Seems we have all the wrong kind of friends and family.
When Nomad came I had to go and buy a new pillow.
We used to have nine pillows and nine pillow cases.
Then there were eight. I discovered this some time last fall. I was a little puzzled, but thought the kids might have used one for some game and they would turn up somewhere or other, I mean really! A big fat pillow for a bed and it's case, they just don't get lost that easily.
As I made up beds for Nomad and family, I discovered there were only seven.
Seven pillows and seven pillow cases.
I bought a new pillow for the living room. Things in my life must do double duty, or be used full time. I didn't get another pillow case. For what it is worth, a t-shirt slips over quite neatly and works darned well.
If you discover you have got one of our pillows... I offer no amnesty, instead view it as a gift and treat it well. Hope it likes it's new home. I will be counting the pillows when guests leave in future though.... ;-)))
The silver still seems to be here anyway.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Fun mind games to play with your dog
He doesn't really like this game, but instead of teaching him some useful behaviour, I want to teach him to flip the cookie up and catch it in there air.
He is kind of getting the idea too.
He is probably also getting crossed eyes.
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Books for a sec...
Just finished reading "Hunting and Gathering" by Anna Gavalda, translated from French...WONDERFUL. Loved it.
Also just finished Pride and Prejudice....that was actually pretty good too...sounds snotty of me, but towards the end I found it quite hard to put down. Eldest is giving it a go now, we'll see how far she gets.
What have you been reading?
Also just finished Pride and Prejudice....that was actually pretty good too...sounds snotty of me, but towards the end I found it quite hard to put down. Eldest is giving it a go now, we'll see how far she gets.
What have you been reading?
Friday, June 5, 2009
Truita de patates
I am craving a coffee so terribly badly right now I may have to run across the street and get one, and that sweet little fact, well, facts makes me already miss living here. We're heading back to TO for a whole lot of weeks, as in for the summer and the coffee there? Meh. The coffee here is so outrageously good......and so terribly handy......gonna have to go and have one very very soon.
Before the coffee though, I am going to try and tell you how to make a truite de patates. This is one of the things I really wanted to learn how to make well, and now I can usually pull it off. It is so very very good. Next I want to learn how to sharpen a knife to a blade that will cut a hair with a touch.
For the truite you will need four regular sized potatoes, not huge, not tiny, regular. And they should be those new looking thin skinned boilers.
Cut them up along with half a green pepper and half an onion, and cut them pretty thinly...you can see below, you also need to add a couple of teaspoons of salt, and fry them in a fairly large pan....so they have lots of room to bathe in the boiling oil:
You may notice that there is a LOT of oil in there. I have too little. You cannot make good truite de patates and fear oil. Or salt, because there is a WHOLE lot of salt in there too.....like two teaspoons, maybe more. Cook it over a medium low heat, slowly, stirring from time to time and maybe adding some more oil. They should be mostly covered in the oil. Don't let it for browned crusts though.....
Meanwhile you break 5 eggs into a bowl.....
Look at those eggs, I used to think an egg was an egg was an egg....but not anymore. See that wider flatter yellower one at the front? In any normal situation that would be a gourmet egg, sold from a small local egg producer, but not from a farm or anything, this is a commercial egg operation. Those almost orange-y ones? That if you look closely you can see are totally holding their round shape? My local egg lady. Can I just tell you that eggs are different, and some are indeed much much better than others.
All that said, whip them up. I have to say my lady's egg yolks resist breaking up admirably....if you look below now, you will see, in my sadly blurry photo, that the potatoes are ready, they are transparent through and they are starting to break up...nice and soft.
Put them, piping hot, directly into the egg mixture. This is very important. Drain a little of the oil off the taters as you take them from the pan, but stir them right into the eggs, you can actually see that some of the egg is starting to cook. This is a Very Good Thing. It means that it will all stick together properly.
