A SPANISH FLAVOUR

 

Hello everyone, just back from the last of my travels for January anyway..lol.

My travels wouldn't be the same without some problem(Sigh) when I arrived at the Coach Station on Wednesday horror of horrors there would be a delay as the Coach had broken down, and there would be a delay of one hour, as you can imagine the sense of foreboding was well huge, luckily several others were there and we all neede to be at Stanstead airport by 10am, with a bit of gentle persuasion they ordered a Taxi for us, so we arrived safe and sound with plenty of time to spare "Whew".

On going through security I bumped into a family who were on the plane comming back from Carcasonne the week before, it just goes to show what a small world we live in.

Arriving in Valencia a lovely sunny day and of course I was over dressed because it was cold in back in Blighty but no matter we had a pleasant fifteen minute drive to the town of Cheste, not much to see just the mountains in the distance.

I was visiting old friends well in fact they trained me over twenty years ago when I was in the Pub buisness, so we spent the afternoon on the veranda catching up and drinking wine..lol

Its a lovely villa set in large grounds with a pool and big garden area, its nice to see Orange and Lemon trees as you don't see those in Britan, and a glorious ctrus smell, in the summer they have Muscatel grapes, but say they're a bit too sweet to eat but are nice in salads etc, (I did suggest wine making).

On Friday we had a drive into Cheste, and then into Chiva a neighbouring town which was also very pretty with the most amazing villas with mostly mountain views which are surrounded by Orange and Lemon Groves which is the main produce along with rice as Valencia is home to Paella, we had this for lunch on Friday which consisted of rabbit and chicken, which I've never had before but was delicious cooked in the traditional manner. Paella a saffron based short grain rice cooked in a shallow pan large in diameter once all the ingredients are added it is not to be stirred then cooked on a charcol fire.

Friday evening found us in a family run restaurant, my friends both had Squid and I had Suckling pig all of which was yummy and of cours washed down with Rioja, I'm not really a red wine drinker but managed on this occasion..lol finished with a Sherry liqueur. This is a raison based liquer and when they get almost to the end of the barrel they use that to start the next batch, and so on.

Saturday was spent in the town of Cheste, just ambling around and of course deciding what to have for lunch, this was the hottest day so far although all the days were warm but it turned very cold at night, and we sat around the open fire we even had hot water bottles just to be extra toastie.

All a very enjoyable four days,and the next visit will be a longer one.

Thats it for now.

 

 

Tags: saValencia Cheste Chiva sazzy creations

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BONJOUR!!!

Hi all, just got back today safe and sound.

As you can imagine it was with some trepidation, that I apporached my trip after the Christsmas debacle, well I was up at the crack of dawn on Friday got on the 7.35am coach to Stanstead(taking no chances..lol), and of course I had to wait for check in to open, but I was first in the queue, checked in and all was ok except I had to pay £2.oo extra admin cost because I had checked in online and they had to issue a boarding card.

Very tight security had my bags searched and they tried to take away some of my girlie stuff moisturisers etc but I made a fuss as it was all Bliss products and costs a fortune, so the nice security man relented bit naughty I know but whats a girl to do, dry skin is not an option ..lol.

After changing the departure gates twice (clearly we all needed the exercise) the journey went with out a hitch, although I did bang my knees on landing, Ryanair just sort of drop out of the sky and come to an immediate halt on the ground anyone in the departure lounge can put their hand out of the window and touch the plane..lol.

We stopped off in Carcasonne first met with some friends and had a bottle of wine then made our way to Limoux, French Trains are so much better than ours really clean and efficient.

We had a nice time on Friday night lots of food and cake and copious amounts of wine we talked till the early hours catching up etc.

Saturday dawned bright and very cold and windy, after breakfast of Croissants fresh from the bakery we just ambled around town met up with some other friends for yet more wine and pastries, I think you can see a theme here..lol. In the eveing we set off for Festas(name of a place,) for dinner, the French take meal times very seriously, we started with apperitifs and nibbles stuffed my self silly and then sat down to dinner four courses, we stayed in a nice cottage the village is very small only twenty residents, so very quiet with only a log burner for heating. On sunday we just lazed around after breakfast and I took a few pics at midday the French have lunch, so another large meal, and we had dessert at a neighbours house, we drove back in the early evening and went to the town square and listened to some music at the local cafe.

Monday we followed the same theme, although we were limited as it rained most of the day. On Tuesday we went for lunch in Carcasonne and made our way to the Airport for me to return home only to find that it was TODAY, we both got the dates completely mixed up, so back to Limoux(theres something about me and travel..lol) polished off the rest of the food and wine last night...lol went back today as as you see arrived home safely. Got it all to do again next week when I go to Spain..lol.

Had a lovely time the break was just what I needed, the weather limited us a bit but hey, although I'm back on my diet with avengence and will have to detox before Spain..lol.

Take care all

Yasmin

xx

 

Tags: Carcasonne, Limoux, Festas

FRANCE#2

I'm making a second attempt on going to France..lol, I leave next Friday and shall be leaving at the crack of dawn just to make sure, that the trip goes off without a hitch this time, luckily the insurance from the last aborted attempt will pay out, so I'm not out of pocket. I still have heard nothing from Ryanair about Christmas Eve, but not holdng my breath they have a bad track record, with customer service.

I'll be back from France for about four days then off to Valencia (Spain) to vist my ex boss and his wife who finally retired out there just before Christmas, so looks like January is looking up.

I had called the local voluntary services, about League of Friends and they said just to come in, so I'll go along to tommorrow have a chat and see whats needed.

I have'nt been out much the last few days it's cold and miserable and would much rather be snuggled up on the sofa with a good book, I haven't even been tempted by the sales this year, plus I'm not very good at bargain hunting.

I was talking to a friend yesterday, about this and that when the subject of blogging came up, he is quite surprised that I have a public blog(although not a reader of mine), he wants to do the same but is concerned on what to write about, which brings me to the question of why I blog/keep a journal.

Well when I was younger I always kept some sort of diary usually filled with the normal girlie things, my favourite popstar at the the time was Donny Osmond I stand by my choice...lol, although I always enjoyed writing etc, one thing another I stopped(became a fully fledged teenager graduating to full time party animal I'll skim over that bit...lol). However when I re-joined the internet world, I discovered Blogs and read many before I attempted to do the same myself.

Thus it began I really had no idea what I would write about and my original entries are quite poor, saying that, I enjoy it tremendously, and have been so inspired by many of the journals that I read, and the people that I have met through th JLand community.

So my answer to "G" is that it's a new way to meet people, we lead such busy lives now, and in most cases we do not have family or friends readily available, it's easier in some ways to make time to use the internet as a way to keep in touch and make new friends. "G" is still not convinced and is going to think about it a bit more, he is more worried that people will not find him interesting and he is not an accomplished writer, well neither am I say but I just get on with and hope someone finds something of interest. I'll keep working on him he just needs a kick up the you know what...lol.

What were your reasons for starting a blog/journal?

Thats all I have for now

Take care all

 

Tags: France Blogs debsdabs(signiture)

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JANUARY 1ST

My New Year was spent quietly with me and the cats, which they enjoyed as they had Salmon for dinner..lol, unfortunately today they didn't want their usual fayre of Iams, so cuddles for breakfast..lol.

As always I wonder what the New Year will bring, apart from the usual health and happiness, the latter can somtimes be elusive, but I will try to make ammends on that front, not to say that I'm unhappy but do need to make more positive changes in my life.

It's rare that I make any real resoloutions, as I never seem to follow through, though last year I did and It's almost a year since I gave up smoking, there is always the wish to lose wait and become a beacon of health, but I find that boring and I like my food, to take more exercise, which I like but find it too tiring. lol

So this year is the beginning of Career changes as you know I want to teach English as a foreign Language, having completed the first part of my course, I will apply this week to do the residential course...YAY I choose this particular field simply beacause I love learning something new and if I can share that knowlege so much the better, at least with this I can travel which is another passion i'd like to explore in the not to distant future.

My usual interests include journal, although not the best of writers, compared to some I do enjoy it very much and I'm amazed at how friendly the JLand community is and have made some lovely new friends besides which I'm very nosey and love reading all about peoples lives. And have been very much impressed at the support and spirit shown by many.

My other idea is to rejoin League of Friends which is a volunteer service to visit patients in hospital who have no family or none close by, I used to do this about 10 years ago but with my work schedule i had to give it up, but found it very rewarding and good fun, and met some very special characters along way.

Anyway those are my musings for the New Year,

Take care all

Yasmin

xx

Tags: New Year