Gandía, A Charity Shop Spree, An Old Olive Tree and “Puchero” (My Way)

It’s been a while since I sat down and put fingers to keyboard, gabbling on about our life of late. I’ve now got far too many things to talk about. But I’ll condense them as much as poss and try and stick to what I think is most important. I’ll warn you now though, this could be a long post!

Going back to the beginning of the year, Pep and I had to cancel our holiday to Zaragoza (our usual New Year weekly holiday to a Spanish city) due to us having to look after a poorly dog. Charlie (Pep’s dog) is getting on now and is having problems with his liver and pancreas. Because of this, he’s not creating enough insulin and is basically diabetic. We have to control his blood sugar daily by making sure he has food often and in small amounts. Also, if he has an attack we have to get honey down him straight away. As you can imagine the dog can’t be left for long. He’s still quite well in himself though so we’ll keep doing our best in making sure he has quality of life.

Due to this and other things too, mum and I cancelled our yearly break in Valencia. Not that I’d do another post on Valencia, if you’d like to see my take on the city you can do so here and here. But the fact we cancelled our trip brings me to the first subject matter on today’s post 😁.

If we couldn’t have a few days visiting Valencia’s sales then we would have daily outings around here to see what was on offer. We often venture to Gandía for the summer sales but rarely the winter ones. So we decided we’d change all that and tootle on down to the large town for a few hours.

It’s the perfect place to spend a morning perusing the shops in the old town, followed by a bite to eat in one of its squares, lapping up the winter sunshine. We park close to the old town, there is free parking just before the “Puente (bridge) de la Feria”, which leads you over the Río (river) Serpis and into the heart of Gandía.

We didn’t visit the above palace due to not having much time (and wanting to get straight to the shops!), although we will do in the future. It has a ton of history and is also used for exhibitions and other creative events. You can even rent it for weddings, etc. I won’t go into detail about it as this post will be long enough as it is. Here’s the official page if you’d like to know more. It’s in English as well as Spanish and Valenciano.

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We meandered round the old town, visiting the shops and stopping for coffee in one of the cafés.

A couple of weeks prior to my outing with mum, Pep and I had a gig in the Chiringuito La Marquesa, situated in the Marquesa gardens. It’s a fabulous spot, surrounded by trees. They even have a bonsai exhibition. Every other Saturday (or every Saturday, I’m not sure) they have live music from 12:30-15:00. It’s a great spot to start the weekend, it gets very full and the atmosphere is wonderful. This is their Facebook page although they don’t update it that often.

As usual, around two o’clock hunger strikes so we found a bar where we could sit in the sun and enjoy a cheap and cheerful menú del día. I can think of worse ways to pass the time 😊

Moving on. I’m not one for your typical franchise clothes shops. They’re ok, you can occasionally get a bargain there but personally, the clothes aren’t worth what you pay for them, certainly not when the sales aren’t on. What I do love are all the local charity shops we have in this area. I can find a few decent quality items for the price of just one in your usual high street store.

Mum and I have spent a few days during the last four weeks visiting lots of these shops. I’ve picked up so many bargains, not just clothes. I got two skirts for 1€ in one of them and they’re lovely. Also two rugs to go by my fireplace, a huge new squishy pillow for a cat bed (I wish I’d have bought the other one they had) and various tops and jumpers. In total I’ve spent around 35€ on all these items. I’ve also donated a load of my clothes to them to make room in my wardrobe for the new ones.

The money goes to different local charities, from Cancer Care to Scan animal charity, Apasa dog charity to Help of the Marina Alta. The people that work in these charity shops are all volunteers, giving their time to those in need. In a couple of the shops we’ve had a right laugh with the staff, it felt as if we’d known them for years!

There is a page here that contains most of the Jávea charity shops, although you can find them in most towns in the area.

There are other local charities that don’t have shops but still do lots for the cause they care about. My favourite would be Caring for Cats (Facebook page here). Sarah and company bend over backwards helping loads of feral cats, getting them neutered, cared for and fed. If it weren’t for people like them there would be thousands more cats struggling to survive on the streets. They give their lives helping them. They often have stalls at local fairs to raise money and also sell things on Facebook that people donate. We all do our best to help them when we can.

