Villancico The Spanish word for Christmas carol has its origin in the old Castilian word villano, meaning ‘villager’ – as opposed to noble or squire. During the 15th and 16th centuries the villancico was a jolly sort of song-and-dance knees up for country folk, and it was only in the following centuries that the songs [...]

Oh, how we laughed. It’d been a long time since any of us had browsed such an inscrutable menu.  We worked out most of the items, though we did have a problem with ‘black poplars’ (the bilingual among you, start racking your brains …). I won’t spoil your fun. Here is a sample of the [...]

Perhaps you’ve seen your face distorted in the shiny silver bottle and wondered what was inside? After reading that ‘Gentleman’s Punch’ was in fact Spain’s most widely-consumed spirit, I decided to investigate. On websites the fruity nectar is described as an orange brandy, steeped with the flavours of plums, raisins, nuts and cinnamon. Sounded interesting [...]

It’s estimated that around three quarters of Spanish vocabulary is derived from vulgar Latin. Add on another six-ten per cent from Arabic, and you’ve still got another 15-20 per cent to play with. So where do all the other words come from? In vague historical order, mainly: Basque, Celtic, Greek, Visigoth, Catalan, Portuguese, Gallego, German, [...]

And now for something completely different. We are delighted to announce that one of Valerie’s funniest stories, With A Rose Between Her Teeth, was selected for inclusion in the Writers Abroad Short Story Anthology 2010. This is a fictional take on the British in Spain, most definitely in the Garlic spirit, written with Valerie’s hallmark humour [...]