far beyond.

Locals in Málaga province who were interviewed for the weekend report in Diario Sur were highly in favour of ditching single use bags and switching back to an old favourite: shopping carts with wheels. For a reasonable cost - usually not more than 15 or 20 euros - you can get one of these sturdy carts at hiper markets or even your local “euro store” (which the Sur reports are stocking up on all sizes as demand increases).

Another interesting alternative to conventional plastic bags are the new recyclable version made out of potato starch (fécula de patata). Surprisingly this product is just as durable as the bags we’re used to, it has a soft, matted finish and no - it doesn’t smell like potatoes!

On November 15 Carrefour stores will stop dishing out plastic bags and, along with other large hiper markets, will offer clients the chance to purchase sturdy re-usable bags.

Personally, I’ve already made the switch to re-usable bags. The hardest part was remembering to bring them into the supermarket with me! Once I got the hang of it, I found it’s actually much easier to work with these bags. They’re better designed and easier to pick up. The trick is to get medium sized bags as you can’t really take advantage of all the room available in the larger versions (without squashing your food or creating a load that breaks your back).

Another interesting result of using my re-usable bags is the stir it creates in the shopping queue as, inevitably, everyone starts talking about what a good idea it is to make this switch. For me, that makes for double satisfaction: first for saving on plastic bags and second for giving the cause a bit of publicity!

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Add a fresh touch to your diet!

Have you noticed the abundance of amazing fresh produce in the local markets right now? And talk about affordable! If you live in Andalucia and you’re not eating your fresh fruits and vegetables every day, it’s only because you don’t want to!

And we have every reason to make an effort to include more fresh stuff in our diets every day. The recommendation to eat “Five a Day” has now risen to seven to nine servings of fruit and vegetables every day by some estimates.

So we’ve got all the raw ingredients at our disposal, but how on earth does anyone eat that many fruits and veggies per day?
Years ago I began working on the answer to that question both for myself and my family - keeping in mind that serving sizes for kids are substantially smaller than they are for we adults.

In fact, rather than even worrying about serving size, my aim is to simply incorporate seven to nine different fruits and veggies into the family diet each day (as often as possible, without going to extremes or stressing out!).

Let me share a few strategies and flexible recipes with you:

1. Green salad with every dinner
In these days of fast food and pre-packaged, microwave meals, it sounds impossible to prepare a fresh salad even just once a day. However, with just a little practice, you may soon be as convinced as I am that this is the original fast food. You can prepare a wonderful salad in as little as 10 or 15 minutes and this is a project the whole family can participate in. Remember to top it off with a dash of natural, aged balsamic vinegar and a quality virgin olive oil “Made in Andalucia”.

2. Vegetable Puree
This is a flexible recipe that can incorporate a whole range of vegetables depending on what you like and what you have. Just peel and cut up one large potato per person. Put the pieces into a large pot and then prepare and add whatever other vegetables you choose: carrots, broccoli, spinach, beans, peas, squash, leeks, onions… Add water to about 1/3 the pot and gently simmer the contents till the vegetables are soft. Puree the contents with an electric beater wand (easily purchased at your local “electrodoméstico” store) then add butter or olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and then milk until you reach a creamy, soup texture. Serve as a Spanish-style “first course”.

3. Fruit Smoothy
This is a wonderful snack or dessert. Just prepare and puré your favourite fruits. Add fresh squeezed orange juice, unsweetened, plain yogurt and then your choice of sweetener, if necessary.

If you really want to get a good dose of fruits and veggies, try making a meal of all of the above. You may be suprised at just how filling and satisfying it is.

And don’t forget your fresh squeezed juices for breakfast, fresh fruit for dessert after lunch (when in Spain, do as the Spaniards) and a piece of fruit for your afternoon snack.

Also, if you enjoy Spanish cuisine, you’ll find that traditional dishes often do wonders with vegetables, as is the case with “menestra” - a sauteed and simmered mix of veggies - or “gabanzos con espinacas” (Spinach and Garbanzos), the dish that first turned my taste buds on to spinach.

At any rate, this is one facet of the Mediterranean Diet that shouldn’t be missed. You don’t even have to prepare the fresh produce from your local market Mediterranean style - just the fact you’re increasing your consumption is enough to make a difference in the way you look and feel.

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Summer returns to Andalucia?

If you’re connecting with us from a cold, wet, rainy region of the world, prepare to turn green! The weather in southern Spain has taken a turn for the warm, balmy better. Wow!

