SWEET DREAMS & SOUR LEMONS

A list of things "TO DO"

2010-10-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Here is a list I saw on Amy's blog beautifulcrazyunpredictablelife.blogspot.com and I thought wow! I've actually done some of these things, awesome...

Just copy the list and mark in bold (black) the things you've done...

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (Not really a band more of a group - a recorder group at school)
4. Visited Hawaii and danced on a lava cliff with the roar of the Pacific below
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (Tha Barcelona marathon sic.1984, but we didn't finish - does that count?)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (lunar)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (I didn't actually teach myself - just picked it up living here in Spain)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year's Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (I watched)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

Enjoy!!!

My first ever pumpkin pie !!

2010-10-07T08:56:00.000-07:00

Last week my friend Brenda came to stay with us for a few days (will be posting photos of her stay later on next week)
So we went to see Dolors who lives in Cantonigròs, a little village about 1 1/2 hours from Barcelona. I'd never been and neither had Brenda. It is a beautiful place as you will see from the photos.
Dolors, being VERY generous gave me a pumpkin (along with an aloe vera plant, some walnuts, some lavender and a jar of homemade jam - oh and some holly which I think will be dead before Christmas)

And this is the pie I made with her pumpkin...

Panellets

2009-11-02T13:09:00.000-08:00

Well Halloween has come and gone and last week I make loads of "panellets" a typical sweet that is eaten 31st October here in Catalunya.

These are the ones I made this year:

They are very easy to make (too easy, they are very fattening)
Here's the recipe:

500 grs ground almonds
500 grs sugar
250 grs potato

100 grs cocoa
125 grs desiccated coconut
250 grs pine nuts
1 egg, separated

boil potatoes with skin until soft, peel
mash them with a fork - leave to cool
in a big bowl mix the ground almonds, sugar and potato until it binds together.
That's the basic almond paste.
Put half the mixture into one bowl and then 1 quarter and 1 quarter in two other bowls to make 3 different flavours...

Flavour nº 1 (the most popular one and most expensive to buy)
Basic almond mix covered in pine nuts. (use 1/2 the mixture)

- take a small amount of the mixture (about 1 teaspoon) and roll it into a ball shape.
- coat the balls in lightly beaten egg white.
- take a handful of pine nuts and coat the balls of dough, you have to press quite hard or the pine nuts won't stick. This is a very messy job and not as easy as it looks.
- put on a baking tray lined with baking parchment.
- brush tops of "panellets "with egg yolk.
- grill for about 10 mins. or until they are nice and golden brown on top. Keep an eye on them all the time as they burn quite easily.

Flavour nº 2 (use 1/4 the mixture)
Coconut

- take the basic almond mixture and stir in the desiccated coconut and 2 or 3 drops of pink food colouring (optional).
- make small balls with the mixture as above then shape them into a sort of mountain.
- put under grill until they start to go very light brown on top.

Flavour nº 3 (my favorite) (use 1/4 the mixture)
Chocolate

- take the last batch of almond paste and add 100 grs of cocoa.
- roll into small balls as before and grill for about 7 mins. These won't change colour but will go a bit hard on the outside. They should stay soft in the middle.

"Panellets" are very expensive to buy in the cake shops (30 € - 40 € a kilo !!!) so it really is worth the trouble of making your own I think.
Some people frown on using potatoes in this recipe, it just makes the mixture go further and makes it a bit cheaper that's all. It doesn't alter the flavour one bit.

It's also typical to have roast chestnuts and roast sweet potatoes at this time of year.

Oh dear - I can see it's going to be a struggle to keep the pounds off :)

A LONG WEEKEND

2009-10-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, 12th Oct., we celebrated Christopher Columbus Day here in Spain, so last weekend was a long one. A chance to go away some where nice.
So we decided to go south of Barcelona. Just one hour's drive and we were in Tarragona (another province of Cataluyna).

We stayed in a little village called Rodonyà, at a B & B (Casa Jordà). The B&B is run by a farmer who still makes his own wine. Now this wine is very special as he doesn't use artificial fertilizers or pesticides on his grape vines. So the wine won't give you a bad head or a bad stomach even if you drink too much of it!!

We had a very nice time. The B&B was clean and comfortable, the food (and free wine) excellent, and the village its self very peaceful.
We were made to feel very welcome and the owner of the B&B told us all about wine making and Saturday afternoon we had the chance to taste the wines. We also came away with a few bottles!!

We also visited the small town of Valls and two of the three Monasteries that make up The Cister Route.

We will definitely go back to see the other Monastery and but some more lovely wine from Rodonyà.

Hello Autumn

2009-09-14T06:39:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I'm a terrible blogger, I go ages without posting anything but I've got a really good excuse- I'm lazy!!!

Anyway today in Barcelona it rained, at last the long hot summer is over and we can look forward to autumn. Nice cool weather and nice fresh air to breathe.

So what can you do when it rains?? - bake a cake - chocolate, even better!!!!

recipe for chocolate cake (my Mum's):

100 grs margarine
100 grs sugar
2 medium eggs
teaspoon vanilla essence
75 grs flour
25 grs cocoa powder
teaspoon baking powder (if using plain flour)

combine sugar and margarine until fluffy
add beaten eggs and vanilla - mix well
add flour and cocoa powder stir in carefully

line 7 inch (18 cms) cake tin with parchment paper
spread cake mixture evenly in tin
bake in oven at 180º c for about 30 mins.

leave to cool
when cooled time to decorate cake - this time I used chocolate icing.

recipe chocolate icing:

100 grs icing sugar
50 grs margarine
25 grs cocoa powder

mix the ingredients in a bowl until they come together
spread on top of cake

Make a nice cup of tea, sit back, relax and enjoy a slice of lovely cake while you wait till the sun comes out again!

A Nice Clean Bathroom

2009-08-31T05:23:00.000-07:00

As you can see my life isn't all that exciting but it's mine and I'm not complaining.

I've spent all morning spring (autumn) cleaning the big bathroom. I say "big" because it's bigger than the other one we have but it is small compared to some of the bathrooms you see out there. (I'm still not complaining). It's been hard work, it's still about 30º c here in Barcelona so I have been sweating (sorry perspiring) a lot!!

But it has been worth it - look at my lovely, clean, shiny, fresh smelling (you'll have to take my word for that last one) bathroom:

Shells in the bathroom:

The downside to this morning's work was that I broke a mirror (only a very small one) but that's 7 year's bad luck!!!
Since 1992 I've broken 3 mirrors so that's 21 years bad luck!!

I broke it because I was wearing these rubber gloves - good for protecting hands but bad for handling small breakable things like mirrors...

From trash to treasure

2009-08-20T02:36:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday in the district of Barcelona where we live we can get rid of any junk or furniture we don't want. Any time after 8 p.m. you can just leave the things on the street corners. Then about 12 p.m. lorries from the council come round and collect it. It's usually rubbish, but sometimes you come across something worth recycling:

stage 1: one dirty, broken buffet.

Stage 2: a thorough wash in soap and bleach.

stage 3: glued, bolted and sanded.

stage 4: 2 coats of primer.

stage 5: 2 coats blue paint.

Done!!!!

My first project was this:

It looks like it was once part of the inside of a wardrobe. I washed it, sanded it and stained it and now it's a useful little side table that stands next to my husband's chair.

My next project is:

Two old picture frames...

Escape to the mountains

2009-07-20T03:42:00.000-07:00

This weekend we just had to get away from the hot, muggy weather here in Barcelona, so we drove 3 hours north west until we came to this:

Parque Nacional de Aïguestortes (Lleida)

Plan de Beret (Val d'Aran):

Saint Andrew's church -Salardú (Val d'Aran):

Vielha:

The Art of Easy Cycling in the 1930's

2009-07-09T02:39:00.000-07:00

I was cleaning my bookcase yesterday and came across this little book - very curious.
It must have been my Dad's and it probably dates back to the 1930's.
Dad was a young man then and a keen cyclist.
Here is the book:

Cinderella is home

2009-07-06T14:00:00.000-07:00

We took the dolls to be mended at the doll's hospital.
Katy has to stay in for a few days as was to be expected. She is going to be fitted out with new cords to hold her together and she is also going to be cleaned.
Cinderella came home with us. They can't do anything for her. Well they can, but to mend her wonky eye they were going to have to cut a hole in the back of her head, replace both eyes (so they'd match) and it was going to cost a lot of money. So she came home with a new little outfit and some new white shoes - isn't she cute?
After abit of fiddling about with her bad eye, I got it straight and tomorrow will glue it in place.
Here's a photo of Cinderella in her new clothes:

Will post a photo of Katy when she comes home.

