November News from Los Gatos

We are now getting calls every day for Christmas bookings, so it's time to say something about this subject...

Scroll down for information about

Old Town Christmas Lights Switch-on
Christmas & New Year Opening times
Christmas Gift Ideas
Los Gatos Christmas Hampers
Charity Raffle

Thursday November 26 - Old Town Christmas Lights - The Big Turn On...
As before, we will be joining in this festive evening where, for only the second time this year, Wood Street will join the rest of Europe for a few short hours as it is closed to traffic to allow the discerning public to enjoy the street in safety. Los Gatos will be open for business as usual, as well as setting up our stall in the street to serve our delicious Chestnut and Chorizo Soup to the passing public, along with our Perros Calientes (Spanish hot dogs - this year made with special Iberico Pork) and Thick Spanish hot chocolate. Inside, the bar will be warm, friendly and probably crowded, so book early or turn up early to avoid disappointment. With Shareen's birthday out of the way, we will allow some Christmas spirit -whatever turns you on...

Feliz Navidad y Bueno Nuevo Ano - Christmas and New Year Opening Hours
It's always hard to get this right. We want to be there for you when you need us and yet we need to look after our staff and families too - this is the reality of the small independent business. This year, because of the way the days fall, our suppliers have advised us there will be no markets - and therefore little or no fresh produce for delivery - between Christmas and New Year. Taking all these things together, our opening hours over the period will be as follows:

* Thursday 24 December open as normal

* Friday 25th (Christmas Day) closed

* Saturday 26th (Boxing Day) open 6.00 pm - 11.30 pm (limited menu)

* Sunday 27th December closed

* Monday 28th December closed

* Tuesday 29th December closed

* Wednesday 30th December closed

* Thursday 31st December closed

* Friday 1st January open 6.00pm – 11.30pm (limited menu)

* Saturday 2nd January open 11.30 am - 11.30 pm (limited menu)

* Sunday 3rd January closed

* Monday 4th January closed

* Tuesday 5th January open as normal

* Wednesday 6th January open as normal (with special for "Dia de los Reyes" - Three Kings' Day )


We look forward to seeing you over the festive period!


Los Gatos can help you with your Chrismas Shopping too!

We have several ideas for your Christmas shopping this year.

As always, our Christmas Gift Vouchers are available in denominations of £10 and £25 and can be used (without time limit) for food and/or drink in the bar. You can buy them in the bar or, if you're stuck for time, give us a ring with your credit card details and we can post them to you.
Why not give a friend or family member a Personal Sherry Tasting for Christmas? With this original gift, they will learn all about how the Vino de Jerez is made, what the differences are between the different types, what they taste like and how good they can be with food of all sorts! Dates can be prepaid and prebooked, or we can give you a voucher for booking later. Cost £16.50 per person (maximum 4 people) - see the Vinos de Jerez page on our website for details (www.losgatos.co.uk)
We have an off-sales licence and all our wines can be bought at takeaway prices singly, or by the case or half case. Please ask in the bar for details or drop us an email.


LOS GATOS CHRISTMAS HAMPERS

For the first time this year, we have Christmas Hampers available in two sizes (medium -or large,) as well as a smaller "Goodie Bag". These contain genuine Spanish produce to make a special, and useful, Spanish Christmas gift. Both hampers contain a free Los Gatos Recipe booklet, giving some ideas of what to do with the some of the contents of your box! Details as follows:
Goodie Bag: (£16.00) - packed in a cotton Rice Bag, Salted Anchovies in a decorative tin
Whole green ArbequinaOlives
Habas Fritas - fried dried broad beans
Roasted Salted Marcona Almonds
Mahou - beer from Madrid 330 mls
Alhambra Especial - beer from Granada 330 mls

Medium Hamper: (£45.00) - packed in a box, (or for £5 extra, in a wicker basket,) containing
Spanish Arbequina Olive Oil in tin 250mls
Navarico Garbanzos (chick peas) in jar
White Tuna in decorative tin
Salted Anchovies in decorative tin
Whole Arbequina Olives (green) in jar
Roasted Salted Marcona Almonds in jar
Bomba Rice
Genuine Saffron in box 0.5g
Smoked Paprika de la Vera Dulce (sweet)
Smoked Paprika de la Vera (picante) hot
Tortas de Aceite olive oil biscuits from Seville
Turron de chocolate - Spanish Nougat
Fig & Almond Wedge
Half bottle La Gitana
FREE Los Gatos Mini Recipe Booklet

