FEATURE
SUN, SPAIN AND … ANCHOVIES By Urvashi Roe
“I have a Friday and Monday off,” he said. “What? How come?” I said absentmindedly, still cleaning something or other in the kitchen. Or maybe I was on Instagram? More than likely the latter. “School’s closed on Friday and Monday. I don’t have to go in at all,” he replied. I stopped doing whatever it was I was doing and went in search of the iPad. In the 10 or so years that my husband has been teaching we have never been able to take advantage of an impromptu long weekend. Neverrrr! Teachers do not get to take a day off during term time and before you even think that they have the ‘whole summer off’ let me give you a very hard Paddington stare. Anyway, within the seconds it took to find said iPad I had already ruled out anywhere really cold but then Twitter put that back on the list with recommendations for Stockholm and St Petersburg. Portugal was proving a popular suggestion as were the Eastern European countries. We settled on 50
Spain. He wanted Barcelona but I’ve been. Seville? Fully booked. Valencia? Same. San Sebastián? Hmmm bit cold. We wouldn’t be able to take advantage of the outdoor bar crawling. After about 30 minutes of searches and ‘umms’ and ‘aaahs’ we settled on Madrid. Literally in the middle of Spain. Sunny and warmish. It was a much-needed long weekend of doing little other than eating and drinking. Talking. Properly. Reconnecting and reflecting on all things. But mostly eating. And drinking Albarino. Lots of Albarino! We ate the rainbow in terms of fruit and vegetables. Spain however has the biggest tomatoes I have ever seen. Oh my how do the Spaniards grow the best tomatoes? I remember visiting the farms in Almeria and Murcia years ago and I don’t think I’ve ever had tomatoes better than these. Red, orange, yellow and green ones. Perfect! Cibare Magazine
www.cibare.co.uk
