Marmalade!

Living in an Orange and lemon grove I feel obliged to make

produce...maybe this is a human instinct? So far we have made 8 jars
of marmalade, 7 jars of orange, lemon and Ginger chutney
(1 jar down, 6 to go). And a stack of oat, nut and orange flapjacks
( mostly sold to the students as power bars that improve climbing
performance).  Oh and lots and lots of fresh orange juice.  Infact I
have eaten more oranges in the last 3 weeks than I have in my whole
life!  Definitly no scurvy here!

There are so many orange trees in the surrounding hills that are just
teaming with ripe, zesty, juicy oranges, they really are delicious. 
I've never been much of an orange fan until now, I always find it's a
bit pot luck as to whether you'll find a succulent enough bounty
that's worth all the peeling, sticky hands and pip spitting. ...I am
truly converted!

Anyway I thought I would share some of the recipes with you so you can
try them at home with Spanish oranges that you can find for sale.



Zesty Orange House Marmalade with fresh Ginger:

10 ripe Spanish oranges
1 ripe Spanish lemons
Chunk of fresh Ginger
1 kg sugar

Cut 5 whole oranges in to small pieces excluding any pips and place in
large deep pan. Peel and cut the remaining 5 oranges excluding pith,
peel and pips.
Cut lemon in to small pieces excluding pips and place in pan.

Cut up chunk of ginger in to small pieces and add to fruit in pan. 
Add the sugar and heat with lid off, stirring occasionally.  It should
take between half an hour and an hour with intermittant stirring for
marmalade to be ready...it's so easy!

Potting:

Clean out 6-7 old jars with lids and place in oven for 15 minutes to
sterilise.  Use oven gloves to hold jar while carefully spooning the
marmalade in to the jars.  Try to aggitate jar as you fill it to avoid
air bubbles. Leave 1cm at top of jar and place cling film/ grease
proof paper over top to seal it before screwing on lid.

Date the jar and give to friends.  It lasts for 6 weeks in the fridge
or a really long time in a sealed, sterilised jar.

Delicious on toasted wholemeal brown bread with butter....
and lashings  of Ginger beer
(if you're in The Famous Five apparently).

Beautiful Benidorm!?

Forming a rude barrier between the sea and the mountains, Benidorm's

tower blocks stand in some places 30 storeys high.  Quite a
supernatural sight which I find myself drawn to from a voyeristic
stance. What a strange growth on the sandy Costa Blanca, grown as a
reaction  to a momentary trend for the urge for sun and home comforts
for unadventurous Brits and other Northern Europeans.
A home from home but with the added ingredient of sun is
what appeals to the now retired generation of Benidorm fans many of
whom have chosen it as their permenant home.
The Alicante- born flights are a sea of White hair, purple rinses,
strong southern and northern accents and a lot of wrinkly over-tanned
skin returning from family christmases back in Britain to return to
their retirement pads in Benidorm.
Benidorm's first tower blocks were errected in the 1960s. Benidorm has
the most high rise buildings per capita in the world!Prior to the 1960s
it was the site of the small fishing port that once sleepily
muddled along on the sandy costa brava.
Now being more densly populated with tower blocks than Tokyo or New
York, Benidorm is itself dwarfed by the 1406m tall Puig Campana where
Finistrat sits at its foot.

Venturing in and you really feel that you are entering or diving in to
the deep foliage of the forest of giant Sacoyas towers; we found
ourselves cruising along secondary street systems flanked by un-
designed, temporary-looking one storey burger bars, pubs and diners
totally over clad in a hotch potch of bright coloured signs all
competing to offer the "best full English breakfast" or "best British
bar" experience.  It took us an hour to find a parking spot for the
van, but it was worth the hunt as we found a perfectly situated parking
bay in the centre of Saturday night activity.  Sitting with a bottle
of Rioja and some good tunes we had a great position.  Group after
group of self-concious teenagers dressed in strict steriotypical
Benidorm style of White mini skirts and low cut tops with lashings of
make up and brigades of guys in matching White shirts and jeans.  In
fact there seems to be a phenomena of groups wearing matching outfits!
The groups of teenagers walked back and forth with bottles and cups of
booze.  When we took a walk down the central strip of park to see where
they were all heading a full scale gathering of local
teenagers was taking place with booze carry outs, it was carnage with
guys getting busted by security guards for alfresco peeing drunkeness
and shortly followed by the guardia which created a mass exodus
leaving a street strewn with discarded plastic bags and empty alcopop
bottles.  These were Spanish teenagers...had they been inspired by the
Brits on tour activities that flows down the streets in the tourist
season?...they certainly dressed like them.
A few streets further away a more subdued scene in a lounge singers
bar called Dollys was taking place.  A glammed up 70 plus lady singer
crooned "They'll be blue birds over.....the White cliffs of Dover". To
a lifeless crowd of less than a dozen who peered over their pint
glasses as the organ entertainers music sloshed about them under the
glitter ball lights.  After a sneaky look around what seemed to be an
all night sex shop which had taped off areas! We retreated to the
sanctuary of LB for a restful nights sleep away from the Saturday
night consumption.
A short morning stroll to the beach for breakfast we were amused to
see many posters advertising "Sticky Vicky" and her daughters strip
show.  We had heard of the infamous Stickey the last time we were in
The Costa Brava and were pleased to see the evidence of the 80 year
old stripper's show on posters. It appears that there is an imposter
who also appears on stage as Sticky Vicky and each poster was more of
a rant against the imposter than an advert for the show.  Anyway it
seems that if you want to see Sticky Vicky the 'original' you must
only go to a lounge that shows the poster of Sticky Vicky with her
daughter sitting by her side ( both naked in strange kind of yoga
poses...).
The sea front on a sunday morning is a highway for
motorised mobility chairs, which were all travelling at rather fast
speeds and very closely together.  Every other bar, kebab restaurant
and cafe seemed to have for sale signs and the ones that were open had
just a hand full of beer drinking, smoking elderly customers who seemed
to be silently and unemotionally enjoying their liquid breakfasts.
We had seen enough of Benidorm and headed out to Toix upper sea cliffs
where we did a Multi-pitch route where I learned to use a prussick for
the first time on the absail down.  This view was taken showing
Benidorms skyline as the sun sunk down as we decended our climb.


Benidorm, perhaps very ugly in a lot of ways is still a bit of a
phenomenon socially and physically and this Benidorm view made it to
my screen saver with a certain ammount of sentiment.  However for now
I don't think I will feel the need for another visit yet.

Sunny January in Spain

Climbing most days on the Costa Blanca after yoga in the rising sun around the pool at The Orange House and drinking freshly squeezed lemon and orange juice from the garden trees....life couldnt be much better! Climbing at Echo 1.5, Toix, and Catalettes ridge (The Puge) so far. For me although still climbing no higher than 5+ I am pleased with the progress I have made from only leading climbs on an inside wall, to now feeling pretty confident leading 4+ climbs. A great afternoon with Roods doing our first multi pitch of the trip 'Espolon Limaban' a 62m climb (4 followed by 5). Any way enough of the climbing chat, and boy do we hear a lot of that living in the Orange House!

RoodyToots Tour continues - Alicante Spain

Happy 2011 to all!
We start the New Year in Spanish sun in the small town of Finestrat, parked up in an orange and lemon grove at the Orange House where climbers gravitate for world class climbing on the lime stone of the Costa Blanca.