28.04.06

World’s Best Paella

Posted in Food at 1:17 pm by Andy

With the laptop fixed with a shiny new motherboard (top marks to Dell for the quick resolution) I can finally post this update:

Espe and I spent the weekend down in Valencia visiting her family. It was nice to have such a relaxing weekend in the sun (despite the bad forecast), eating some great food without stressing myself with all the little ‘to do’ things that normally take up quiet weekends at home.

I made a good start with Ernest Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls, and in the process learned more about the Spanish Civil war. Something that has caught my attention lately due to an excellent weekly documentary on TVE2 and some good factual books.

As ever, Espe’s mother cooked us her superb paella. A dish that is very simple to make, but very difficult to make well. So paying great attention I hope I’ve picked up some good tips. Read on to see how to make the world’s best paella:

	1. Prepare, chop and clean the chicken and rabbit.
2. Heat olive oil in the paella (the name for the special dish in which the paella is prepared) and fry the chicken, rabbit and green peppers.
	3. Add 4 - 5 peeled and chopped tomatoes to the paella and several cloves of garlic.
4. Boil green beans in water for 10 minutes and then add the water (without the beans) to the paella.
	5. Leave the water to simmer and soak up the flavors (as though preparing stock). It is worth turning any of the chicken or rabbit that is not submersed in the water.
6. Step back and admire the Don Quixote figures while the Paella simmers away happily to itself.
	7. Chop up two cloves of garlic and crush together with the zafron (the key ingredient that gives the distinctive colour and taste).
8. Add a little water to the zafron & garlic mix and pour into the paella.
	9. Spread the rice evenly around the paella. The rice should be well below the water level. Ensure that all rice is submersed and that none remains on top of the chicken or rabbit. The rice should be cooked in the water for 18 minutes and it should not be stirred during this period.
10. Salt greatly affects the taste of the paella and too little or too much can destroy it. It is advisable to add salt in small quantities throughout the cooking and taste to check. Apparently true expert can tell from the size of the bubbles if there is enough salt. Too small = too little. Too big = to much.
	11. As the rice start to rise as it absorbs the water and the partially cooked green beens and green pepper.
12. After the 18 minutes is up remove from the heat and leave to stand five minutes before serving. Serve and enjoy: I’ve not listed any quantities as this will vary depending on the size of the paella (cooking dish) and the number of people eating.

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27.04.06

Technology

Posted in General at 1:35 pm by Andy

I had a nice little post prepared about my weekend and steps on how to prepare Paella. I was just going through the process of preparing the photos but now my laptop has stopped working taking the pics with it (Yes Niki, I do have a backup).

Basically the damn thing will not even power on, giving me a rather hefty paper weight. Thankfully being a company computer we have a support contract and Dell are sending out an engineer to replace the system board. Lets hope that fixes it.

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21.04.06

Happy Tree Friends

Posted in Friday Fun at 1:39 pm by Andy

No Friday Fun link last week as I was off galavanting around the Mediterranean. I’m sure you managed without as none of you should have been at work either. Anyway, to make up for it, this week you get two links.

Thanks to Paulina over in Krakow who added a couple of animation links to the last Friday Fun post (see the comments) and in the process reminded me of the Happy Tree Friends. Something that I was shown the first time I was over there. Most amusing: www.happytreefriends.com (And you’ve gotta love the theme music!)

Secondly, in preparation for the Rickshaw Run here’s the Richshaw Traffic Jam Game.

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19.04.06

Why Spain is so great

Posted in Spain at 5:44 pm by Andy

In the Mongol Rally we covered 5 mountain ranges and 2 deserts. The fact that on our little tour of the south east of Spain over the Easter weekend we covered three mountain ranges and one desert is testament to the geographical diversity of the country. We started our 1600km round trip by heading down to Mazarron to see Chris and his new flat just before he heads back to Scotland. It was here were I was treated by Espe & Chris to birthday pizza. There was no cake (apparently as I’d been stressing Espe to be ready to leave Madrid), but the pizza did have a birthday candle. Shame it wasn’t lit due to the lack of a lighter or matches in the flat. As they say, its the thought that counts.