Rustic candle holder

2009-07-06T04:40:00.000-07:00

I was wondering what to do with my many empty jam jars (throwing them away in the "recycle bottle bin" is a last option) and I came up with this idea:

You will need:

1 empty jam jar
a few pebbles
some string
1 candle

- clean jam jar
- fill 1/2 full with pebbles
- bury candle in pebbles
- tie string round neck of jam jar
- make a few and you will be ready for a romantic "al fresco" meal, weather permitting!!

Meeting Adriana, Buns and Doll's hospital.

2009-07-06T02:41:00.000-07:00

A nappy cake for Adriana:

The other day we went over to our nieces house to meet her new baby girl, Adriana. She is adorable!! Born on the 10th June she is neary 1 month old.

Here are some buns (USA=cupcakes) I took over for them. Carla as "big sister" got a special one.

Recipe for Buns (my Mum's)

ingredients:
6 oz margarine
6 oz sugar
6 oz self-raising flour
3 eggs
teaspoon vanilla esence
milk

method:
mix margarine and sugar till light and frothy.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Carefully stir in sieved flour.
If mixture is a bit thick put in a drop of milk.
Fill bun cases 3/4 full.
Bake in oven 180º c for about 20-25 mins.
this amount of mixture makes 12 large buns and 8 small ones (see photos).

This afternoon we are taking these two dolls to the doll's hospital here in Barcelona.
As you can see Cinderella has an eye problem (she's 49 years old this year) so not doing too bad.
Poor Katy is in a worse state - she's a bit older, but hopfully the doll's doctor will be able to get her looking young and fit again.

Will post photos when they are both out of hospital and fully recuperated!!!

More shots of Barcelona

2009-06-30T07:44:00.001-07:00

"Palau de la Generalitat" building in Barcelona - Sant Jaume Square
And on the opposite side of the Sant Jaume Square we have Barcelona City Hall

The Christopher Columbus statue down at the harbour and two other photos of part of the harbour. Columbus is pointing towards Italy which is completely the wrong way if he wanted to go to America!!

And after all that sight-seeing a paddle in the Mediterranean and "fish 'n' chips" for dinner!!! Yes, you can get genuine English fish and chips in Barcelona!!!

We had a lovely time but were shattered by the end of the week!!!

Corpus Christi in Barcelona

2009-06-30T00:58:00.000-07:00

Thursday 11th June - Corpus Christi -. All the fountains in the old courtyards are decorated with fresh flowers and an egg is made to "dance" on the water ( in Catalan: l'ou que balla -):

Barcelona through the eyes of a tourist.

2009-06-29T23:56:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine came to stay withus this month so we decided to take our cameras into town and join in on a guided tour round the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona. Here are some of the things we saw:

Another Birthday

2009-05-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

Opening presents, Alba, the "Birthday Girl", Marta, Alba's big sister, and their mama Conchi, big sister to Cristina and Miriam. (also in the picture Jose in the foreground and Helena in the background)
Xavi - nearly 2 years old ,cousin to Marta, Alba and Carla.
Carla - nearly 4 years old, me, abit older, in the middle, Cristina - Carla's mama and expecting Adriana next month.
Alba - 5 years old, Miriam Xavi's mama and Alba's auntie, Cristina's sister and expecting Pau in July.
I'm Auntie Dorothy to Conchi, Cristina and Miriam and Great-aunt Dorothy to Marta, Alba, Carla and Xavi.

Will post more family pictures in the near future as I haven't managed to get a photo of everyone in the family.

I'll be back - until then adios!!

The start of another week

2009-05-20T00:39:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Carlos!!!
It was a very quiet birthday there wasn't even a cake, just a couple of candles stuck in a rather plain bun! (bun = cupcake)

Weekend

2009-05-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

This weekend we went to a local Garden Centre and bought some fertilizer for my lemon tree. I'm feeding it every other day and have scraped all the scale bugs off the under-side of the leaves. I discovered the insects the other day. They suck all the juice out of the tree - no wonder it wasn't giving lemons!! Under-fed and infested with these weird insects.

