la petite (full of snot) apprentie domestique

This is how my day off started last Friday. Eggs for breakfast using my new-ish curvy timer, which I wish worked as finely as it looks. Unfortunately, it is a bit useless at telling time, which is basically its only job. So, pretty as you are, you little Barbapapa of a timer, you are going back to the shop.

So, that was Friday. I potted and faffed about the house in the morning (I'm a big fan of lazying about in my pjs, reading the paper, that sort of thing), went out to do some errands and just enjoyed a very chilled and needed day off. I was already starting to feel a bit bleh but kind of ignored it. On Saturday, it sort of started to transpire I was really not 100%. (To be honest, I had been stifling it for a week; the weather had taken a maniacal and evil turn and gone back to Autumn behaviour, and it had been dead busy at work. However, I had just chosen to ignore all those signs and believe the blehness would simply go away at some point.)

It didn't. I'm now home nursing the last remnants of a bad cold/flu. [When does it actually start being The Flu and stop being a common cold? I very rarely have (what is considered) a temperature but still suffer the rest of the symptoms. Flu or no flu, "ça c'est la question"! Anyhoo... I ramble (fact!).] I'm still coughing my lungs out but seem to have slept an itsy bitsy (teeny weeny) bit better than the last few nights (probably something to do with that cough syrup, which should probably be listed under soft drugs; it knocked me out, like!) so things are looking up!

As you may have read, I had the brilliant idea of roasting a huge pollo on Saturday. I was still in denial about how crappy I was feeling so, to my amazement, it turned out well-roasted and well-tasty (was a good quality organic specimen, that chick). So, apart from a couple of tense expletive-laden moments in the kitchen and virtually managing to kill all vitamins in the "steamed" broccoli (I did manage to forget about the boiling water under the steamer and ended up with a beautifully charcoaled bottom of the pan) it probably can, all in all, be considered a success! There's a carcass in that fridge I need to sort out, though. Let's see how I feel in a while when my body follows my brain and starts functioning too.

So, should I achieve the purpose of actually getting my arse in gear, I might have a go at the scone recipe colleague and food-nut D passed on a few months ago. One morning, there was a small package waiting for me atop my keyboard at work; it was the cream of tartar bottle pictured left. Having had a go at making scones that had come out a bit flat (to say the least, they looked like plain biscuits), she recommended Nigella's recipe (her again! the feud continues!) and, a few weeks later, she even got me this, the alleged key ingredient. She's a star. I've made much better scones since (not opening the oven half way through the process is, apparently, a must... d'oh!) but I'm curious about this recipe now.

That reminds me I have yet to crack open this beautiful tin too. Another gift from another lovely friend and colleague, who brought it back from her last visit home. I love the old-fashioned design of the tin but, when I asked her what I could use it for, she looked at me in disbelief (another one) and, with a shake of the head, replied that most traditional Spanish dishes call for it. Ahem!

For the first twenty-odd years of my life (before I left the country to go and study abroad and never made it back) I never really showed any interest in cooking or any other domestic activity and I reckon this applies to most of my mates from home. It's a sign of our generation, really: trying to break with the traditional role of the woman, blah, blah, blah, shan't get into it here or now. We're all (just) starting to pick it up now (and, as I've mentioned here before, we're all on the very wrong side of thirty). Right, pimentón dulce, then. A new challenge, ei! They really want me to cook that lot, don't they?

Thank you, chicas, and, yes, I know I owe you a post on Súper López. I just don't quite yet feel I have my wits about me to try and be (well, if you'll excuse the repetition) witty. As if...

It's all domesticated ninja here lately, I'm afraid.
That and some serious snot! : )

of chicks, lemons, friends, mottos and the flu

To my friend's disbelief and horror I'm roasting my first ever chicken today. M (who is basically a pro) couldn't believe that being on the wrong side of 30 (so far into it I'm nearly coming out the other side), I have never roasted one before. Well, hun, I've always had other stuff to do plus it's never too late to start, right? Right! The whole place stinks of shallots, now let's get some citruses up that bird's derrière!

