Cervezoteca Malte

On our last outing to La Coruña we discovered a new artisanal beer spot opened in the old center of the city called Cervezoteca Malte and made it our business to pass by.

Traditionally, Spain has more of a wine culture than beer, even though the climate in the north strikes me as ideal for zythology.  But over the years beer consumption is growing, and I´m pleased to note that micro brews are on the rise.

We tried a bottle of Meduiña Stout and a Basque Baias Amber Ale which were both good.  The Amber was perhaps a touch sweet, V described it as a bit fruity, and the stout was toasty without being heavy.  When asked about the difference between an imperial stout and regular, the staff could only manage something about the alcohol content, while I was more interested in taste, but that could be a language issue.  We then took advantage of the fact that they had Guiness on draft and settled in to watch the football.

The place serves food, their menu is expanding all the time, and has a fully stocked bar as well, if you prefer a cocktail.  Judging from the number of patrons when we were there, Malte has a bright future.  We´ll definitely be back to try more.
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ETA - what stands between Germany and fracking?  Their beer industry.

Poppyseed Citrus Goatsmilk Soap

Finally starting to see the end of the soap stash, so I fired up the slow cooker for some hot process soap.

Contains sweet almond, coconut, olive and castor oils, with shea butter, silk, saffron, poppyseeds and orange rind, scented with sweet orange EO and a vanilla, buttery FO mix.  As a heads up for those using frozen milk with the lye to prevent curdling/scorching, turns out it can also impede the silk from dissolving properly.

The house smells delish.

Millo e Landras

One of the things we managed to do over the puente in May was visit an organic farm in Vilasantar called Millo e Landras.

I´d seen interviews and features about Victor and Marta on Galician TV, there are links on their website, so  I knew when they started they were relatively new to agriculture and I was looking forward to meeting them and asking some questions about making a ¨green¨ living.

They have more than 5 hectares and, in addition to vegetable and fodder crops and an orchard, a collection of chickens, pigs, rabbits, sheep, goats and horses.    They supply 2 CSAs and sell at an organic market in Santiago and via Granxa Familiar, a great website dedicated to direct marketing of products from Galician farmers.

Victor was out planting green onions when we arrived and couldn´t have been nicer in welcoming us.  Then we got a tour around the beautiful stone house and yard with Montse, one of their increasing group of collaborators, to see most of the animals.  Sadly, the sheep were already out in the far fields, so I have yet to get my hands on a Galician sheep fleece.

We finished up with a nice chat on the porch about the challenges of organic ag, certification, sales and area markets, raising heritage breed animals (they have seasonal wolf pressure) and profitability.

Overall I left reasonably encouraged, although they started off with the advantage of considerable resources and owning land.

Someday maybe I´ll be going to the market in Santiago, too.

Champion Chickens

Photographer Tamara Staples has a new book out.  And her subjects are pretty amazing.

From Slate:

. . .Staples began photographing the birds around the Midwest in Illinois, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Indiana over four years to get enough material for her first book, The Fairest Fowl: Portraits of Championship Chickens, published by Chronicle Books in 2001.

Staples’ second book, The Magnificent Chicken: Portraits of the Fairest Fowl, available Feb. 19 from Chronicle Books.

Repointing

Some questions for all who have renovated stone structures.

What did you use for mortar? Why did you choose it?

How was it applied? How long did it take?

What pigment was used? How do you like the results?