Hi Folks,
Last weekend was an intense day of celebrations, mainly on Saturday. Because on Sunday my body said enough was enough and it was a time to relax and enjoy life in a different way.
Three celebrations in one day
For several weeks I knew that last Saturday would be an intense day, as there was a pilgrimage for the proximity of the day of Asturias, the feast of San Miguel was celebrated in my village and at the same time it was the birthday of my friend Javier.
Celebrating Asturias Day
The day of Asturias is usually celebrated on the 8th of September, but a group of us crazy people from the west of Asturias also celebrate it on the last weekend of August.
The celebration consists of a pilgrimage to the chapel of the Virgen de los Remedios in Porcia, but it is not just any pilgrimage, as during the 7 km walk there is a lot of partying, music with bagpipes and lots of alcohol.
Although many who are parents go with their children, celebrating the festivity with much more sense. Although, as you can see, my friend Javier's daughter was well dressed with the Asturias flag and a very flashy outfit.
Once you get to the village of Porcia and visit the chapel.
The party continues in a large field surrounded by chestnut trees with live music.
And after a few hours of music, we took a break to enjoy a picnic lunch in which everyone took their sandwiches, empanadas or tortillas to eat them in the shade of a tree, as my friend Eduardo did.
However, the party was cut short by a sudden change in the weather, as a big storm approached and my friends and I gave up on staying there, especially as the day had a long way to go.
A surprise birthday dinner
After leaving the pilgrimage, each of us in the group of friends went home. But it was then that I created a whatsapp group with all his friends and their partners, but without my friend Javier who had a birthday that day.It was then, when the group came up with the idea of booking a table in one of the trendy restaurants near our houses without Javier knowing about the event.
After the corresponding reservation, all the friends and their partners went to the restaurant around 21:30h to have some wine and an aperitif.
Javiera, Javier's wife and daughter arrived at the restaurant without Javier knowing anything about the celebration and when he entered the restaurant his face was astonished to see that we had gathered 16 people behind him, all of us together with his wife.
The food we ordered was all sharing plates along the table with a succession of four starters and a main course also to share.
The four starters were as follows:
Beef ham (Cecina)
One of those typical sausage delicacies from the Cantabrian coast of my country with an intense flavour. I loved the accompaniment of the dish with some almonds.
Ham Croquettes
A classic tapas dish and even more so when Iberian ham is used in its preparation. I loved the design of the dish with its ideal shape for these round croquettes.
Squid with onions
I think this is one of my favourite tapas. The combination of the baby squid with the caramelised onion is for me one of the tastiest starters in Asturias.
Scrambled eggs with ham and foie gras
A simple dish based on fried potato, fried eggs, ham and duck foie that when you break it all together and the mixture intensifies the flavours that each component has separately.
Cachopo
Finally, we could not miss the traditional Asturian cachopo, made up of two fillets of beef stuffed with ham and cheese and coated in flour and egg, which is without doubt the best dish of Asturian gastronomy.
Cake and Happy Birthday
After the meal, the most awaited moment came and that was singing happy birthday to Jaiver while blowing out the candles of the cake.
A very tasty cake with strawberry flavour of which very little was left over because we all loved the taste and many of us repeated the dessert.
A special gift
As Javier is a lover of hunting and firearms. We gave him a 60 euro voucher at one of the local hunting shops. More than anything because in recent times he and his crew are getting successful in hunting and are spending a lot of bullets.
Feast of San Miguel
Despite the tiredness of the whole day, having had a hearty dinner, it was not time to go home yet and most of us decided to go to the festivities of San Miguel in La Caridad.
It is a popular festival that is about 2 kilometres from my house and barely 200 metres from the house of my friend Miguel, who is Javier's brother.It was therefore to be expected that we would also celebrate his saint's day.
As in all the popular festivals in my region it is common that there is a multitude of fairgrounds with attractions for the children with the corresponding music.
But where we really spent hours until the body said enough was watching the orchestras with current music and also with great classics of Spanish pop rock.
Although the performance I liked the most was that of the Olympus orchestra where apart from the vocal show they introduced many choreographic elements such as this one with two dancers hanging on a hoop at a considerable height from the stage which is in turn my entry for the #pobphotocontest organised by 
A relaxing Sunday
After a busy day and after going to bed the day before at 4am. Sunday, as expected, was a relaxing day to have lunch with the family and go for a walk around the village and visit the beach of Castello as every weekend.
Best regards.
