Power Blackout

Well, that was interesting, 20 hours without power. Main concern was the freezer, how long can that be without power before the ice cream is no longer edible? (Answers on a postcard to the wellknown address)

Also, engineer Jansen has an old iPhone, with a battery that was replaced a year ago. Since then the iPhone does not accurately know the battery percentage, and it will crash from 25% to 1% in 5 minutes, and then stay like that for hours, until it dies. If that happens you need to recalibrate your iPhone. That means: use it till the battery runs out completely, then recharge to 100%. Engineer Jansen was in that process at 14% battery when the powerout happened. The 1% period did not last hours, but just 15 minutes. So, recalibration was successful.

The (hybrid) car has a USB that can charge a phone. Ooh! Clever! Alas, when you leave the car, charging stops after 5 minutes. 

He has learned that without internets there is a total news blackout, these days. If the americans had invaded Spain, he would not have noticed.

Power was out from noon till 5:30 the next morning. No internets or GSM. Internets were restored 3 hours later, GSM took another hour. Inconvenient, as engineer De Waal is currently visiting his mum, who turned 90.

It was less fun for Coco, too, who relies on electric light to go outside at night, and find her way back into the house. She got stuck outside twice, and needed rescuing using a LED lamp. Fortunately that was charged sufficiently.

Meanwhile engineer Jansen was lucky having his Kivi collection.

More shadesails

Where the table stands we use a big parasol. It's huge. It's the hugest parasol we have.  But, with the gusts of wind we experience here (huuuge gusts of wind!) the parasol blows over. And it's not huge enough. 

New plan: more shade sails. Probably option 3.

1

Or

2

Or

3

Mango Irwin

Mango Irwin. Those pots are 45 cm high, so engineer Jansen needs to blast a big hole. And what does he find? A huge stone. Grmbl. Move 50 cm to the back, then. (Notice the cushion, for engineer Jansen’s sensitive knees.).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_(mango)

Huuuge stone, no one has huge stones like we do. It’s an amazingly ginormous stone! Huuge!

This takes almost two hours. Notice the cushion, for engineer Jansen’s sensitive knees.

Dama Negra

Higuera,fig, vijg. Dama Negra.

Planting hole 50x50x50cm. That is 125 liters of hard soil.

(Bosch hammer drill, as engineer Jansen cannot do without)

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coll_de_Dama_Negra

Barbacoa Electrica 2

In Barbacoa Electrica we introduced the Bosch TFB4650 electric barbecue, and gave it a stern grilling. Verdict: mwah, not hot enough, and that Engineer Jansen had ordered lava stones, and would try again.

Here we are. The lava stones were put into the device. They fit nicely under the heating element.

Go!

Chicken thigh, meat side

Chicken thigh, skin side

Lamb chops

Verdict

It's a bit better with lava stones. You need to preheat them, 10 minutes. 

There is a downside too: you need to clean and dry the stones, they get quite greasy.

All in all, charcoal is much preferred over this device. When there's watermelon we'll do the ultimate test. If it manages to properly grill that all complaints will be retracted.

H2O!?

While cleaning, engineer Jansen, observant as he is, noticed an inscription "H2O". On closer inspection also a vertical line, and below that the cryptic word "MIN" was noticed. 

Aha, this barbecue is supposed to be run with a layer of water! Probably against overheating, although so far overheating is not too great a concern. 

This is exactly why you would need an instruction manual, but so far none was encountered, even though Bosch always has manuals. But not of this one.

I guess the lava stones already protect the underside against overheating, although the PKU375CA1 and PKU375N14E! have a dish with water under the heating element, specifically there against overheating. (So: water - lava stones - heater - grid - chicken thighs, fish, waffles) 

Not sure if it is a great idea to have lava stones and water in the same tin. The TFB4650 has an extra external heat shield UNDER the tin, a sheet of metal that is clamped onto the stand. We may try adding some water some time. Maybe it's even easier to clean the bbq then.

Shadesails

Climate in the south of Spain is lovely. Temperatures are usually nice, usually around 30º max, with some exceptions. For us northerners the trouble is not temperature, but the very strong sunshine. (See: Moving to Aargh 11 - HOT!) We need to stay out of the direct sun. At least, engineer Jansen does. Engineer De Waal may have Spanish genes, and does not melt like Engineer Jansen.

Shadesails! If you’ve been to Oz you know what to do against too much hot sunshine. Engineer Jansen determined it essential to shade parts of the terrace floor, as that radiates heat into the house.

Attached to the house using 12mm x 6cm wedge bolts and nylon rope.

Barbacoa Electrica

Engineer Jansen loves a barbecue. Charcoal, of course. But, here, open fires are FORBIDDEN, and thus charcoal barbecues too. A very old gas barbecue came with the house, but the insides are all rusted beyond repair. 

25 years ago we had an Ilve-Boretti (gas) stove where you could choose two options: an electric barbecue with lava stones, or a fish burner. We chose the fish burner, as burning fishes inside the house seemed more a thing to do than barbecueing. We never used the fish burner, it was just a nice space on the hob to put pans to the side.

Bosch 

What to do. Engineer Jansen is not keen on gas barbecues anyway.  Electric? Searches for Ilve or Boretti did not yield any barbecues. His engineer's eye was caught by a very nice Bosch, model PKU375N14E:

PKU375N14E

And an older model, the PKU375CA1:

PKU375CA1

He quite likes that the heating element is under the lava stones, not on top. So the fat and juices can't directly hit the very hot heating element.

Unfortunately, none are available.  Not second hand either.  That saves us choosing between a PKU375CA1 and a PKU375N14E! 

(Yes, Gaggenau has a similar one too, but we’re not going to pay €1000+ for a barbecue)

TFB4650 

Then this one turned up, the TFB4650:

TFB4650

Only found in Spain. But not in any shop. Unavailable, agotado,  Grmbll.

Wallapop

But, Wallapop, a second hand online shop, like Marktplaats and ebay had this one for €50! "Almost new". Well, for €50 you cannot complain. Ordered it, it arrived promptly, €3,95 delivery cost to the nearest post office. Only disappointment: Wallapop adds €4,40 compulsory "protection" costs to the bill.  

"Nice barbacoa you got there, gov. Shame if something would happen to it.."

You can take the TFB4650 apart:

Take the heating element out, everything else is inox, and could even be cleaned in the dishwasher!

Let's try it out! 

Big advantage is (should be) that  you don't need to light the barbecue. Just switch it on, and it's hot in a few minutes. No preparation, no mess! 

Hm, it's 2100W, so you need to unroll your electric extension cord. Can't leave it rolled up.

No mess

No mess, at all, honestly!

Chicken thigh and courgette, a chorizo, followed by waffles.

Verdict

It's not hot enough. Engineer Jansen expects sizzling and the need for asbestos suits. But, it only just manages to make the chicken skin crispy. The courgette and the waffles are reasonably okay. The chorizo was fine, chorizo needs subtle cooking, no atomic blasting. (There is no photo of the chorizo, as it was devoured before the idea of a photo happened.)

What does get hot (warm) is the electric plug. Apparently 2000W is near extension cables maximum, and also of regular sockets.

Next step: lava stones

The TFB4650 is just a heating element suspended in the air in a metal tin. Not sure if heat is reflected or lost. Lets try adding lava stones. They use them in many barbecues, so there must be a purpose. Maybe they absorb and reflect the heat, diminishing losses.

There is no room between the heater and the grid for lava stones. The stones cannot touch the heater, that will damage the element. It's just a thin metal tube with a coiled heating wire inside.  So, even though Engineer Jansen does not like that, they have to go under. There is sufficient space under the heater. So here goes:

Next try: tomorrow!