Venezuelan Cuisine

There are many Venezuelan restaurants dotted around the island, famous mainly for their Arepas. This week-end we went to ´La Carajita´, a Venezuela restaurant at Puerto de la Cruz. This joint is famous for its wide variety of Árepas´, Venezuela’s home grown alternative to bread or rolls. These are cornmeal "cakes" about the size of a hockey puck that are crunchy on the outside but soft and fluffy on the inside, and they are stuffed with the variety of fillings to make a delicious snack. Then there are Cachapas, which are sweetest to taste and made like pancakes from cornmeal and has cheese as filling Tequenos are cheese rolls that are served with jam Salchita bravas is the dish that kids enjoyed a lot. These are sausages with potatoes cooked in tomato gravy. What I like best about this restaurant is that they have very good sauces to serve with meals. I like Salsa Picante, a chillie sauce and ´Guasacaca sauce´ an Avocado sauce similar to Mexican Guacamole but not as thick, and it is great for drizzling over arepas or empanadas.

Pinolere Craft Fair in Tenerife

This Sunday, I pass through the steep hills of Orotava that are bordered by deep valleys on both sides and backed by pine clad mountains. The cool and fresh fragrant air is the perfect day to go for shopping in the open space at Pinolere Craft Fair. This is the annual fair held on the steep hills of Orotava and is a celebration of Canarian traditional craftsmanship from across the seven islands and has the most fantastic displays of produce, both modern and traditional, involving palm weaving, wicker basketry, leather work, ceramics, pottery, jewelry making and wood carving. In the stunning beauty of the valley of Pinolere, over 100 stalls surround small thatched houses within which are exhibitions of the evolution of these crafts from the earliest photographs of the islands, to modern interpretations of the art from around the world, like fabulous handbags made from painted palm leaves, crocheted table mats, dolls, clocks made from molded beer bottles and jewelry made from vegetable seeds and lentils. Some of the craftsmen kept adding to their collection of their craft as they sat by their stalls. Dotted about amongst the stalls and the huts, are groups of Islanders in traditional costumes producing hats, baskets and intricate ornamental displays with the sort of dexterity. The women are only too happy to demonstrate their craft as I adjust my camera. On a stage, there are group of musicians, demonstrating traditional Canarian musical instruments through the ages and getting a group of children to reproduce the sound each one makes. The intoxicating smell of cakes assails our nostrils as we saunter past the opening stalls groaning under the weight of sugar, almond and syrup coated ‘dulces’ , sweets and chocolates. Then comes mojos, honeys, jams, herbs and spices, each stall more inviting than the next. I try out several Canarian sauce on small bread toast, several morsels of cheese, cakes, sweets and some sausages. I am back home, tired after climbing different levels, up and down, loaded with things, that I don’t really need.

Bull fighting in Spain

Today in the news channel on TV, I saw a matador getting seriously injured during the bull fighting and I was feeling sorry for him. I have noticed that TV channel in Canarias are no more showing the live coverage of bull fighting on their sports channel. Some years ago, it used to pain me to see the bull fighting events on TV. There was at least one channel on Spanish TV that would show bull fighting on its sports channel regularly. But last year Spain's public broadcaster, TVE, announced it was scrapping live coverage of bullfights for the first time ever, deeming them unsuitable for younger viewers. Thank God for that! Bull fighting seems to be the favourite sport amongst the Spanish people with tourist joining in this gory sport. While the bull is asking for mercy, the distinctly well-heeled members of the crowd shade themselves in white bowler hats sucking on cigars and merrily eating peanuts. As the matador proves his machismo, there is no talk of regional domination or cruelty; just a stunning chorus of ''ole¨ How do they cheer at the sight of blood? This is the most ritualised slaughter. There is unfair advantage of the matador, with bulls frequently given tranquillisers and laxatives to sedate them before fights, and petroleum jelly sometimes rubbed into the animals' eyes to hamper vision. The inevitable death is almost never swift, with only the most skilful matadors able to kill the bull with one thrust of the sword. You see the corrida (as it is called) with three distinct stages, each time announced by trumpet sound. The participants first enter the arena in a parade to salute the presiding dignitary, accompanied by band music. In traditional corrida, there are three matadores, each fight two bulls, Each matador has six assistants — two picadores ("lancers") mounted on horseback, three banderilleros ("flagmen"), and a mozo de espada ("sword page"). Collectively they comprise a cuadrilla ("entourage"). In first stage, the matadors confronts the bull, observes its behaviour and picador stabs a mound of muscle on the bull's neck, leading to the animal's first loss of blood In the next stage, the three banderilleros, each attempt to plant two razor sharp barbed sticks on the bull's flanks, ideally as close as possible to the wound where the picador drew first blood. In the final stage, the matador re-enters the ring alone with a small red cape and a sword. He uses his cape to attract the bull in a series of passes, both demonstrating his control over it and risking his life by getting especially close to it. He manoeuvres the bull into a position to stab it between the shoulder blades and through the aorta or heart. If he succeeds, you see the helpless bull crumble down on its knees, almost lifeless and sometimes it the unlucky matador who is tossed out of control and knocked on the ground. The cruelty and blood are the end products of this sport. While the bullfight is still exempt from Spain's anti-animal cruelty laws, recent developments suggest the anti-corrida movement may be gaining the upper hand. Bullfighting has been struggling to attract younger fans for years, and opponents hope less media coverage will lead to the sport's eventual extinction. It is an old debate: tradition versus modernity, culture versus cruelty. The low attendance of the younger generation at the arena is a good sign; bull fighting in the modern society will have no future.

