almerimartoday

Happy wedding anniversary to us today, 16 years! 

We officially got married on the 29th and then had a church blessing on the 30th so we don´t always know which day to celebrate. A lot depends on what else is going on or what day of the week the dates fall on each year.

Anyway, we thought we´d celebrate it today as we are playing in the regular Friday golf tomorrow. We did a bit of work this morning then sorted out teams and bottles for Friday golf later then we  popped down into the marina for a meal tonight.

We had a fantastic dinner at El Arroz and bumped into lots of friends including Richard & Ingrid and Fintan & Margaret while we were there.

For starter, we opted for, after much deliberation, mushrooms and clams in a wine sauce. This dish caught my eye and I persuaded John to try it. Along with that, we had the mini shrimp omelettes, which we had tried in the past. These were also very good and complimented the mushrooms and clams.

Main course was fish for both of us. I love fish and given the opportunity to have fresh fish when eating out, I pretty much tend to select that. I opted for sea bass which was plentiful and flavoursome. John chose the tuna which also was a good sized portion and tender.

The marina is buzzing now as we hit the holiday season so all in all a good time for local businesses here in Almerimar.

 

Here is the 8th recipe from the series that Juan Carlos & Inés have sent to us. Thanks to Juan Carlos & Inés for the recipe.

Read More to see our translation of the recipe and the Spanish original.

Following the mayor of El Ejido being released on bail, two other people allegedly involved in the corruption scandal have been released on bail of 600,000 each according to the article here on the Ideal site.

thinkSPAIN writes about a new medicinal drug of which the main ingredient is cannabis that has been approved today by the ministry of health. Sativex is designed to help treat muscular contractions in patients with multiple sclerosis. Read more here.

The Roquetas and Almerimar edition of the Sol Times is normally available to be collected in various location around the town every Wednesday.

Each week the results from the previous Friday´s friendly golf competition are published.

The paper came out today in Almerimar and as you can see from the image above contained the results from last Friday(23 July 2010).

We are just back from having a practice round of golf at Almerimar. When we played the 16th we noticed that furniture has been set out on the roof terrace and was being set up on the ground floor of the new clubhouse.

After completing the round we checked the noticeboard by the pro-shop in the AR hotel.

A notice has just gone up on the noticeboard saying that the entry list for the Optica Cervantes golf competition this coming Saturday (31 July 2010) is full.

A second notice has gone up saying that guests can be invited to the lunch and prize giving after the Optica Cervantes competition at a price of 25 euros for adults and 12 euros for children.

A THIRD NOTICE HAS ALSO GONE UP SAYING THAT ALTHOUGH THE CLUBHOUSE IS NOT YET OPEN FOR GENERAL USE IT WILL BE OPEN FOR THE PRIZE GIVING AND LUNCH AFTER THE OPTICA CERVANTES COMPETITION.

A fourth notice says that the clubhouse should be opening soon and people with clubs stored at the hotel should speak to the pro-shop staff about when to make arrangements to move the clubs to the clubhouse. 

Yippppeeeeeeee. We must be close to the clubhouse opening fully. Perhaps in the next week or two?

I was chatting to my younger brother on Messenger this morning basically to wish him happy birthday and I was updating him with recent news here including the World Cup celebrations. He said that Spain seem to be winning everything at the moment.

Which is true as I have just read this article on the Guardian.

Alberto Contador of Spain wins the Tour de France.

Even if you don't follow sport closely, you may have noticed that Spain is on a winning streak at the moment: they won the World Cup; Rafael Nadal won Wimbledon for the second time; over the weekend Alberto Contador won the Tour de France and (despite some controversy that led to a £100,000 fine for Ferrari) Fernando Alonso won the German Grand Prix.

We're already in the second half of 2010. What's left for the Spanish to win?  olé to that!

 

 

Here is the 7th recipe from the series that Juan Carlos & Inés have sent to us. Thanks to Juan Carlos & Inés for the recipe.

Read More to see our translation of the recipe and the Spanish original.

It was really windy overnight and yr.no is saying winds of over 8 m/s today. At least it makes you feel cooler even if it isn´t much good for golf.

Got quite a bit of work to do today so probably won´t be posting much.

The article here on the Euro Weekly News site provides details of the bust up between Ryanair and the Murcia tourist authorities that may lead to Ryanair dropping a lot of flights into Murcia.

Yesterday we had our first planning meeting with Alan & Sharon from Alcor Properties for the golf events that we will be organising over the autumn, winter and spring.

We have sorted out some initial details for the Woodsly Cup 2010. Changes this year include the 2nd dinner being held on Saturday evening (30 October) rather than straight after the golf on Friday. Also, we plan to have some live music at the Saturday dinner.

You can find out some more details via the link in our  Featured Events menu on the top left of the page.

A couple of people have asked about the mossie situation in Almerimar.

Touch wood the number of mossies has reduced dramatically and I don´t remember seeing any on the golf course for a while now. There is the occasional fly but not many mossies.

I think Jacqui might have had one or two mossie bites over the last few weeks but we don´t know if they were from the golf course. I don´t think I have had any mossie bites for a while now thank goodness.

It is likely that we will play our pretty regular friendly Sunday afternoon game of golf with Alan & Sharon this afternoon.

One thing I am not looking forward to is putting on the greens here at Almerimar. When we played on Friday most of the greens had been top-dressed to try to save them from burning away.The ball rolled quite well on the top dressed greens but bounced quite a bit if you hit a lump of the top dressing.

The bigger issue is that I have a feeling that a number of the greens may be past saving and we will be putting on a number of bare, brown greens again this summer.

