An Electric BBQ - who knew?!

When we started making plans for our year away in Spain, one of the things that we both said we wanted to do was get a BBQ and cook out every night. Over the years we have considered having a barbecue in our garden in Ireland but we always discounted it for one reason or another. Early on when we got married we bought a charcoal barbecue which I think put us off barbecues as it was difficult to use and to be honest more hassle than it was worth. It took an age to heat up and then the food didn't cook properly and then it had to be cleaned etc. 

However, when we moved to Spain we planned to do it differently. We planned on getting a gas BBQ which seemed WAY more convenient than the charcoal. 

So when we arrived, we started doing research on what barbecue to get and where to buy it. And that's when I discovered electric barbecues!!

You can probably tell I am all about convenience and when I discovered that there was such a thing as an electric bbq and that it was rated as being a good alternative to gas I decided that this was the bbq for us. Not having to bother about gas bottle replacement seemed like a brilliant option - literally just plug in and go!

So this is the one that we settled on: the Weber Q1400 with a stand

As you can see it is a gorgeous little bbq and sizewise it is perfect for us. It cooks enough food for two people with no issue and probably could cook for 3/4 with a little bit of a squeeze. After delivery of the BBQ we ordered the Weber gridle / hot plate to go with it which will enable us to cook bacon and eggs with ease on it!

So far we have cooked T-Bone steak that we bought in the Malaga market. We had this on two nights along with grilled vegetables (again will probably cook better on the gridle when we get it) and chicken on skewers for the past two nights along with romaine lettuce cooked on the barbecue which is so delicious!

My secret ingredient on the chicken marinade is lime juice!! I squeeze a whole lot of it over the chicken along with olive oil, garlic powder, paprika and salt & pepper. So tasty!!

Buying food in the market is a little overwhelming at first but a lot of fun. There is so much to choose from and it is busy busy busy. But it is spotlessly clean and the food is beyond fresh so it is definitely the place to go for the best food. For us, we just need to decide in advance what we want to buy and then look up the Spanish translation for it so that we can practice speaking in Spanish when we visit.

And after we did our food shopping, we sat out in the sun and enjoyed a glass of wine and a cana of beer and made plans for the rest of the day.  

Enjoy your day where ever in the world you are!

Mornings in Malaga

 We've settled in to a nice routine here in Malaga. 

To start the day, the first thing we do is cycle to La Malgueta beach for a dip in the sea.  No matter the weather, it's always a great way to start the day. Today was cool and cloudy and the water was colder than yesterday (it rained overnight) but still the water was refreshing and rejuvenating.

After our swim, we go home and get Bones and then head out to get a coffee and a little breakfast if we are feeling peckish.We have a few different cafes that we like and we can get some food and a drink for about 4 or 5 euro.

Once we have drank our coffee, we make our way back to our apartment where we do an online Spanish lesson. Sometimes we follow this by listening to another Spanish lesson podcast while we are sunbathing on the balcony.

Later in the afternoon, Pigsy heads to his studio to paint and I knuckle down to doing some work. Things are going well with promoting Pigsy and his work. Last week, he gave an interview on an Irish programme on a Spanish Radio Station and he was also featured in Sur in English which is the expat newspaper in Costa del Sol.

In other news, I played my first padel tennis game which was A LOT of fun!

Brompton Bike - perfect for city living in Malaga

When we were planning our move to Spain we made a decision that we would get bikes in order to get around the city quicker then walking. Cycling also means that we can go further afield and get to the beach in a matter of minutes every morning.

But the best decision we made was deciding that we should get Brompton fold up bikes rather than another type. They are brilliantly convenient for living in a city and we can fold them and take them up and down the lift in our apartment blocking while keeping them safe inside in our apartment when they are not being used.

Additionally when we pull up to cafes for a coffee we don't have to go to the hassle of locking them but can instead fold them up and park them in beside us. 

Brompton Bikes are a feat of engineering and they make me marvel at how clever they are everytime I cycle it! 

La Alcazaba & Roman Theatre - Sunday in Malaga

Sunday started with a swim in La Malagueta beach. Getting up early and having a swim in the sea really invigorates & energizes us and sets a great tone for the day.

On Sundays many museums and tourist attractions are free in after 5pm (and generally open until 7pm) so we have made  it a thing to visit an attraction every Sunday.  

Last Sunday it was a visit to the Alcazaba which is a citadel above Malaga city. Along with the Alcazaba you can also visit the Teatro Romano (Roman Theatre) which is just below the citadel. 

We got the lift up as we visited about 2pm and it was hot hot hot and we did not fancy s walk up a hill in the heat.

This is the sight that greeted us first when we got out of the lift. Simply incredible.

I preferred the Roman Theatre to the Alcazaba - however the views from the citadel were stunning.

Check out the view of the port!

Here you can see a view of the bullring.

The gardens were beautiful and a really nice place to wander around.

Palm trees can grow really really tall!! I never knew they grow this tall!

Back down at city level there are Roman ruins on view along with the amphitheatre.

We really enjoyed touring the Citadel. It's something to put on your "must do list" if you ever visit Malaga. 

