I've only been back two weeks and I'm missing Álora already. I can't wait to go back. It's been a bit hot down there, I hear, so I'm hoping that Ana is watering our plants regularly. I was very tempted to bring back a paella pan and a big gas ring to make paellas on the patio but some treats are best enjoyed in their homeland and Spain is unquestionably 'The Home of the Paella'.
Similarly, Cornwall is 'The Home of the Cornish Pasty' and Mrs. Sánchez and I will be heading down to The Isles of Scilly (in Cornwall) next week for some sun, sand and sea and as many Cornish Pasties as we can eat. Cornwall is rightly proud of its pasties but some good ones can be found in Devon too . Ivor Dewdney's (Plymouth and Exeter) are very good but are called 'Cornish Style Pasties' because the Cornish Pasty has been awarded 'Protected Geographical Indication.'(PGI) by The European Commission. True Cornish Pasties must be 'D' shaped and crimped round the curved edge and never at the top. Curiously, you can bake a Cornish Pasty anywhere but it must have been 'prepared' in Cornwall. So all you Cornish pasty fans had better think carefully before you vote in the forthcoming EU In/Out referendum. Do you really want to see bogus 'Cornish Pasties' flooding into Great Britain from goodness knows where?
A Cornish Pasty
Not Cornish Pasties
Ginster's, who sell 30 million 'Original Cornish Pasties' a year are still based in Cornwall and are one of the biggest employers in the South West. Nobody can suggest, then, that their pasties are not Cornish and they do fall within the accepted definition of pasty but would you eat one?
He did
The pasty is a close relative of the pie which, like it's tasty cousin has suffered at the hands of the mass producers of fodder for fat people and has become the butt of many cruel jokes. The pie continues to to be associated (wrongly in my view) with that popular western style choice, obesity.
As with paella the best pies are to be found in or near their 'homeland' which is Wigan in Lancashire, known internationally as 'The Home of the Pie.' Wigan pies do not enjoy PGI status and my favourite pie, the Holland's meat pie is made 31 miles away in Baxenden
You may be wondering what all this pie and pasty talk has to do with Álora. Well, if you've ever been to Álora and, indeed to any part of Spain, you may have been immediately struck by the total absence of pies. In a country which subsists almost exclusively on pork products there is not a pork pie to be had, even for ready money, (you could try 'Iceland' and other Brit shops), let alone steak and kidney, cheese and onion, meat and potato, gala (with egg in it,( how do they do that?)) or chicken and mushroom. They don't even have apple pies or lemon meringue pies or any sweet pies at all. It's unbelieveable that Columbus could sail all the way from Spain to America and come back with a potato but no one thought of exploring the rich pie seams of Lancashire.
I once said in this organ that the Spanish don't even have a word for pie. I lied. The word is empanada. If you look it up on Google Images you'll see that they are all pasties! Try looking up 'pasty,' too, and you'll have a shock. I did.
a Spanish empanada (pie?)
I'm convinced that the Spanish palate is ready for pies. Sales would go through the roof. There's a fortune to be made. I am looking for someone with a keen interest in pies, fluency in Spanish and bags of money to finance a pie business in Spain. Offers, as usual, on a postcard with the customary 23€ administration fee.
Last Saturday Mrs. Sánchez and I heard that the sculptor Sir Anthony Gormley, famous for 'The Angel of the North' and many other 'public' sculptures, had erected a figurine by the South Stratford Canal at Lowsonford, a few miles away from our English residence. Off we went to look for it. It is one of five commissioned by The Landmark Trust to celebrate the Trust's 50th. anniversary. After asking a few local dog walkers for directions we strolled down the towpath and found the figure opposite a 'Lengthman's cottage' by 'Ned's Lock. Here's a few pictures.
Did you spot Mrs. Sánchez?.
What a beautiful setting. The sculpture reminded me of the lines;
'A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare'. W.H. Davies
As we walked back along the towpath, the Fleur de Lys pub appeared on the opposite bank. Just the place for a pie and a pint.
Indeed, Fleur de Lys pies were very popular in Midlands chip shops (puff pastry and soggy bottoms- not a proper pie at all in my opinion) and they really were invented in this Warwickshire pub. The building was used as a mortuary until the 1920s. They sold so well that the business moved to Warwick and was then bought by Pukka Pies who had to pay a colossal amout of cash for the original secret recipe. Try one of their steak and kidney pies and ask yourself if it was money well spent (for the pie or the recipe).
This is my last word on pies, popular though the topic is. This mobile pie vendor was doing a brisk trade outside Sarehole Mill last week. Just imagine a fleet of these pie vans in every town in Spain! Get those investment offers in NOW!
Quiz news!............So far I have not received a single attempt at last week's quiz question so the prize money go into a 'rollover' next time.
Juanito Sánchez July 4th. 2015
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