We took the bus up to another whitewashed town called Frigiliana. We walked around, visited a couple of shops, admired the simple life and the views after climbing to one of the highest points, then decided to head back home to make lunch. We stopped by a store and for the first time found frozen shrimp at a reasonable price. Lunch was aglio e olio, spaghetti with olive oil and garlic with the addition of shrimp. The garlic was from Argentina, a long way from Spain, but obviously a trading partner. The traditional recipe includes red pepper flakes and I like to add a little white wine in the sauce, and shrimp. I didn’t know about this recipe until it was introduced to me on a business trip to Milan. I made it as soon as I got home and it’s been a staple in our house ever since. The woman who gave me this recipe said it was peasant pasta because when visitors dropped in unexpectedly, you were always able to offer them a meal with the ingredients in your home - olive oil, chili peppers, garlic, and spaghetti. She said she added a little tomato because she didn’t like white pasta and that’s what I do also. I read that aglio e olio is the only way Al Pacino likes his spaghetti.
We wanted to play some pool and took a different route to El Fuego just so we could deposit our bottles in the recycle bin. It took us far from our normal route and we discovered another part of Nerja which was quite ritzy. I’m not a fan of grey sand beaches but the views of the Alboran sea were marvelous. We got very close to the Balcony of Europe, but were tired and decided to forgo pool and head back to our apartment.
We had one cheese and ham pizza left over in the fridge so we doctored it up with salami, dry ham, red bell pepper, the rest of our olives, and some of the cow, sheep, goat, cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. It was like the pizzas we make at home. Yum.
Tomorrow we are taking the bus to Granada.
