Malaga (Coin), Spain - Casa Paco de Coin Restaurant

I just spent a lovely Easter weekend at my dear friend's farmhouse villa in Malaga (Cartama), Spain and woke up to this stunning mountain/pool view (above) from my bedroom window each morning. Every day began with a wake-up call of brilliant sunshine streaming through my window and a cacophony of animal sounds: roosters cock a doodle doo-ing, peacocks that sound like cats meowing, birds (of all kinds) tweeting, horses neighing and bees working the orange blossoms. 

Once out of bed, we would go for a long walk around the house and surrounding grounds and check out all of the flowers, lemon, orange and grapefruit trees.

By the fig tree we bumped into two lost goats who somehow wandered onto the property to eat all of the yummy leaves on my friend's land.

Then we would go and pick lots of lemons and oranges both for breakfast and to bring back home with us to London.

After breakfast we spent most of the day lounging outside by the pool and soaking up the Andalucian sunshine. Temperatures for the weekend were in the low 70s with just a few wispy clouds in the sky: perfection!

I just loved all of the different Spanish tiles around the patios of the house; the designs were beautiful and the vibrancy of the colors just popped out at you.

For lunch on Good Friday we went to a wonderful Spanish restaurant called Casa Paco de Coin in the town of Coin, about ten minutes from the house. 

Iberian ham

The local house red wine

A delicious iceberg wedge with homemade dressing of lemon, garlic, olive oil and salt

An avocado and artichoke starter

Mixed salad with the famous bluefin tuna in olive oil that southern Spain is noted for

Possibly the best pork I have ever eaten: Iberian pork baked in sea salt

Knocking off the salt crust

Some french fries and green peppers to go with the pork

Vegetable soup with bread and egg

Seared bluefin tuna over a puff pastry with pine nuts, tomatoes, carmelized onions and baby lettuce

Warm chocolate brownie with fresh whipped cream

The outside patio at Casa Paco de Coin

After lunch we went back to the house for a long nap in the sun by the pool, the smell of orange blossoms wafting through the air.