End of Season Meal

Opening presents at the end of season meal for 2012

Each year after the hotel shuts; we have a meal with all the staff from the hotel and their partners. Its a small way of  thanking everyone for their help in contributing to the success of the hotel and without whose help we would never be where we are today. We celebrated this year’s meal last Friday in the Restaurant Posada de Antriago.

Starting on the right and going round the table the people in the photo are as follows:

Samantha (our daughter) who has now been working in the kitchen for over three years.

Patricia (Mari Carmen’s daughter) who helps with the cleaning and in many other ways including, reception and in the kitchen.

Joe (hiding behind Patricia) chief cook amongst many other jobs.

Eduardo; Patricia’s husband

Sebastian (our son) who amongst many jobs helps organize different events and workshops at the hotel

Lidia (Sebastian’s partner) who also helps with different events and workshops organised at the hotel.

Montse who helps in the kitchen and cleaning rooms at weekends.

Chichi Montse’s husband
Mari Carmen (looking away from the camera) who has been working with us the longest, does many jobs including; receiving guest, preparing breakfasts and cleaning.
Andres (Samantha’s partner) who also helps in the kitchen

And finally here are a few photos from previous year’s meals.

December 2009 in the same restaurante and with all the same staff plus Hugh who worked on the farm and his partner Alice

December 2008 with the same people plus Maria who helped in the kitchen

10 years earlier; December 2002 with Mari Carmen and myself in the foreground plus Mari José, Joe and Mari Gel

December 2001 with Joe and the three Marias; Mari Carmen, Mari José and Mari Gel

Sowing Summer Vegetables in the Winter

Seeds germinating on the boiler on a cold winter's day

Despite the snow and rain over the last couple of days it’s time to start sowing some of our summer vegetables. It takes at least three months for us to produce a respectable Aubergine or Pepper plant suitable for planting outside. Although it might be cold outside we trick the seeds into thinking that there is good weather by placing them on top of our boiler to germinate, and they do so in no time!

Germinated seeds in the greenhouse

 At the first signs of the germinating seedling emerging from the soil we rush them into the greenhouse so the light will stop them going weak and lanky. So far we’ve sown peppers and aubergines for planting outside and tomatoes for planting in the greenhouse.

Lettuce plants in the green house ready for planting outside

Recently planted strawberry runners

We’ve also got lettuce plants ready for planting outside, and have just planted up some strawberry runners which we will plant outside in a few months time. Out side I sowed the first beetroot a few days ago and we’ve got a seedbed of onions braving the cold along with an autumn sowing of broad beans and mange tout peas. Bring on the warm weather.

The onion seed bed outside, on a sunny day last week

The Vegetable Garden in December

A short video of the vegetable garden taken this afternoon.

Another season comes to an end

It’s now been a month since the hotel shut for this year and during that time both Joe and I have been away on walking holidays. But now we’ve returned and have been looking back on this year and thought it would be nice to recap on some of the highlights of this season.

The hotel restaurant full of guests.

 It was very rewarding for us to see that this year more guests than ever have eaten in the hotel restaurant. No doubt this is partly because we introduced a special half board rate for 2012 but I think it is also because more and more people know and appreciate the type of food we serve. 

Imaginative home grown cuisine; red onion and apple delights

We call our cooking an “imaginative home grown cuisine” where we try to make the best use of fresh organic home grown and local produce. We also always serve a vegetarian option for which we are becoming well known particularly with our Spanish customers as vegetarian food in Spain is hard to find.

Anuska (on the right) who did her practical training with us this year

To this end, at the beginning of the season we had a mature Spanish student, Anuska helping in the kitchen for 3 months for her practical training. She wanted to work with us as she had a particular interest in vegetarian food. At the end of the season we also had another student, Tarmo doing his work experience with us.  He came from Finland and was studying the use of natural resources in tourism and this time was helping mostly helping on the farm. Then finally Juanita from Colombia was volunteering with us. She helped with apple picking amongst other jobs.  So a big thanks to Anuska, Tarmo and Juanita for all their help.

Tarmo (on the left) helping with the apple harvest

The apple harvest; many hands make light work, with Jaunita, Joe, Mari Carmen, Patricia and Samantha

We had a fairly good apple crop this year and started collecting the apples in the third week of October. This year with the help of our volunteers as well as the regular staff the harvest went very quickly. As always the apples are pressed and made into apple juice and we now have a good stock of juice ready for next season.

Our lambs gaining popularity

On the farm front we are also pleased to say that for the second year we have been selling our lambs to the “Corral del Indiano” one of our local Michelin Star Restaurant. The lamb has proved hugely popular at the restaurant and with the success of the dish they have ordered as many lambs as we can produce for next year!

The pastures around the hotel in August taking a golden hue due to the long dry summer

According to the locals 2012 has been the driest year in Asturias for over 50 years and by late August many of the surrounding pastures and fields had a distinctive golden hue. Luckily with the help of water from our borehole we were able to water and produce many different crops in the vegetable garden.  This year every 2 months we made a video of the vegetable garden so people could follow its progress. As a part of a longer term project to try and produce more visual information on what we do here at Hotel Posada del Valle we have produced videos on walking and the food we serve at the hotel.

Hot crops from a dry summer

The consumer group has now been going for almost 2 years. Once a week the growers bring their produce to the hotel and then volunteers from the group make up the vegetable boxes and then the members of the group come to collect their boxes. We are very pleased to be able to help with this local initiative and hope the consumer group carries on moving from strength to strength.

Finally when reviewing the hotel season the biggest thanks must go to all our guests for supporting us and coming to stay with us, many of whom who come year after year

Walking from the Mirador del Fito to the hotel

This is a short video of the very spectacular self guided walk from the Mirador del Fito back to the hotel with the possibility of climbing the Pico Pienzo. More information on the walks in Asturias can be found on our web page; www.walkingasturias.com

Our Home Grown Cuisine

The organic vegetable garden mid September

A short video of the vegetable garden taken two days ago so to give you an idea of how the garden is looking and what we are cropping.