So much going on….

I have been very remiss in not writing this up for so long – I hope you haven’t all got bored waiting and gone elsewhere!

The first thing to let you know – for those of you who didn’t know – is that I’ve been in hospital. I’d been having chest pains and shortness of breath for months, but just thought it would pass, (stupid woman!) so didn’t really do anything about it until I realised I couldn’t walk more than about 40 metres without stopping to catch my breath and let the sharp chest pains subside. Not great fun, and really more than a bit worrying, given the history of heart trouble in my family. So, I eventually went to see Claudia, our GP, who referred me to the outpatient cardiology department at our local hospital. Got an appointment within about a week (great health care service in Spain!) and when I got there they wouldn’t let me go home! So, admitted first to the high dependency ward to be monitored, then to a 2 bed ward, still attached to various wires. Eventually I was taken by ambulance to a different hospital to have an angiogram done. Well, two hours later and some of the worst pain ever – including comparing to a kidney stone and giving birth twice in the past – it was done. After the shock of all that I was glad it was over, but have vowed never again unless I have a general anaesthetic – and I’m not joking! I haven’t even translated the medical documents yet, as I don’t care what they did, I just know I didn’t need a stent – I think – but they cleared a bit of something to let the blood flow again. The outcome is that I can now walk just about anywhere with no chest pain, hooray! I still get a bit out of breath but that is down to the asthma so is no bother.

Truly the whole thing was an awful experience, but I have to say that all the medical, admin and housekeeping staff were absolutely brilliant, the most friendly, helpful and caring people ever. Nearly as good as the husband, who is simply the best.

Now for the funny bit – I always like to find a bit of humour where I can, it makes difficult situations and people easier to cope with. So… while I was in hospital recovering and starting to feel better I really craved something tasty to eat, and the husband was a complete dote and brought me in a takeaway from a great Chinese restaurant on the tram route into the city. So delicious, sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style never tasted so good!

A while after I got home, while being fussed over and cared for so well by the husband, I decided to take a wee trip into the city, really just to jump off the tram, go to the restaurant, and order 4 of the meals to take home for the freezer. I wasn’t doing anything energetic, just getting off the tram, walking 20 metres across the road and then back on the tram again.

So, I got off the tram, crossed the road, walked the 20 metres to the restaurant, (great to be able to walk without needing to stop!) and ordered my takeaway. Immediately I ordered, one of the Chinese members of staff said “Oh, your husband was here last week and told us you were in hospital, he brought you this food! He’s very tall and did magic tricks for us!”

Oh my word that man certainly makes a very positive impression everywhere he goes, but goodness knows how they recognised me as up until Peter was there the previous week we’d never been to that restaurant before?! These little episodes fairly brighten up the days!

So much of our time lately seems to be taken with eating out. Not much wrong with that, life is short, the food here is great and the value is unbeatable! A couple of places we’ve been to recently include El Rancho in San Isidro, about 40 minutes from us, and Bar La Amistad in Cañada de la Leña, about 30 minutes from us.

We went for dinner one evening to El Rancho, they have a fantastic deal which comprises a starter of a big well packed salad, a main course of a 10oz sirloin steak plus potato wedges and veggies, and a pudding of a silky chocolate mousse, plus a drink. Total price is €15 per person….how could you NOT go out to eat for that value and price?! It was utterly delicious – we’ll be back!

Here’s the salad and steak – we’d eaten the chocolate mousse before I remembered to take a photo!

So, to Bar La Amistad. It is a newly opened bar/restaurant owned by the lovely Ann and Ray, and my goodness does Ann know how to run a kitchen, as well as being the loveliest, friendliest person! It’s in a weeny hamlet not too far from us, and has a very active Spanish as well as non-Spanish clientele, which is the ideal balance. Ann is helped admirably by Marta, who never seems to stand still, always making sure the customers are well fed and watered.

We recently went for the menu del dia, a set menu. I had gorgeous farmhouse pâté to start with, then a huge serving of fish and chips, followed by ice cream. Peter had tuna salad to start, then chicken curry and rice, and chased up by cherry pie and ice cream. Everything freshly home-made. Plus a drink each. Plus fresh crusty bread and alioli. Total bill for the two of us was €22….how could you beat that?!