The following morning we followed the coast down from Mazarron into Adalucia and Cabo de Gata. A relatively unspoilt Mediterranean coastal area with a mountainous coastline and beautiful small coves thanks to volcanic activity from a time long since gone. We spent two days here in the Parque Natural Cabo de Gata trekking along the coast line, exploring the beaches and enjoying some mighty fine seafood and fish.

On the Saturday we decided to head north to reduce the distance we had to drive to get back to Madrid on Sunday. A scan of the map showed Spain’s largest national park, Sierra de Cazorla, conveniently between Madrid and us.

The drive there presented some fantastic views, in particular the snow covered Sierra Nevada, and some even better roads. Tight twisty mountain passes, driving at its best! Spain must have more than its fair share of the worlds greatest driving roads. At this point I have to say it doesn’t matter what car you’re driving to enjoy these. Obviously Niki’s Lotus would be awesome but there’s a lot to be said for coming down a mountain on two wheels in a 1 litre Peugeot. My thoughts often drifted to what it would be like driving these roads in what is arguably the worlds best cross country car, the Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evo 2. I think f’ing scary would be the answer.

Despite the mass exodus from Madrid that always happens at easter, apart from the return leg to Madrid, we were pretty much able to avoid the crowds. There’s not much more to say, except that it was wonderful to escape Madrid for 4 days and see more of the beauty of Spain. I could talk more about just that, but I think I’ll let the photos do the talking instead.

    Trip Photos

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11.04.06

Photos

Posted in General at 1:24 pm by Andy

Not much to report from the weekend. I was on call so it was a quiet one. That said, Chris was up for what will be his last visit to Madrid for a while. Chris has packed in his job as a diving instructor down on the Med and will be returning to Edinburgh to find an office job. You might think he’s crazy but after 7 years in Spain he feels its time to move on. He’s really looking forward to going home and starting a fresh.

Anyway, onto the subject in hand, photos. I’ve finally got a selection from our Berlin trip and the Sun ski weekend in Cerler. Enjoy:

    Berlin
    Cerler

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07.04.06

Me at work…

Posted in Friday Fun, Motoring at 12:24 pm by Andy

Its link time again…

A while back I had a reputation for smashing keyboards at work (things were pretty stressful). To be fair, things have been good lately, but that didn’t stop Niki pointing out the resemblence between me and this cartoon.

Now obviously that won’t keep you entertained for long, so here’s another link. Its a classic, but always worth going back for more (it’s updated regularly), Top Gear’s Carbage demonstrates the worlds worst modified cars…

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03.04.06

A new start…

Posted in General at 2:17 pm by Andy

Our first weekend in the new flat, and what an excellent weekend. Granted a lot of it was spent unpacking, but I prefer this stage to the packing. Strange as it might sound, deciding on places for everything is actually quite good fun.

Apart from the abandoned double parked car which caused several loud traffic jams, the new flat is so peaceful. It gets loads of natural light, and given the 26 degree sunshine we had, there was plenty of that about.

Friday evening Espe & I were invited to Join Pete and some of his friends for an exquisite seafood platter. I’ll say no more than this was the best seafood dish I’ve ever had and any of you who are coming over to visit during the next 6 months, chances are we’ll end up there. A pretty entertaining night, and nice to meet new people, including one who runs a Tapas Tours company…

Saturday morning I took some time to wander about to familierise myself with the new area. I couldn’t help but smile walking about casually in the Sun watching the world go buy. Of special amusement was watching about 15 old men gathering around another 4, betting on a card game.

Things are looking good with the location as well. We have an excellent supermarket, an imaginatively name green grocers (”frutlandia”), countless photography shops and a fresh fish & meat market all within close proximity to the flat, but best of all we have a bar with terrace next door to the flat offering excellent tapas. Once again, if your planning on visiting, you’ll no doubt sample the goodness in person.

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