We have a nice long weekend in Lanzarote planned for the coming weekend. I am very curious to visit this island, because a very big part of it exists of volcanic ground. We will leave on Friday and stay in Lanzarote until Monday. There are a number of nice sites we would like to visit:
When we’re back I’ll post some images and a little report about our visit.
Although April fools is for some strange reason celebrated on the 28th of December I did notice some April fools influences from the rest of the world. By coincidence I was browsing google maps when I noticed that the entire city of Las Palmas was displayed in 3D. The only ‘but’ I could think of was that clearly you needed the typical blue and red glasses to see the effect. Still, I was surprised and it was nice to see.
Ik heb gewonnen! Ik was de beste inbreker in een dubieuze wedstrijd uitgeschreven door de Politie Hollands Midden. Doel van de wedstrijd was het bekijken van een foto en je verplaatsen in de huid van een inbreker en verzinnen op welke manieren er in te breken valt.
Ik wist maar liefst 15 manieren te bedenken en dit bleek voldoende om de prijs te winnen!
Dit waren mijn inbraak mogelijkheden:
Blijkbaar ben ik een creative inbreker (wellicht heb ik de verkeerde carrière gekozen). De prijs die ik gewonnen heb ik een DNA-kit. Ik ben benieuwd wat het is, en wellicht tref je binnenkort mijn DNA aan op allerlei objecten!
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:
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.
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.
Ik heb een nieuw soort van tetris ontdenkt, turnellio. Het spel is nieteens zo moeilijk want na een paar keer spelen eindigde ik al in de top 3.
Ik had nog nooit gehoord van een pitanga (Eugenia uniflora), maar blijkbaar is het een soort van fruit. In de botanische tuin van Gran Canaria staan er een paar en toevallig dragen ze nu fruit.
Toevallig vielen er een aantal van de struik toen ik er langs liep, zo in mijn zak!
Een pitanga is een klein rond fruitje, van rond de 2 cm. Binnenin zit een flink grote pit. De smaak is lekker pittig zoet. Smaakt lekker en de smaak is een soort van mix van een braam en een framboos.
Uit verder onderzoek op de spaanse wiki pagina blijkt het fruitje rijk aan vitamine a, fosfor, calcium en ijzer. De bladeren van de plant kunnen gebruikt worden om een thee te maken.
I found a new project. The climate here in Las Palmas is good the entire year round and this climate makes this the perfect place for a big number of plants. The new proyect I’m considering is a peanut plant. Normally you just buy peanuts roasted with salt or sugar but I needed a version that could be planted.
Thanks to some advice I knew there to look for the correct peanuts… pet food! Parrots for example like to eat raw peanuts, and this is how I found a very big bag of raw peanuts here in Las Palmas.
The first step is to peel the raw peanut, exactly the same way you normally peel a peanut. The thing I noticed was that raw peanuts are very similar to the peanuts we use for consumption, only for a small difference in the smell. After pealing the peanut I placed them (including the thin brown skin) in some dirt and I added some water. It only took three days for the peanut to sprout a root.
The second step was simple, just wait patiently for the plant to grow. This is the step I’m at now. Eventually I expect the plant to bear some new peanuts. When I get them I’ll attempt to roast them and see if I get a tasty result. This is in fact what I’ll try with all the raw peanuts that are left over.
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!
A harbour is a place where you really dont want to get lost. Strange types are walking around and there is a risk that heavy things might fall on you.
Even as a child we are taught by Popeye that there are always bad guys in the neighborhood of sailors. In Las Palmas it is the same as everywhere else. Rules don’t apply and even the roads don’t follow the normal rules but just run chaotically through all the cargo.
