We went out of our place and there he was tied up in the park near our house, I guess his owner wanted to get a drink at the local café?????
Back to a proper order here...Saturday morning I got started on this painting that was inspired by last weeks visit to the MACBA with Eldest. You can read about that here if you want.
When walking in the hills I came across a whole bushel of these cacti that had so massively overproduced fruit that they were not only sagging under the weight, but actually breaking. Poor things. Prickly too.
We went into BCN over the children's wild protestations to see this ancient Benedictine Monastery, that was founded in 912. Unfortunately we were not able to get inside, so there is only a photo of one part of a lintel and....
This bike leaned up in the courtyard. BCN has now got BiCing, which is a bike share program. Just brilliant. For 24 Euros a YEAR (yes you read that right) you get a card that entitles you to use a city maintained bicycle for a period of 30 min or an hour as many times a day as you want and as many days a year as you want. They have stands for the bikes everywhere, and I really mean everywhere....and it is so fantastic!
I also like the juxtaposition of the bike and the ancient monastery and it's stone work.
Some one dressed Chuck up.
Poor Chuck.
He actually didn't seem to mind much, though he shook the pants off pretty fast.
We went to the local teams football game, soccer in NA. The good guys got trounced 4 - 0, so Beth I can so relate. A 4 - 0 loss is a complete trouncing in soccer. Ah well. It was deliciously warm watching the game, the sun was shining, there was no wind...I was all hot and getting sunned. Mmmmm I felt just like one of those lizards you see lying out, soaking up those warming rays.....so good.
And there was a little bloodshed at the end of the match. An accident, but it almost made me feel at home, watching a hockey game. These soccer players though...sorry guys, but SHAKE IT OFF!
When we got back from the game the man and I sat out on the porch reading, chatting, planning for Christmas break, and struggling with paypal...
urgh. It was HOT! Woo hoo... I LOVE Spain.
This is the fire I lit in the house tonight. We have this really funky little fireplace in the kitchen wall, that we have never used, though guests of ours have.....
See it there?
My idea had been to roast a pumpkin in there. Have I mentioned that we still have quite a lot of pumpkin left. So I fired it up!
Only I didn't time this very well, because I forgot that at 6pm the man and I were going to church. Now before those of you who know us well drop down and wind yourselves, there was a choral concert on....so I had to remove my flaming-gradually-becoming-nice-toasty-coals bits and dunk them in the sink. Filled with cold water. You see, we just didn't think it was a good idea to leave the little fire-thingy lit while the kids were home and we went out. Even if the kids weren't home, it just seemed to need us to be there.
The concert was great...btw.
Because of this, I didn't get to roast my pumpkins...which looks suspiciously like butternut squashes that got really round.
Here's what I did on the spur of the moment, and you know what? It was great.
Grate up your pumpkin job-y, mine was about the size of an acorn squash. You peeled that first, right?
Now in a big heavy frying pan, preferably cast iron because I love them so much. They cook so well, clean up easily, hide any dirt you don't get, and keep your iron levels up...no kidding.
Wait, I digress. In the pan, on med-high heat, warm olive oil...good stuff. Ours is grown locally and delivered to the door. (sorry, that wasn't nice) In it, put some rosemary, preferably fresh and coarsely chopped. Let that stooge around and get to know each other. Meanwhile grate up an apple, a good big firm tart one, like a Fuji or something...drop the whole mess into the pan, turn the heat down a bit. I put the lid on at first to make sure it would all cook through, and then took it off so it wouldn't get too soupy....stir it somewhere between fairly-often and now-and-then....I thought I would have to adjust the seasonings, as in add some, when it was nearly done, but NO! It was AWESOME. Tart and sweet and soft and textured....oh so good.
It was so good that we ate it all up and I don't have any photos. So sorry.
There you go, hope you had a nice weekend too.
9 comments:
I love your fireplace!! And poor Chuck...he looks a tad bit humiliated....
My kids used to dress our Chepard up and he would get that very same look on his face...like it was SO beneath him. Now our girl dog....she LOVES to get dressed up and will model for everyone. Weird!
Wow, what a cool fireplace. Also, when I was in Arizona they made a jam out of prickly pears. It was so tasty!
It would be interesting to know why a donkey was brought into town and then tied up. Do people walk their donkeys a lot there? We have two donkeys, but don't bring them to town.
I didn't know cacti had fruit.
Good idea about the bikes. I think there was something like that in the paper here where someone was thinking of starting that program here. Of course, it will have to wait until spring now....
And Soccer guys look like wimps compared to hockey players. Maybe that is why soccer isn't so big here. But there is no doubt that soccer players are in great shape...but they fake being hurt too much and they all seem to make a miraculous recovery when that magic sponge gets rubbed on their boo boo's.
So, are you saying that you went into this post ass-first? Baaahahaha! I kill me.
Roast pumpkins? Hey, I only thought they came in pies!
What a great idea with the bikes! Wish more cities would do that...
We have many, many photos of various dogs dressed in clothes - poor, patient (funny looking) pets! Kids get such a kick out of doing that.
Love that fireplace - and you're like me. Could never leave it going while away.
Bullwinkle: THAT's the problem, we shoulda gotten a girl dog...
Kelly: Thanks for dropping by...would you have a recipe for the prickly pear jelly, I have a virtually limitless supply of the fruit.
Sirdar: You are SO right about the soccer princesses, though I do have to grant that they don't get a shift off to recover....donkeys used to be used for most everything and are much beloved by the Catalans, but why it was here?????I have no idea.
DD: Isn't a pie kinda roasted? You slay me too.
Trish: It is awesome isn't it...I think there is a northern European city that has the same program, I want to say Amsterdam, but I am not sure....
Beth: Glad your boys dressed up the dogs too, guess they have to earn their grub somehow....yup with the fire...I would just sit and twitch if I left it going.
The pumpkin sounds great, and I love cast iron frying pans, especially now with the wood stove. You have a nice fire place. Once you use it more, you will be more comfortable with leaving it. When we first moved here, we didn't even know how to make a fire in a wood stove, and put it off for a good long time until it was finally necessary. It took a while for us to be comfortable with it going while we slept, but now it is as natural as the furnace (the one we had in other homes, but not in this one).
Chuck is really cute.
I like the bike idea that is there.
You have some great photos.
Dawn: There is no question that once I trust it more I will be more comfy with it...but it is just set into this wall, with melamine lining around it...I feel like I've started a fire in my closet...kinda weird.
I think Chuck is cute too. Thanks
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