Saturday, December 12, 2015

A Couple Of Fitness Freaks

SG'S BELGIAN CHOCOLATE & PISTACCHIO.
MY BELGIAN CHOCOLATE & TURRÓN.
December 6 was Constitution Day here in Spain. The holiday was observed on Monday the 7th. Tuesday the 8th was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, another national holiday.

Stores were open Saturday. Or they weren't. They were open Monday. Or they weren't. Ditto Tuesday.

I couldn't find a phone number for our gym, but their website notice board didn't say they were closed. So we took the 20-minute walk to the gym and found it dark. I said, "Well, at least we're getting our cardio today. It's nearly 3 miles round-trip." San Geraldo agreed.

Five minutes later, we were walking home along the Paseo once again. San Geraldo felt we deserved a reward for our efforts. It had begun to drizzle, so he suggested we get in out of the rain — at the first ice cream shop we passed. I didn't disagree. (He's a terrible influence.)

After our ice cream, we continued home. But a few minutes later, the owner of a couple of local restaurants, one of which we frequent, spotted us and insisted we stop for a drink. He had been in Germany opening another restaurant and we hadn't seen him in months. It would have been impolite to refuse. We agreed to a cup of cafe con leche. We sat with him for about 20 minutes — refusing the shots (chupitos) he offered to wash down the coffee — and eventually made it home.

We were so full that we waited an entire two hours before each having a slice of the Jamaican Black Cake San Geraldo had baked the day before.

Click here for the basic recipe. San Geraldo adapts it. (People who know how to cook can do that.)

TEN POUNDS (4.5 KILOS) OF DRIED FRUIT. (A DOUBLE RECIPE.)
YO HO HO AND THREE BOTTLES OF RUM.
A BOTTLE OF SWEET SHERRY (VINO DULCE).
(AND WE CUT BACK ON THE AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL!)
SOAKING IN THE BOOZE FOR TWO DAYS.
PUREED.
MORE INGREDIENTS.
DARK MOLASSES (AKA TREACLE, AKA MIEL DE CAÑA)
STIRRING WAS A MIGHTY WORKOUT (FOR SAN GERALDO).
CHECKING THE FIRST BATCH IN OUR BRAND SPANKING NEW OVEN.
SUCCESS!
SOME MORE VINO DULCE POURED OVER THE BAKED CAKE.
WE'VE ONLY EATEN TWO OF THE TEN CAKES OURSELVES. SO FAR.
C'MON, IT'S FRUIT!!!

Let's get physical...

32 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Michael:
      Exactly. (The cake and the video, I suppose.)

      Delete
  2. Wow the cake looks deliciuos ........ I would like to tery a piece of it

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    Replies
    1. Gosia:
      You should try making it. It's wonderful. (Do you like to bake?)

      Delete
  3. The cake looks light as air.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Olivia Fig Newton with legs wide spread to the heavens ~~~ too funny!

    Mmmmmm, fruit cake + rum + eat + more = full!!

    I do enjoy a good fruit cake.

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    Replies
    1. Ron:
      I also love a good fruitcake, but this black cake... OMG!!!

      Delete
  5. Olivia likes it, it appears!!
    This looks so good. One could get pretty hammered eating this, eh? We have something similar called a 'Dark fruit Cake' with the fruit intact not pureed.

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    Replies
    1. Jim:
      Jerry only added one round of sweet wine to the cake after it was baked. Normally, you would be pouring it over the cake for days. The first time he made it, he did just that. It was delicious, but the smell alone made us tipsy. This was simply delicious and not drunk-inducing.

      Delete
  6. That cake looks amazingly delicious!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Now that's my idea of fitness! Especially the ice cream. :-)

    We've been having a week-long series of storms on the Oregon Coast. Sounds like the weather there has been a bit of rain in Spain as well. Sorry, too much chocolate.

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    Replies
    1. Jo:
      We've had a couple of very brief drizzles but no rain. I would like a good rain to get rid of this gray damp we've had for a few days. I wonder if it's been staying mainly in the plain. You could never have too much chocolate!

      Delete
  8. Never having seen the video before, I am speechless. I had to revive myself by scrolling back through your photos. I do like your fitness regime. Cheers!

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    Replies
    1. Wilma:
      That still kind of surprised me. As for our fitness regime, maybe Jerry isn't such a bad influence after all. Before I met him I always felt undernourished.

      Delete
  9. that ONJ still at the end - so NOT interesting to you two. but the cake and ice cream looks dee-lish!

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    Replies
    1. anne marie:
      Yeah, very strange still at the end. I wonder who it would be interesting TO! The ice cream was excellent. The cake is amazing -- so different from traditional plum pudding or fruitcake.

      Delete
  10. I love you, I love you, I do! The fruitcake will last forever btw.

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    Replies
    1. Jaqueline:
      Ha! (Or as we say here '¡Ja!') In what universe would the fruitcake last forever? We're already mowing through our third.

      Delete
  11. December 6th was my 74th birthday, so I KNOW you two were celebrating even in my absence. Your photos made me want to return to Spain SO bad... but... alas.. (do folks still say that these days?)... we'll be heading to Mexico tomorrow so it may be plantain, oranges and the such. But the cake looks delicious. Much Love....

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    Replies
    1. Sharon:
      Yes, I forgot to mention that the other translation for Día de la Constitución is "Sharon's Day." The entire country celebrates your birthday.

      Delete
  12. Ten cakes? I presume some of them are intended as gifts. For other people. Now, if they were chocolate cakes...
    I will look at that recipe. It sounds delicious!

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    Replies
    1. Walt the Fourth:
      Nine were intended as gifts. Then eight. That's now down to seven. And that means Jerry has to do some more baking for Christmas.

      Delete
  13. That looks marvelous - the cake - not Ms. John.

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  14. Silly, funny men. You located the gym in order to walk to it. And what's served at a Feast of Immaculate Conception? I'd think it was a starvation dietary platter with a godly inception of goldfish crackers. xx

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    Replies
    1. Robyn:
      You know, they call it a feast, but I have no idea what the traditional foods are. Goldfish crackers are a good idea. I would think that you could start with only two and manage to feed everyone at the bar.

      Delete
  15. Love that cake, you are so lucky to have your own Pastry Chef at home, just like Royalty.
    Great photos also, it reminds me of the Plum Pudding will makes, we only use Brandy.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laurent:
      My own pastry chef... and everything else (in the kitchen). Too bad he doesn't clean or do windows! It's clearly very similar to Plum Pudding. A Jamaican variation.

      Delete
  16. That food looks so amazing. I am really looking forward to visiting Spain and eating my face off. We will get our flight booked soon!

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    Replies
    1. Knatolee:
      And that isn't even Spanish food. You will love it!

      Delete

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