At present I think it is unlikely that the quality of the greens will improve in time for the Optica Cervantes competition this coming Saturday. However the staff are at least trying to do something to improve the greens so maybe they will be a bit better in time for the José López memorial competition on 22 August 2010.

HUNDREDS of solar power projects could burn out under a new plan to cut government subsidies.

You can see the details here on the Olive Press site.

The story here on the Euro Weekly News site has the details. It will be interesting to see whether the branches get rebranded or not.

We bank with Cajamar here in Almerimar and are generally very pleased with the service they provide. Lets hope this continues after the merger.

 

Here is the sixth recipe from the series that Juan Carlos & Inés have sent to us. Thanks to Juan Carlos & Inés for the recipe.

Read More to see our translation of the recipe and the Spanish original.

There were problems with flights to Barcelona and the east coast of Spain recently due to a large number of air traffic controllers not turning up for work.

According to the article here on the thinkSpain site steps are being taken to try to manage this situation.

Jon from MacGowans has been in touch to let us know about the following information.

 

MacGowans

 

This Saturday (24 July 2010) Macgowans has live music with Johny Bevan a new singer to Almerimar.

 

Also now the HOT weather is here and its too hot for a large meal MacGowans launches their Light lunch Specials from 5.50 euros,

Soup and a Sandwich (of your choice)

Wraps

and Smaller versions of their main menu such as curry.

 

Just back from a practice round of golf and the list is up for entry into the Optica Cervantes golf competition at Almerimar on Saturday 31 July 2010.

There was a rumour that they were trying to have the clubhouse finished in time for this competition.

However the list has a description of the holes where there are going to be nearest the pins and the longest drive based on the current course layout. Also, the notice says that the 40 euros entry fee includes buffet at the hotel and the prizegiving is going to be on the terrace at the hotel after lunch.

I guess this means that the latest target date for opening the new Almerimar clubhouse of by the end of July 2010 looks like it is not going to be hit. This date was published in the Ideal newspaper a while ago. I guess we will have to look out to see whether a new target date gets published.

A company that has started work on a controversial hotel before even getting planning permission is facing a fine of up to 2.4 million euros.

Círculo Agroambiental SL is being taken to court by the Junta after it began work on the 50-room hotel in Campilla de Gata, in the Cabo de Gata-Níjar natural park.  Read the full article on the Olive Press.

CABO DE GATA NIJAR: One of the coastal strips of greater beauty and ecological wealth of the western Mediterranean.

I was wondering whether anyone knows of people who run day trips sailing out of Almerimar.

I have just had someone who is staying in Almerimar in August contact me saying "I know myself and my friends would love to spend a day sailing and maybe learn something about it."

If you know of anyone who does this sort of thing please can you drop me an email or send me a private message with details that I can pass on to the person who asked about this.

According to the article here on the Ideal site. The biggest was 3.3 on the Richter scale and the epicentre was south east of Almería.

It was felt in Almería, Viator, Vicar, Roquetas and El Toyo.

We had a practice round at Almerimar this afty and when we got there we were told that the 9 holes on the La Ladera side of the road was closed for the day. There was no announcement of the closure so I guess it was a last minute decision.

Looking out of our window it appears that they have top-dressed the green on the current hole number 11 directly outside our apartment. Hopefully they will have done the same to a number of other greens as well as they were in danger of being burned away.

Next golf competition is the Optica Cervantes on Saturday 31 July 2010 so they have only got around a week and a half to try to get some improvement in the condition of the course.

The article here on the Olive Press site is an interesting article about wines from various parts of Andalucía.

Here is a bit I picked out about the Alpujarras. Having been to the wine festival at Laujar this year and having visited a bodega or two in the area I agree with what is said here.

"Contraviesa-Alpujarra and Laujar-Alpujarra – both aquired VDT status in 2004
Famed Spanish wine critic José Peñin has pinpointed this region as one of his key up-and-coming areas in Spain. “Keep an eye on La Alpujarra of Granada,” he said. “Its winemakers are capable of making great wine.” While production here is small, the wines benefit from the region’s colder night-time temperatures, which give a rest to the vine and allow acidity and complexity to develop within the grape. Some of its vineyards can be found at well over 1000 metres. Barranco Oscuro is at 1,360 metres."

The story here on the Euro Weekly News site describes the continuing debate about the delays to the work to finish the A7 motorway between Málaga and Almería.

It is now suggested that it might be finished by 2011. I think this is an optimistic view.

I was driving around Almerimar this morning and noticed that the signs for the seafood event have been modified to show that it has been extended until 25 July 2010. The tent is on the car park next to the rugby pitch here in Almerimar.

We played in the 3rd round here yesterday on a very hot and humid day. It was not a shotgun start with everyone teeing off from the 1st. The first group teed off at 08.15am and we played in handicap order. John was in the 2nd group and I was in the 4th, so it was an early start for us. Read More.

From the article here on the Ideal site it looks like the proposed state infants school in Almerimar is going to be delayed again.

It was announced in May that it would be open in September this year but it looks like there is little chance of this happening as we have yet to see work started.

Last night I tried out the Chick Peas and Langostine recipe that Inés and Juan Carlos gave us a while ago. You can see the recipe here. 

As you can see ours at the top didn´t quite come out the same as we included the optional spinach. Nevertheless I thought it was a fantastic recipe when I was eating dinner last night. Thanks to Inés and Juan Carlos.

Further to the article here that I wrote a couple of weeks ago. We are just back from playing in a golf competition at Almerimar this morning.

At the moment the course really does need some tender loving care. Rather than getting better the state of the course seems to be deteriorating as the opening day for the clubhouse gets closer.

It will be such a shame if the owners of the course and hotels miss out on the opportunity that the new clubhouse and hotel is likely to offer Almerimar over the next 12 months and beyond.