Now, pour out the oil into a glass or something and save it, because you HAVE to use good olive oil for this (or not) but it is far too much to waste.....and then I was instructed to taste the raw egg mixture to see if it needs more salt. If find this kind of disgusting and not a totally safe idea, so what I am going to tell you to do is to eat those delicious greasy crispy scrapings from the potato frying pan. They should be really salty. Remember, there has to be enough salt for both the taters and the eggs....add more if it isn't really salty. You should think there is to much......
Now you need to put a smaller pan on to heat...please ignore my dirty stove top, m'kay? The pan needs to be thoroughly heated on a med/med low heat....and then add in a couple of tablespoons of the oil....when the oil is sizzling hot, pour in the egg...don't be fearful, really pour it in.
You see how it is bubbling up the sides there? That is also a Really Good Thing. It means that the eggs are setting up and making the skin you are going to need. Don't leave it here a long long time, when you can slide a knife down the sides and they come loose, but the center and top still seem impossibly liquidy, it is time to flip it.
You will need to put a plate on top of it, move it to a surface where you can put hot things down and with hot mitts on each hand you quickly flip it over so that it falls out onto the plate.
Now, I don't want to scare anyone, but we are actually talking boiling oil, so...please don't try this in a bikini, and you must rotate the plate/pan combo so that the plate rotates towards you, so....the plate is on top, you have a hand on either side, and you have to rotate it so that the pan rotates away, and as it turns you see the plate passing you and the pan emerging from the top. You have to do it quickly too. Oil will fall out from the FAR side, which is why you must rotate it AWAY from you. You may practice with an empty pan and a bit of water before you try it....don't want anyone getting hurt.
Now look at the pan, if anything is stuck to it, scrape it off, give the pan a quick scrub, put it back on the heat and re-oil it with a couple of teaspoons of oil at least. Hear me now, don't fear the fat.
If great wacks of the truite stuck, no worries, m'kay? Put it on the plate with the rest of it for now.
Slide the biggest bit back into the now hot and oily pan and fit in anything that didn't quite work, the egg will harden and stick it together.
When you can pass a knife down an edge and slide the whole thing around, after a couple of minutes, flip it again, and again, AWAY from you onto a clean non-raw-egg-y plate...salmonella is G.R.O.S.S.
Slide it back on, you probably don't have to regrease from here on, but if anything is sticking to the pan, take it off as it will burn and taste horrible.
After this second flip, let it sit for a few minutes, over med-low heat, you don't want to burn the outsides, just cook the insides....
After a while, or when the bottom seems pretty brown, flip it again, and return it to the pan again. The first two flips make the skin and the shape, the second two cook it without burning it.
Again leave it for a few minutes to cook through, five should do, if not be too much, slide it onto a clean plate, and
It should look a bit like that, please not how much smaller this pan is, you want it thick.
It is always delicious, but if you have some crusty french baguette, smear the bread with the juicy innards of a sliced tomato, drizzle on some really good olive oil (don't fear the oil) and place a slice of the truite aboard (don't fear the carbs either)
OMG a little slice of BCN.
Oh, and be nice to yourself when you have problems, I have so far made a perfect one, made one where I forgot the salt, made one where it broke, and one that wasn't cooked through when I went to eat it and had to go back in the pan for a while....
We haven't watched our grannies cook it since we were knee high, it takes some doing.
Hope you like it!
Before the coffee though, I am going to try and tell you how to make a truite de patates. This is one of the things I really wanted to learn how to make well, and now I can usually pull it off. It is so very very good. Next I want to learn how to sharpen a knife to a blade that will cut a hair with a touch.
For the truite you will need four regular sized potatoes, not huge, not tiny, regular. And they should be those new looking thin skinned boilers.
