“With Real Madrid things are never boring, as one “crisis” closes then you can almost be certain that the next one is just a few days away. “
Check out the full mid-season round up at South of Watford.
Richard Morley comes to Spain on a regular basis to victimise Spaniards, as he and his fellow anglos subject them to 8 days of non-stop English conversation. In return he gets full 4 star bed and board in some of the nicest parts of Spain. In the podcast Richard explains how the whole thing works, and how it has changed his relationship with Spain. For more information check out his article on the whole experience, and head over to sign up at the Pueblo Ingles website.
Talk to Richard about his experiences in the NFS Forum…
Categories
Help! … me pick a winner
It’s time to pick the NFS Flickr pick of the month again, and although there are a couple of clear winners for me, I thought I should let you lot decide for once, so, please, if you have a minute to spare have a look at the first 4 pages of the Notes from Spain Flickr Group and leave a link to your favourite picture in the comments below.
My friend Chris, who I met on my own crazy charity motorbike adventure in India last year, is planning to drive 3,500 miles around the entire British Isles coastline on a stepthrough Honda Cub90 moped – top speed: pretty slow! The ride is in aid of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young. Check out his aptly named website ‘Mission Implausible‘ and do sponsor him if you can!
Great quotes from the site: “Each day will involve around 250 miles of riding, and I could be on the road for ten or eleven hours at a time, not allowing for any breakdowns I may suffer. Navigation will be difficult, as I have almost no sense of direction …. There is also considerable comedy value in a sixteen-stone, shaven-headed and bearded biker putting along on a stepthrough that simply can’t be ignored.” Help Chris out at www.mission-implausible.org.uk/
(Time to plan my route round Spain on the Vespa I think!)
One for those of us based in Spain, and a a great implementation of the wiki concept. The top-rate 902, 901 and 806 numbers in Spain are used mercilessly by customer service departments and really help ramp up the phone bill. Well, it turns out that for most of these numbers there is usually a cheap local rate alternative. nomasnumeros900.com collects these in their wiki and lets you search for them from their homepage. Worth bookmarking I think!
One of the biggest complaints about life in Spain is the appalling customer service – business owners are just not interested in going out of their way to help customers (Telefonica are the number one culprits as we know).
Well, today I had a whole new experience in customer service. I am the proud new owner of an Apple Macbook laptop. I noticed that the bottom half of the screen was considerably lighter than the top when watching DVDs, so, having paid a lot of money for this beautiful new object, I thought I would go back to the shop and check that everything was OK. I showed the problem to the Tech guy, explained that I travelled often and would be watching lots of DVDs (not entirely true), and he agreed that there was a difference in screen brightness from one end to the other. He took the laptop off to show his boss. When he came back the following conversation ensued:
Tech guy: The boss says it’s fine and there’s nothing we can do about it, but you said you travel a lot, right?
Me: Uh, yes, I suppose so.
Tech guy: Where are you from?
Me: England.
Tech guy: Well, next time you are in London you could take it to the Apple shop there, we are just a little Apple shop, but they are a lot bigger and might be able to help you.
So there we have it… A whole new level in Spanish customer service: “I’m sorry we can’t help you here, but you can probably get your problem solved in another country!!”
Who wouldn’t want to spend a year travelling around Europe? Scott and Sheryl are living that dream, and their latest podcast is all about Barcelona…
This is a confession — don’t tell anyone. You know that I am gay. In another part of my life — when I was younger — I have had bisexual [experiences]. The last time that I made love to a woman was 22 years ago.
With Penélope, I felt physical desire again. I was very horny with her.
Check out the podcast at Salon.com
Ingredients
600 grammes (1 1/4 pounds) of Minced beef
1 egg
4 garlic cloves
2 sprigs parsley finely chopped
1 cup of flour
1 onion chopped up in large chunks
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of salt
Olive oil
1/2 glass of wine
Preparation
To prepare the mixture we beat the egg in a big bowl, then add the meat, 2 crushed garlic cloves, the salt and the parsley, mixing with a fork until everything is coated with the egg.
Use a spoon to separate enough mixture to form a golf-ball-sized meatball and shape it lightly with your hands. Be careful not to press too hard because the sauce won’t soak in later, which might leave them very dry. Continue forming balls until the mixture is finished, then place the flour on a plate and coat each of the balls by rolling them around the plate.
To fry the meatballs use a small, deep frying pan filled with olive oil to a depth of around 2 cm / nearly an inch. When the oil is hot add 4 or 5 balls and brown them lightly for 1 or 2 minutes, making sure that you turn them over half way through. Repeat the process until all of the meatballs have been fried.
To prepare the sauce use a large frying pan where you will be able to place all of the meatballs in one layer. Filter the olive oil used for frying the meatballs earlier and pour it into the large frying pan, then add the onion and cook slowly for about 10 minutes. Next add two garlic cloves with the skin still on, and two bay leaves. Add a spoonful of flour (you can use what’s left on the plate where you coated the meatballs) and stir it in with a wooden spoon for 15 seconds, coating the flour with the oil (note that if you fry it for much longer the flour might burn). Then quickly add the wine and about 1/2 a litre of water (1 US Pint). Finally, add the meat balls, and more water – until they are around two thirds covered – and cook slowly for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and again so they don’t stick to the bottom. Note that you can add more water half way through if needed.
Categories
Pen goes for the Oscar
And Speaking of Spanish film (the post on nudity in Spanish cinema below is the most commented on in a long time!), it seems Penelope Cruz has been nominated for Best Female Actress in the next Oscars, for her role in the excellent (and bizzarely not nominated) Volver. I find it strange that a Spanish actress has been nominated for this award based on a role in a Spanish film. I shall be surprised if she wins…
Random wikipedia Pen facts:
“Cruz was born in Madrid, Spain. Her parents are Eduardo Cruz, a retailer, and Encarna Sánchez, a hairdresser. As a toddler, she was already a compulsive performer, re-enacting TV commercials for her family’s amusement.”
Notes from Spain by Ben Curtis 