Later that evening we headed to La Tranca for tapas. It's a very traditional bar that has a hipster feel to it. We enjoyed the ambiance and would return for a drink again.

It was a

Russian Salad - a new one on me!

While we are enjoying our new surroundings of Malaga and discovering new food and drinks (Hello Aperol Spritz), we seem very removed from the goings on in Ireland with things like Golfgate and BerlinD2 parties. And so while we are in Spain, with Covid numbers on the increase, my twin sister is in Florida anticipating the arrival of two tropical storms of which one might become a hurricane. 2020 is quite the year and along with Covid a double tropical storm hit could be disastrous for Florida. 

In some ways I am not surprised that numbers are increasing in Spain and, to my mind, it looks very much like a second wave is happening. On arrival a few weeks back I felt very safe and secure to see everyone wearing obligatory masks. However, the longer I am here I am beginning to see examples of very poor social distancing. Back home in Ireland, numbers were restricted in supermarkets while that does not seem to be the case here at this time. Additionally Irish people stood apart on 2 metre markings while queuing to go in to places. Here there seems to be no marked out spots for when queuing which leads me to wonder if the masks are giving everyone a false confidence and making them feel that social distancing is not necessary.  On the other hand, most restaurants have outdoor tables available which seems like a safer option than eating inside and many restaurants have extended their outside eating spaces and are taking up spaces in the public realm or in front of closed up shops, which allows for spacing out the tables. This seems sensible to me.

Speaking of restaurants and eating brings me on to the subject of this blog post.  Russian Salad!

Have you heard about it? It's a new one on me and I love it.

We were introduced to it by a French guy who Ciaran played padel with. He gave all of the players a container full of Russian Salad that was left over from a party that he had held. We enjoyed the salad with Iberian Ham that night and to say it was an instant hit is an understatement.

It's like a mixture of potato salad and tuna salad and from googling it seems to be a traditional Spanish staple.

Our favourite place to order Russian Salad is in Casa Lola where we have visited a few times (this place is our current no. 1 go to tapas spot in Malaga) and we now sit at the bar and order a few tapas with a glass of wine and beer.

Unfortunately I didn't take a pic of Russian Salad but here is a few pics of some other tapas that we have enjoyed in Casa Lolas.

Shopfronts of interest

There's always so much to see in Malaga. These vintage looking shop fronts really appeal to me.

This shop was established in 1957. I wonder when the shopfront design was created?!

This clothes shop seems to be for people of a certain vintage. It reminds me of old style draperies in Ireland. From my childhood, I remember Hands in Villa Park and Godleys in Blanchardstown.

This signage for the Farmacia is particularly cool with it being built in to the building. A lot of more modern farmacias have similar lit up signs with the same lettering. Perhaps there was a standard at one point that shops had to adhere to and this is an example with the modern shops following the form?

Not too sure about this one!

We had a little coffee here one morning (a cortado for me and a solo for Ciaran) - it seems to be a popular locals spot. The silver lettering on the signage seems very retro Italian to me.

Los Hidalgos - Desde 1968

This is on the street below Pigsy's studio. Churros & chocolate - it could be dangerous!!

Bakery and hat shop near where we live

Super Sunday in Malaga

 We had an awesome Sunday here in Malaga. We started our day off at the beach and then managed to sneak in an other visit in the late afternoon.

We had an easy going start to the day with firstly taking the dog for a walk while we went for a coffee. We had coffee in a nice little cafe that faced this farmacia. As we were leaving, I decided to take a photo of Bones in front of the doorway. Well......you know the way they say never work with animals or children - this was the perfect case in point.

It took us numerous attempts to get Bones to stand and stay in position for the photo. After numerous tries (and with two groups of people in the cafe looking over at us doing this) he eventually stood and we got the picture.  And that is when the fun started.  When we were done and we wanted to leave, we called Bones. He then decided that it was now time to stand for the picture and would not leave. Honestly that dog!!  

Well it gave us a good laugh and it also gave the two groups in the cafe who were surveying the whole scene a good laugh too!!

After dropping Bones back to the apartment we then got out on the bikes and headed to the beach. Ciaran was so hot from the cycle that he went straight in for a swim the minute we arrived!

And then later on we went for a visit to the Centre Pompidou Malaga. 

It was after the Centre Pompidou visit that we then went back to the beach for a second time (on bikes again) where we enjoyed a drink in a little beach shack looking out on to the water. Bliss!

I had a 7pm date for a What's App video meetup with Amy & Alice so we left about 6.45pm to get back to the apartment for that. But thinking about it now, I probably could have done that from the beach too. 

It was so great to see my best friend and twin sister on video and we had a super catch up. Alice had given us some happy news about her son and we chatted about that and lots of other stuff. It was a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to the next virtual meetup.

And then the day continued when we headed out about 8.30pm for a few tapas and a glass of wine. We went to Cortijo de Pepe. It had a very traditional tapas bar inside but we sat outside because you generally can't do that in Ireland given the weather, so it probably will always be a novelty for us :-)

And afterwards it was home to sit on the terrace where I had my usual little mini slice of cheesecake and we talked about what a great day we had in Malaga!