Cut them up along with half a green pepper and half an onion, and cut them pretty thinly...you can see below, you also need to add a couple of teaspoons of salt, and fry them in a fairly large pan....so they have lots of room to bathe in the boiling oil:
You may notice that there is a LOT of oil in there. I have too little. You cannot make good truite de patates and fear oil. Or salt, because there is a WHOLE lot of salt in there too.....like two teaspoons, maybe more. Cook it over a medium low heat, slowly, stirring from time to time and maybe adding some more oil. They should be mostly covered in the oil. Don't let it for browned crusts though.....Meanwhile you break 5 eggs into a bowl.....
Look at those eggs, I used to think an egg was an egg was an egg....but not anymore. See that wider flatter yellower one at the front? In any normal situation that would be a gourmet egg, sold from a small local egg producer, but not from a farm or anything, this is a commercial egg operation. Those almost orange-y ones? That if you look closely you can see are totally holding their round shape? My local egg lady. Can I just tell you that eggs are different, and some are indeed much much better than others.
All that said, whip them up. I have to say my lady's egg yolks resist breaking up admirably....if you look below now, you will see, in my sadly blurry photo, that the potatoes are ready, they are transparent through and they are starting to break up...nice and soft.
Put them, piping hot, directly into the egg mixture. This is very important. Drain a little of the oil off the taters as you take them from the pan, but stir them right into the eggs, you can actually see that some of the egg is starting to cook. This is a Very Good Thing. It means that it will all stick together properly.
Now, pour out the oil into a glass or something and save it, because you HAVE to use good olive oil for this (or not) but it is far too much to waste.....and then I was instructed to taste the raw egg mixture to see if it needs more salt. If find this kind of disgusting and not a totally safe idea, so what I am going to tell you to do is to eat those delicious greasy crispy scrapings from the potato frying pan. They should be really salty. Remember, there has to be enough salt for both the taters and the eggs....add more if it isn't really salty. You should think there is to much......
Now you need to put a smaller pan on to heat...please ignore my dirty stove top, m'kay? The pan needs to be thoroughly heated on a med/med low heat....and then add in a couple of tablespoons of the oil....when the oil is sizzling hot, pour in the egg...don't be fearful, really pour it in.
You see how it is bubbling up the sides there? That is also a Really Good Thing. It means that the eggs are setting up and making the skin you are going to need. Don't leave it here a long long time, when you can slide a knife down the sides and they come loose, but the center and top still seem impossibly liquidy, it is time to flip it.You will need to put a plate on top of it, move it to a surface where you can put hot things down and with hot mitts on each hand you quickly flip it over so that it falls out onto the plate.
Now, I don't want to scare anyone, but we are actually talking boiling oil, so...please don't try this in a bikini, and you must rotate the plate/pan combo so that the plate rotates towards you, so....the plate is on top, you have a hand on either side, and you have to rotate it so that the pan rotates away, and as it turns you see the plate passing you and the pan emerging from the top. You have to do it quickly too. Oil will fall out from the FAR side, which is why you must rotate it AWAY from you. You may practice with an empty pan and a bit of water before you try it....don't want anyone getting hurt.
Now look at the pan, if anything is stuck to it, scrape it off, give the pan a quick scrub, put it back on the heat and re-oil it with a couple of teaspoons of oil at least. Hear me now, don't fear the fat.
If great wacks of the truite stuck, no worries, m'kay? Put it on the plate with the rest of it for now.
Slide the biggest bit back into the now hot and oily pan and fit in anything that didn't quite work, the egg will harden and stick it together.
When you can pass a knife down an edge and slide the whole thing around, after a couple of minutes, flip it again, and again, AWAY from you onto a clean non-raw-egg-y plate...salmonella is G.R.O.S.S.
Slide it back on, you probably don't have to regrease from here on, but if anything is sticking to the pan, take it off as it will burn and taste horrible.
After this second flip, let it sit for a few minutes, over med-low heat, you don't want to burn the outsides, just cook the insides....
After a while, or when the bottom seems pretty brown, flip it again, and return it to the pan again. The first two flips make the skin and the shape, the second two cook it without burning it.
