Found while gardening...
Monday, 10 October 2011
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Ebro kayaking
On Sunday we kayaked down a 12km section of the river Ebro.
I thought that this was going to be a terrifying ordeal - the Ebro is huge. I feared huge depths, vicious currents and lurking giant catfish.
In fact, the stretch we took from Miravet to Benifallet was tranquil, pretty shallow in places and I don't think many fish were going to come anywhere near the 70 or so of us in the kayaking group who were splashing noisily and inexpertly through the water.
The scenery was stunning, the weather was beautiful and by the end I'd almost worked out which side to paddle to turn a corner.
Thank you very much to Jane Shaw for the pics.
Check out the blog post of our fellow kayakers, Linda and Steve, at La Vida Artesania
The kayaking company was BeniEmocions.
I thought that this was going to be a terrifying ordeal - the Ebro is huge. I feared huge depths, vicious currents and lurking giant catfish.
In fact, the stretch we took from Miravet to Benifallet was tranquil, pretty shallow in places and I don't think many fish were going to come anywhere near the 70 or so of us in the kayaking group who were splashing noisily and inexpertly through the water.
The scenery was stunning, the weather was beautiful and by the end I'd almost worked out which side to paddle to turn a corner.
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| David and me, not kayaking very hard at all, middle right |
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| Miravet from the Ebro |
Thank you very much to Jane Shaw for the pics.
Check out the blog post of our fellow kayakers, Linda and Steve, at La Vida Artesania
The kayaking company was BeniEmocions.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
The fruits of our (not very hard) labour
When I was in England this August I could feel autumn coming as the days became shorter, the rain colder and the air developed a chilly bite. It felt like back to school, like the start of the six-month British winter, time to pack away light summer clothes and find the Christmas decorations - not good at all.
Even though over the past week or so England has enjoyed a summery blast of heat, I think it's better here. Yesterday it reached 35 degrees in the shade - as hot as it's been all summer, yet the cooler mornings give a bit of a bounce to life. David's been up and out early, hacking stubborn old shrubs and suckers out of the terraces in the early morning light (well, the sun doesn't come up until about 8am), and the plants are enjoying some free water from the overnight dew.
We're benefitting from a longer growing season than we were used to in our north London garden. I planted some serrano chilli seeds on 1 July (thank you for the freebie, Wahaca), they flowered in late August and I thought we were far too late for fruits, but now we've got a good crop well on the way.
I've just planted some more chilli seeds to see what will happen. David says it's a silly idea.
We had a huge crop of figs from one tree in late August/early September. We couldn't keep up with eating them as fast as they needed to be picked so I tried drying some in the sun. They took about two days to become storable, but not completely dry. They tasted wonderful - almost better than the fresh figs as they're not as rich. However, a few ended up with maggots in as they'd been sitting outside smelling sweet and delicious for the flies and wasps. I'll try drying them in muslin bags next time, I think.
I made a few jars of chutney too. I'm giving it a little while to mature before I give you the verdict. It looks nice though.
Even though over the past week or so England has enjoyed a summery blast of heat, I think it's better here. Yesterday it reached 35 degrees in the shade - as hot as it's been all summer, yet the cooler mornings give a bit of a bounce to life. David's been up and out early, hacking stubborn old shrubs and suckers out of the terraces in the early morning light (well, the sun doesn't come up until about 8am), and the plants are enjoying some free water from the overnight dew.
We're benefitting from a longer growing season than we were used to in our north London garden. I planted some serrano chilli seeds on 1 July (thank you for the freebie, Wahaca), they flowered in late August and I thought we were far too late for fruits, but now we've got a good crop well on the way.
I've just planted some more chilli seeds to see what will happen. David says it's a silly idea.
We had a huge crop of figs from one tree in late August/early September. We couldn't keep up with eating them as fast as they needed to be picked so I tried drying some in the sun. They took about two days to become storable, but not completely dry. They tasted wonderful - almost better than the fresh figs as they're not as rich. However, a few ended up with maggots in as they'd been sitting outside smelling sweet and delicious for the flies and wasps. I'll try drying them in muslin bags next time, I think.
I made a few jars of chutney too. I'm giving it a little while to mature before I give you the verdict. It looks nice though.
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