And... speaking of lemons, I bought the fab print below at the end of last year but had not yet gotten off my backside and round to buying a frame for it. Silly really, but that's the way things go around here sometimes. I got a simple black frame last weekend and this baby's finally made it up on the wall. My new motto:

The tulips were brought by above-mentioned friend together with croissants & pains du chocolat. She phoned from my local market to see whether I wanted to go for a coffee but I was still in my pjs and feeling rather bleh (bit flu-ish and under the weather this week). Instead, she came round with goodies to cheer me up. Bless!! She's actually a bit of a nutter but... bless!! Gracias mamma, it really did the trick! ; )

So, basically, it seems I'm now well on my way to becoming both domestic goddess and everyday philosopher... Tremble Nigella and tremble Alain (no offence E, darling, I know you've got a massive crush on him)!

However, as I cannot possibly acquire every print I fancy, I'm printing out the one below (the author himself is OK with that as long as it's not used for commercial purposes). I really like the take on the original WW II Keep Calm and Carry On British propaganda poster to be found everywhere nowadays (as well as many a spoof based on it) but what I love the most is the new proletarian crown! Another great motto!!

I'm getting excited about making roast chicken, does that count?

I hate...

...affected self-deprecation (having to listen to)!

a-ranting & a-moaning
-a new-ish weekly series that will captivate the hearts of young and old alike-

la petite (pissed off) botaniste

Yesterday spring really seemed to have sprung. I noticed the second batch of bulbs I had planted back in November was coming out (one big pot, three sorts of bulb, three layers, three depths). They are bloody tiny but still... Result!!!

Suddenly, I remembered about the herbs I was given in a bar one night during the Xmas hols back home... yup! It's actually much less dodgy than it sounds. Some bizarre promotion was going on at 3am: by drinking a particular brand of gin you got one of this ready-to-grow-herbs-in-a-sachet. I am not a gin drinker but, somehow, ended up taking two of these packs home even though I spent all night drinking caipiroscas... Perhaps that was precisely the reason! ; ) Anyway, it had totally slipped my mind that I had chucked them in an empty plant pot in the balcony until yesterday. I cannot stress this enough but it really looked like spring was here so, emboldened as I was by the apparent bulb success, I decided to put my green fingers on once more and give them a go. (Not that it is really that hard: you simply cut the top off, throw the seeds in, cover, water them and ta-da! But hey, still requires an effort).

However, I'm not sure the gale force winds whipping through the house as I type, together with the hail aggressively pattering on the window panes, are a good sign. Winter's back with a passion (the bastard!) but I really really hope it's not taking my (very very first) mini envelope herb garden away. Come on, I'm really trying to sort that balcony out! Working my gardening gloves off here!!!

no drama, just onions!

Ah, onions! Those pungent bulby buggers that have become a recurrent fixture on this little space I call my own. Haven't they become a source of endless mirth and entertainment! Haven't they just! Whatever, I just cannot root them out of here!

Just came across this very clever concept and, not only have I been giggling at the definitions all evening, but have also (probably for the first time ever in my life) have had to admit that I seem to enjoy maths. Well, at least this new math breed. Had it always been this interesting, I would have gotten myself into significantly less trouble back at high school.

ball x

This is yesterday's grocery shopping and errands list.
It did not rain.
I just placed it on the (wet) kitchen counter.
Doing well, doing very well.
Let's see whether I can remember what I didn't manage to do/get yesterday (i.e. most of it).

really taken a shine to my new friend here!

Hello gorgeous!! The story goes thus: I bought myself a very similar bracelet, probably three years ago now, at Camden Market in London, after getting off the tube at Chalk Farm just because we liked the name (and wondering whether, in the past, one could actually grow chalk and whether it would sprout in furrows in the ground or hang from trees ready to be picked; would it later be processed and bleached or was organic chalk white by nature?) running down Primrose Hill and having great day out with the lovely Miss P.
It was silver and beautiful, made of leather but painted/sprayed in a way it made it look metallic. I loved it. However, I lost it. In Málaga. Last year. Somewhere between leaving the bags at the hostel, going out for a bite and coming back. No idea how, when or where. Only thing is it was nowhere to be found the next morning. I was gutted. (I know, it sounds all very melodramatic and superficial but some things you're just very fond of and I don't lose stuff often.)