Melt in the mouth batter on that fish, everything was perfectly cooked and really delicious. Oh, and a bonus at the bar – I made a new friend, Claire Moles, from Belfast, who heard my accent and stopped to chat, so if you’re reading this Claire, hello again! Claire’s now living in Spain so no doubt we shall catch up with each other again sooner rather than later. Norn Iron people like to find each other even in different continents and countries!

Still on the subject of food, Mercadona supermarkets have put up the price of their Portuguese custard tarts, from 40 cents to 55 cents – how very dare they?! It’s a really big jump, so I decided to have a go again at making my own. They turned out to be reasonably good, though should be better next time. Actually next time I’ll give in and make the flipping pastry as there’s no doubt it turns out far better than the shop bought variety.

In spite of what you see in the photo, I made 10 of them but by the time I found my phone to take a photo there were only 6 left, so they must taste okay!

Speaking of Mercadona, it is one of my favourite supermarkets, in spite of recent price rises. Their own brand makes are fantastic quality, and I especially like the cosmetics and perfumes range. They offer a whole raft of perfumes which are excellent dupes of originals, for both men and women, all retailing at around €8 each. The scent lasts for ages, and you’d be hard-pressed to tell which is an original and which is a Mercadona dupe. Their seasonal ranges of scents is also amazing. I think I might have told you before about my favourite, a very citrus-scented spray which lasts almost all day, light, summery and refreshing for only €10, couldn’t beat it!

It’s labelled as lemon, cotton and wood, and is the most delightful find!

Another real find is their own-brand foundation. I have always used Estee Lauder, Double Wear Maximum Cover, 30ml with SPF 15, which covers a multitude of sins. I usually buy in El Corte Ingles at around €54 each time – just as well it lasts a while! Well, Estee Lauder is now no more since I have discovered Mercadona’s own brand Cover&Fix, also 30ml, but with an SPF of 25, and it costs €5.50 – yes you read that correctly! It is just fantastic, covers everything and looks very natural – well, not TOO natural as prefer the even look that a good covering make up gives me as opposed to how I look when I crawl out of bed first thing in the morning. So, natural but not THAT kind of natural! These are the little finds that brighten up the days of old retired dolls like me! One looks far bigger than the other but they’re both the same amount, 30ml, so one is far and away better value for doing the same job.

My lovely daughter Alice, who now lives in England, came over to stay with us for a few days, and brought her friend Helen with her. The weather was horrible, cold and wet, but the girls wanted to explore a bit of the area and to catch up with some old friends that Alice has known since she originally lived with me in Spain.

It was so, so lovely to have them here, even if the weather left a lot to be desired! Hopefully they’ll come back in the summer when they can just relax in the pool – Alice always gets so tanned people think she’s Spanish!

Oh, earlier I put myself in the category of “old dolls”. Well, make no mistake, no matter what age you are, you can still feel like the age you fixed yourself at many years ago. So, somewhere inside, I’m about 35, fit and healthy, energetic, strong, able to do most things. However, the body will be 70 next year (oh good grief twice as old as I feel inside!) and I’ve realised that I’m no longer much of any of those things on the outside. In many ways it doesn’t matter too much, as we have a generally much slower pace of life here so there’s no need for rushing around wearing ourselves out. However, I get annoyed when I realise I’m not as flexible as I used to be. When I drop something on the floor I consider for a minute if I really need to pick it up or if it can just stay where it is! So, walking (now that the heart and lungs have improved a lot), the exercise bike on the verandah (where I can do 10km without realising as long as I’m reading my kindle at the same time!), and of course being in the pool all day every day in the summer is great exercise all round, and especially for helping the breathing. After what seems like an interminable winter the temperatures are rising fast and we’ll soon be complaining of 40C+ heat again. Bring it on I say, but thank goodness for our daily cool breeze on the terrace, well needed.

So, confession time – in order to make shopping etc a bit easier I have bought a wee granny shopping trolley!

