The “Creu Del Tossal De La Cometa” Short Walk (Calpe), This Year’s Olive Harvest And A Few More Occurrences In Our Little Lives.

Good day to you all (or night, depending on when I publish this and where you live of course). A short post today, at least it is compared to my last few lengthy entries. We haven’t been up to that much lately. There’s not much point in writing a post on the weather or going through the technicalities of when I changed the lightbulb in my fridge. But we did squeeze in a short walk close to home 2 or 3 weeks back and that’s what I’ve come to tell you all about today.

We had booked lunch at the Restaurante Cantonet (again!!). If you haven’t been to this eatery you really must give it a go, especially if you’re fond of “Arroz Señoret”. In our opinions it’s the best one around. We’re going there on Christmas Day again. I book in September just to make sure we get a table! But I won’t go on about the restaurant, you can read about it in my posts here and here.

Right, onto the walk. If I remember rightly we had planned to go on a longer walk that Sunday but all sorts of tedious chores got in the way. We didn’t leave the house until just before 1pm, there was no way we could walk up and down the Peñón de Ifach or the likes in 1 hour. As usual google came to the rescue. We quickly searched for short walking routes close to Calpe and a few minutes later we were tootling down the Benissa coastal road towards our destination.

The route commences by the Ermita de la Cometa. For those of you who know the area, if you’re coming down from Benissa towards the coast (more towards Calpe than Moraira), you turn off just after Imperial Park. If you don’t know the area just type in Ermita de la Cometa into Google Maps and it will take you there.

I doubt you’ll have trouble parking, we didn’t when we went and it was a Sunday. We commence the walk at the Parque de la Cometa. Here you’ll come across a shaded, pretty picnic area and also barbecues if you fancy cooking up a feast. The route is circular and you can go either way. We began following the sign for the Creu (cross in Valenciano). The walk takes around 40 to 50 minutes, the first half being mostly uphill.

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From here we follow signs and yellow and white lines and continue the route until we reach the Creu de la Cometa, a small, metallic cross which was put here by local farmers in 1928. Its purpose was to protect their land from strong hail storms that would destroy their crops. I wonder if it worked.

We now commence our descent. The track can be a bit slippy in parts, it’s best to have some decent walking shoes or boots on. But it’s nothing terrifying, If I did it, it can’t be that bad. I’m the world’s worst at coming back down mountains. I’ll clamber up with the best of them but as soon as I think I might slip on my bum on some loose gravel on my way down, my legs turn to jelly. Pep finds it highly amusing but thankfully helps me out when I need a hand. I admire him, I’m sure he was a mountain goat in his last life, he makes it look so easy.

We follow the route towards the Cases del Torrat, some beautiful, rural houses that date back to the 18th century. I could easily live in one of them.

A few more minutes and we arrive back at the urbanisation close to the park. It was a lovely day for a short walk like this one, as I’m sure you’ve gathered from the photos. How we hadn’t heard of the route before I really don’t know. It’s only a 15 minute drive from our house

While I’m at it, just a few photos of our menú del día at the Cantonet restaurant. Our choice of “arroz” that day was bogavante (lobster). We thought we’d have a change. It was spectacular but the “señoret” takes a beating in my opinion.

Whilst we’re on the subject of food I’ll ramble on about our olive harvest this year. Pep and his brothers reluctantly decided to sell the olive press that their dad had bought quite a few years ago. With the large amount of olives they all have it used to take a few days to press them all. Once they’d eventually finished they would then have to clean everything. Getting rid of all that oil on the “esportins” (the round mat things where the olives are placed) isn’t the easiest of tasks, as you can probably imagine. It would usually take them a day to get it all sorted and none of them have much time on their hands.

Thankfully the press sold quickly to a farmer in Murcia. This man is an inventor of sorts and has turned the machine into the combine harvester of olive presses. They had 90000 kilos of olives to press!!! And I thought Pep had a lot!!

Pep and his brothers chose to take their olives to the “cooperativa” in Castell de Castells. They filled up the large van with their harvest (each brother went a different day) and it was all over and done with in one morning (although I think Juan had to go twice, he had rather a lot).

This year I couldn’t help Pep out very much as I was rushing to make things for the Christmas markets. I did however go with him the day before the pressing to collect all the olives that are in the nets. He had knocked them down during the week but always leaves them on the nets so they’re not in storage and getting mouldy. We then took them back to the casita to clean and put them into crates, then in the big van, ready to take to Castells the following day.

He knew he’d got quite a lot of kilos this year but hadn’t reckoned there would be this many (around 910 kilos). That’s a measly amount compared to the inventor from Murcia (and also less than we collected last year), but it’s still rather a lot for us to sort in one day. Thankfully I took my car (they didn’t all go in the big van) and thankfully I had two big shopping bags and a box with me, Pep hadn’t enough “capazos”to put them all in!

Pep had his oil cold-pressed the following day in Castells. You have to tell the people at the cooperativa that this is what you want when you ring for an appointment. That way they will make sure you’re the first one to go in the morning. Either that or the person that has had the appointment before you has also had their olives cold pressed.

The oil is delicious, the best Pep has ever made and possibly the best I’ve ever tasted. He got a very high yield (“rendimiento”) this year from the olives, more than ever. 28% to be precise. It even shocked the owner of the cooperativa.

