First day of our first break

Saturday April 26th 2008

Moorish Farmhouse, Orgiva, Spain

So our first week's break starts today, and it is far to say that we both have some nerves. Have we thought of everything? Will people like what we are offering? Will it turn out to be a success or not?

Linda does another exercise tape while I ponder on the yoga course for the week and continue to work through al the boxes sorting things out a bit.

Mid-morning I had a trip to the big superstore for fresh things and the remaining things we have remembered. There is a strange sequence of bollards all the way to the coast which I later learn is a traffic calming scheme in place over the weekend. It didn't seem to have calmed the traffic much to me (and would cause the people coming to us some confusion I thought)

We were not really sure when our guests would arrive as they were coming down from Madrid where they had been staying with friends. With no sign by 4:00pm, Linda and I set about the prep for that evening's food - just so we kept busy and helped the nerves. So, our first people actually arrived just after 6:00, having had a good journey and not had too much trouble finding the farmhouse itself.

Nigel and Zoe joined us for dinner tonight - one of our best meals we think and which should set us up very well for the rest of the stay. So we had some tapas (including the marinated mushrooms that I really like, and the fiery chilli prawns) followed by chicken with peppers and escalivida (a Spanish roast vegetable dish) and topped off with berries and a chocolate, honey and cream sauce. Plus a selection of local wines. Hopefully this sets the tone for what we are trying to do wth food this week.

So our first guests are here and we are officially off and running . . . . .