Mojito

We had various qualities of mojitos during our stay in Cuba. My personal favourite was at the hotel bar in Viñales, because the mint had a basil-like after taste.

After playing with the ingredients for a while, adding a bit of this, a bit of that, here is the best I could come up with:

Serves 1:

2 shots rum (I used the Legendario Silver Dry from the factory we visited)
1 shot lime juice (= huice of half a lime)
2 tsp demarara sugar
5-6 fresh mint leaves
soda water
1-2 drops of Angostura
1-2 ice cubes
1 drinking straw

1. Place the sugar and the lime juice into a glass and stir until mixed.
2. Add the rum and Angostura.
3. Add the mint leaves and muddle well to extract the flavour.
4. Add the soda water and ice cube(s)

Drink with a straw, or you will find it a bit bitter!

Burritos

I used some ready-made tortilla wraps, (shame on me!) but time was scarce yesterday evening, as we wanted to watch Underground, by Emir Kusturica (I love this director) and the movie is almost 3 hours long.

Makes 6 burritos:

6 tortilla wraps
250g cooked turtle black beans
250g cheddar cheese, grated
250g salsa sauce / sliced tomatoes
shredded lettuce
chilli powder

1. Fry the beans in a non-stick pan and mash slightly with a potato masher and season with chilli powder. Add a little water if necessary.

2. Make your wrap!

Burrito means "little donkey" in Spanish. Because burrito wraps look a bit like the ears of a donkey.

Rice and beans

For our Cuban party yesterday, I made rice & beans.


Serves 6-8 people:

500g long grain white rice
250g black turtle beans (soak overnight)
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
2 tsp chilli powder
1 TBSP coriander
vegetable oil
salt

1. Boil the beans for 45 minutes to an hour, until cooked. Drain.
2. Boil the rice for 10-15 minutes until cooked but firm to the bite. Drain.
3. Fry 1 TBSP of vegetable oil into a wok or large frying pan and fry the onion until translucid. Add the pepper.
4. Add the rice and beans, spices and herbs.
5. Add anything else you think it is missing!

We had some leftovers with a fried egg for Saturday's lunch:

I actually soaked and cooked 500g of beans. With the half I did not use for the rice & beans, I made burritos. More Mexican than Cuban you may say, but it was very nice!

Black bean soup (Courtesy of Tracey!)

Here is the recipe sent to me by Tracey for those who miss the Cuban black bean soup!

• Buy Frijol Negro Jamapa Beans from your local Tiendras Gaviota at 3.50 CUCs Or 3 15oz cans of Organic no-salt Black Beans (including the liquid)
• 1 medium cooking onion, chopped
• 1 small green bell pepper, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• ^1/2 teaspoon salt
• ^1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• Hot cooked rice
• Chopped spring onions/ scallions

1. Sauté onion, bell pepper, and garlic in hot oil in heavy duty casserole dish over medium-high heat until tender.
2. Add beans (with liquid) and next 4 ingredients; bring to a boil.
3. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer until beans are tender, about 20mins.
4. Remove 1cup of beans and blend, then return to pot.
5. Stir and simmer until beans have thickened.
6. Discard bay leaf.

Serve over hot cooked rice; sprinkle with chopped spring onions/ scallions

Cycle Cuba Day 2

Las Terrazas - San Diego de los Baños,

We got up early, as instructed by the crew: breakfast was to be served at 7am, so we had to get up at 6.30, get dressed, pack up our bags and the tent, etc... One thing we learned in Cuba, is that no matter what time the staff tell you, things naturally happen a good hour later. It is just how things are over there! It is also funny how they bring dishes for breakfast at campsites, but also in restaurants. Some people will have finished they entire breakfast (or meal), before others get their first cup of coffee or their first toast! A couple of things are to be noted on Cuban breakfast: 1) mountains of fresh fruits were available everyday (pineapple, papaya, guava), 2) very sweet bread very close to a brioche, yummy!

It was very cloudy as we left the campsite in Las Terrazas. After our stretching ritual, we headed off in this still hilly area. I could not and can still not describe how beautiful and amazing this country is. The landscapes are just stunning and these photos don't do them any justice.

The photo below is unfortunately blurred, but you get an idea of the gradient!

