A quiet week with lots of work and not much time for photography during the week. But of course I was out in the landscape on my bicycle, and we had a nice lunch with friends at home.
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I start with two dogs. First, one in the vestibule of our local supermarket:
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Then, one on a balcony in Aigües, looking at a sweaty cyclist (me) taking a break:
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Further along the same ride, a nice view of the village of Busot, a sight I always enjoy:
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Between Busot and Jijona (the world capital of turrón), a large solar power plant has been built on what was a barren field. I find the sight beautiful, knowing that it represents clean energy, just what we need. But I also find it difficult to photograph. This time, I think I was reasonably successful:
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One afternoon I took a walk on Playa San Juan, the beach just south of our suburb. The season is winding down, but the Mediterranean is still warm, and there are people enjoying the beach in various ways:
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A chiringuito, temporary beach bar, to be dismantled at the end of September. I rarely visit such places, the beer is overpriced and I generally dislike sand. But many people like them:
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There is a small skate park on the beach promenade, and for the first time I noticed this small memorial to Ignacio Echeverría, a 39-year old Spanish lawyer working for the bank HSBC in London, who was murdered during the Whitechapel terrorist attack in June 2017, saving the lives of two of the other people attacked in the process. He is honoured in Alicante because of family connections to our city; and he was a keen skater:
The rest of this week’s blog is about friends and food.
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On Sunday afternoon, we invited our friends Assumpta, Eliot, Lucas and Alejandra for paella (here we usually just say “rice”). As usual, we started with some drinks and tapas:
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Some of our starters. Here, navajas (razor clams):
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Endives with ensaladilla and anchovies:
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Tomato salad with anchovies:
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Meanwhile, my wife was preparing the ingredients for the rice, various types of seafood:
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The seafood now on the paellera, the first step in making paella:
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Now the other ingredients, principally the caldo (broth) and the rice have been added and everything is simmering nicely:
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Ready to eat. Paella is really one of the nicest traditions of the Valencia region to which Alicante belongs:
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My final food picture is from the office restaurant. This is a beautiful fruit arrangement for dessert, a feast for the eyes and the palate:
