Fiesta day 3

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This evening the meal was going to be different, or at least where we ate it was. The idea was to make the meal as usual at the peña but to set up our tables and chairs for our group to eat it in the Plaza Mayor along with every one else in their groups.

The meal for tonight was Fideuá, a traditional Catalan dish made with noodles and sea food. Click HERE to see an explanation and a recipe for this dish.

Our seafood was mainly langostinos and calamares, shrimp and squid, and it was certainly well received by everyone.


Where else could you get around four to five hundred people of all ages, eating and drinking in their own groups in the open air at this time of night?


Before the music group for the evening made an appearance, there was a special turn by a drag artist, simply billed as "¡una sorpresa!", "a surprise!", on the programme of events and the main reason we had all been told to eat our meal in the Plaza.


You never know what to expect! The act was good but not a patch on our very own Lina Morgan!

Fiesta day 2

At midday there was a mass for San Ramón which concluded with his statue being paraded around the streets of the village. You can spot him in the picture below.

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There were more people than ever at the mass, some wore traditional costume.


Later, in the evening, we gathered in the school yard to see the group "Braulio Foz" perform their jotas, (pronounced "ho-taz"). To see a video of one of their dances from the performance, click HERE.


They were even better than the last time we saw them. The 4 musicians played a guitar and 3 bandurrias, (similar to lutes). There were 3 female and 2 male singers and a group of 8 very energetic young dancers all dressed in regional costume.


To see a second video of one of their dances from the performance, click HERE.

Very entertaining.

Our meal later in the evening was again at the peña. This time it was another dish typical of the region, rancho, usually prepared for workers or soldiers. It started off with costillas de cerdo, (pork ribs), being cut up and fried in olive oil with garlic, then diced peppers, potatoes, artichokes, asparagus, peas and rice were added.


Just what you need to warm you on a cold winter's night - the only trouble is, it's mid summer!
However, it went down very well!

¡Chorizada en la cooperativa!

It's time for sausages at the village yard and many small bonfires are lit and chorizos and longanizas are cooked and served in pieces of bread by each peña group.

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There were even more people there this year, young, old, everyone.

Are the sausages cooked yet Manalo?

The official peña group photo.

Again this year, there was a band. After the sausages, people visit each peña where they are given a drink such as vodka and tonic. However, on the route it is traditional for the people in the houses to throw water over everyone. Everyone ends up soaking. Great fun. However, we came home and enjoyed a jacuzzi - at least we still ended up soaking but in a rather more relaxing situation!

Crumbs - it's migas!

So the village fiesta of Torre del Compte 2009, has begun. On Tuesday 11th we all arrived at the peña, (after our art class), and gave it a clean and on Friday 14th we went shopping to buy the drink and some food for the celebrations.

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Tuesday evening was our first meal together and it was the "traditional" dish of migas, which literally means "crumbs". Essentially it is the traditional dish of the shepherd who has old bread and some belly pork both of which are finely shredded and fried in a pan with olive oil, not forgetting the garlic of course.

After a lot of very strenuous stirring it is served topped with a fried egg - very satisfying for even the most ravenous shepherd.

A day out to Ortells...

It had been a long time coming but we finally got around to having a day out with Floyd and Jordi to see a monastery and have lunch at a restaurant in Ortells, 76 kms from Torre del Compte to the south west.

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We arrived at the monastery just north of Zorita del Maestrazgo only to find it was closed for refurbishment. It had been a monastery and then converted into a café so what would it be after the refurbishment?

That's the monastery behind us, being refurbished.

However, it was in a superb spot and the views were worth the visit.

So we settled for a walk around the village of Zorita instead where, just as with any other medieval village around here, there was plenty of rebuilding work going on.


And so to Casa Ramón and a very special lunch which was well worth the journey as the meats, steak and pork, were cooked to our liking, (by ourselves), on a very hot stone, or as Casa Ramón says, "Especialidad en carnes a la piedra".

I can still smell and hear the sizzle of the meat. Delicious!

We're in the newspaper yet again!

On Saturday evening, after the meal and Lina Morgan performance, we had been invited to the opening of an art exhibition being staged by our friend Andrea. It was in the museum of Juan Cabré in the nearby village of Calaceite. Juan Cabré was the the famous archeologist, born in Calaceite, who led the excavation of the Iberican settlement next to the village in the early 1900's.

To see the article full size, click left on it.

Andrea's work is amazing, she has been very busy this year producing so many new paintings. The museum is an excellent venue for art work to be exhibited, it all looked wonderful!

Birthday lunch and Paüls

It has been a very busy, but most enjoyable weekend this weekend. It really started on Friday when we celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary with an outing to Benicarlo for the day. On Saturday we had the womens' lunch followed by the "Lina Morgan" sketch and Andrea's art exhibition in the evening. On Sunday we saw the contemporary dancing at Valderrobres. To finish off the 4-day weekend, we have celebrated my birthday by having a day out to Tortosa for lunch then to the village of Paüls, (pronounced Par-uulz), in the afternoon.

Wot, no chips!

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Paüls is tucked away in the mountains or Els Ports as they are known, 9 km from the main road. It is not a village you go through because it is at the end of the road! However, it is certainly worth a visit as it is so picturesque...

...and the view from the top of the village is amazing.

It is also very tranquil with only the sound of goat bells clanking in the distance.

On the way back, on the other side of the mountains, I couldn't resist taking this view, or rather 3 views, which have been stitched together. Breathtaking scenery at it's best!