Again leave it for a few minutes to cook through, five should do, if not be too much, slide it onto a clean plate, and
It should look a bit like that, please not how much smaller this pan is, you want it thick.
It is always delicious, but if you have some crusty french baguette, smear the bread with the juicy innards of a sliced tomato, drizzle on some really good olive oil (don't fear the oil) and place a slice of the truite aboard (don't fear the carbs either)
OMG a little slice of BCN.
Oh, and be nice to yourself when you have problems, I have so far made a perfect one, made one where I forgot the salt, made one where it broke, and one that wasn't cooked through when I went to eat it and had to go back in the pan for a while....
We haven't watched our grannies cook it since we were knee high, it takes some doing.
Hope you like it!
Thursday, June 4, 2009
New shoes and random photos
I got asked a couple of posts ago about the Spanish hours. Not only did I consider letting youngest, who is in grade school, go out to a party tonight that would get her home around 2am, but I let her go! Now I am waiting up for her....the horror. I will grant that this is not normal but I am also not really all that surprised either. I would never have even considered the idea before we came here.
Now onto other random things.....
See these?
These are new shoes I bought today. They are so very achingly typically Catalan. I view them as camoflauge...makes me look more like I am part of the crowd.....
Also, you see, Nomad is a Very Bad Influence. With her I bought a bunch of clothes and have ignited a desire to wear skirts and dresses. I even bought a dress that I TOTALLY love. Nothing girly about it at all. LOVE IT. The black birkenstocks however, were not working with it at all. Not at all. New shoes in order. I used to have tons and tons of shoes...then I had to babies and my feet grew. Then I went barefoot for three years in the Bahamas, and now I am getting some footwear back. jejejejejejejeje
So, what else have we here....yes. I think the neighbours are going to need to mow the house, no?
Another question, why do the glass collection guys have to come at 8am?
This is another one of those doors in the hill. They usually hold tools and such....
I don't know how you would get your tools back from here:
I presume it used to be a water source, a spring in fact. There may even be water down there still. I would so love to go down that some day and see what is at the bottom. Wonder how I could do that.
Now onto other random things.....
See these?
These are new shoes I bought today. They are so very achingly typically Catalan. I view them as camoflauge...makes me look more like I am part of the crowd.....
Also, you see, Nomad is a Very Bad Influence. With her I bought a bunch of clothes and have ignited a desire to wear skirts and dresses. I even bought a dress that I TOTALLY love. Nothing girly about it at all. LOVE IT. The black birkenstocks however, were not working with it at all. Not at all. New shoes in order. I used to have tons and tons of shoes...then I had to babies and my feet grew. Then I went barefoot for three years in the Bahamas, and now I am getting some footwear back. jejejejejejejeje
So, what else have we here....yes. I think the neighbours are going to need to mow the house, no?
Another question, why do the glass collection guys have to come at 8am?
This is another one of those doors in the hill. They usually hold tools and such....
I don't know how you would get your tools back from here:
I presume it used to be a water source, a spring in fact. There may even be water down there still. I would so love to go down that some day and see what is at the bottom. Wonder how I could do that.
Telescopes
This was seriously seriously cool.
Youngest school has been studying Astronomy this year in all sorts of different ways. Can I just say that I am currently totally in love with her school and all the teachers there. They do their jobs!!!!! and more.
SO
The school organised an excursion for the kids and their families.
There is a man in the village who has some seriously wicked telescopes.....like this and this but they seemed bigger.
We walked up on foot (the only people to do so) and got there a little early so we would still have some light, and then we saw those telescopes, MAN those suckers are HUGE!!!!
He also had this really cool computer keyboard thing, though it looked more like a calculator that he could put waypoints into and the telescope would turn itself to find the object.
We saw the moon and it looked amazing, you could make it out in 3D...like this though we could only see a fraction of it at a time, and we saw Saturn too, I made out the rings and all, it was honestly amazing. Sort of like this, though more black and white and quite a bit smaller.
