Lovely Times!
Chinese New Year- We had a great night out on Saturday 28th January. The Chinese Resturanteers are always so friendly and obliging. The food was excellent as always, there was a good live group playing our sort of music and the men enjoyed a very scantily dressed young lady emulating Cher! Although it was Chinese NY a good rendering of Auld Lang Syne took place at midnight and then it was outside to see the firework display. Possibly a little too much to eat and drink but they do say a little of what you fancy does you good.
Surfice to say that a large number of old fogies had a good night!
Friend Bob models the streamers into a new hairdo!
And we all enjoyed a very interesting and delicious dessert!
Gardening Circle – We’ve had 2 visits to the Gardening Circle. The first one was the event of their annual party and was a fun afternoon. We all took plates of finger food and what a selection we ended up with! We had gluvine (don’t know if spellings right!) to drink, which is like a warm mulled wine. Very nice even if I can’t spell it! They organised competitions and quizzes during the afternoon which were fun as well as interesting. Friends Linda and Bob won a 1st and 2nd in the photo competition and then went on to win 2 raffle prizes. Our claim to fame was teaming up with 2 very knowledgeable gardeners and hence coming 2nd by conceding only 1/2 a point to the winners in the Quiz.
The 2nd visit was a normal Club afternoon. We were treated to a talk on the use of electricity in the garden. These talks always drag on a bit too long but there is usually a snippet of something to interest you somewhere in amongst it all! However, this once a month get together is good and it is a great way to meet new people, gossip and swap mediterranean gardening successes, failures and problems, of which there are many.
Eating Out – We joined friends and next door neighbours Tom and Sarah and their ‘other-side’ neighbours Keith and Tina at a new venue for us in Benissa for dinner recently. Keith and Tina had picked the venue as being a favourite of theirs. Although the other 4 of us thought the restaurant was very nice, the staff friendly and the food good we all agreed that it was a bit on the expensive side for what it was. 26 Euros for a bottle of wine in Spain!!! Whatever next! The 4 of us agreed that we will go again but will have their menu of the day and the house wine which we have since been told is good and excellent value and more suited to what we consider is a fair price for a good night out here!
Chinese Again! – We have been on a promise since 1999 that shops and restaurants will be opening in close proximity to our villa. Well it is finally happening! Hooray! The first to open it’s doors was a Chinese, Thai and Japanese restaurant so we thought we just had to go and check it out. Verdict – Not bad, not as good as our favourite Chinese restaurant and a little more expensive but handy if we don’t want to go far to eat out. We will go again. Of Course!
Picnic in February – Yes we did! Last Thursday, friends Bob and Linda managed to pluck a wonderful warm and sunny day out of the mixed bag of weather we have had and off we all went in their car with their 2 puppies in tow and bags full of food with Bob driving us way up into the mountains.
We stopped at a viewing point almost at the mountain top and looked in awe down and across the wonderful Jalon Valley. We then drove on the mountain village of Tarbena and partook of coffee in a fantastic typical Spanish village restaurant called Casa Pinet. The restaurant has strong connections with the Spanish Civil War and the allied troops and is jammed full of memorabilia from that time and more besides. Well worth a visit. It was market day in the village and we had a mosey around the 6 stalls that made up the market! Then meandered through the sleepy village streets back to where Bob had managed to find a niche to park the car.
Back in the car we set off on the last leg of our drive to our planned picnic sight. Oh dear, they’ve closed a road off and there are no divert directions. We were on our own folks but after what seemed an age and an excellent driver we finally arrived with very rumbly tums at the village of Castill de Castilles which hosted our intended picnic area. The drive was lovely though with spectacular unspoilt views, very green, the pink and white almond blossom just bursting into bloom, the vibrant yellow of broom and mimosa and blues and purples of heather and lavender. Wonderful!
And what a treat awaited us at Castill de Castilles. A purpose built picnic area with bench tables under what in the summer would be a leafy canopy. Fresh spring water pouring through taps from the fonts with a shallow woodland stream running alongside. A real chocolate box setting!
This hungry group of six (did you forget the 2 pups!) soon unpacked the bags of food, opened the bottles of wine and settled down in the wonderful sunshine to enjoy an excellent relaxed couple of hours in idyllic surroundings munching and drinking to our hearts content.
Eventually we dragged ourselves away and journeyed back to Bob and Linda’s to a very welcome cup of tea, finally arriving back home at 6.45pm after another wonderful day in Spain. Picnicking in February – what more could one want?
The picnic area at Castill de Castilles
The stream alongside
Pete, Bob and Linda enjoying lunch
