Torre is another firm favorite of ours on the Spanish coast. They have, however, fallen somewhat into our bad books as they no longer allow camper vans to park overnight in EMPTY car parks. Very silly is all I have to say – I will spend my Pesetas elsewhere then thank you very much.

I have stopped greeting Spanish men on my walks as they seem to think I'm trying to pick them up! But really, I'm only trying to pick up the really good looking ones... No, I know only greet couples, but that can also be dodgy...

You met my friend Carola previously in the Beef Stew post and she returns today with yet another great recipe, this time for an English cake. This is so soft and juicy and keeps so well, you just have to love it.

Why yes, I do actually know how to lower the tone... Actually, this was The Husbands idea as he seems to think that it's sheer luxury to go in places like this (and no that is not a grammatical error!)

Though I do think the kitchen is nicer...

We've been to Mojacar before and I did blog about it last year (you remember of course), but we like it so much we went back again this year. And we love it as much again this year. You can see Alex, our camper van, in the foreground - he's named after Alexander the Great, a name chosen by our wonderful friend Roger because of his enormous size – the van not Roger you silly person!

(Today’s recipe: Beef Stew originally by Jamie Oliver)

It’s become a Christmas tradition that we have Beef Stew with the lovely Carola and family when we’re in Germany. This year she was in hospital so no stew – quel dommage! But at least she’s well again and she gave me the recipe for this deelicious meal. She always doubles the recipe, so instead of for 4-6 she makes for 12 and the 6 of us eat it all… The less said here, the better.

This is nothing dirty, just the name of a town in Spain. Gabi, who we met in Portugal last year, told me that “cola” means tail in Spanish. I had to visit a town called double tail … It turns out to be absolutely beautiful (quieten down back there) and well worth visiting. Enough already!

We measured the distance we travelled through Spain last year, by the number of Wok Buffets we visited. This may sound sad, but let me explain that Spanish Chinese/Asian buffets are better that any in other country outside of Asia. And why is this, you quite rightly ask? I shall explain...

Found this lovely Strelitzia on my walk yesterday and it made me think of home, South Africa.
For more info, look at my favourite wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strelitzia

Now I don't know about you, but we don't always do what Jane tells us to do. Jane is our sat nav / gps or as she is lovingly called in our car "that crazy woman". She does have some strange ideas about how to get from here to there.