A common sight in Cuba, particularly on countryside roads, are animals. You will see wild animals crossing the roads, cows grazing on the side of the roads, horses in fields or pulling carts, and oxen pulling carts. We have also seens hundreds of dogs. It is sad to see how generally these animals are underfed and it is heartbreaking to see so weak-looking animals pulling heavy loads.

During the journey, we also saw various plantations of the main crops cultivated in Cuba: coffee (I'm not sure they were actual coffee trees though), sugarcane, tobacco, pineapples, mango trees, black beans. We did not see (or I did not notice) any cacao.

Is this tree with the red beans coffee? If anyone knows, please leave a comment!

We finally reached the end of Las Terrazas reserve after a LONG LONG hill... On the top of that hill, something weird happened. A & B who were about 50 yards ahead of me, when suddenly I saw them both jumping on their seat, then off their bike, and threw their bikes in the ditch at about only 20 yards from the top of the hill! I thought "It's not THAT bad, they may be fed up with all these hills, but c'mon guys, you were almost at the top!". When I got to the top though, I learned that they had been 'attacked' by a swarm of tropical bees... The guards were very quick to react, and removed a few stingers out of A's head as the bees had gone under his helmet.

The green cubicle below were toilets... well, a hole in the ground. Which I wouldn't have had any issue to use if there had not been so many bees inside. Didn't want the forest guards to have to remove stingers from my bottom!!!

What a beautiful tree that was!

The building below used to be a sugar factory. At the time when the relationships between the USSR and Cuba were good, Cuba used to export a lot of sugar at good prices to the USSR. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Russian Federation stopped subsidising the import of sugar from Cuba. This combined with the American embargo meant that producing sugar became less than profitable for Cuba and many sugar factories closed. They now use sugar canes to make rum, but it is cheaper for them to import sugar than to produce it themselves. (source: Abelito, our local guide, full of useful information)

Houses are very pretty despite their simplicity. Sometimes it looks like they have been about to collapse for years, and people seem to take immense care of the houses. It was not unusual to see people brushing their front porches.

We stopped for lunch somewhere on the side of the road, but the people living nearby offered their covered patio and chairs and even opened their house for us to use the toilets. They were refurbishing their house and garden after having obtained permission to open a restaurant. Based on the number of cages with cute bunnies inside, there will probably be rabbit on the menu :(

Also, they had a big mango tree in the garden:

Later on in the afternoon, we had a water-refill break where we enjoyed our first Cuban bananas, which were very different from the ones we find in the UK. They were really, really, really tasty, and perfectly ripe.

Finally we arrived at the campsite later that afternoon, where we saw... Charlie's Angels!!! Unbelievable!

As we got there, we were asked to pitch our tent quickly, and then we could get our bathing gears and jump onto the carts which would take us to the stream! I had no intention to dive but went along for the cart ride and to take photos.

It was quite an experience! It took about 15 minutes to get to the stream and the path was quite narrow with pot holes. The two locals in our carts seemed pleased enough to see a few exotic-looking women wearing bikinis and sarongs. S's sarong slid down to her ankles at one point which did not remained unoticed! C drove the cart for a bit, which made the ride even more 'interesting'!

We got to 'the stream' and we just stared at the 'water' thinking "we are so NOT going to touch this water".

Who's going to dive in first?

J did!

And all to follow: except me, not a water person, and A, because I insisted he should not leave me alone with the locals, who knows what they could have done to me whilst the others were bathing... I really felt silly afterwards, because there were very nice people. It just is that they may not be used to see Europeans, let alone in bathing suits!

We had a pleasant evening but I did not sleep very much because the locals had organised a big party with their friends and they stayed up drinking and talking quite late in the night.

Cuba Cycle Challenge 2008

Havana (photo report to be published soon!)

Day 1: Havana - Las Terrazas

Day 2: Las Terrazas - San Diego de los Baños

Day 3: San Diego de los Baños - Guabina

Day 4: Guabina - Viñales

Day 5: Viñales - Cayo Jutías

Viñales (photo report to be published soon!)

The Team

Cuban recipes:
Mojito recipe
Cuba libre recipe
Tracey's Black bean soup recipe
Rice and bean recipe

Cycle Cuba Day 1

We had a nice and relaxing cycling on day 1. It was a very easy ride and it was pleasant this way, as we had the opportunities to chat with each other and get to know everybody in the group. It took us about an hour to leave Havana.


