Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Espana


So here's the itinerary;


Wednesday, November 5 - Depart Ottawa


Thursday, November 6 - Arrive Madrid


Friday, November 7 - Tour Madrid


Saturday, November 8 - Day trip to Toledo


Sunday, November 9 - Church in the morning, travel to San Sebastian in the evening


Monday, November 10 - Tour San Sebastian, travel to Bilbao in the evening


Tuesday, November 11 - Tour Bilbao, especially the Guggenheim


Wednesday, November 12 - Back to Madrid, stopping in Segovia on the way


Thursday, November 13 - More Madrid


Friday, November 14 - Depart Madrid, Arrive Ottawa


Saturday & Sunday - November 15, 16 - Collapse in happy exhaustion.


Sounds like fun, eh? Now to get up the courage to ask the bosses for the time off!!


Tim ... if you're reading this ... it's still tentative but what do you think?




Wednesday, September 17, 2008

San Sebastian

Awhile ago I referenced this song by Justin Rutledge and I finally found the lyrics.

San Sebastian
I arrived in San Sebastian with an ocean on my mind
when they asked me what I came for I said an ocean I came to find
there was soapstone, slate and marble on the terrace where we died
now my heart's in San Sebastian with my tall and bonny bride

I arrived in San Sebastian and I lay my money down
with an arrow in my shoulder
your mare was a chestnut brown
and the harvest fell around us and it bound us to the tide
now my heart's in San Sebastian with my tall and bonny bride

I would love to ask Justin Rutledge what this song means. I have no idea. All I know is that the melody haunts me and I long to visit San Sebastian.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Friday, September 12, 2008

Sweet Potato Soup

As requested ....

Roasted Garlic and Sweet Potato Soup
1 whole head of garlic; separate cloves but keep skin on
1 red onion, peeled and sliced
1-2 sweet potatoes (1 large, or 2 med), peeled and sliced thinly but not too thinly (mediumly)

Spread these ingredients on a cookie sheet and brush olive oil over top of them. Place in a preheated 425 degree oven for 15 min, turning over once. Once done, peel off garlic skins.

Combine in a pan with:

4 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp curry
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme

Bring to boil and simmer for 15 min then puree in food processor or with hand blender.
Serve with cornbread.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Crochet

This is my latest ongoing crochet project. It's going to be a nice cozy blanket when it's all done. It's only about a quarter of the way done. But it's an easy and fun project because you do each square on it's own first and then piece it together so it's very portable. The yarn is a nice chunky, wooly yarn.

Another silly list . . .

[A is for age:] 29 .... yikes!
[B is for booze of choice] Lime margharita on the rocks.
[C is for career] Wife.
[D is for your dog's name:] No dog ... never a dog.
[E is for essential items you use everyday:] Computer
[F is for favourite song at the moment:] San Sebastian by Justin Rutledge
[G is for favourite games:] Trivial Pursuit
[H is for hometown:] Ottawa
[I is for instruments you play:] Piano.
[J is for jam or jelly you like] I don't eat a lot of jam but I'd have to pick homemade peach.
[K is for kids?:] none.
[L is for last kiss?:] This morning.
[M is for most admired trait:] In others; ability to think up something to say in social situations.
[N is for name of your crush:] Husband ~ Reuben
[O is for overnight hospital stays:] Dislocated pinky finger when I was 11.
[P is for phobias:] Attacking squirrels on dark forest paths.
[Q is for quotes you like:] "Have a peppermint." Mrs. Harris in Anne of Green Gables.
[R is for biggest regret:] Not sure I have any.
[S is for sweets of your choice:] Anything chocolate
[T is for time you wake up:] Around 6:45am ... ugh.
[U is for underwear:] Uh? Yes?
[V is for vegetable you love:] Zucchini
[W is for worst habit:] Whining about life being sooo hard.
[X is for x-rays you've had:] 1 for my little finger and several of my bite for braces.
[Y is for yummy food you make:] Sweet Potato Soup
[Z is for zodiac sign:] Taurus

Monday, September 08, 2008

A Post about Travelling

If you know me you know that I love to travel, I love to dream about travelling, I love to plan my travels (or someone elses) and I love to reminisce about travelling.

All this to say, we have some future travelling up our sleeves although I'm not sure we'll actually get to it as we've commited to purchasing a piano from a friend of ours. Yes, that's right, a piano. Maybe you know that I've been playing the piano my whole life. I'm not excellent but I get by and I do enjoy it. It was kind of hard not learning to play the piano in our family as my father is an organist and a pianist. I took lessons when I was 7 for a year and then just learned on my own. I don't love to play classical pieces, mostly I love to play singable tunes. Since moving out of my parents' home, I have become quite rusty but have still always dreamed of having a piano in my home. I know I'll never be a great concert pianist but that's ok because I still love making my little bit of music. I'm not sure where the piano is going to go but our friend tells us that we just have to bring the piano into our home and it will tell us where it should go.


Piano's are not cheap. We also need to buy a couple of new windows ... big bay windows. Anyway, we can still dream of travelling because that costs nothing.



Reuben and I have been talking about going to Madrid ever since his friend, Tim, moved there last year. After coming back from Barcelona, we realized we needed to go back to Spain so that we could see it more in depth. 2.5 days in Barcelona was not nearly enough time, especially since it was at the end of our trip and we were exhausted. Anyway, at the moment, Reuben is thinking of going in January. I desperately want to go and see Madrid as well but ... Reuben's plan is to sleep on the floor of his friend's appt and stay up all night partying with the locals where as my plan would be to stay in a nice, cozy hotel and get enough sleep to function during the day. I'm not sure our plans are compatible at the moment. I'd hate to be a party pooper but it would take all of my energy not to be.





There's a town on the north-eastern coast of Spain called San Sebastian. I've heard of it before but ever since Justin Rutledge came out with the song titled San Sebastian, I've been longing to go there. I'll have to type out the lyrics and post them sometime soon or better yet, find a link to the song so you can hear it. It's just beautiful.



Other travel dreams; my father (our gardener who just happens to be a world famous bio-chemist) received a wedding invitation from this guy whose getting married in San Francisco. Actually, the guy is a former student of his with whom he still keeps in touch. I've been to San Francisco before. Back in 2002. It is a grand place and Reuben wants to see it.



The date of the wedding is Nov 15 so it's kind of a good time to be going, shoulder season for travel, you know? But airline tickets keep going up. . .

Last night, we played this game called Ticket to Ride. It's fun but just looking at this map of the United States made me want to hop in the car and just go . . .sigh!

Other destinations: Scotland, Ireland, England, Holland, Italy, Austria, eastern Canada.

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Patio update

We installed the patio at the end of June.

And our gardener spent 3 solid days beautifying it.


We plan to add more plants in the spring, including the tulip bulbs we saved.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

WereRabbit

There are rabbits. They have been living under our deck and reproducing and eating our plants for the past 6 months. They are kind of cute. But annoying. Today after work, one of them attacked me. As I stood at the end of our path, it darted out from the garden and used my foot as a launching pad to get across the yard. Those are claw marks from a rabbit. A Wererabbit. Somebody please tell me it's ok to kill it and leave it out on the lawn with a sign on it's back warning all the cute rabbits that if they dare to live in our yard, there will be a price to pay.

I may be overreacting.