Actually it’s not as “elderly” as it might be, as it seems half the population in Spain uses them, old and young, women and men. It makes a lot of sense, as it’s considerably easier to pul a trolley than to lug around heavy bags of vegetables or whatever from the shops and markets. So maybe I’m not so old after all, just a bit more funky and on trend than I thought!

The weather has been a bit grim, plenty of rain which is great for the gardens but not so great for holidaymakers. It is April, so we always get some showers, which means our fruit trees get a well-needed soaking and start to really come alive. We might only now get a couple of days more with showers and then that’s probably all the rain until about November or December. Our vines are flourishing, and our orange and lemon trees are looking a lot happier. The whole countryside springs into life, with millions of little wildflowers appearing as if from nowhere. They cover the hills and the ground, and provide amazing colours like purple, yellow and white.

Last spring we had a pair of little sparrows who built a nest under one of the roof tiles at the front of the verandah, raised their wee family and then disappeared. This spring we noticed a nest on the ground, but there are two wee sparrows being very busy backwards and forwards just under the front of the verandah roof tiles.

We don’t know if it’s the same two sparrows as last year – do they live that long? Did they want to build a new nest so chucked out the old one? Who knows? We just enjoy watching them flutter in and out!

Some of you might remember that last year my little granddaughter Lucy had her hair cut to donate to a charity that makes wigs and hairpieces for children who have lost hair as a result of cancer treatments. Not only did she donate her hair, but she raised over £1000 in sponsorship, and she’s sort of done it again! This time she has made lots of little woven bracelets and has sold them to friends and family as well as neighbours and everyone else she could think of.

She raised £150 to give to the Children’s Cancer Unit, in support of her friend Isla. We are so, so proud of her, always thinking of other people and wanting to find ways to help. What a wee star!

I spotted something interesting as we cme up the road home recently – a strange looking way the leaves and little branches had grown on one of the pine trees, like a big, round ball. Very funky looking!

I have found out that this anomaly (that word always reminds me of the Star Trek series!) is called a witch’s broom, witch ball. It looks a bit like a big bird’s nest, but is just the way it grows. In folklore it is also supposed to signify a witch living nearby, I’ll just leave that there for a minute….!

This made me laugh – I’ve just found the perfect T-shirt for Peter…

Finally, I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, and with the weather being colder and wetter it’s been lovely to be able to snuggle down on the big sofa, in front of the fire with a book, while himself is watching some football match or another. Coming into summer it’s a joy to be able to relax outside in the warmth of the sun, reading and sipping very cold drinks. I usually have more than one book on the go at a time, I like to swop them around depending on my mood. I’ve just started reading Frank Delany’s “Ireland”, and am enjoying it immensely. I’m also reading “The Shape of a Life”, by  Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis, about how geometry and mathematics shape our universe. I love numbers, so I suspect this is going to be a very revealing book! My favourite periods in history are medieval and pre-history, so for pure enjoyment I’m revisiting “The Clan of the Cave Bear”, by Jean M. Auel, the first in a great series. This house is rarely silent, so for music at the minute I’m listening to anything and everything Ana Vidovic has performed – if you like Spanish classical guitar you will love this!

Quick recipe for crispy chicken wings coming up, easy and delicious for nibbles with some Turkish flatbread:

Separate wings into mini “drummers” and “flats”. Pat dry. In a big zippy bag mix a good shake of salt, black pepper, onion salt, garlic salt, chicken seasoning, Aromat, BBQ mix, pimiento dulce and some baking powder. I still have a wee jar of Marks and Spencer seasoning for roast potatoes – if you can get some of that then do, as I like to add a shake of it to the mix. DON’T skip the baking powder (NOT baking soda!) as that’s what helps crisp up the wings. Shake them in the bag till they’re well coated and leave in the fridge for a few hours. Cook in the air fryer at 190C for about 20 minutes. Serve with warm flatbread. Yum!

That’s it for now, I’m off outside to relax in the sun while tonight’s chicken wings are doing their thing in the fridge, ready to roast later. See you next time!