Thursday, January 26, 2022

Villa Azule, Puerta Calero, Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain

A lot has gone on over the last 2 days. Right now I am chilling, with a beer, writing outside near the pool at Villa Azule, the house we rented near the Puerta Calero Marina. Here is what’s been going on.

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We arrived in Arrecife on the Island of Lanzarote on Tuesday, we breezed through the COVID check point and collected our rental car, an orange little Nissan. We headed over to the marina in Puerto Calero and to check out Villa Azul, the rental house that Steve found online. And it’s great, 3 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, a pool, and most importantly a functioning kitchen with a freezer. The house located a few short blocks up the hill from the marina, with the hotel John is staying at is conveniently right between Villa Azule and the marina.

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Dennis and I had lunch at a restaurant in the marina, met up with John and were surprised to see that Avocet was on the hard. However, it was nothing to worry about because John was just getting some routine work done. The yard had had 4 months to complete, but decided to wait until John was there to get it done. They need some nudging and constant reminders that we planned on leaving in just a couple of days’ time to prioritize the work.

The outstanding items were replacing 2 thru-hull fittings, I believe that they were both for the forward head. The yard was also replacing the depth sounder transducer, on the starboard side’s lowest hull point, just in front of the keel. In addition the yard was dealing with installing a new saltwater faucet, putting new seals on the diesel tank and figuring out the VHF radio issues. The boat’s interior was/is totally pulled apart. There is nothing to be done about that until all of the boat yard projects are complete; which are all scheduled to be done ASAP and with John’s prodding hopefully it will be soon.

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Yesterday Dennis and I cooked, vacuumed sealed and froze a bunch of food. A gallon of Chili, a gallon of Bolognese and a gallon of Moroccan Tagine. As well as a gallon of mashed potatoes, 16 seared and cooked chicken breasts. We roasted, picked the meat from and vacuum sealed 3 chickens. We used the bones, skin and tough bits to make stock, which we used in preparation of some of the other food. We also did the same (cooked, vacuum sealed, froze) with roasted mushrooms and boiled carrots.

We got about two-thirds of the way through vacuum sealing the food before we smelled something electrical burning. Sure enough it was the newly purchased, specifically for this trip, vacuum sealer, smoke was seeping out of the corners. My fault, I didn’t take into account the voltage difference between American and European circuits. I just bought the cheapest adapter, the one without the built-in transformer to adjust the power. Up in smoke it went. Fortunately, John did have a vacuum sealer, it was a portable battery operated one, it didn’t really have a sealer, the seal was in the form of special heavy duty zip-lock bags. The vacuum part happened when you placed the battery operated pencil sharpener looking device over a designated spot on the zip bag, after filling and zipping, it would hypothetically remove excess air from the bag, it sort-of worked. A lot of effort for the same result of a carefully shut heavy duty Zip-Lock freezer bag.

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After a day of shopping, cooking and freezing, which I have to say, was made even more difficult because of the lack of any cooking equipment and a severely inadequate refrigerator. We were chilling food in ice baths in whatever containers we could find including the containers that the meat was bought in; clean ‘em out refill ’em, Dennis’ idea. If we die from botulism it’s his fault. 

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At 7:30PM I picked up Steve and Victor at the airport. John met us at Villa Azul and we walked down to the marina for dinner at John’s local haunt The Upper Deck, a few beers, Fish’n’Chips and less than 20 Euros each, we were done for the night.

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January 27, 2022

In the Morning Steve made us coffee, he brought some Ethiopian light roast (a personal favorite) with him. We enjoyed it, with it’s slightly sweet chocolatey flavors on the veranda. Thanks Steve.

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I wanted to make Chicken-Coconut soup (recipe below), but I couldn’t find Thai fish sauce at the local supermarket, which is an integral ingredient in the recipe, I wouldn’t make the recipe without it. We looked online and found an Asian grocery store in the islands main city Arrecife. Steve, Dennis, Victor and I went on the mission to find the store and the Thai fish sauce. The store was located on a small thin side street in a rundown area of downtown Arrecife. There was no parking to be found, so Steve dropped Victor and I off while he swung around to pick us up after.

Success, on the first rack, as we entered the market, there it was- Thai fish sauce, even a good brand that I recognized, Squid Brand. Within a couple of minutes we gathered up the fish sauce, coconut milk, Thai red curry paste and ginger. Back to the villa we went so I could make the soup as soon as possible so we could freeze it solid before departure. 

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There is a god! Mahou, a Spanish brewery, makes an IPA! We bought an 8 pack of it to see how it is, not only is it good, it’s a session beer at only 4.5% alcohol. Upon further review, reading the can, we discover that it’s made in conjunction with Founders an American brewery known for its session IPA “All Day IPA”, next time at the store we bought 2 more 8 packs. Regular Mahou, Cinco Estrellas, is a good version of the mediocre typical Spanish beer, a small step up from Budweiser,  I’ll drink it if that’s what’s available, however, I would rather an American craft IPA any day.