Baile De Mago...A Magic Dance

In Canary Islands, the summer months, June, July, August are the months of Fiesta and Siesta. Canarians are happy people and you can see the aura of happiness everywhere. Throughout the summer, different parts of the island have festivals that exhibit the typical Canarian food, have live cultural shows and have mini fairs where they exhibit the typical Canarian art work. During late evening, you see them dressed in the traditional ´Mago´ dress and dancing together in the dance called ´Baila de Mago´ (Magic dance). There is a popular song that is favoured amongst Canarians,with beautiful lyrics : Con el baile del mago Haces tú lo que yo hago Giras tú la cadera Dando vuelta y ya está Con un poco de magia Un hechizo tú lanzas Y al pobre de al lado En sapo convertirás This Saturday, ´Baile de Mago´ was organised at our club in Icod. The criteria for attending and participating in this event is that you have to be dressed in the traditional dress. The club was dressed for the festival with seating arrangement all around the pool.Front side was reserved for dancing and orchestra, the remaining three sides of the pool had long rectangular tables that could accomodate a group of twenty people. The food that was served was typical Canarias that included croquets, roast chicken, salads, tortilla, French fries and many more varieties of food. Some families had brought extra food to share with their friends. At 11pm, the orchestra started and the people started leaving their table to go to dance floor to dance to the music. and the music played... Si a veces sientes que tú estás triste, no hay problema, lo olvidarás Con este juego que ahora comienza, todo lo malo desaparecerá Adiós a las penas, adiós problemas, si ya estás listo, tú puedes jugar En una línea todos se paran y así formados ya brincarán Brinca pa’un lado, brinca pa’l otro Da media vuelta y listo estás And for next five hours they did forget their problems and pains and danced, sometimes in circles, sometimes in pairs, coming to their tables only to refresh themselves with a glass of wine or munching the assorted fruits and tapas that did their rounds throughout the event. During the wee hours of morning, after a cup of warm coffee, they returned home to snooze away the blues.

How to identify a safe beach in Tenerife

Tenerife, being an island, has beaches on all of its sides. But not all the beaches are safe for swimming. It is important to identify the safety of the beaches by the color of flag that you see at every beach. Different beaches display different colored flags. It is important to understand their significations by their colors before taking a plunge. They are red, green, yellow and blue. The beach with blue flag is a five star beach. It is clean, has all the safety precautions, has active life guards, has instant first aid services, restaurants, clean toilets, sea beds and all the facilities to enjoy the day at the beach. When you see a green flag, it indicates that the waves at this beach are well behaved and are trained not to display their bad temper. Yellow flag indicates that you have to make your own decision and swim at your own risk. All the safety precaution might not be available and you are in charge of making your own decisions. If you see the red flag, don’t even bother changing. On such days, the best option is to walk along the sea shore on the paved path that has colorful rock gardens or simply just patronize the café bars that have spread their furniture on those promenades.