Then came the first hills, which were quite gentle but steep enough by some 30-35 degrees in the burning Cuban sunshine!


We reached the National Park of Las Terrazas, recognised as a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1985.

This is a place where the number of vehicle entering the reserve is kept under control. For instance, our support vehicle could not stay on the campsite car park overnight. The arrival to the campsite location was grandiose, with the last stretch being surrounded by a lake and somptuous landscapes.


We eventually arrived at the campsite car park, where we dropped the bikes are started our stretching excercises, which would become a ritual in the next few days, to the amusement of the locals. (not everyday they see ladies wearing Lycras I guess...)


We took our luggage from the bus and carried them along a narrow path, down some slippery steps, then over a narrow wooden bridge, through a woodland along the river and passed the bar, we finally got to a glade where we were to pitch our tents. There were also a few huts and shower and toilet cubicles. All of the buildings were made of woods, with palmtree thatched roofs. A local told me that you can make these from one type of palmtree only (I forgot which type exactly) and a well-designed and well-built roof can last up to 20 years!



The structure below is one of the bins that you find at the campsite. No ugly plastic containers but these lovely hammoc-type bins, located at height to prevent animals from nuzzling and looking for food.


We pitched our tent and went straight for a shower as we did not know if the next campsite would have those facilities. The next thing we did was walking to the bar where a few of our fellow fundraisers were and ordered "Dos mojitos, por favor". Trave had a quick swim in the "piscina naturaleza" (read a stream/lake).


After which, it was time for dinner already and we all sat around the big table, enjoying our rice & beans, or "pollo con arroz" for the meat eaters. It was a really pleasant evening. There was a band playing for us, they were really good. Unfortunately, I had made the mistake of on a light bathing suit/T-shirt and a short bathing skirt, and was vigoursly encouraged by the band to get up and dance with one of them! Put it this way, I am not a good dancer and have absolutely no idea how to dance along these gorgeous salsa beats! So, I embarrassed myself but it was great fun too!

A lot more happened on that day but I am not going to detail C's magnificent fall on the side of the road and her subsequent league 1 bruises... Ooops, I said too much already! Sorry C!

Thank you to all of our fellow cyclists for the great time we spent together.

Menu wk11

Nothing very sophisticated this week!

Courgette and yellow pepper risotto
Cuban rice & beans
Mojitos
Cuba libre

Ouch! Two cocktails sneaked into my weekly meal planning... and what: rice & beans??? Oh oh, would that be for our Cuban themed party on Friday???

We have quite a busy week ahead of us: Tuesday blood donation, Wednesday Trave working overtime, Thursday dining at some friends', Friday Cuban party at our house.

Tomato and olive quiche

I really wanted to try this but until the first mouthful, I had serious doubts about this recipe. I thought it would be too bitter. It is actually very tasty, melting in the mouth, de-li-cious!


Serves 4:

For the pastry
90g wholemeal flour
90g plain flour
80g butter, cut into cubes
1 tsp mixed Italian dried herbs
1 pinch salt
3 TBSP cold water

1. Sieve the flours in a large bowl. Add the herbs and salt. Add the butter until the mixture ressembles bread crumbs.
2. Add the water and knead well until a smooth ball is formed.
3. Roll out onto a floured surface.
4. Place onto a greased quiche dish.
5. Prick with a fork, cover with baking paper, pour baking beans and cook blind for 10min. Remove the baking paper and beans and cook for a further 5min. (180degrees).


For the filling
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
6 tomatoes, cut into 6 or 8
1 onion, chopped
120g olives, sliced
3 TBSP fresh basil, chopped
220g Gruyere cheese, grated

1. Whisk together the olive oil and mustard and spread at the bottom of the cooked pastry case.

2. Fry the onion in a little butter for 2 min, add the tomatoes and fry until cooked. Drain. (you can discard the juice or keep it as a sauce to serve with the quiche) Place the tomato mixture into the pastry case.

3. Mix the olives and basil and sprinkle on top of the tomato mixture in the case.

4. Top with the grated cheese.

5. Place in the 180 degrees pre-heated oven for 20 minutes. Serve immediately with a mixed leaves salad.