Siamese mushrooms
I thought it was time this blog had another photo, so here’s what I found at the supermarket.
food
Star Quality Malvasia Wine – heaven in a glass
Malvasia is a white dessert wine from the south of La Palma. It’s too sweet to drink with fish (or to drink like a fish). In fact it’s similar to Maderia or a sweet sherry – more something you’d have at the very end of a meal with the local sweet almond biscuits. In Shakespear’s day Malvasia wine was known as Malmsey, and it was very popular indeed. In the…
Fresh fish
Fish on La Palma is usually delicious because its very fresh. Well it should be, given the amount of ocean surrounding the island. I once went with friends to a shack on the beach at Punta Larga (since closed) where we had to wait, because the cook was having her own lunch. As we sipped our beer, a man came up out of the sea with two fish on a…
The Convent of the Holy Trinity in Breña Alta
The Cistercian convent of the Holy Trinity at Buenavista in Breña Alta is surprisingly new. It was founded in 1946, and it’s the only closed order on the island. I was surprised to find out that there are only ten nuns who live there. The convent has a small shop. I first went there about ten years ago, in search of a rosary made of dragon-tree seeds, for a Catholic…
Sopas de miel
This is a traditional recipe for Carnival in the Canary Islands. A literal translation would be “honey soup” but as you can see, this isn’t soup. It can be rather soggy, though. I believe in some places they use honey, but on La Palma, it’s always “miel de cana”, which is like black treacle or molasses, but a little runnier. Ingredients Molasses (one small jar) 1 tsp cinnamon anis 1…
Vega Norte Wine
Wines from La Palma have improved enormously in the 20 years since I came here. Partly this is because they’ve created a “Denominación de Origen” which is much the same as the French “Appellation d’origine contrôlée” – you have to pass quality standards to be able to put the words on your bottle. And partly the local wine producers have just plain worked hard. Still, there’s an element of luck…