For those of us, unlike my dear friends, who have Al Campo La Villa supermarket up the road and aisles upon aisles of sweet temptations laid out to make you drool, here are some alternative methods to enable you to enjoy these delightful Spanish Christmas treats.

There is no more typical Christmas sweet in Spain than turrón. The recipe for turrón should never contain less than 10% of honey or 64% of almonds. As Lisa & Tony Sierra explain, "There are two traditional basic types of turrón. Soft Jijona or turrón blando, which is so smooth it has the consistency of peanut butter and hard Alicante or turrón duro, which is like a thick almond nougat candy, similar to peanut brittle." My preference is for the Jijona. 

Turrón de Jijona

• 400 grams of honey (azahar - orange blossom honey is traditional) 
• 200 grams of sugar
• 1 egg white
• 700 grams of almonds, peeled and toasted
• the grated rind of half a lemon

Method:

Grind the almonds without letting them become completely pulverized. Pour the honey and the sugar into a saucepan and put it to heat over a low flame, stirring with a wooden spoon until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens. Remove the mixture from the heat. 

Beat the egg white and add it to the honey and sugar mixture. Mix well without pausing for 10-15 minutes then place the mixture back on a low heat until the mixture begins to caramelise and take on a deeper colour.

Add the almonds and the grated lemon rind to the mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon and leave to cool for 5 minutes.

Line molds with grease proof kitchen paper, pour the mixture into the molds so that the turrón is around 2 - 3 cms thick. Leave for 3 - 4 hours to set to the right consistency, then turn out and store in Tupperware boxes in a cool, dry place.

Translated from this recipe. Another version of the recipe, although in Spanish, shows the method step-by-step in photos, which you can see here.

The other option is to order your Christmas delights via La Tienda.

Although, admittedly, once you've added the postage and packing, this is far from an inexpensive alternative, Christmas does only come once a year and we reckon you're allowed to treat yourself at least that often!

La Tienda offer several types of  Turrón Candy as well as other seasonal delicacies. The Turron Gift Sampler by '1880' contains 3 varieties of Turrón: de Jijona (almond and orange blossom honey), Alicante (almond brittle) and Yema Tostada (almonds blended with egg yolks and honey).

A Sweet Christmas Tale of Turrón | Turrón - Spanish Almond Candy

Labels: Christmas

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Looking for something to do this Friday night? Can't wait until February for your Carnaval fix? Well, you're in luck ...

On Friday, November 27th, the Discoteca Tángara (see map Carretera Hoya Fría 7,
38108 Santa Cruz De Tenerife, Spain (in the El Mayorazgo Trading Estate) (+34) 922 882 247) will be presenting their candidate to take part in the Gala for the Selection of the Carnaval Queen in Santa Cruz in 2010.

There will be other performances during the evening, including music, belly dancing, Carnaval Comparsas (dance troops) and from the murga group, Ni Pico Ni Corto - plus other "surprises".

Starts at 11 p.m. Via: Blog Tenerife

Labels: Carnaval 2010

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According to the artist's own website and to various other reports around the local media, sites, forums and blogs, following in the footsteps of the likes of Sir Elton John and Rod Stewart, American singer, Whitney Houston is to play at the Campo de Golf Costa Adeje during her global "I Look To You" tour in 2010.

The date given is April 30th, 2010.

But this is Tenerife ... Regular readers will remember that when sources on the island were first touting the Elton John concert, enquiries with the artist's own people revealed that he had no knowledge of the event.

Nevertheless, the concert did, eventually, go ahead.

In this case, since the source of the information is Houston's own site, is it safe to assume that the information is correct? You'd imagine so, wouldn't you?

Except that, in true Tenerife fashion, there is yet another report in today's Diario de Avisos, saying that management at the Costa Adeje Golf course have told that paper they have "no official knowledge" of the concert. The club's director says that they were approached about the possibility a few weeks ago, but that was as far as matters were taken.

We suggest not holding your breath and watching this space!

UPDATE: There's a change of venue for the big concert (well, there's a surprise?) to the Santa Cruz Quayside. Tickets will run from 40 to 300 Euros (a whole lot less, as I predicted, than prices for concerts in the UK). More details on ticket sales to follow. Source: Tenerife Magazine.

UPDATE 30/01/10: Tickets for the Whitney Houston concert in Tenerife are now available through General Tickets / CajaCanarias.

Labels: Whitney Houston in Tenerife

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The Spanish government has today published the labour calendar for 2010, which in the Canaries will include the following 10 public holidays:

• 1 January - New Year (Año Nuevo)
• 6 January - Epiphany / Three Kings Day (Epifanía)
• 1 April - Easter Thursday (Jueves Santo)
• 2 April - Good Friday (Viernes Santo)
• 1 May - Labour Day (Fiesta del Trabajo)
• 12 October - National Day (Fiesta Nacional de España)
• 1 November - All Saints (Todos los Santos)
• 6 December - Constitution Day (Día de la Constitución)
• 8 December - Immaculate Conception (Inmaculada Concepción)
• 25 December - Christmas Day (Natividad del Señor).