Pep and his brother treated themselves to a new, airtight container each to stall their delicious oil in. The container is called “siempre lleno” (always full). It has an inflatable seal and a pressure gauge, that way the oil stays very fresh. They were ordered from the same shop that Pep’s dad bought the olive press from. We visited it a year or so ago and I wrote a post on it here.

Well, that more or less sums up today’s post. But you know me, I’ve always got something else to waffle on about for a while 😁. Pep and I recently visited Valencia again, this time to see Sara Baras, the world famous flamenco dancer (website here. It’s in English and Spanish). I had taken my mum to see her a few years back, also in Valencia. I think I spent most of the show with my mouth wide open, it was breathtaking. She, and everyone in the show with her, are amazing. It’s pure perfection. The music, the choreography, the dancing and the costumes are astounding. In fact I just can’t describe the feeling I had the first time I saw her perform. I still get goosebumps thinking about it now.

Mum and I went to see her show called Sombras. If you ever have the chance of seeing her I urge you, no, I order you to go. You won’t be disappointed. Pep had never seen her before and when I saw she was visiting Valencia, performing 3 shows in the city with her new “espectáculo” Alma, I didn’t hesitate and quickly booked a couple of tickets. It was taking place in the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, part of the Ciutat de les Arts I les Ciències, the cultural complex designed by Calatrava. I can’t say I really like the buildings but they are quite gobsmacking when you’re standing next to them.

Unfortunately they don’t allow you to film or take photos of the performance so I can’t show you any little snippets. You’ll just have to take my word for it. And please, if you ever get the chance to go to any of her shows, do yourselves a favour and go!!!! Pep thought it was fantastic and I think I sat there with my mouth wide open again 😁. All 3 shows in Valencia were virtually sold out. The 4 shows in Málaga were all sold out.

While we were in Valencia we eventually managed to eat at Restaurante Copenhagen (website here, Facebook page here), a veggie restaurant we’d wanted to try on our previous visits. On numerous occasions we had called to book a table but were always told they were full. This time I booked in advance, I didn’t want to miss out again.

The restaurant is situated in the Ruzafa area, a modern, hip “barrio” in Valencia which I love. It’s an arty neighbourhood with great shops, cafés and restaurants amongst its streets. The atmosphere is great.

Restaurante Oslo, which I speak of in my posts on Valencia, here and here, is part of the Copenhagen group. Both restaurants offer a menu del día during the week for 12,90€ plus drinks, hence why they are nearly always full. For the price the food is great and the menu changes daily. Definitely worth a visit if you’re ever that way.

Ok, now I’m definitely coming to the end of this post. Almost. And I thought it was going to be short 🤦🏻‍♀️. This year was a good year again for carobs. They were paying even more for them than last year. Pep had taken the majority of them to Teulada a few weeks ago but recently had managed to collect a couple of sacks full from a friend of his. When he returned to Teulada to take them I tagged along. It was quite fascinating watching the process. The seeds are what have the value, not the whole bean. Here’s a wee video of what goes on in the “almacén”. It’s a bit noisy by the way.

I really must shut up but I just want to tell you about a couple of gluten free recipes I’ve made lately. First some chocolate orange doughnuts made with buckwheat flour. I actually used half buckwheat and half quinoa. I make my own flour, I buy the organic grains in bulk and then whizz up the flour when I need it. It’s much cheaper that way, and the flour is fresher too. Here’s the link to the recipe. I didn’t make the glaze as we have them for breakfast and they would be too sweet for us. I also reduced the sugar to 60 grams and replaced the yoghurt with orange juice. They were quite yummy.

The other recipe is for a pumpkin and apple crumble cake. The hotel where we stayed in Valencia would have a big bowl of Granny Smith apples, free for the clients to help themselves to. Each day I took a couple but we were always so full from the delicious food we ate in the city that we never got round to eating them. So they got brought home and turned into this cake.

The recipe isn’t gluten free but I substituted the wheat flour for a variety of gluten free flours, plus a tiny bit of xantham gum. I also substituted the butter for organic, deodorised coconut oil and the sour cream for homemade cashew cream (recipe here) with a touch of lemon juice. Oh, and I halved the sugar content. You could probably make it vegan too by replacing the eggs with chia eggs or the likes. Here’s the recipe. It too was pretty yummy.

Now that definitely is all I have to say (I think). I best say cheerio before I remember something else to go on about for a few paragraphs. One quick thing though 😁. If you’d like to try your hand at some Spanish goodies that are consumed this time of year then click here, here, here and here. These are my recipes for a couple of different “turrones”, some “Cordiales” (delicious little cakey things made with almonds and “cabello de ángel”), and an orange sweet treat made with fresh orange juice, sugar and a vegan, gluten free thickener. This last one is good if you fancy something a tad lighter than turrón or choccies.

Right, that is most certainly it. Happy winter solstice everyone 😁. Pep and I would like to wish you all a fabulous, cosy, healthy Christmas. And if you don’t celebrate it then enjoy the time off work or just chill for a few days. This time of year is meant for relaxing and winding down, if you live in the Northern Hemisphere of course 😁.

Thanks for reading. Take care all of you and no doubt I’ll be back shortly with more tales to tell. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx