During the first weekend of October of even years (2006, 2008 etc), Tarragona bullring holds one of the most bizarre spectacles to be found in Spain, the ‘Concurso de Castells’, the human castles competition. Every year there are serious injuries as these towers topple to the ground, the worst of which led to the death of a twelve-year-old girl earlier this month in Capgrossos de Mataró (Barcelona), when she fell from the top of a nine-story castle.
You might want to turn the sound down before hitting play…
Well all great directors have to start somewhere… here’s a bit of video to go with the podcast of Ourense Market. Interesting, or a crime against bandwidth? Let me know! (Direct Youtube Link)
All the Notes in Spanish podcasts and worksheets can now be found at their new home, Notes in Spanish.com Come and have a look!
For those of you that remember the India trip I did in February, I have a photo feature on Lonely Planet – it’s on the front page today, but if its gone by the time you see this, then there is also a direct link. Did you ever hear the podcast?
Spain’s most famous director and leading lady appear in a Guardian podcast as the film is released in the UK. (Direct mp3 link)
As Marbella points out in the foums “I just love the way Pedro reverts to castellano so he can express himself more colourfully… A wonderfully charming and amusing interview!”
And Penelope, what an accent, that lovely giggle, wow! Time to revisit Jamon Jamon!
Check out Simon Calder’s city guide to Madrid for Classic FM – you may recognise the third interviewee 😉
If you like the series you can subscribe here.
Colin Davies lives and blogs in Galicia, and his website makes for very worrying reading at the moment. Good luck Colin.
Following last month’s 20minutos.es photo-survey on reader’s favourite beaches, results are now in on which region takes most of the accolades. So, in first place, with the best beaches in Spain, we have The North, with 33% of the votes, followed by The South (Andalusia), The Islands, and The East (Levante and Catalonia).
Do you have a favourite beach in Spain? (Ours include Bolonia on the Costa de la Luz, Gros in San Sebastian, and Andrin, near LLanes).
Introduction
The secret of this recipie is the mixture of the crispy chicken skin and roasted garlic.
Ingredients
1.5 Kg (3.3 pounds) of chicken with bone and skin (either a whole chicken cut in to 4 cm/2 inch pieces or thighs and legs chopped separately)
12 garlic cloves
olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
3 bay leaves
a glass of white wine (optional)
Preparation
For this recipie you need to use the biggest frying pan you have, so all the chicken pieces fit in one layer. If you don’t have a big enough frying pan you will need to use two simultaneusly.
Start by peeling the garlic cloves and slicing them roughly, then pour olive oil until the bottom of the frying pan is covered and wait until it starts to smoke. While you wait you can add salt to all the chicken bits. Then add all the garlic pieces and just when they start to brown add the chicken, inserting the bay leaves in between. You will need to cook it for aproximately 30 minutes or until all the pieces are crispy and brown, taking care to turn the pieces over so they get equally brown all over.
Serving Idea: Great to have it with fries.
Tip: If you want to have a bit of sauce, towards the end of the cooking lower the heat to minimum, remove the excess oil from the frying pan and add a glass of white wine. Cook for another 5 minutes and serve.
Discuss this show in the forum.
Close to 90 fires are sweeping across Galicia in a desperate situation that has led to the army being drafted in to provide support for the 4,700 people already working to extinguish them. 3 people have died so far, 2 women in a car that became trapped in the flames, and a 74 year old man who was helping to keep the fire away from a village.
Most of these fires are thought to have been deliberately provoked. Who on earth does this kind on thing?
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 