Pacha: Dancing and Eating!!! Love them both.

Had such a great end to our Prayer team. Since they were such great people and really gave themselves to praying and helping us get ready on many levels, we treated them to an amazing night.

I booked us a table at The Pacha Restaurant and we rocked up for 10:30pm (that's how we roll) and sat down and enjoyed some amazing food. We ended up getting filmed for a Spanish tv channel and so the management gave us the wine for free - result! (I told a little white lie and said 'i usually eat in Pacha' - sorry God - couldn't help it - got caught up in the moment). I shared Beef Carpaccio with Mike to start off, then went for the Scallops for my main and finished it all off by sharing 4 different desserts. Best dessert was the Pistachio one. WOW!!!!

The genius bit about eating at The Pacha Restaurant is if you spend a certain amount you get entry into the club for free. In the summer, tickets to Pacha cost anywhere up to €75 for the best nights, so it pays to have a meal first. We might even do this again with some of the other teams.

By the time we finsihed our meal and had a coffee it was nearly 1am. We stopped off at the car for a quick red bull to give us some wings and then headed to the Club for a boogie for a few hours. It took us a few choons to get our groove on and shake off the food we'd just demolished, but soon we were all tearing up the dancefloor. Best bit was hearing a choon with the lyrics 'I'm gonna give you devotion' which we all loved.

I think the Prayer team were all SUCH legends. They fully deserved such a treat like this, and it was an honour and a pleasure to be a part of such a great week. Guys, please come again!!!!

Soda Bread!

I managed it - at last! For so long i couldn't get hold of any buttermilk here in Ibiza (which apparently you can make yourself), and that was the key ingredient that hindered me trying this loaf. But the local supermarket now stocks some. Result!

Soda bread is a typical Irish bread, with many various forms. In Northern Ireland, it is usually made with wholemeal flour and takes the name 'Wheaten Bread', which is chuffin' delicious with butter and jam. Because Bicarbonate of soda is used for leavening instead of yeast, this is a real quick bread to make and needs no proving. You gotta try it - takes about 10 mins to make and about half an hour to cook. Having got the taste for the real thing when in Northern Ireland in 2008, i'm glad i've finally made some, and with my girlfriend being Irish, i have plenty of reason to cook this more often.

By the way, check out my friend Phil Evan's cool blog called Creativitiy with food. He's living and working out in Macedonia and doing some 24-7 Prayer stuff there. I got some inpiration from his website when i cooked a meal on Saturday using Pork Belly - a cut of Pork that i've not used before. I cooked it with fennel and got the crackling just right. The meat is so tender and tastes great! I got it from the market in Ibiza town, which i love looking round and taking in all the sights and smells, a real experience.

The Bread Oven

Having cleaned the Bread oven a few weeks ago, i decided today it was time to see how it worked and to see what i could do with it. Well, the only word i have is 'awesome'!!! I gathered loads of little branches and the like and lit a small fire in the middle of the oven. It's a huge oven - i actually got in it when i was cleaning it - it's that big! I then began to add branches to really get it going.

As you can see in the pictures, we got the fire roaring and it looked so cool. At one point fire was leaping out of the front and up the chimney. Had Pepe not been there i might have thought I'd let it get out of control - but he assured us that it was normal. Pepe is friends with our landlord and is being such a legend - always helping and fixing things.

I think the temperature must have been at least 300 degrees. Apparently it keeps its temperature for a few hours, and you can cook meat/veg or bread - anything in fact. I hadn't actually prepared any dough or food to cook but at least it's now ready to use.

Rosemary

Rosemary grows EVERYWHERE in Ibiza. Every valley and hill and cliff is covered in it. It seems to have completely gotten out of control, and best of all - it's all over our land. It's great to just pop out and go and pick some to go with your food, or bash up in a pestle and mortar to go on some spuds. Love it!

Bob and Claire came round this lunchtime - they run the Anglican Church here in Ibiza. They both used to live and work as missionaries in Mexico for many years and Bob is a qualified expert in agriculture and farming, so we picked his brain all day! It's actually one of the reasons we invited them round, that and that they're awesome people! He's helping us identify the best areas to plough and plant; what is what when it comes to spotting trees and veg, and how best to tackle irrigation. I'll keep you posted on how the farming goes.

'Give us today our daily bread'

It's both tough and exciting living by faith...however, I'm still trying to work it out. How does one live by faith? I think it means believing and trusting in God and His Word that He provides for us in every way. The Bible says in the book of Hebrews that 'Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.'

This Wednesday I'm gathering all my friends together to share all the great stories of the summer. That's the main reason for the night, to allow people a glimpse into my roller-coaster life that living and working in Ibiza brings. I know that at some point in the evening I'm going to ask people to consider 'investing in me' (to use my friend Brian Heasley's words).

