Two Ronnies arrive in Álora.

                             Joseli up at the castillo with Álora in the background.


Yesterday morning,when I took Tommy up to el castillo (the castle) for his daily cat hunt the early morning sun was just about taking the edge off a cold north wind blowing  down from la Sierra del Torcal. The locals call it 'aire de arriba' (wind from up there). Joseli, the castle vigilante,  was up there huddled in the lee of the south wall with two friends and seven dogs. He was in one of his 'angry' moods, waving his arms around and shouting and pointing at something in the distance. As I checked Tommy for burrs and barley seeds in his paws I tried to make out what was going on. Not a chance. I could only make out a lot of 'coños' 'no vale nadas,' 'claros' and 'vengas'.  It could have been about the new entrance which is being built 'to make the castle look more like a castle' and not like the cemetery which it was until a few years ago. (and still is for scores of republicans who were shot dead up there by Francoists in 1937 and dumped in a mass grave; but that's another story and not in the Christmas spirit).
I thought they may have been discussing  almendras (almonds) which are very popular at this time of the year and are one of the main crops around here along with aceitunas( olives), limones (lemons), (naranjas) oranges and mandarinas (mandarins). There are a few almond trees planted around the castle hill but they never have any almonds on them. Joseli says the locals  pinch them all. It's not his job to stop them. It's usually building materials and floodlights that  disappear and that IS his job. 

Almonds grow well up here and further up into the mountains too. They need cool temperatures in the winter. In January and February the trees are covered in white blossom and appear to be snow covered. The nuts (not technically nuts at all, but seeds) are harvested from August onwards. At this festive  time of the year almonds are very popular and Mrs. Sanchez got a chivatazo (a tip off) that they were 1€ a kilo at Hermanos Ramos down by the station. We have no idea if this was a bargain or not but I was instructed to go and buy 5 kilos sharpish  before they ran out. A week of almond bashing followed. Mrs. Sanchez is making a kilo of marzipan for Christmas cakes.

 
                                Almond bashing machine (operative not shown)

Almond shelling can be a dangerous business. Nutcrackers aren't up to the job.  You need a good eye, a firm grip, nerves of steel, a broad vocabulary.and thumbs of rubber. We ended up with 1.3 kilos of shelled almonds from the 5 kilos I bought . The spare ones will be shelled, blanched and fried in a little olive oil and salted. This savoury treat is sold on the streets in Málaga in little paper cones. You can also buy them ready made by the 100 grams in Málaga's main indoor food market where they tempt you with plates of free walnuts and almonds. These free samples are irresistible and I have only ever seen one person take advantage of the abundant generosity of the stallholders by cramming handfuls into her mouth. She got told off too!!!  So embarrassing.  You know who you are.

Almonds are one of the many foods brought to Spain from the Middle East by 'Los Moros' who ruled Andalucía from 711 AD. to 1492 AD.and they are still used in manys ways, eg.  to thicken stews, to make ajo blanco (chilled almond and garlic soup) and best of all to make turrón which is sold in big slabs and  comes from JIjona (difficult to pronounce but hkheehkhohna  is an approximation)  (Alicante province) and is made from almonds and honey. Turrones (pronounced 'two Ronnies') are a Christmas favourite all over Spain and are on sale now in all the supermarkets. There are hundreds of varieties, many not even containing honey OR almonds. Some are just big bars of chocolate and what's wrong with that? Nothing.

 

                     Two varieties of genuine turrón from Jijona (or Xixona in Valencian).

Now that the weather has turned a bit chilly many residents, young and old alike are scurrying around with bufandas (scarves) wrapped round their necks and lower faces. People are advising each other to 'Abrígate' (wrap up warm) and greet you with "¡Qué frío!"( How cold!) or "Hace un frío que te pela"(It's really cold) or even "Hace un frío que te cagas" (It's ****ing cold) . It only seems a few weeks ago that the same people were complaining about the heat. '¡Qué calor!'. 

                Mrs. Sánchez checking out the weather before going to the shops for broccoli

It turns out that Joseli was only getting worked up about the new plastic sewage pipes which have been laid down by the river in case they build the new treatment plant in Cártama.

November 18th. 2014.