Bitterly cold for Southern Spain.

Chilly!  Minus 5 this morning at 8.30 and it  just about struggled up to 8° by lunchtime.  Clear blue skies and a bitingly cold wind coming down from the north.  But no snow and a frost-free night despite what the forecast said.

Picked some very cold oranges again today, juiced 2 litres for the fridge and made the first batch of marmalade.  Different recipe to last year, this is mother's marmalade, tried and tested over many years and hopefully it'll work as well for me.  At first sight, it has set really well but still has some movement in the jar, unlike our last years "microwave before even trying to get a spoon in it"   variety.  

The lemon tree is heavily laden so I thought about making lemon marmalade, then wondered if it would be too sharp tasting, maybe it would be better to make lemon and orange mixed, then I came across a recipe for lemon and chilli marmalade!  I wonder if that's a bit too much to cope with at breakfast?  Maybe a jar or two just to try.  If it's not nice I'm sure it could get used in some sort of sweet and sour type of sauce or as part of a marinade.  The chillis are just about hanging on the bushes,  drying on the plant really, a bit wrinkly looking.  And despite this cold weather the lettuces and pak choi aren't suffering at all.  I thought they'd have frozen and gone floppy and soggy looking.  Unfortunately I don't think they're going to be picked in the near future, it's not salad weather at all.

The almond blossom is hanging on but with these low temperatures I'm not sure we'll get many almonds.  Took this photo from the lounge window yesterday afternoon looking across to the Contraviesa.  Used the proper camera with a big lens as it is about 4 miles away.

There  are hundreds of  trees in bloom out there, pink and white although that's not obvious partly due to the grey sky and big clouds we had then.  It looks just like some one's thrown cotton wool balls everywhere.