Picture of lemon tree before treatment.

More pictures of the Garden Centre:Garden statues of "La Moreneta" a very special Saint here in Catalunya. She is one of the very few black Madonnas that exists. She was found in a cave on Montserrat Mountain (a magic mountain according to some people) and can be seen behind the altar in the monastery.

Garden Gnomes:

Herbs:
Flowers:
Feng Shui fountains:
Holly bushes and trees waiting for Christmas:
Olive trees:

See you next time - adios!!

Another day

2009-05-14T06:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a week since I wrote anything on my blog but have been feeling terrible with a bad cold - but am alot better now!!
I haven't been idle just taking it easy and drinking lots of liquid, just what the doctor ordered.
I have managed to make some cards. I made 3 birthday cards, one for my niece, one for her little girl and one for a dear friend, and two cards to welcome the new arrivals to the family (both due next month) one boy and one girl. And as I had time on my hands I made a few spare ones too.
Oh and by the way, I think this blog is going to go from daily to weekly. It`s abit too much writing something every day.
I'll be back next week - adios!!

Day 3

2009-05-07T15:39:00.001-07:00

Well today has been very quiet - I haven't been out of the house all day!
This morning I decided to make some granola - the dried kiwi is abit weird but it adds colour and texture (it's the first time I've used it but it's ok)
You can get the recipe here.

Then I made some chocolate chip cookies as follows:
Ingredients
75 grs brown sugar
75grs margarine
1 medium size egg
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
150 grs flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
100 grs chocolate chips

Method
cream sugar and butter
add egg and vanilla
sieve flour with baking powder and pinch of salt
add flour and chocolate chips to mixture
put teaspoon sized blobs of the batter on a baking tray lined with parchment paper
bake in 180º c oven for about 15 mins. cool and...
Enjoy!!

Then this afternoon, after doing some ironing, I fed all my plants in my patio. they are all coming on well as you can see...

I don't know what the spindly little plant in my window box is going to grow into... I planted a whole packet of seeds we get free from the council every year and this is the only thing that has come up!!

Well it's very late now and I have to get up early tomorrow as it's cleaning day - adios!!

Day 2

2009-05-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

Well it's been quite a busy day here in Barcelona. This morning I went shopping - just to my local shops. I'm lucky, it's only a 5 min. walk (if that) to the nearest shops. I bought the last two packets of chocolate chips so will be able to make some cookies this week-end.

Next I went to the Euro Shop (probably the equivalent of a USA Dime Shop or a UK Pound Shop) and bought a set of plastic drawers to store all my craft things. So now I'm all nice and tidy. I make a lot of greeting cards firstly because here in Spain there isn't really much choice and secondly because I really enjoy it.

Then I checked my pantry for ingredients to make some more home-made granola following a recipe I found on Fork You. I can really recommend it, it's quick and easy to make and Delicious, what more can you ask?

Starting from the back of the photo we have: Cooking oil, Old fashioned oats, honey, walnuts, sesame seeds, sun-flower seeds, almonds, dried kiwis, dried bananas, dried apricots and raisins.

This is where I found the original video of this granola recipe: http://www.forkyou.tv/2007/02/27/quick-fork-5-to-granolas-house-we-go/.

The weather is getting steadily warmer and warmer and Misty is starting to feel the heat, here he is having a nice afternoon nap zzzzzz.

Then this evening I went down to the local Adult Learning Centre to give my weekly English lesson. This week's subject was "Different Types of houses" We started talking about terraced houses right up to palaces and castles. It's very tiring but very rewarding and I think/hope everyone enjoys it.

Well that's all for today - adios!!

Day 1

2009-05-05T15:34:00.000-07:00

Hi - this is going to be a blog about day to day life here in Barcelona (Spain).

The first picture is of me and my husband on holiday in Italy (Sorento) last year.

The second picture is my patio. That's a lemon tree at the back. I've had it 5 years now and never had a lemon off it! I don't know what I'm doing wrong?

The last one is our cat Misty on the balcony - he just does his own thing -like most cats - he's about 15 years old now which for a cat is pretty old.

Well, I'll be back soon with an up date from Barcelona - adios!!