Last weeks in Totalan

His last two weeks in Totalan Brian spent alone, as I had to return to England for a doctor’s appointment. His days were spent picking olives, collecting and cutting firewood, and cooking (and eating). He also had the chance to go to a traditional festival in the little village, where he sampled some of the local sweet wines, which were a bit like sherry but lighter and fruitier, as well as some local cheeses made from sheep milk. He also hung out more with our hosts Geoff and Annie, who were definitely feeling sorry for him after I left. They had him over to their place for a nice meal of seafood and then he cooked some cajun-style food for them: shrimp etouffee, seafood jumbalya, and sweet potato cakes with Jack Daniels flambe. They were curious about this sort of food because they hadn’t ever heard of it, and were under the impression that the USA didn’t really have any cuisine of its own that was worth trying. Brian thought the food turned out well, though he had to improvise with ingredients a bit. It’s hard, for example, to find smoked sausage in that part of Spain, but he did find some beautiful okra, and the shrimp was wonderful. The last few days in Totalan were rainy and windy, and Brian mainly stayed inside by the fire, thinking about his time and looking forward to seeing me again :-) and being in a country that speaks his own language.