These late fall “summers” are the best - not so blazing hot like July and August. And neither do they have that little nip of chill you can get in the winter and early spring, even on a nice day.

This is time to dine al fresco. The neighbours just took a dip in the swimming pool… But I won’t lie. I did hear a yelp or two as they hit emerged from the chilly depths. What can you expect? The water in an unheated pool simply can not heat up like it does during the blazing hot summer months. So, no matter how inviting the water looks and no matter how hot you feel, best to stick to the terrace. That’s my advice.

Spaniards call these autumn warm spells “veranillo”, which means “little summer”. And you may hear some refer to this as the “Veranillo de San Miguel”, as Saint Michael’s Day is September 29. Some however, would argue that this particular “veranillo” should be called “Veranillo de San Martín” because it’s no longer September. However, it so happens that Saint Martin’s Day is November 11th, which means we’re not quite there yet either.

Whatever the case, the weather is divine. Perhaps we can just let the two Saints share the glory!

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Birdwatching in Casarabonela

I’ve just received fantastic news for birdwatchers in Andalucia regarding the annual birdwatching weekend in Casarabonela, a lovely white village perched on a mountainside in the province of Málaga.

I interviewed the organisers of this event on the radio last year and I can assure you it’s worth travelling to Casarabonela to participate if you love birds. Your organisers humbly refer to themselves as “amateurs”, but believe me, these dedicated non-professionals know their local bird community like the back of their hands. And this year they have the support of the Spanish Orinthological Society (SEO - Sociedad Española de Orintología) as well as talks by dedicated experts, local conservationists and the authors of interesting books about birdwatching in the south of Spain.

So, if you are looking for an entertaining opportunity to learn more about local bird life in Andalucia, here’s all you need to know to get involved:

Casarabonela Bird Fair – Dia de las Aves - October 3-4

Saturday 3rd October

Opening ceremony at Midday, release of wild birds of prey.

Location- Casarabonela swimming pool

CREA ( Centro de Recuperacion de Especies Amenazadas ) will be releasing 4 birds of prey back into the wild after rehabilitation. These include Eagle owl, kestrel, booted eagle and black kite.

13.00 Tapas route – Information on the Town hall stand.

15.00 Visit to the Birdwatching area. Information at SEO stand

16.00 Lecture by Author & biologist Aitor Oliver – Theme “ Swifts and Swallows of Casarabonela”

17.00 Guided tour of the principle monuments of the village. Information at Town hall stand.

Sunday 4th October

10.00 & 11.00 Visit to Birdwatching area with local guide. Contact SEO stand for details.

13.00 Prize giving for children’s drawing competition.

15.00 Guided tour of the principle monuments of the village. Information at Town hall stand.

16.00 Lecture by Tomas Rueda, co-ordinator of the Sierra de las Nieves . Theme “Space for conservation and development of the Sierra de las Nieves”.

18.00 To close the birdwatching weekend a presentation of a new book by Juan Oñate y Marta Oñate “ Paseo por las aves de la Serrania de Ronda”. ?????? ????? ????

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Life in the Spanish fast lane

Spain, particularly the south of Spain, is especially attractive to expatriates from northern European countries not only because of the sun, but also the pace of life. Many are attracted to move here by what they see as a slower, more relaxed lifestyle.

But would you believe it’s possible to suffer from stress here too?

In fact, because stress is caused – to a great degree – by our reaction to our circumstances rather than just the circumstances themselves, it should be no surprise that we can feel just as stressed out “here” as we did “there”.

So now the long hot summer is over, it’s back to work for many of us. Others are picking up where they left off with charity work, classes or associations and clubs. Our diaries are filling up with activities, events, appointments, dates, celebrations, shopping lists, meetings and problem solving tasks. Time is seemingly in shorter supply all of the sudden.

That is life in the Spanish fast lane – just like anywhere else.

I still remember when I was a student here, over 20 years ago. I naively explained (in broken Spanish, of course) to my host mother that life was not stressful in Spain like it was in my country. She laughed and rattled off a long list of reasons why she felt stressed out all the time. And after all she was caring for four children, her elderly mother and an international student while maintaining two homes and a part time business. Who could blame her?

Stress, therefore, is a universal predicament. And as one expert I interviewed for a magazine article once told me, it’s not that people in different regions of the world suffer from more or less stress, it’s just that the causes of stress are different.

And we’re back to our perceptions.

I once took a fascinating course given by a psychotherapist who described it like this: imagine yourself as a video camera. The life you are living is projected out from the disc playing inside. You can try to change your life by changing the things you’re filming, but the only real way to achieve a different life is to change the disc.

What’s the message?

If you’re feeling stressed, look inside to see what you’re projecting on to the screen that is your life. It really doesn’t matter if you’re “here” or if you’re “there”, until you change that disc, you’ll keep creating a stressful life in the fast lane wherever you go.

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Operation “Autumn Changeover”

Spring cleaning is big where I come from. Everyone talks about it, but I’m not sure if anyone really does it any more. Here, on the other hand, the big annual “turn the house inside out” season seems to be autumn. And it is taken very seriously.

I have a couple of theories for this. First of all, most Spanish women I know are obsessive about hygiene. Either they clean and their house is spotless, or they have someone who cleans, and the house is spotless. All year, day in and day out, not a corner is left unturned, not a bottle of bleach left unopened. They take clean to such levels of sparkling perfection; the traditional spring cleaning wouldn’t really make any sense.

Second, autumn is really the time when a Spanish home seems to need most attention. After a long hot summer, the family returns from holidays to an empty pantry with suitcases full of summer gear that won’t see the light of day till next summer. Everyone has been running around for months on end, enjoying the sunshine and the nightlife. So, it’s time to pull everything out of the closets, weed out as much as possible and re-organise.

Enter the autumn home improvement campaigns that take over the press every year at this time. It seems that every other advertisement is selling shelving, baskets, storage boxes and closet organisation systems – everything imaginable to organise the home.

And because our Spanish friends generally prefer to live in flats, space is often at a premium and must be carefully guarded. Therefore, making a strategic change over after summer is essential if everyone is to comfortably settle in before winter.

I’ve been amazed by the lengths some of my Spanish friends, family and acquaintances go to when making this changeover. Everything not needed is meticulously stored away. One woman told me she uses cases of perfumed soaps to pack into every box of clothing or linens to ensure they smell clean and fresh when unpacked next year. Another seems quite obsessed with clear plastic storage bags which are bought especially to fit each blanket or batch of items to be stored. Yet another proudly showed me her closets – that looked like they came out of a department store advertisement.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love to have my things organised and clean as well, but I’ll admit I haven’t developed the art to such a state as that which I find here.

One thing I have learned is that it is truly best to do like the Spaniards and set about making the big autumn changeover like everyone else. If you go with the flow and do it now, you’ll probably find great discounts on whatever you need to get organised.

As to whether or not we foreigners can skip the spring cleaning – that depends on how well we can compete with those sparkling, over-scrubbed, Spanish hygiene standards!

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Back to school in Spain

September is a busy month for parents in Spain who must track down long lists of books and supplies as well as shoes, uniforms or new clothing and a million other things before the school year officially begins.

Every September we have the usual race for school text books. Back in the “old days” (just a few years ago), parents were still responsible for tracking down every school book every year. Now, that has gotten better at state schools, at least. Parents are still responsible for purchasing books with state vouchers, but there is a sort of rotating schedule that means you don’t have to purchase all the basic books every year.

At private schools parents receive no subsidy for books – even though they are also paying taxes to support the education system. Therefore, they must still purchase books every single year. This could be avoided if the private sector would organise itself like the public has – so that books belonged to the school and were a shared resource instead of one to be continually replenished every single year. (Such a huge waste – but it continues because the textbook publishers do everything in their power to protect this tidy big business they’ve created.)

School books aside, there is also a long list of materials that every child needs. It took me years to realise that many Spanish parents simply leave the material list with a “papelería” (Office Supply Store) and then pick up the materials in a single package when they are ready. For years I trekked from shop to shop trying to find every item on the list.

My favourite unbelievable school supply item has always been the “punzón”. This looks like a pen but has a thin metal tip. It’s used for punching little tiny holes in paper, basically for creating a sort of perforation. What’s it used for? Children use it to perforate along a line or the outline of a picture in order to develop fine motor skills. In my estimation, however, the “punzón” is a potentially dangerous little tool – especially when you consider it is used by PRESCHOOL children! (Watch out for your eye!)

Culture shock aside, its September again. And once I tick everything off these long lists and get the kids back in school, I’m going to count the days before I start receiving new lists of supplies for this project and that. At least I’ve solved the problem of lost items of clothing: he who loses replaces. We haven’t had that problem for years now!

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