My house mate Helen and I need to raise a staggering €2600 to pay our landlord so as we can move to the farm. We're going to move anyway, but it means that we'll both have to pay 2 lots of rent each month. YIKES! As it is, i don't receive enough to get by at the moment...and you know what? - at present, I cannot 'see' where the money will come from, apart from God's amazing kindness. At times I'm most definitely NOT certain, yet today, i believe.

My prayer is 'God, please provide us with our daily bread.'

'Chez Bruce'

So i am preparing for this coming Wednesday night's event at my Church here in Notting Hill, London. The main reason for the event is to communicate to my Church family and to my friends all of what i am doing with 24-7Ibiza.

Am planning my very simple yet tasty menu of Soup and Bread. I love baking bread and i just found out that my Church receives literally bags of fresh bread from this unbelievably posh little food shop in the heart of Notting Hill. Although i was looking forward to all the baking, it does make it cheaper and takes the pressure off getting it all done. Basically - RESULT!

Am going to make a Leek and Potato Soup. What more does one need on a cold (and it is bitterly cold) Winter's night here in London town? It's a Nigel Slater recipe too - from my friend Ruthage, and although I've not made it before, I'm relishing the opportunity to make it a good 'un. Love that man Nigel...

The evening will include a video clip of our work from You Tube, some pictures of the 24-7 team and our work, and of course stories of the summer's work and my hopes for the New Year. It's going to be a great night!

'River Cottage' in Ibiza

Brian, Tracy, Ellis and Dan gave me my Christmas pressie today. I can't tell you how excited i was to find out it was a cookbook, and nothing other than Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's 'River Cottage Cookbook'. How lovely of them!

I nearly wet myself. It looks amazing, and its main idea is to cook your own-grown vegetables and animals. How cool is that? And what with our new farm, i am already dreaming of great home-grown, home-cooked food.

Bring on the celebrations. I'm sure this book will be the first of many 'cook your own...', 'grow your own...', and 'build your own...' books. I'm not sure about the latter one, but the former two - bring it on!

The Menu

For starters:
Antipasti, focaccia bread, feta cheese and marinated aubergine.

First Course:
Spaghetti with smoked salmon in a creamy, mustardy sauce.

Second Course:
Bed of spinach, followed by some steamed squash and topped with a piece of chicken. I accompanied that with some sauce, made with roasted squash and coconut milk.

Dessert:
Treacle Toffee pudding (which i bought) with some vanilla ice-cream (which i made - although it hadn't set properly so it was more a cold sauce).

Finished with Irish-style coffees, dessert wine and mints!

And the company couldn't have been better. Think i might have to do that again when next visiting! I also had a star helper in the kitchen...kind of like my sous-chef. Good work Ellis!

Ready...Steady...Cook

So Robb and Sally have put together a shopping list that will arrive today and i have to then cook for 10 people. I've been given the list of ingredients that they've bought to give me a little time to think. There is: chicken, spaghetti, smoked salmon, feta cheese, double cream, coconut milk, and squash to name the main ingredients. But there's also herbs, vegetables, citrus fruits and a few other bits and pieces. I'm glad they didn't just dump it on me 5 mins before like on the TV show. I'll let you know what i cook.

Sushi

Last night i prepared some Sushi, which has to be up there amongst my favourite type of food. It's such a simple, fresh and pure taste, and so delicious. I cheated by using tinned Tuna (a sin i know), and i also made it with cooked Mackeral. I hope to learn more during the Winter months here and to get much better at preparing it.

Something i did do last night, which i have wanted to do for a long time, is prepare some fresh Mackeral to use as Sushi. What i did was fillet a very fresh Mackeral and then covered it all over in Sea salt. This i left overnight, and then in the morning i cleaned off the salt and then covered it in a rice vinegar marinade that had some sugar in it. I left this for 45 mins to marinade and the result is fantastic. Here are some pictures once done:

I then had to skin the fillets. Mackeral has such beautiful coloured skin. The skin looked very wierd after i had done it.

Now, the fish is ready to eat. Fresh, Mackeral Sashimi. Ummmm!

Alioli

I have nearly perfected my Spanish Alioli. You might be wondering what it is, so i'll tell you. It's basically a garlic mayonnaise. Actually, there's nothing basic about it, it's fundamental. It's foundational stuff. It's both cultural and part of the Spanish fabric. And it's very smelly and repeats badly on you!

I used to make mine back in England by using egg yolks and mustard and then blending it with an olive-based oil. But oh, i have seen the light. Actually, it was Tracy who shed light on this culinary and cultural matter. Over here, they don't use egg yolks at all. Instead they use milk, and a much lighter oil - sunflower oil. And they don't bother with mustard. And the result is awesome.

You start by peeling a clove of garlic and adding a teaspoon of salt. I prefer Maldon Sea Salt. Then add a small glass of semi-skimmed milk, about 75 ml. Blend that with a hand blender, and then start to trickle in your sunflower oil, a little at a time. Keep blending and adding the oil. I think about 50ml of oil, or just until the sauce starts to thicken. Add a twist of pepper and Bobs your uncle!

Awesome. Try it...it is so nice with bread and crisps.