Luxury Hamper: (£95.00) - (packed in a box or for £7 extra, in a wicker basket, containing
Sherry Vinegar Valdespino 250mls
Spanish Arbequina Olive Oil in tin 250mls
Spanish Pardina Lentils 500g boxed
Navarico Garbanzos (chick peas) in jar
White Tuna in decorative tin
Salted Anchovies in decorative tin
Whole Arbequina Olives (green) in jar
Whole Spanish Black Olives in jar
Roasted Salted Marcona Almonds in jar
Spanish Bomba Calasparra Rice for Paella
Saffron in decorative jar
Onion Marmelade with PX
Smoked Paprika de la Vera Dulce (sweet)
Smoked Paprika de la Vera (picante) hot
Tortas de Aceite olive oil biscuits from Seville
Habitas Fritas - baby Spanish broad beans in Olive oil
Turron de chocolate - Spanish Nougat
Fig & Almond Wedge
Caramelised Almonds
La Gitana Manzanilla Sherry 375 mls
Alto Rio Rioja Crianza 750mls
Cava Brut Reserva Saniger 750 mls
Olive oil toiletries travel pack
FREE Los Gatos Mini Recipe Booklet




Christmas Charity Raffle

Samples of the above hampers will be on display in the bar from next week, and we will be selling raffle tickets (£1 each, £5 a strip) to win the luxury hamper, with all proceeds going to Restaurants Against Hunger, our charity of the year. The raffle will be drawn on Saturday 19th December. Winners will be notified by phone, so make sure you leave your phone number when you buy your tickets. Good luck!

Feliz Navidad!

Shareen and Phil

Los Gatos - October News

Three months after returning from our holiday which started us off on our blog we realise that it is the perfect place to make our regular customer news letters available to the wider world. If you find us through the blog and want to be on our mailing list, just contact us at info@losgatos.co.uk



Return of the Oysters!
Finally the Cornish oysters are back in season and featuring fresh on the specials board every Friday and Saturday for the foreseeable. (Friday lunchtime availability subject to delivery.) We apologise for the delay in starting the oyster season this year. During September the only oysters available to us were from Colchester. In view of the bad publicity surrounding this source, (used by a certain well-known Michelin *** establishment,) we felt it best to wait. Having tested this year's offering from Cornwall, we can assure you personally they were well worth waiting for! Available singly or by the half dozen or dozen. If you're planning to come in for an oyster fest please give us a call the day before and we'll try to get in extra stocks. We get deliveries on Friday and Saturday.

If you are an oyster virgin (and there are many around) please make yourself known to Shareen or Phil and we will happily talk you into and through one of the most interesting new food experiences of your life. There are few places where you can try one at a time so don't be afraid...

We've had Cornish mussels and Brittany palourdes clams for a couple of weeks now and they're selling like hot shellfish...

See below re fresh "whitebait".

New Menu

Yes it's ready finally and launching this week, as soon as we can get the menus printed and re-program the till. You'll find some new dishes and some old favourites making a reappearance. As usual we've tried not to take too much away, but we have to keep the menu at a sensible level because everything is freshly cooked in our tiny kitchen and there's a space limitation!

To make up for this we aim to offer you a wider range of "specials" and we are most pleased about getting hold of some fresh Cerdo Iberico. Our suppliers are going to be the first ones to bring it to UK, so we are quite excited.This Iberian pork, from the native Spanish black pig, is acorn fed, has a high portion of polyunsaturated fat acids, so the composition of the fat is more similar to extra virgin olive oil than to animal fat. The animals are free range. The other difference, in terms of flavour, with most British pork is that the males are castrated, and hence the taste is much more delicate. Look out for some very interesting special dishes made with this wonderful meat.

From time to time we'll also be trying out some savoury churros and the bacalao ahumado smoked cod we enjoyed so much on our research trip to Spain this year.

New regular items on the menu are a couple of tapas featuring bacalao - salt cod - in traditional Spanish style of course. We know some customers will welcome the return of Pollo PX (free range chicken cooked on the bone with Pedro Ximinez sweet sherry, pine nuts and raisins) and Garbanzos con Espinacas (creamy Spanish chick peas with fresh spinach and moorish spices. Very moreish too.) We've also been inspired to make a few changes to the way we serve some things, just to keep you awake. We've added a saffron rice dish and an interesting seasonal modern tapa with beetroot and pistachios.

We've been serving up fried little white fish most days for the last couple of weeks. These are a seasonal fresh fish - our supply is caught off Normandy on the winter and spring tides, sometimes described as "fresh whitebait" but more properly called "smelt" or "cucumber fish" (they smell like cucumbers when raw.) They are almost translucent and have a delicate and sweet flavour. In Spain fish of this size are known as "chanquetes" and that's how you'll find them in the fish section of our menu from next week.

Personal Sherry Tastings

A new service from Los Gatos.... Why not find out more about this wonderful wine and broaden your palate at the same time? For £16.50 per head (1 to 4 people) Shareen or Phil will talk you through all 9 sherries on our list and give you a taste (35ml) of each. Allow about 30-40 minutes and don’t plan to drive home! Available by appointment only - we are more likely to be able to accommodate you in the early evening or lunchtime (or midafternoon, for that matter!.) Vouchers available if you would like to give this as a gift experience.

Who's Who at Los Gatos

Regulars will notice some new staff around so maybe it's time for a quick run down of who's who at Los Gatos:

Janua - the Brazilian tornado who manages the bar and the customers with aplomb and charm like nobody else... speaks Portuguese, Spanish and Italian (and even a little English) and can be found in the bar most nights.
Myrelle - another Brazilian beauty looks after things in the bar most days - keeps everything tidy and well dusted in the quiet moments.
Daniela - Myrelle's equally charming sister, most often seen working with Janua in the evenings.
Luciana - on holiday at the moment but back soon to make up the bar team.
Lauren (Saturday days) and Lydia (Tuesday evenings) - two new recruits in the bar who are at college - although they'll probably learn more about life at Los Gatos!
Jose - the longest standing member of the kitchen team, who found his way to us from Peru via Spain (and Paddington) and whose excellent chefing skills have enabled us to have some nights off and the occasional escape. Jose has recently been joined at the hot plate by:
Kim - our new chef who, despite his Danish origins, has taken to Spanish cooking like a duck to water! Like many Scandinavians he not only speaks perfect English but also Swedish, Norwegian and, less obviously but great for us, pretty good Spanish!
And finally, Esther, Tom, and Jander, recently joined by students Ben and Stuart, make the wash-up team - without whom the whole operation would grind to a sticky halt. Although they are rarely seen, we appreciate their hard, unglamorous labour very much.

On the subject of appreciation, we'd like to mention that Los Gatos is a signatory to the Fair Tips Charter, and that ALL tips (cash or card) have always gone directly to the staff who share them between them. Tips do not make any part of their wages, and never have.

Sunday Lunches - Paella and more...

Our November 1st Paella lunch is already fully booked, so due to popular demand we will be fitting in a couple of extra Paella Sunday Lunches on November 15th and December 20th, in addition to December 6th but they are filling up quickly. Booking for paella is essential so book now to avoid disappointment. Phone us 01793 488450 or just send us an email.

We are also working on a special roast suckling pig lunch or dinner some time in November or December, dependent on availability of the pig! If you'd be interested in this, please let us know - no dates fixed yet, but given some encouragement, we'll sort it out.

The lost blogs......

Back from Spain for almost 3 months and we haven't found time to update the blog with our last few days there. Excuses , excuses.... Busiest summer since we opened, staff holidays, cook on maternity leave etc. etc.....

We did have a great end to our holiday with the last night in Oviedo where we found a great restaurant thanks to the help of a chap we found on the net with a great wine blog who happened to live in Oviedo.

The restaurant, run by 2 brothers Vicente and Iván, served us some of the best food we had in Spain. Well worth a visit if you are in Oviedo, which is a really interesting city that we will try to spend more time in.
Check out their website http://www.ca-suso.com/

Will try to make more effort with the blog and at least post our customer news letters, but also try to add more...........................

The road to León - where the wild thyme grows and the economy shrinks

Wednesday morning we head off towards Leon, vowing to take a light lunch, stopping at a supermarket on the outskirts of Zamora for a spot of picnic shopping and to fill up the car with milk(see earlier posts). Armed with a loaf of bread, a piece of award-wining Zamora cheese (as seen on the menu at Los Gatos), a tin of anchovies, a couple of tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper and a bottle of wine, we are planning to stay clear of the motorway and find a picnic spot near some water which appears to be abundant on the map.

We head off the road in the direction of the Embalse de Ricobayo but don't seem to be able to get anywhere near it - our luck has failed. We do come across the exraordinary sight of an abandoned urban development: neatly laid out roads and tar-mac driveways, all leading to barren plots, overgrown with the wild dreams and withered hopes of a lakeside idyll - the lake having shrunk to a now-distant pond. According to our Tom Tom we have driven across several fields before we reach a small village - clearly a local village for local people... There is one bar, but it's closed, and about as much life as Wood Street on a Monday night. Probably just as well, given (a) our earlier promise to restrain ourselves today and (b) the hostile looks of the local lurking lads - not well travelled, and perhaps not well travelled for several generations.

Heading out of the village again we find a clearing by the road, if only there was a litle shade it would be the perfect picnic spot. Our thirst has been tickled by the sight of a closed bar, so we decide to make do with the raised boot of the car and a couple of towels for shade. Our lunch is superb. Take the above listed ingredients, add a little wild thyme, eat. We've said it before, but we'll say it again - simple is, undeniably, best.

We reach León in the late afternoon and find our good luck restored with the hotel. Firstly, the grandly named Luis de León is bang opposite El Corte Ingles - the John Lewis of Spain - which has a 50% off sale. (Shareen has missed a bit of shopping and the food hall is always worth a serious browse.) Secondly, we are awarded an upgrade to an "executive room" - bigger and more comfortable and with a "pillow menu" no less! When we booked this the day before, we had had a discussion about whether we should pay the extra €30 for a better room as we were going to stay 2 nights and wanted to unpack and settle in a bit, but had decided to spend the difference on dinner instead... Ha! So now we could have our cake and eat it (or any pillows from the menu) and all for €60.

León's magnificent cathedral (above) is currently being restored and we spent a fascinating half hour watching as some skilled and brave stone masons/antique restoration experts carefully removed a statue from a plinth on the front of the building, wrapped it up and took it away for repair.

That evening, we are on the search for a small bar we visited (several times) two years ago, when we passed through León on the Camino de Santiago, the old pilgrim route which runs through the town on its trail from the south of France to the cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela. León is not only at the crossing point of this roue and the Ruta del Plata, which we have been following south to north, it is also at the centre of the universe of embutidos. The bar we were looking for made its own cecina - cured beef - as well as a range of rich and dark cured sausages and salamis of other kinds. After our deliberately light lunch we felt ready for a litle meaty snack... sadly when we eventually found what we thought might have been the place we remembered, it was closed.

León was, in fact, the first place where we had really been struck by how hard the global recession has hit Spain. We found many bars and restaurants closed, and not just for the holidays, and those that were open quieter than usual. Although Spain's banks have remained strong (historically very tight regulation resulting in them having been required to maintain far higher reserves than many other countries,) the country is now bracing itself for up to 20% unemployment by next year - much of this due to a dramatic drop in tourism. We read in our Rough Guide that, although the population of Spain is only around 46 million, (including almost 1 million ex-pat Brits) they welcome over 60 million visitors a year from all over the world. Maybe some of us are guilty of thinking of Spain as a slightly backward country with an overdeveloped holiday coastline, but, other than Columbus sailing the ocean blue, our standard UK history lessons didn't teach us a lot about the heyday of Iberian imperialism, when the conquistadores of Spain and Portugal between them dominated both sides of the Atlantic, parts of India and the far east as well. (As an Irishwoman, imperialism is bread and butter to Shareen...) Anyway, the fatal combination of the weak pound (buys about 30% less in euros than a year ago) and rising unemployment abroad, has hit the tourist industry hard and is expected to hit even harder. So if our story hasn't tempted you so far - perhaps this will encourage you to do your bit for Spain and pay it a visit this year!

Salamanca - better on a Tuesday

Our second day in Salamanca was more fruitful than the first. Exploring a different part of the city, we had a few nibbles in a Portuguese bar (very close to the Portuguese border here) - excellent bacalao con nata (a mini fish pie) and a salt cod fritter the name of which we failed to write down. Further down the street we spotted the Meson de Cochinillo - well too tempting! This was a place of extremes - incredibly tender delicious freshly roasted cochinillo (piglet) in little chunks. A media racion (half portion, half of which we'd eaten before we remembered to take a picture) was more than we could eat between us, even though we were unable to stomach the patatas alioli (re-christened by us patatas al espumante de afeitar - potatoes thickly layered with shaving foam, which although somewhat puzzling in flavour made a very effective insulator - the congealed white foam peeling back perfectly to reveal the fried patatas ,still warm, long after we had finished the pork.) Somehow our vow to lay off the meat for a bit didn't hold out...

After porking out for lunch we needed a bit of a siesta, but ventured out later with a desire for something light with a modern twist. Some research on TripAdvisor turned up Vinodiario. Just one review by a local but close enough to the hotel to take a punt so off we went.

Set in a quiet plaza with tables outside, interesting modern décor inside and clearly a haunt of younger academics it looked promising. The menu was full of interesting sounding bits and pieces. We opted for some Cantabrian Anchovies and some more Bacaloa Ahumado, both of which came on a base of artisanal bread with a slick of grated fresh tomato, and a curious sounding “Hot Dog Iberico con ketchup de frutas rojas”, which turned out to be a “quartet” of deliciously meaty sausages with a strawberry, raspberry and (we suspect) white balsamic vinegar "ketchup" - deliciously interesting - watch out - we will be experimenting! We rounded off with a tabla de quesos which was disappointingly international with interlopers from France, Germany and Holland, but then I suppose even the Spanish fancy a change sometimes.

Salamanca - City of Dreams

Salamanca is the Cambridge of Spain. Majestic university buildings dominate the old part of town, and have done since the twelfth century, apart from a short period when the Spanish Inquisition unexpectedly reduced student numbers by torturing the lecturers (don't tell the DES) and banning maths and medicine because they were anti-christian. Not until the inroduction of the National Curriculum was this level of interference with freedom of academics seen again.

Today there are more than 100,000 students at the university, many of them from outside Spain, and the proliferation of quality low-cost food outlets should of course be a response to such an a sizeable and discriminating market... nevertheless Burger King and Macdonalds have established a foothold, (where is the Inquisition when you need it?) although they are not allowed in the Plaza Mayor - a magnificent and well preserved cloistered square, and strictly the preserve of high-cost low quality Spanish food outlets. Unfortunately, the main university building, where we could have seen the ancient lecture rooms where many original scientific and mathematical theories were first debated before being accepted throughout the world, was closed for re-furbishment. Once more our attempts to absorb a bit of culture and wisdom are thwarted and we are forced instead to find a bar...

Right by our hotel (a good choice if I may say so, the Catalonia Salamanca Plaza, just behind the Plaza Mayor but not facing onto it) is a small bar La Dehesa - translation: a pigless oak forest. Not a pigless bar however, nor a fishless, eggless one either. Tortilla not bad (contains potatoes although a little more olive oil wouldn't have hurt) but the silver medal goes to the "tapa de bacalao ahumado con queso filadelfia" - a triumph of cross-cultural gastronomy. A thick layer of smoked cod (think of smoked salmon that's white and tastes of cod) smothers a thin scrape of cream cheese. I may be wrong about this, but I think the term "filadelfia" is used in Spain to refer to cream cheese of the type in general. In tapas bars it is often used to effect when spread on bread under an oily topping (smoked fish or anchovies, for example) - it prevents the oil soaking into the bread, which would leave the topping dry. Anyway the point is the topping is the important part and the smoked cod was delicious - definitely the new smoked salmon.

Our first evening in Salamanca was not a great success. In an effort to avoid both low quality and high prices, we wander down a street - San Pablo - where our Rough Guide has identified a number of bars and restaurants as worth visiting. We're in the habit of using the guide not for its specific recommendations but to identify the general drinking/eating areas in a city. Bars and restaurants in most towns and cities do tend to cluster together - there's an old maxim that the best place to open a restaurant is next to a good restaurant - a phenomenon that's recognised almost everywhere, except Swindon. However in Salamanca this tactic failed - most of the places on the street were either closed for the holidays (a risk in July or August) or not worth the detour off the pavement. We tried 3, all pretty dire, but the most shameful being a trendy modern place called MOMO - listed, no less, in La Guia Michelin 2009, with a decent (but not cheap) list of wines by the glass, but with such a shocking-looking display of stale, curling tapas of the neither tasty nor ornamental variety, that we could only assume that the tapas they put out the day the Michelin Man called went down such a storm that they had decided to leave them there for the rest of the year. Nevertheless a small glass and a little more bacalao ahumada in La Dehesa finished the night in style.

