Only 6 for dinner..

but this time we weren't cooking.  We went to dinner with some friends in Yator on Tuesday night  and had lots of tapas followed by a Morrocan style meal - chicken with apricots and cous cous.  Plus of course some drinks, mostly red wine which somehow got splattered on the cloth.  Add the colour of the sauce from the chicken which also dripped and the cloth was quite colourful!   No clearing up for us this time though - last Saturday morning we spent nearly 2 hours tidying up despite washing and clearing up as we cooked  on Friday evening. 

Another batch of tomatoes and strawberries through the drier today, we now have almost 3 jars of dried tomatoes which doesn't seem much but it's about 10 kilos of fresh ones.  I used to dry them halved but as these are big tomatoes - variety Simona, a bit like beef tomatoes, they take too many days so I quarter them and then they only take 2 days to dry.

Watering continues on a regular basis, picking as well, plus time-out in the afternoons when it's at its hottest.  The pool thermometer says the water temperature is 28° - that's probably right as the air temperature is 30+ in the afternoons.

The pear tree is now ready for picking, the pears are going rosy although still crunchy but they ripen when they've been picked.  Just need to find somewhere coolish to store them.  The kitchen is the best place as it's the old bodega and is the coolest place in the house, the temperature doesn't vary much at all.

August coming soon so most of the cortijo owners of Montenegro will be here for their fortnights holiday.  Our neighbours arrive this weekend for 3 weeks, Mariano and his wife on the 12th for 2 weeks and Antonio and his family for 2 weeks as well -  Antonio is our jabali supplier.  It's going to be a busy place and much noisier too what with the children next door  splashing in their plunge pool and their dogs running around barking.  Still, it's good language practice for us and nice to see the cortijada  lived in.