When I mentioned it to lovely E (who happens to live in London as well), she offered to go to Camden and get me another one. I had forgotten all about it when I got this jiffy bag in the mail (containing said bracelet + silly card) two weeks ago. It really made my day! Not only 'cos I am again the proud owner of a beautiful and shiny bracelet (this time a warmer, brassier shade), but because I love all kinds of epistolary exchanges. I'm sure I've mentioned it here before but it really makes me happy sending my friends cards and little knick knacks in the post. I really miss that a lot and I find the whole electronic correspondence (let alone all that social networking malarkey) has killed the snail mail star!
It makes me go a bit postal... sometimes! ; )

De veritat, em va fer molta ilu, però ja ho saps tu això, oi?

Merci, Polka Dot E! :)

palomitas!!!

I hadn't made popcorn in a seriously long time. I had nearly forgotten the wonderful sound it makes pop, pop, poporopop po pop and how amazingly pretty it looks... mad crazy food!! (Oh yeah, and it tastes good too!)
As the boy would say (and probably did say yesterday while I was too busy cooing over my palomitas) "GOOD STUFF"!!!!

Note: "Palomitas" is popcorn in Spanish. Literally, it means "little doves" ; )

(this time I'm showing you what) I hate...

This week's (belated) whimper is actually a visual illustration of last week's a-ranting & a-moaning. Situation still the same and swearing still happening daily on my cycle to work and back! :)

a-ranting & a-moaning
-a new-ish weekly series that will captivate the hearts of young and old alike-

la primavera ha venido, nadie sabe cómo ha sido

Today this sight on the balcony made me smile first thing in the morning. HA! They are OUT!

Then, on my cycle to work I kept spotting these stickers below (a few different ones on different posts). On this particular one I, myself, read "HELLO my name is REKS" but I'm sure there's a much deeper, cooler, more creative and inspirational story behind it... or perhaps not! However, the main thing is that I saw, stopped and snapped at it (veni, vidi, shooti). No more crouching down against the elements, scarf tight like a bandage covering neck and face, gloved hands grabbing the handle bars and mouth profusely (if what muffled-ish) swearing!

Lately, the skies in the evening are just beautiful and my area looks wow again (it is a pretty wow neighbourhood though, I'll give you that)!

I've also noticed people are getting playful, mischievous and artistic on the streets.

All VERY good signs of things to come.
Hooray, it must be spring!
I officially declare winter to be over! La la la!

Note: "La primavera ha venido, nadie sabe cómo ha sido" or "Spring has come, nobody knows how it's happened" by Spanish poet Antonio Machado (obviously, it rhymes in Spanish!).

le perm

I saw this card a couple of months ago and immediately thought of L, a friend who lives and works between France and the Basque Country (and the rest of the globe, as a matter of fact!) and who sports a head full of mad curls! Naturally, I had to buy it for her. No other reason, just as a mad curl tribute.

She has often related to me (in that fabulously dramatic manner only she can master) that whenever she goes to the hairdresser's in her home town, they're always amazed at how much crap her hair can take year in, year out and astonished at the fact she hasn't lost her mane yet. I, for one, think it's marvellous she is not bald (but, apparently, what you have to do to your hair should you want pretty ringlets is well aggressive). Anyway... apart from the hair torture (and the fag-in-hand pose now I think of it) nothing else about the lady on this card looks remotely like the real slim and slender, always-on-the-go, fashionable, sassy L.

So, basically, after all this time I seem to have gotten my act together and the card's getting out of the door and in the post first thing tomorrow morning. She's going to love it... not! ;)

¡Kaixo, bihotza! ¡Aupa esos rizos!

or else...

Hotel corridor, wonderfully manic Bangkok, about two years ago.
Still not sure whether I complied or not!

