Huelva Eíriz Jamon Iberico Tour, Spain

January 25, 2014

Iberian jamón is Damon's new absolutely favorite food.  At 62 euros per kilogram, this is no cheap hobby.  Spanish Iberian Jamón is considered the 4th worldwide delicacy after caviar, French champagne, and Foie gras.  The farm we visited is in Corteconception, Huelva which is about 3 hours from Rota.  The town has a small population of 600.  The farm is very spacious with having one pig per one hectare and they feed on bellotas (acorns) from the hold oak and cork trees.  The cork bark is also harvested every 10 years and is used for wine corks and even for a type of spray home insulation. The pigs have a pretty good life of roaming and eating thus making the tasty mono-unsaturated fat marbling in the meat.  The pigs are processed after they are about 2 years old. After slaughter, the meat pieces are brought back to the factory for the jamón magic.  Step 1 is the seasoning.  The leg and shoulder get thickly salted and the chiorzo (like a sausage) gets a thick coating of paprika. All of the rubs are applied by hand. Then they are left to sit for about 10 days total and ultimately hung to air dry for several years to cure.  A high quality jamón will sell for around 500 euros each.  To eat, the leg is sliced very thin, much like Italian prosciutto and eaten straight.  It is delicious.  Our tour was given by the grandson (perhaps the great-grandson) who also sliced the jamón pieces for us by hand and even poured all the drinks.  A very cool family business.  It is wonderful to see a family business being so successful and passionate.

Jamones = ham

Bellota = acorn

The whole factory.

Cork tree, the bark was just harvested in July and is only done so every 10 years.

Pigs eating the bellotas (acorns).  The pigs are on a 1 pig per 1 hectare of land.

These pigs are only 1 year old and will meet their Jamon-maker in about another year.  During the prime acorn season they pack 1 kilogram per day.

We got some amazing outfits to go into the factory.  Behind me are some pieces of cork bark.

Step 1 - salting for 10 days

Step 2 - drying for a long time in temperature and humidity controlled rooms

Step 3 - hanging out in the open-air rooms for several years getting the perfect layer of 'growth'

This is one of the other rooms that the Jamon can dry in.

The tasting room with all sorts of cool stuff

This is the grandson of the original farmers who gave us the full tour and then cut the Jamon for us to taste and even was pouring all the drinks.  A very cool family business.

Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Spain

January 20, 2014

Sanlúcar is just a short drive from Rota and is a very popular summer destination with its excellent beaches. They are most known for their beach horse races that happen in the first two weekends in August.  We hope to make it to see one of the races.  The city is a very ancient city with excellent nautical history.  The placement is ideal at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River and the Atlantic Ocean.  Many Spanish explorers would depart from the ports and the city also operated as a ship repair station.  Christopher Columbus departed from this port in 1498 for his third voyage and Ferdinand Magellan left from this port in 1519.  The River is navigable from Seville. In 1522, Sanlúcar welcomed the last surviving ship of Magellan's expedition which was the first ship to circumnavigate the world. There are castles here with Moorish architecture, and royal homes from the Medina Sidonia family mixed in with local fish markets and modern restaurants. A very cool city. Parking was very cheap too.

Medina Sidonia, Spain

January 18, 2014

This town is only one hour away and is a very pretty drive past pastures and huge wind turbines. This town has been inhabited by Phoenicians, Romans, Visigoths, and the Moors. The very top of the hill has Roman ruins with a very nice walkway going around. The church has a very beautiful courtyard and a chapel. We climbed to the top of the bell tower where it was incredibly windy, bit an excellent view of the town and surrounding area. We could see the Bay of Cadiz. They are most known for the pastry called the alfajor where we bought some in a shop founded in 1852. It is a nutty log type of thing covered in powdered sugar. Throughout the city are also some arches built by the Moors that are still standing.

House Popsicle

Not much to update with the house.  We hear that the framing will begin in February so the ground can thaw a bit.  This is the additional wall poured to give us the extra 18" interior space for the living room, as was in the original drawings we bought. We are always excited to see progress.

The new hole.

Framed first pour.

Poured out.

Demetria approves! And what an amazing truck in the background.

Paris, France

January 5-10, 2014

Paris, another city that cannot be given justice with just a paragraph.  The language was difficult, but the food was excellent!

Louvre

Museo Pompadu

Notre Dame

Love Lock Bridge

Dinner Cruise

Museo d'Orsay

Napoleon Basillica

Army Museum

Versailles

Moulin Rouge

Catacombs

Eiffel Tower

Arc de Triumph

Chocolate Museum

Pantheon