Ok, getting back to one of the more typical topics on this blog. Walking. The weather is treating us to the occasional beautiful day lately and a few days ago we took advantage of it. We hadn’t got much time after all our morning chores so we needed a quick walk close by. A few days previous, Mum had been on a walk with friends to see an ancient olive tree near Jesús Pobre. She sent me pics and Pep and I were gobsmacked. It’s massive.

Knowing it’s only an hour walk maximum there and back we zoomed down to Jesús Pobre to go and admire this beautiful tree. The walk starts just off the road through Jesús Pobre, towards the La Xara to Jávea road. There is a row of modern white houses (forgot to take a pic, typical) that you walk by, as if you were walking towards the sea. From there it’s mostly signposted.

It really is breathtaking when you see the size of this fabulous specimen. To think what this tree has seen in its possibly 1000 years or more makes me feel rather puny 😁.

There is a circular route back to Jesús Pobre but it was nearly lunch time and we didn’t want to get lost trying to find it so we went back the way we came. When we have more time we’ll check it out. You can also do a quick detour and visit the 3 mills on the hill it seems.

We hadn’t booked anywhere for lunch so I quickly googled restaurants in Jesús Pobre. Casa Rosita (Facebook page here) looked perfect for our needs so we quickly headed on over to it. They serve a menú del día during the week for 11€ and it was just what we were looking for. We sat in their terrace out the back which became full as we enjoyed our lunch. There were lots of options to choose from and the quality was very good.

Whilst I’m on the subject of food I might as well show you a few pics of what’s going on in our “huerta” before I ramble on about today’s recipe. Now the winter’s on its way out, our veggie patch is starting to come to life. We had the big tractor in twice to give the land a good going over. We’ve now got broccoli on the go, turnips, carrots, spinach, lettuces, onions and garlic. The tomato seeds have also been placed in pots, ready to germinate. So have peppers, “ñoras”, pumpkins, courgettes, basil and possibly other things that I’ve forgotten about.

Pep bought me a lovely surprise the other day. My all time favourite fruits are berries. I’d often said to him how fantastic it would be (hint hint) if we could grow our own blueberries, raspberries, etc. Eco ones are so expensive in the shop and supposedly non eco ones are covered in all sorts of grotty things. I read once that strawberries and blueberries are two of the worst fruit you can eat if they’re not eco. The list of bad “ingredients” they contain is endless.

A box arrived the other day. On close inspection I could see there were plants in it. He’d bought me a raspberry (frambuesa) plant, a blueberry (arándano) plant and a blackcurrant (grosella) plant. What a wonderful man!! He googled a bit of info about the best place to plant them, etc, etc and found that they like acidic soil. He also read that if you want to make your soil more acidic to add pine needles to the earth a few months before you want to plant whatever is going in it. We didn’t have a few months but we thought we’d give it a go anyway 😁.

Behind our house there is a few thousand square metres of uncared for land with quite a lot of pine trees. We used to venture there to get a bit of exercise when we were in lockdown (don’t tell anyone😂). So off he trotted with a sack to go and scrounge a bunch of needles for our new plants.

So the holes were made ready for the berry plants. Pine needles and manure were added and the plants planted. A month down the line and they’re coming on stupendously.

Another plant we have on our land that comes into its own in spring is the artichoke plant. And this brings me, at last, to today’s recipe (I told you it would be a long post!). The artichoke plant is a species of thistle cultivated for food. We harvest the artichokes around April time, (I talk about them in this post and how we love to cook them on the embers of our fire) but the leaves of the plant, known as “pencas”, are also edible.

“Pencas” are one of the ingredients in “Puchero”, a local broth/stew type dish that is perfect for cold days. There is also a plant that is cultivated solely for “pencas” (these are often longer than the ones on the artichoke plant) but we don’t have any at our house. Pep does have some in Pinos though. But anyway, either form of “penca” is fine for “puchero”.