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Just after 1PM, I went back to Arrecife to the Airport to pick up Jens. All went as planned, got him and dropped him back at Hotel Costa Calero the geriatric British retiree hotel that John was also staying at, with a plan to meet up later.

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Back to the store Steve and I went, I forgot the cornstarch, which I use to slightly thicken the chicken coconut soup, 3 stores and one possibility, in Spanish it says “fine corn flour” with the only ingredient being corn, it looks promising.

While we were out, we decided to see if we could find a weed dispensary for some edibles. We were told by the waitress at The Upper Deck that there was one in Puerto Del Carmen, the next town over from where we were staying. With a little help from Google and an employee at a nearby CBD store we found it hidden on a little alleyway, off a side street, very close to the beach. Walking in the front door there was a tiny reception area, where if you wanted to buy something you had to “join the club”, $10, reasonable. Only one of us had to be a member, since Steve lived in Spain and is more likely to return to Lanzarote than I am. He showed his ID, had his photo taken and was given a piece of paper saying that the weed he bought was legal. Once we got past the receptionist we entered the back room, a large dark dingy room, with a short bar on the left, a pool table taking up the back half of the room, black lights, dank stench of weed in the air and two very stoned guys, one working, the other a patron. We asked about edibles, all they had to offer was Brownies and cookies, no gummies. After a few questions about potency we went with brownies, 100mg of THC per brownie, to quote the guy working the counter “a whole one will put you to sleep, half is just right”. My thought is no more than a quarter, we’ll see. Our brownies were bagged up for us and we were on our way.

Back to the villa we go, the plan is to finish the soup, then cook dinner on the outside grill and have a few drinks.

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Well the “cornstarch” wasn’t cornstarch it was some sort of roasted corn flour, I threw it out.

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For dinner we bought some whole Dorado a mild flakey white fleshed fish, small creamy Canary Island Potatoes, the traditional sauce for the potatoes (it’s a spicy smoky red pepper aioli) broccoli, chimichurri ingredients, lemon, salad stuff, cured meats, Manchego and bread.

The grill was a pain in the ass to get lit. But, after a lot of canoodling, taking the rack out of the oven, using some stones from the yard to prop the rack up for airflow under the coals we were able to get the fire where it needed to be.

Dennis set up the meat cheese and bread for a snack while I grilled the fish and broccoli. We had some drinks and as I expected the fish stuck hard to the grill, made somewhat of a mess and in the end was very delicious. I’m sure if I grilled fish on that same grill a few times I would perfect it.

Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy their meal, it was a nice way to start our time together. It was casual, great conversation, free flowing cold drinks and it wasn’t on the boat.

After a group effort to clean up, we discussed our plans for tomorrow- Customs clearance, get butane for the back-up stove, a gaff hook for fishing, Jens needed to get money exchanged and continue organizing Avocet.

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I’ve been making this soup more than 30 years, it’s one of Colleen’s favorites. The toughest part of the recipe is finding all of the ingredients. The recipe calls for “cooked chicken”, It doesn’t have to be cooked ahead of time. You can poach sliced or diced raw chicken in the simmering soup towards the end of the cooking time. In a pinch you can grab one of those always way over cooked supermarket rotisserie chickens; pick the meat for the soup and use the bones for stock. Any cut up or picked leftover chicken will work. I have also adapted this recipe for beef or vegetarian versions, they are also wonderful.

Chicken – Coconut Soup

 Ingredients:

2 TB      neutral Oil

2 cups   small diced Onion

3 TB      minced Lemon Grass*

3 TB      minced Ginger

2 TB      minced Galangal*

2 TB      minced Garlic

2 TB      Thai Red Curry Paste*

6 cups   Chicken Stock

5 ea       julienned Kaffir Lime Leaves*

1 ea       small handful Cilantro Stems*

1ea        small handful Thai Basil Stems*

4 cans    unsweetened Coconut milk

¼ cup    Lime Juice

¼ cup    Thai Fish Sauce

3 TB      Cornstarch

¼ cup    Water

4 cups   cooked chicken, picked, sliced

or medium diced

Method:

In a large soup pot over medium heat, sweat the first eight ingredients until translucent, about 8 minutes.

Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, and then turn down to simmer.

Using cheesecloth or a coffee filter, make a sachet with the lime leaves and the herb stems. Add the sachet to the simmering liquid, lightly simmer for 10 minutes.

Add coconut milk, lime juice and Thai fish sauce.

Bring back to a simmer, in a small bowl whisk together the cornstarch and water, making a slurry. Stir the slurry into the simmering soup, simmer for 5 minutes to slightly thicken the soup. Mix in the cooked chicken. Remove and discard the sachet.

*= Optional ingredient, the more of these ingredients you use the more depth of flavor your soup will have.

Garnish the soup with thin sliced scallions, cilantro leaves and rough chopped Thai basil. Optional garnishes are cooked mushrooms or halved cherry tomatoes.