Fortunately we got a lift down (from a bunch of the teachers) as we didn't leave till about 11:15 pm. You have got to love grade school excursions that go on until nearly midnight.
I love this school. Can I just mention that I wanted to keep Youngest home for the afternoon, but she didn't want to, they had - and I quote - a fun afternoon. She wants to go to school.
I am so in love.
Youngest school has been studying Astronomy this year in all sorts of different ways. Can I just say that I am currently totally in love with her school and all the teachers there. They do their jobs!!!!! and more.
SO
The school organised an excursion for the kids and their families.
There is a man in the village who has some seriously wicked telescopes.....like this and this but they seemed bigger.
We walked up on foot (the only people to do so) and got there a little early so we would still have some light, and then we saw those telescopes, MAN those suckers are HUGE!!!!
He also had this really cool computer keyboard thing, though it looked more like a calculator that he could put waypoints into and the telescope would turn itself to find the object.
We saw the moon and it looked amazing, you could make it out in 3D...like this though we could only see a fraction of it at a time, and we saw Saturn too, I made out the rings and all, it was honestly amazing. Sort of like this, though more black and white and quite a bit smaller.
Fortunately we got a lift down (from a bunch of the teachers) as we didn't leave till about 11:15 pm. You have got to love grade school excursions that go on until nearly midnight.
I love this school. Can I just mention that I wanted to keep Youngest home for the afternoon, but she didn't want to, they had - and I quote - a fun afternoon. She wants to go to school.
I am so in love.
Well that was fun
I just got off the phone with the math teacher after the latest little fiasco. I am so very very tired of dealing with this issue.
I used to feel a little bad for her; you know, first year teacher, big bad classroom.
Not so much now.
Two words come to mind to describer her:
Arrogant
and worse still,
Unteachable.
'nuff said.
I used to feel a little bad for her; you know, first year teacher, big bad classroom.
Not so much now.
Two words come to mind to describer her:
Arrogant
and worse still,
Unteachable.
'nuff said.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Fat
Sometimes living in Spain is like living in a dryer.
Hot blazing sun, the Catalans say "el sol pica" the sun stings. The same verb 'pica' is used for wasps, as a matter of reference.
Couple that with a howling wind and you can pretty much feel the moisture being sucked from your body. My laundry dries in no time.
And I lived in the Bahamas for the better part of three years.....
Nomad brought me down some amazing cream....
I wonder if they make an olive oil bed, you know, forget the water bed, olive oil.....put my hair up in something impermeable and just roll me around in that olive oil like a pig in mud, leave me there for about 8 - 12 hours and I should make it through the next few hours.
Eldest and I are both craving chocolate....
*ahhhhhh*
Time to go mining in those couch cushions and see if we can find some change.....more likely the problem will be that nothing is open.
We're going to be marching around the hills tonight in the middle of the night and staring through telescopes.....more later.
Hot blazing sun, the Catalans say "el sol pica" the sun stings. The same verb 'pica' is used for wasps, as a matter of reference.
Couple that with a howling wind and you can pretty much feel the moisture being sucked from your body. My laundry dries in no time.
And I lived in the Bahamas for the better part of three years.....
Nomad brought me down some amazing cream....
I wonder if they make an olive oil bed, you know, forget the water bed, olive oil.....put my hair up in something impermeable and just roll me around in that olive oil like a pig in mud, leave me there for about 8 - 12 hours and I should make it through the next few hours.
Eldest and I are both craving chocolate....
*ahhhhhh*
Time to go mining in those couch cushions and see if we can find some change.....more likely the problem will be that nothing is open.
