Ribadesella 21st Jazz Festival

This weekend has seen the arrival in town of the 21st Ribadesella Jazz Festival, an event not to be missed if you like free outdoor concerts with a great atmosphere and great music. Each year if we are here, we usually pop along to the concerts which span three consecutive nights. The concerts take place in one of the main squares in town and are well attended by all age groups. They start at 11pm through to 12.30am or there abouts depending on how many encores they are called back for.

Friday night saw the blues band Red House take to the stage. The crowd was really got into the mood of the evening and young and old alike were dancing in the aisles and enjoying the strong guitar riffs and husky blues voice of the lead vocalist.

Saturday night was the concert I was most looking forward to: The Black Light Gospel Choir. Each year they usually have a gospel choir on the bill and it usually proves to be the most popular. Saturday's performance was no exception with their high energy performances, brilliant vocals and superb musical arrangements of some rock classics such as Stairway to Heaven, Ain't No Stopping Us Now and Hallelujah.

Sunday night's concert will be Skytrain who are billed as being a jazz fusion band - if the energy levels allow we'll pop along and see what they are like but from previous year's experiences of jazz fusion it is not really my cup of tea but we'll see....

Town is buzzing at the moment with the holiday season well and truly on its way. Although it's great to see so many visitors, it is also great when at the end of August, things start to quieten and the peace and tranquillity returns to the streets, beaches and mountain walks. 

Looking forward to 2015

It has been an eventful year for Luis and I here at La Pasera and in the UK. Luis continues to develop his artistry and knowledge in mosaic art and following a visit to an exhibition and meeting of mosaicists in France he has booked a mosaic course in Belgium for summer 2015.  He continues to restore both cane and rush chairs but increasingly finds his energies and thoughts moving towards mosaics.

I have continued writing, taking photographs and making music and have one or two interesting projects in the pipeline for 2015.

La Pasera still offers us our little bit of paradise, we continue to grow the majority of our vegetable and salad crops and no doubt that will continue for the foreseeable future. Plans for 2015 include the addition of hens for fresh eggs and finishing off the final bit of hard-landscaping.

We would like to thank all of you who read and/or visit our blog and wish you all a happy, prosperous but most of all healthy 2015.

Don't forget you can visit our other blogs as well, the links can be found at the top of this page.

Best wishes
Ian and Luis x    

Oatcakes and ginger biscuits

With the rain teaming down outside, Luis in the studio working on his new mosaic Prometheus and the cats tucked up in their bed, I decided it would be a good day to make biscuits.

Oatcakes are one of my favourite biscuits for savoury snacks. We had made some two days before for as an appetiser when friends came to dinner, served with black olive tapenade and guacamole but they had disappeared long ago so I decided to make another batch.

Really simple to make they are just like the Scottish oat cakes I remember from the UK.

Oatcakes:

225g Oats lightly milled
60g Rye flour
60g butter or margarine
half a teaspoon each of bicarbonate of soda, dark brown sugar and salt
80 mls of hot water

Combine dry ingredients, rub in fat, add hot water and bring together. Roll out on floured surface to desired thickness (3-5mm), put on greased trays and bake in hot oven for 15 or so minutes until light brown, cool on rack. 170 Celsius.

Whilst making the oatcakes we received a call from friends who were planning to pop in later in the day so whilst I was in biscuit mode I decided to make a batch of ginger biscuits to have with an afternoon infusion.

Ginger biscuits:

170gm Self-raising flour
115gm soft brown sugar
30gm margarine
25gm cream cheese
1 dessert spoon of golden syrup
1 egg
2 teaspoons ground ginger (according to taste)
half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

Mix all dry ingredients, rub in fat, add syrup and egg, bring together into stiff paste. Form into small balls and place on greased trays leaving room to spread. Bake at 175 Celsius until golden brown (15 mins) cool on trays until fully set, transfer to cooing tray.

Meanwhile, here's another track by me to accompany your tea and biscuits: Ride the greenway

Plans for 2014

Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday we were packing away the Christmas decorations this time last year. We are looking forward to the coming year and hope to make new ideas and plans come to fruition both personally and here at La Pasera. We tend not to make new year resolutions because we believe that if you really want to do something you will eventually find a way and create the right environment in which to do it.

2014 will bring a push to finish the hard landscaping in the garden. We are nearly there but still a bit more to do on the large terrace and the driveway but we will get there once the weather improves a little.

We will also install a raised bed around the raspberry and blueberry bushes. It will mean lifting the bushes and refining the soil structure but it really does need doing as the bushes are not doing too well at all. The garden will of course need regular input and growing our own fruit and vegetables will be a regular but welcome activity.

Luis will continue with his mosaics and has a couple of commissions in the pipeline. He is currently busy with a Byzantine-style mosaic called Prometheus. Here is a sneak peek...it's looking great and will be a fairly large mosaic once finished. This is the reverse.

I will continue writing and aim to add more short stories to the Smaller tales and tittle tattle blog. This year I have also resurrected my interest in making music. Having been in bands 30 years ago, the urge to make some kind of music has never left me. At the moment I am experimenting and learning the new software that drives my Axion keyboard. The link to my sound cloud stream can be found below, only three tracks so far but more on the way including vocals but not necessarily mine.. I'm enjoying learning the new techniques (for me) as the last time I composed anything I was using a Teac 4 Track cassette recorder...crikey. As with most things it's the process that is just as important as the end product if not more important.


I have a couple of things in the pipeline; web-based projects I want to develop so it will be a busy year in the making. Photography will remain a staple hobby for both of us as we use images such a lot in our respective blogs. A photograph can be so powerful in many ways.

Luis will offer another chair caning course in the early Spring. Several people have already made enquiries which is always a good sign. We've met some lovely people on the course, many keep in touch and it is always good to see how their skills are developing.

We will look forward to spending time with family and friends, walking the beautiful Asturian countryside, foraging and beach-combing, growing good food and hopefully enjoy good health. Wentworth and Gawber have grown and become established in their own routines and behaviours, a real joy to be part of... In the mean time we will enjoy the mixed weather, keep warm and make the most of our time.