In addition to these there are another two Canarian specific holidays (May 30th, for Día de Canarias (Canaries Day) and 15 August, Asunción de la Virgen (Assumption of Mary), other holidays specific to each island, which in Tenerife is: 2 February, Virgen de la Candelaria (Candlemas) and then a couple more that are specific to each municipal council area (for instance, Santa Cruz always declares Carnival Tuesday (Shrove Tuesday) as a holiday in the city - in 2010, Carnaval Tuesday falls on February 16th. More Carnaval dates here.)

Although, in Spain, there is a legal right to the days off on public holidays (there's no such right in Britain), if you work in the tourist sector, it's pretty unlikely you will! If you have business to do in Town Halls, banks, etc., they'll be shut on these days. If you're visiting, don't worry tourist provisions carry on as normal.

Via: GomeraVerde

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Labels: Tenerife Rally

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Well, actually, the headline translated to "Sex at bargain prices because of the crisis", but who could resist, eh? (Sorry, you'll have to travel to Peru to try this pleasure in a bun.)

Last year it was reported that the word "crisis" overtook the word "sex" in internet searches for the first time, so it's clear priorities have shifted.

A recent report (via Gomeraverde) tells the tale of Mili, a prostitute in the south of Tenerife, who, before the crisis, worked 3 hours per day to obtain an average monthly income of around 3,000 euros. Now, she says, she works as many as 12 hours per day, but doesn't manage to earn over 800 euros per month.

It's reported that, because of a decrease in clients, many of the girls have been obliged to drop the prices of their services to attract "more careful" (read poorer / meaner) customers, or to accept clients they would normally refuse, advertising services at "anti-crisis prices" starting as low as 20 euros.

Meanwhile, sex shops aren't reporting any drop in trade, saying that while people are spending less on going out, they are spending more time at home (presumably, playing with their "toys") and sexologists are reporting a boom, as couples realize that it's cheaper to seek counselling than it is to separate.

In other reports, the consumption of cannabis, alcohol and tobacco are all down amongst the population of the Canary Islands, while the market for cocaine has apparently "stabilized." (This, it seems to suggest, is as much due to a drop in disposable income as that it's become so ordinary, the novelty has worn off.)

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Frankly, we're not sure if this is some sort of kinky "mountain husbandry" job or a permit to ride a racehorse called Teide, but the (purportedly) English version on this notice says:

"It is necessary to bring, an Applicant's photocopy of ID card or passport to obtain a licence to Mount Teide."

OK, it's fairly clear (as mud, maybe?) that what they think they mean is that you have to take a copy of your ID to obtain a permit to climb the mountain, Mount Teide. Or, at least, you need this permit if you wish to pass the armed guards at the top of the cable car, in order to climb the last 400 meters or so.

And you have to go to Santa Cruz to get this (or by post, email or fax, with a week's notice), clearly dealing with people who have no idea that Google's (or whatever automated tool was used) translation is left sadly lacking.

That seems to preclude English speakers from obtaining one - heaven forbid that someone not speaking Spanish should want to visit - unless they're just damn lucky they got the whole application process right: a lottery.

It really does seem absurd to have to jump through this many hoops in order to visit a "tourist attraction". On the other hand, the process does deter and keep the riff-raff off the part of this natural wonder that would suffer most, so maybe it's not such a bad thing.

We should point out that this permit is not required if all you want to do is the "averagely touristy" thing: to go up the mountain as far as the cable car goes - for that you'll only have to suffer the several hour wait at the bottom.

Please note that when I say "averagely touristy", I certainly don't mean that in a derogatory sense, just that it is available to any passing visitor. The trip is still a life-altering, breathtaking, amazing experience that I've done and thoroughly recommend. Have a taste via this 360 degree panorama taken from the upper cable-car station, or experience the ascent via the video below.

If you're energetic and want to learn about climbing Teide on foot, then read Andrea Montgomery's account here and this page will give you details of where  you need to go to, should you actually want to obtain a "licence to Mount Teide."

Notwithstanding the absurdities of Tenerife bureaucracy, this is, or course, yet another absolutely bloody typical example of the utterly laughable standard of "official" translations on the island. They are perfectly amusing to those of us who can work out what is really meant. Even if, alright maybe especially if, you know anything about Tenerife bureaucracy, you might still wonder if this is a licence to take photos of the mountain or a permit to take it away, but to a passing tourist, these linguistic cock-ups lead to frustration or even dangerous ambiguities.

What do you think: are these translations amusing entertainment, or are they harmful to the island's image in the 21st Century and to tourists' well-being?

Speaking of absurdities, if you're a big fan of Tenerife's 3,718 meter volcano and you have a few grey hairs you'd like to disguise, then with the aid of Naturtint, you too can now turn your locks a shade called Teide Brown. No, really. We can see where they got their influences, but I guess "potato field on Teide's slopes brown" was nowhere near as exotic sounding!

From: e n t o r n o s a n t a c r u z via: the ever informative, Canarias Bruta

Labels: Lost in Translation

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