We're going to be marching around the hills tonight in the middle of the night and staring through telescopes.....more later.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Old pics
Hi there, Nomad left and took two of my god kids with her, the boys downstairs moved out and I am hoping that the next set will be as good, it is not quite close enough to the end of the year to get excited, Eldest is sick, Youngest may be headed that way and I am, once again, up too late; soooooooo I thought that the best thing to do would be to look for inspiration in some old posts that never got published. Bless the things, it's like mining amongst the lint in the couch cushions when you really really need some chocolate, but haven't got any cash.
BONUS!
So what have we found here
*blowing off the lint, crumbs and dust-bunnies*
The Chuckmiester!
He had a very tough weekend, but when we talked to the vet, it could have been much worse....you don't want to go there, especially the guys in the crowd.
Chuckbacca again, these photos are from 2007, but he looks like this still....
Where is that toy? Didn't they put one in this bag?
Youngest lost a molar this weekend amidst all the drama and goings on....these are older though, 2007 or so as well. We didn't think of snapping a photo this time.
Woops! There he is again the big fuzz-bucket! He and I did go into the hills today, and I got a photo of a well/pit someone built up there, but we'll save that for another day.
When I have slept more.
See that couch down there? We don't have that couch anymore; there was a considerable drop in elevation between the back and the front of the seat. Coupled with the entirely unmoored cushions, it could lure you into the idea that you were comfortable, but then creeping up on you would be the realisation that indeed, it was a couch from h*ll. Actually I have mislead you, because while the realisation of your discomfort was creeping up on you, you were creeping down to the ground while your pants were mysteriously creeping upwards giving you an automatic/anonymous wedgie. It was indeed the couch from h*ll.
The dog however? He creeps up on you too, then he licks your cuts/toes/eyes/hands and makes you realise how sweet he is. The man though is convinced that he is the Woody Allen of the dog world.
He is something of a Momma's boy.
BONUS!
So what have we found here
*blowing off the lint, crumbs and dust-bunnies*
The Chuckmiester!
He had a very tough weekend, but when we talked to the vet, it could have been much worse....you don't want to go there, especially the guys in the crowd.
Chuckbacca again, these photos are from 2007, but he looks like this still....
Where is that toy? Didn't they put one in this bag?
Youngest lost a molar this weekend amidst all the drama and goings on....these are older though, 2007 or so as well. We didn't think of snapping a photo this time.
Woops! There he is again the big fuzz-bucket! He and I did go into the hills today, and I got a photo of a well/pit someone built up there, but we'll save that for another day.
When I have slept more.
See that couch down there? We don't have that couch anymore; there was a considerable drop in elevation between the back and the front of the seat. Coupled with the entirely unmoored cushions, it could lure you into the idea that you were comfortable, but then creeping up on you would be the realisation that indeed, it was a couch from h*ll. Actually I have mislead you, because while the realisation of your discomfort was creeping up on you, you were creeping down to the ground while your pants were mysteriously creeping upwards giving you an automatic/anonymous wedgie. It was indeed the couch from h*ll.
The dog however? He creeps up on you too, then he licks your cuts/toes/eyes/hands and makes you realise how sweet he is. The man though is convinced that he is the Woody Allen of the dog world.
He is something of a Momma's boy.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Nomad....friends.
Nomad has been here this weekend, with her kids and husband and it has been so utterly delicious.
I have so loved having her, her keen open eyes, and her enthusiasm and her delight, also the brilliant interesting conversation and the time to hang with a friend I really love.
OMGoodness.
She has, single handedly, re-opened my eyes to the sheer beauty around me, and how much I love where I live. I got that, but goodness, we are so very very lucky.
It is 12:50 am, and that is all I can write.
Hope you all have had a lovely time,
Cheers,
O
I have so loved having her, her keen open eyes, and her enthusiasm and her delight, also the brilliant interesting conversation and the time to hang with a friend I really love.
OMGoodness.
She has, single handedly, re-opened my eyes to the sheer beauty around me, and how much I love where I live. I got that, but goodness, we are so very very lucky.
It is 12:50 am, and that is all I can write.
Hope you all have had a lovely time,
Cheers,
O
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