It may be that the smoked cod accounts for Shareen's dream that night, who knows, but interpret this if you dare... She actually woke up giggling uncontrollably, tears of mirth running down her face as she described the dream thus:

"We took Florence and Patrick back to university, where they were sharing the same house with a bunch of others. Phil immediately set to fixing all the equipment in the kitchen which was broken, and I to cleaning it. I went upstairs to find that Florence had unpacked all her belongings and made her room her own - just like when she was about 5, with her printed duvet cover and teddies etc all laid out. Her bottom sheet was torn in shreds however, so I decided I would just pop to Tesco's to buy her a new one. Phil wanted the car to go and buy some electrical parts to fix something, so one of the other students in the house said I could borrow hers. She explained that, in order to save money, the car had been adapted so it would run on milk, and she gave me a tiny little jug of milk to put in it.

Unfortunately the car was parked behind a barrier, now closed, but this was no problem to me, I just got out and lifted the car over the barrier. However, in the process I inadvertently spilled the jug of milk, much to the amusement of the three large dogs who were watching me. (Normally I am terrified of large dogs - these were a St. Bernard, a Great Dane and one of those other huge horse/wolf cross-breeds, but I wasn't frightened of them at all.) They were just quiely tut-tutting amongst themselves about how I'd spilt the milk, and now the car wouldn't go anywhere.

Undaunted, I went and knocked on the door of a nearby university building, which was opened by a smartly uniformed female naval officer, from whom I requested the loan of a cup of milk. With a dismissive gesture, she referred me to a bearded Captain at the other end of the room (the room was full of them all sitting round a big table having a meeting) indicating that lending cups of milk was his job. He went to get said milk, and meanwhile one of the other officers decided I should be questioned while I waited. "I bet you can't answer this," he roared, laughing and nudging his fellow admirals, "Which motorway runs through Nottingham?" Confidently and without hesitation I replied "the M6," which response he judged to be accurate, declaring that I was not so stupid as I looked. At this point, my younger sister Nuala appeared, not with a cup of milk, but a cup of soup. "The captain thought you'd prefer this," she announced, "it's so cold outside." "But," I whined in ungrateful protest, "my car doesn't run on soup, it runs on milk..." at which point the absurdity of my position became clear enough to wake me up.

Pigs!

It would be putting it mildly to say that between Las Mestas and Salamanca the road climbs steeply round hairpin bends with precipitous drops of several hundred metres... one of the most frightening things is that the authorities found it necessary to put "no overtaking" signs every few hundred metres - suggesting, as it does, that some Spanish truck driver might decide to come hurtling towards you and push you over the edge! Phil sneered with disdain at my protestations to drive more slowly, but the smile was on the other side of his face when we reached the top and he looked round to see the trembling puddle of sweat and tears that occupied his passenger seat. Fortunately, the descent is a more gentle coast downhill (obviously) - from my geography lessons I remember this geographical formation to be called an escarpment - if anyone is reading this I am sure they will correct me if I'm wrong, especially if it's one of my sisters.

North into Castilla y León, the hills once more give way to the flat plains of the dehesa - oak trees stretching out as far as the eye can see, and at any other time of year (except this week apparently,) bustling with porcine activity of the Iberian kind...

It is possible that Shareen, exhausted after the long climb, may have shut her eyes for a moment or two when suddenly a cry of "PIGS!" wakes up the entire province of Salamanca, who have just settled down for their siesta, and most of the northern half of Extramadura to boot. Screeching to a halt, the VW Polo is reversed at breakneck speed back up the SA205, (or an un-marked minor road, depending on wheher you go by the Michelin map or the road signs,) although thankfully not up the hill again, to reveal, miraculously, a small whitewashed stone pen where snuffle happily no less than several of the famed black Iberian pigs, and what's more, a few little cochinillos besides.

Look - pigs!

For several moments we toyed with the idea of rustling one of these cochinillos and buying one of those instant barbecues from the next garage, but sadly the discussion then moved on to whether we might just borrow one for a photo-opportunity in the dehesa (where it should have been) or whether it would be easier to photoshop it in later. We decide Florence can do the trick photography stuff, so here you are, Flo - put these two pictures together and see if you can come up with something better than this:

Mission accomplished, we head straight for Salamanca and lunch.