I hate...

...bloody obstacles on my cycle to work!

(wardens acting as traffic lights, a fun-fair being

set up in the park, flower beds being dug out...)

far too early for this lark!

a-ranting & a-moaning
-a new-ish weekly series that will captivate the hearts of young and old alike-

make way, pushing through (with a passion)!

Oh well, it appears I needn't have feared about premature bulb activity in the balcony! As it happens, it is not only fine, but actually "of course it is the time it should be happening blah, blah, blah, how silly of you, woman, blah blah blah..."

However, the white-haired red-faced beret-sporting man that sold them to me at the market, back in November, clearly said early to mid spring. I scribbled all info down on the little crumpled brown bags I put the dry and shrivelled mini bulbs in (three different sorts of lump, three different bags) and they were all supposed to bloom from early to mid spring.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's still bloody cold and spring officially starts on 21st March, aiiii? Well, then!!!

This was taken about ten days ago, on a rainy and gloomy day but they, all the same, kept stubbornly pushing through. The below were taken just about 40 mins ago.

I suspect I may have gone a bit wild an ambitious with the three layers of bulbs at three different depths idea and all... Now I'm not any longer afraid they're going to freeze and die; I'm more concerned about the cram-full pot and a possible survival-of-the-fittest-green-massacre-situation!

Sometimes you just can't win, can you?

hop-hoppity-hop ninj

Ay caramba, just realised they also have bunny ninja hats here!!!!
Methinks this may be more me than the (shown below) daring kitty 'un:

"They’ll never see you coming in our ninja bunny hat! Stash your ninja gear in the secret pockets hidden in the ears, or just keep your carrots safe. Stealth!"

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

kitty ninj... so very "to catch a thief"

I found this by chance (checking out some hilarious comment someone had left for somebody else somewhere else, as you do) and I now covet it!

Here's where I first saw it this morning (while in pursue of the funny comment) and you can buy it over here. The delightful description made me want it even more:

"Be cute on the down-low in our ninja kitty hat, and slink unseen through the night. In midnight black fleece, with a soft cotton mask for comfort on your secret expeditions. Back ear tufts for an extra tough of cute. Our medium size fits most (ninjas with well-endowed heads will want the large). Matching kitty tails are also available."

Matching kitty tails, they have matching kitty tails!!! Here, check the matching kitty tails out!!!

Right, if you just give me a minute to compose myself... Sorry, I just let my emotions get the better of me, moment of weakness. Needless to say that no serious "slinking-unseen-in-da-night-ninja" can afford even been seen sporting something as trite and common as a pink or leopard tail.

Oh, how I'd love to be able to be a proper cat burglar or something... The thing is I'm not that daring a ninja, you see, but please no grassing, okay? I'm afraid, the below is as near as I'll ever get to a cat burglar!

(as seen at boing boing)

I hate...

...salary negotiations!

a-ranting & a-moaning
-a new weekly series that will captivate the hearts of young and old alike-

bravo miriam, bravo!

I got this via e-mail ages ago and it made me laugh so much I think I remember crying (sorry Mrs. B. from Essex). This is one of the (many and varied) things I had in mind when I thought about starting my own blog: being able to share stuff & things (such as random clippings) while building up an archive of sorts.

Unfortunately, I do not know which publication it comes from; only that Miriam is a very wise lady. Should anyone know the source, please let me know so that I can credit it (assuming it's a real story, that is!).

quality but draining...

Finished reading this yesterday. Watched this a week or so ago (while still reading the above).

And yesterday evening I watched this other one.

Really liked them (particularly the first and last), sort of thing I enjoy. However, bit much on the unresolved issues-bitterness-resentment-emotional numbness-inability to move forward-front. All pretty draining for my sensible soul (!) so right now I'm just craving some of this:

Hang on... These are also full of family and social (non)acceptance issues and I remember they made me cry no end back in the day when I were a wee lass.
Bollex!! Just watch this bollex instead. I know, it's advertising, but it still makes me smile.