La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
WE’RE NOT GOING OUT FOR dinner very often for a variety of reasons, the primary ones being covid-19 and more people in town. But we’ve been missing meals at Mesón Salvador, so last night was the night. The terrace was full, but inside was quiet and we were able to relax and enjoy ourselves.
I love all the varieties of olives served by Mesón Salvador. Since San Geraldo hates olives — and, believe me, he’s tried — I finished off the bowl by myself. I got into olives when I was at university. I was over 6 feet tall (183 cm) and weighed 130 pounds (59 kilos). I read there were 25 calories in each olive, so I kept a huge jar in the refrigerator and popped them at random. By the time I graduated 4-1/2 years later, I weighed 145 pounds (66 kilos), although I don’t think it had anything to do with the olives.
But back to Mesón Salvador, all 175 pounds (79 kilos) of me had a glass of Ribera wine and San Geraldo and I shared a dish of lightly fried cod. We had never ordered it before and it’s clearly going to become a new standard. For main course, San Geraldo had avocado salad with prawns and I had meatballs in traditional almond sauce. We came home happy.
We’ve never been to Finland and were surprised the first time we came to Fuengirola from Sevilla and we went to Mesón Salvador and saw menus in Spanish, English, and Finnish. I’ve been told Fuengirola has the largest Finnish population outside of Finland, but I just did some more digging and I think it’s the second largest Finnish population, after Sweden. And that doesn’t include Finns who became citizens of other countries. I would love to learn the language, but it requires you to sometimes take a breath mid-word, and that seems like an awful lot of trouble. Finnish words can be formed from multiples of other Finnish words.
For example: Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas means, roughly, “airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student.” Our dear friend Lulu is Finnish and I’m curious to know if she’s familiar with this word, or if she can say it in one breath.
In case you’re interested, I’ve included the Finnish versions of the menu items. We finished (groan) our night with a stunning orange moon, which if Google Translator is correct, was in Finland a kaunis oranssi kuu.
By the way, olives are easy: Oliivit.
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NO SALIMOS A CENAR MUY menudo por una variedad de razones, las principales son covid-19 y más personas en la ciudad. Pero nos hemos estado perdiendo comidas en Mesón Salvador, así que anoche fuimos. La terraza estaba llena, pero por dentro era tranquila y pudimos relajarnos y disfrutar.
Me encantan todas las variedades de aceitunas que sirve Mesón Salvador. Como San Geraldo odia las aceitunas — y, créanme, lo ha intentado — terminé el cuenco yo solo. Me metí en las aceitunas cuando estaba en la universidad. Tenía más de 183 cm (6 pies) de altura y pesaba 59 kilos (130 libras). Leí que había 25 calorías en cada aceituna, así que mantuve un frasco enorme en el refrigerador y las abrí al azar. Cuando me gradué 4-1/2 años después, pesaba 66 kilos (145 libras), aunque no creo que tuviera nada que ver con las aceitunas.
Pero volviendo a Mesón Salvador, mis 79 kilos (175 libras) tenían una copa de vino Ribera y San Geraldo y compartí un plato de bacalao ligeramente frito. Nunca lo habíamos pedido antes y claramente se convertirá en un nuevo estándar. Como plato principal, San Geraldo tenía ensalada de aguacate con langostinos y yo tenía albóndigas en salsa de almendras tradicional. Llegamos a casa felices.
Nunca hemos estado en Finlandia y nos sorprendió la primera vez que estuvimos en Fuengirola de Sevilla y fuimos a Mesón Salvador y vimos menús en español, inglés, y finlandés. Me han dicho que Fuengirola tiene la mayor población finlandesa fuera de Finlandia, pero acabo de cavar un poco más y creo que es la segunda mayor población finlandesa, después de Suecia. Y eso no incluye a los finlandeses que se convirtieron en ciudadanos de otros países. Me encantaría aprender el idioma, pero a veces es necesario respirar a mitad de la palabra, y eso parece ser un gran problema. Las palabras finlandesas se pueden formar a partir de múltiples palabras finlandesas.
Por ejemplo: Lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas significa, aproximadamente, “estudiante de suboficial mecánico de motor de turbina a reacción de avión auxiliar”. Our dear friend Lulu is Finnish and I’m curious if she is familiar with this word, or if she can say it in one breath.
En caso de que estés interesado, he incluido las versiones finlandesas de los elementos del menú. Terminamos nuestra noche con una hermosa luna naranja, que si Google Translator está en lo correcto, era en Finlandia un kaunis oranssi kuu.
Por cierto, las aceitunas son fáciles: Oliivit.
Hombres por copa (David y Angel).
Miehet lasin kohdalla (David ya Angel).
Fried cod fish.
Uppopaisetettua turskaa.
Avocado and prawns.
Katkarapu-ja avokaado salaatti.
Home-made meatballs with almond sauce.
Kotitehdht lihapullat.
A lovely night out indeed……topped off by a bright moon.
According to a DNA test I had done a few years back I am 45% Finnish…..wouldn’t you know it!! lol
Jim:
Was the Finnish ancestry a surprise to you? That’s a lot of Finnish. I had none in my DNA results, although I suppose around 50 percent Italian was a big surprise, too.
All I can say, is “that is easy for you to say” impossible for me. The moon on the water is breathtaking.
David:
Not easy for me to say either. But Lulu did and I’ll share it. The moon on the water really is mesmerizing.
lovely orange moon. and men by the glass – YES PLEASE! meatballs with almond sauce, sounds interesting. no dessert? 🙁
anne marie:
No dessert. We’re saints (after twice-daily doses of banana bread and an entire Carpathian cake). Meatballs in almond sauce are the traditional style of Spanish meatballs. I never did know it was an almond sauce until I read it on the menu when we moved here.
Sorry, but I have this odd aversion to anything orange …. I wonder why.
As for olives, I love ’em, especially floating in a martooni!
And lastly, thanks for the food porn,
Bob:
So, let’s call it a melon moon. Or mango-melon. I’m not big on martinis with olives. I like odd martinis, like chocolate or passion fruit. But I LOVE olives. More food porn to come. Restaurante Primavera!
Very arty photo of the wineglass and its contents!
Debra:
I had some others, but that was the only one where I caught the men right in the glass.
Managed the word in one breath (just)…but as for actually saying it correctly? Well–as my Brit uncles would have said: Not bloody likely.
Mary:
Lulu recorded it for me. One breath and I’m sure she said it correctly. I’ll share it tomorrow.
Give an old gal a heart attack, why don’t you! I saw this title and thought that you’d had a stroke while writing! Love the moon shots (see what I did there?) and that wine glass.
Deedles:
I was simply speaking in tongues You should be used to that.
I absolutely love olives too. I can never get enough. Loved all of the pictures! I have read about the Finnish language and it is not related to most languages spoken in Europe.
mcpersonalspace54:
Mesón Salvador always has incredibly delicious olives. I feast on them. We assumed Finnish was related to the Scandinavian language and were surprised to learn it’s not. It’s so recognizable when spoken here… although I never recognize a single word!
I just saw on the news here where some of Spain went back on lockdown and wondered if that affected you. I love my olives..lately I have a run on them stuffed with blue cheese.
I don’t know about wine, but I’ve been taking men with my gin for years. The wine at least looks like a good vintage.
Mistress Maddie:
Way in the northeast (about 600 miles from us) the county of Segria is on lockdown, so nowhere near us. But nationwide cases have inched up. It’s concerning. In Málaga, they closed and managed some beaches differently during parts of the weekend due to people not following the rules. So far here in Fuengirola, all is fine. But we find ourselves staying home more. The wine, by the way, adds a very nice rosy color to the skin, but it does make things a bit sticky.
The food at Mesón Salvador always looks amazing! Try as I might, I can’t imagine how almond sauce would be made. I would ask you, but… well, I’ll just Google it!
Judith:
Almond sauce is made with almonds… and sauce! What is there to wonder about?
Doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue, does it? I know from experience how German can string words together to form a lengthy chain, but wasn’t aware that it happened in Finnish – or indeed other European languages – but this one takes the biscuit! (And everything else on the menu.)
Raybeard:
I now have a recording of Lulu saying the word, which I’ll share tomorrow. Somehow, it sounds like music from her lips.
This post checked all my boxes – wordplay, food, (olives – yes!) photos, photos of food, moon over the ocean. And a box I didn’t even know I had – men by the glass. Well done, Mitchell!
Wilma:
Good to know. I’ll be sure to included these items whenever I can. Especially men by the glass.
OK, when I saw that post title, I thought your blog had been taken over by a gibberish-spewing spam bot. (No offense to the Finns.)
Some of Dave’s co-workers are from Finland, so I actually hear Finnish fairly often. I’m reasonably certain I’ve never heard that particular word, though. I’m not even sure what it means in English! An aircraft mechanic intern?
I just don’t understand not liking olives. They’re one of my favorite things on the planet.
Steve:
I do love the little gasps mid-sentence when Finnish is spoken. I’ve heard it from Norwegians, too. SG hates olives, walnuts (pecans and similar), and coconut. More for me. It is kind of a shame though to live in Spain and hate beer and olives. Beer (and wine) is cheaper than SG’s soda!
What a beautiful photo through the wine glass. It looks romantic. X and I had a small collection of glass birds from Finland, made by a popular artist whose name I can’t remember. X seldom liked anything (he especially did not like me and believe me, the feeling was mutual), but he liked the glass birds. I let him keep the entire collection. What a stupid thing to do. I’m sure he didn’t appreciate it. Anyway, I’ve never been to Finland, but I like the glass birds by the artist whose name is lost to me.
Love,
Janie
janiejunebug:
Was the artist possibly Toikka? I’ve seen some of those and they are beautiful. From what you’ve said, if it meant making it easier to get rid of X, then it was worth it. Besides, if you still had the birds, they would simply remind you of him. And who needs that?!?
YES! Toikka! You’re right about them being a reminder. I keep some items in boxes because they remind me of him. I have two Limoges trinket boxes. I think I’ll stick to buying one of those every now and then.
Thank you. You helped me not care about the birds anymore.
janiejunebug:
Limoge trinket boxes sound like a great thing to collect. I’m going to go looking for pictures now (but I’ll let you collect them).
Finnish which is supposed to be related to Hungarian (that is not as certain as it once was supposed to be) has Hungarian beaten. The longest word in Hungarian, Megszentségteleníthetetlenségeskedéseitekért, only has 44 letters. It means something about “on account of not having been made holy”.
thickethouse:
At least that Hungarian translation makes sense. But, I’ve been told that any number of words can be strung together in Finnish to form a new word. I wonder if that’s true. This is said to be the longest official Finnish word.
Themeatballsinalmondsaucelookreallytastyandsodoeseverythingelse.
Walt the Fourth:
IknewIcouldcountonyou!
that Finnish word is quite a mouthful, I don’t know if it is used often.
larrymuffin:
I can’t imagine there are many opportunities to use that word and I can’t believe it ever needed to be created. But, our friend Lulu sent me an audio recording of her saying it (which I plan to share), and it rolls off her tongue.