My recipe for “puchero” differs slightly from the original in the fact that the only meat I use to prepare it is chicken. The original recipe sometimes contains beef shank (morcillo de ternera), “tocino” (pork fat), pig trotter (manita de cerdo), and ham bones (huesos de jamón). Sometimes a fatty pork sausage called “blanquet”. Also the “pelotas”, large balls of minced pork, bread and egg with spices and pine nuts, wrapped in a cabbage leaf.

As you know I’m not a great meat eater, most of the recipes I prepare at home are plant based. But on occasions I do cook some eco chicken. And this is one of those recipes that, in my opinion, needs it.

It’s a super healthy recipe, full of delicious vegetables and chickpeas, and the broth is eaten as a starter with rice (I’ll explain shortly). It’s also an extremely easy recipe, you don’t even have to chop the vegetables, most just get peeled and thrown in whole. So here’s how I like to prepare it.

First off, add the chicken (I used a couple of thighs with bone and skin on and one breast) to a large stock pot. Fill about half way with water and bring to the boil. In the meantime prepare the veg. This time I used half a cabbage, two swedes, 3 medium potatoes, 1 and a half white sweet potatoes, 3 parsnips, 1 leek, 3 stalks of celery and a few “pencas”.

Peel the root veg, clean the leek and chop it into 3 or 4 pieces, cut the half a cabbage into two and chop the celery stalks into two. Prepare the pencas by removing any leaves, removing the rough edges and de-stringing them a bit. Then chop into 3 or 4 pieces.

Leave the chicken to boil for 15-20 minutes, adding a few good pinches of salt. Add all the veg, the water level will come up quite a bit. Place the lid on the pot but don’t cover completely and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn the heat down slightly but keep it bubbling for an hour or so, until all the veg is cooked. Taste the broth, adding more salt if needed. I also add about a half teaspoon of ground turmeric to give it a yellow hue.

I add cooked chickpeas to a bag which is used for this purpose, placing it in the pot about 5 minutes before I’m ready to serve. This isn’t the correct way to do it. The correct way is to use dried chickpeas, leaving them to soak the day before then placing them in the chickpea bag along with the meat and water. I don’t do this because I don’t cook the “puchero” for as long as the original recipe that contains more meat. I’m always a bit worried that the chickpeas won’t be fully cooked. It’s also quicker to use cooked chickpeas 😁.

The first day I make the “puchero” I serve up a bit of everything on a large platter and we help ourselves to what we want.

The second day (there’s always enough for 2 or 3 days), whilst the “puchero” is warming, I ladle off some of the broth (caldo) and pour it into a saucepan. I then bring it to a boil and add a couple of handfuls of rice (in my case semi-wholemeal rice), place the lid on, turn the heat down low and cook until the rice is tender. We eat it before I serve the “puchero”.

This is possibly the most delicious part of “puchero”. The broth has taken in all the flavour of the veggies and the chicken. It’s utterly delicious. A quick squeeze of lemon juice is all that’s needed. This is comfort food at its best, I could eat it every day. Well, almost😊. There is normally some broth left after all the veggies and meat have been eaten. I use this to make a risotto or to cook quinoa, etc. Yum.

Right, well I think that’s more than enough for one sitting. This post could be a great cure for insomnia! I’m off out to rehearsal with Pep’s pop/rock combo and then dinner. I’m celebrating my anniversary of being in Spain. 36 years ago today I was bawling my eyes out. I swear someone turned the tap on inside my head, I didn’t stop crying from the morning when all our family and friends came to say cheerio till I fell asleep in bed that night in our rental villa on Orbeta!

When I woke up the following morning, sun shining into my bedroom and views of mountains of the Orba valley I knew we’d done the right thing. Still feel sorry for my mum and dad and my uncle Philip (and all the people on the airplane) for having to endure my tears for hours on end. I bet my uncle was glad to drop us off at the airport 😂.

Cheerio for now. As always, thanks for reading. If you’d like to subscribe to this blog don’t hesitate to fill in the little form on this page. You can also like and follow our Facebook page to see new posts and anything else I feel like posting on there. Take care you lot. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx