Catching crab

Catching crab!We just returned from a nice trip. First we went to the local decathlon shop where they had a nice offer on fishing rods. 10 euros for a set including all things required to catch a fish and because a fan of fishing is visiting us at the moment we bought a couple of fishing rods and went crab fishing. It was a lot of fun and the result was pretty stunning. We caught 8 big crabs which we of course ate.

To catch a crab there are some tricks we used. First you need to dangle a piece of bate right before the crabs nose. We used a little piece of snail as bait. When the crab took the bait we quickly moved the line a few times around the crab so it would get tangled up a bit. Afterwards just lift the crab and it was easy to catch. Once you have the crab in the air, take it by the back and carefully untangle the fishing line. Be careful of the crabs claws because for such a small animal the claws can hurt quite a bit.

A nice crab recipe: Make a sauce by backing some garlic and some tomatoes in hot oil. Kook the crabs until they reach a nice red color. Throw away the water and cut the crabs in half. Throw the crabs into the sauce and leave them to simmer for a while. Make a big pan of spaghetti. Take the crab halves from the sauce and serve the crabs separately. Mix the sauce with the spaghetti and enjoy your meal.

Twee keer jarig

Heilige Ana!Spanjaarden zijn ieder jaar niet één, maar twee keer jarig. Een keertje op de geboortedag en nog een extra keer op je naam-dag. De naamdag is de dag waarop de heilige is geboren op wie jou naam lijkt. Vandaag is de dag van de Ana’s in Spanje, en dat zijn er nogal wat. Morgen gaan we het vieren met maar liefst 4 Ana’s.

Knaak, gulden, kwartje, dubbeltje, stuiver

Guilder!Even though I now live in Spain I like to continue to collect Dutch coins. Luckily I’ve my family back home in Holland who don’t mind to every now and then pass by the post office and get me some special edition coin. The rest like the yearly sets I just buy online.

But now the royal Dutch mint has started a very strange action. To ‘honor’ the past they will create some replicas of ancient coins. Undoubtedly make some extra money, but the result seems highly undesirable. In the future it will be harder to know if a coin is ‘real’ or a replica. These coins are even made by the same organization. Fortunately the replicas will be made ??from silver, so the confusion will only arise with coins that were originally silver.

What is going to be the next step? Create replicas of entire collections of Dutch coins? Replicas that cannot be told apart from the real thing. I think it would be a wise choice if the royal Dutch mint focused on the current and the future and leave the past alone.

Kick-ass

Kick ass!Ik las laatst een nieuwsbericht dat de leeftijds aanduiding van een film te laag was, en deze wat bijgesteld naar een hogere minimum leeftijd. De betreffende film was getitelt ‘Kick Ass’. Op zich niet een echt aantrekkelijke titel, maar ik besloot de film toch maar te downloaded, omdat mijn interesse was gewekt.

Het resultaat was een erg verassende film die ik zeker kan aanraden.

Almogrote

Almogrote!A bit of a strange tappa that I sometimes encounter in Gran Canaria is Almogrote (pronounced as: al-mo-grot-te ). This is normally a very small tappa but a very nice and tasty mixture of cheese to eat with a piece of bread or toast. In addition it is very easy to make yourself.

Almogrote contains the following ingredients:

  • A piece of old cheese (Canarian goat cheese is the preferred cheese)
  • A small tomato
  • Some red paprika powder
  • A piece of garlic
  • A little bit of olive oil
  • The old cheese should be very old cheese. Cut it into little pieces. Add all the ingredients into a mixer and mix everything until you get a semi smooth substance. It should still contain some little pieces of old cheese. Thanks to the oil you added the substance should be more of less fit to smear on a piece of toast. Only use a little bit to put on a piece of toast because the taste will be quite strong. Even a little bit of Almogrote can be used to decorate a lot of pieces of toast.

    Serve the Almogrote with toast of bread and a nice glass of (Spanish) red wine to enjoy this delicacy the best way.

    Wedding preparations

    Argentina!Little by little the preparations for our marriage are leading us towards the final day. Our marriage is slowly taking form. The invitations and the lists of people to invite are almost ready. The city hall in Alcala has been reserved and the Parador has been booked for the party. The wedding dress has been selected and ordered and I already have a stack of accepted invitations by friends and family whom will participate in the celebrations.

    I have even started to look into a possible honeymoon. We are considering a visit to Argentina. In November the weather will be fantastic and we both speak the language.

    Yesterday we stand a big stack of papers to the wedding location. We went to our appointment with the justice department accompanied by two witnesses. After signing all the papers everything was finally ready to be send by post. If everything goes well it means that almost all the formalities have been completed.

    Carnival

    In Las Palmas the carnival is celebrated in a lot of ways. Parades, costumes, parties, lots of drinking, shows, fireworks, burning sardines and a powder party. During the powder party (in honor of the original inhabitants of the island) everyone is dresses in all white and equipped with a few cans of powder.

    The idea is that you walk through the shopping street Triana from the beginning to the end. There is a band playing music, and the people simply follow the band. It takes around three hours to move to the end and meanwhile you are in the middle of one huge partying mass inside an even bigger white cloud of powder. Very nice!
    Carnival 2010!

    Duinrennen

    Afgelopen week hadden we bezoek van een paar vrienden uit Spanje en Italiƫ die nu in Nederland wonen. Alhoewel het Nederlands nog een beetje onder de maat is hadden ze het klagen over het slechte weer bijzonder goed onder de knie. Zelfs ondanks een paar regenbuitjes hier wisten we goed te lachen over de kou in Nederland. Deels kwam dit doordat het nog goed mogelijk was om een aantal dagen naar het strand te gaan, om lekker te zonnen en een beetje te zwemmen.

    Een nieuwe activiteit die ik heb ontplooit in de zandduinen in het zuiden is het duinrennen. Een sportieve bezigheid waarbij je een zandduin probeert op te rennen. Doordat je benen steeds in het zand wegzakken is dit geen eenvoudige bezigheid. Hier een filmpje van mijn vierde poging.

    Origineel toiletbordje

    Hoge nood!Dit bordje kwam ik tegen in de jachthaven nabij ons huis. Blijkbaar toiletten voor als je echt moet. De afbeelding klopt ook wel, want als je in de buurt van al dat water moet, dan moet je! En bij hoge nood kan je niet anders dan je benen in een rare houding plaatsen.