The small things

Every day, I still discover new things, small differences that make me smile.
I love green tomatoes

I discovered the apple pineapple, it has a purple touch and tastes great.

Garbage bags and toilet paper are scented, all smelling like this:

When the sky looks like this, you have 15 seconds to run :)

Halloween even gets to the doughnuts :

The local soft drink has an... interesting color:

And mango, mint, lime and crushed ice makes a supergreen very tasty drink:

That's pretty much it, the week was long and hard work-wise, hoping to go the an island tomorrow, if it doesn't rain (thanks, Murphy). :)

Catching up: Thursday, errr, Friday night dinner

After the great lunch on Sunday, we decided to repeat the experience Thursday night at my place (it had a lot to do with Kike talking about shrimps in coconut milk^^). Again with Isa, Alvaro, Maurizio, Kike and adding Mari to the mix. Thursday night became Friday night for some logistical reasons and we ended up being 8, Kike's brother and aunt joining the fun. This was kind of the house-warming party I didn't have yet and Kike did wonders in my very small kitchen.
The Chef at work:

The Chef having a drink while the slaves do the work:

Peeling the shrimps:

Mari and Kike's aunt:

Maurizio and Alvaro... being themselves ;)

The final result: Fideua, a typical Catalan dish, toasted noodles with seafood and ailoli

And the shrimps in coconut milk

Isa was too busy running around to be in the pictures, but I got one at least:

Catching up: last Sunday part 2

Some more pics:

All pics by Isa :)

Catching up: last Sunday

Last Sunday, Isa and I were invited to a lunch/ cooking event by one of her friends, Kike. Kike, beside doing a zillion of different creative things, is also a cook and blogging about it: http://kikayisinthekitchen.blogspot.com. We met up at Alvaro's apartment, located on the 13th floor of a building directly at the beach. Maurizio came by a bit later and the fun could start. Kike showed us how to make Coconut rice. Here are a few pics of the actual cooking, it all started surprisingly with a coconut. ;)

Isa took her job very seriously

You add water to the grated coconut, mix it, rinse and repeat... many times :

Until you have enough "coconut water", which has then to reduce until it looks like this and you add the raisins:

Then comes the rice

The Chef in action

and finally, you add a bit of... Coca-cola for the color and the sugar

And the final result: Arroz de coco with mango chicken and tomato salad, was delicious

All pics by Isa :)

Normal service resuming on friday :)

Really busy right now with a project from hell, sadly glued to the laptop and cursing. Will be over Thursday, and do plan to celebrate. Sunday, been invited to lunch/cooking session at some of Isa's friends, was great, pics and story coming soon.
Random pics:

Delicious lunch @ Crepes&Waffles

Saturday night, Cafe del Mar again, Isa with a nice Couch Surfer from Reeding.

The balcony, 13th floor, from the place were the great cooking happened.

My beautiful new red fingernails that I am trying not to ruin typing away.
Enough random stuff, be back soon :)

Random stuff :)

Monday: First time a tourist asked me about how to get somewhere and I could give the right answer (ok, it was down the block, but anyways)
Tuesday: First time I FROZE, the temperature was down to 25 degrees I guess and I turned the fan off, looked for a cardigan and shivered (ok, now, hate me)
My cleaning lady is a real Costeña, when she says she is coming at 2 pm, this can mean anything up to 4 pm, so my really sadly Austrian self has to get used to it. Yes, I have a cleaning lady, because she has a washing machine and I don't. ;)
I am kind of all gleed up, shame on me, but got hooked by the show and watching that, with a glass of wine in the hammock is kind of how I spend my evenings these days. I know the urge of meeting people and party will come back, but it seems to be in no hurry right now. So, I just go with the flow. I would love to turn all "Eat, Pray, Love" on you but as much as I hated that book, it is just not going to happen. Not my cup of tea.
The plan until Christmas is... a sabbatical : means, no more plans then doing the work I have to do to feel sane, and otherwise, no plan at all. Maybe I am going to spend three months in that hammock, who knows?
Best Glee quote of the day: Get used to it, I'm a rolling stone, I am both awesome and unavailable at the same time.
Got an great project today, great because I can nerd out as much as I want, requires a lot of files prep and I can use my memoQ server. So, no more Glee, my idea of fun right now is.... work again, ooops.
I do plan to go the the beach on Saturday, I have to find out which one will be the best for my visitors in February.
I just came back from the Santa Clara again, Yezid is there for another week, so Mari and I went to visit him and had a few drinks.
Life is good :)

Sunday is a Saturday when Monday is festivo :)

Let me explain how holidays work Colombian style: when, let say, a holiday would be a Wednesday, it is always postponed to the next Monday. So, Saturday night is Saturday night but Sunday night is Saturday night as well. Got it? :) That makes for an extra-long weekend. On the way to the Café del Mar yesterday, the light was absolutely beautiful, golden and all:

We made it for the usual sunset cocktail hour :

We then moved on to the Santa Clara patio for a glass of rosé:

And that is when things became tricky: we both were very hungry for a while already, having eaten only breakfast that day. You could notice in the way Isa attacked her Mai Tai at the Cafe del Mar :) :

So we decided to grab a Pizza at:

It is really a pizza place were you sit down in a park and they bring you the pizza there. Delicious pizza. We just forgot one thing: it was Saturday night (because it was Sunday but.... right, you got it), so, the place was CROWED. We order around 9:30 pm. At 10:15, I looked like that:

At 10:30, we went inside because it started raining. At 10:45, the pizza finally arrived:

And at 10:47... I FAINTED. In the middle of the place. Like, lying on the floor in a restaurant. After having two bites of the damn pizza (was good, btw). Combination of not enough water, not enough food all day kind of did me in. Thanks to Isa for taking care of me (and the pizzas, lol). When I came round and was able to say something, I just gave the pizza guy a mean look and told him: "this is what happens when you don't feed your customers for 1 hour and 30 minutes". Before grabbing my dignity (whatever was left of it) and Isa's arm and making it home. So, kids, not eating and not drinking enough water (Caipirinha doesn't count, sadly) IS A VERY BAD IDEA. Today, I am chilling home, drinking A LOT of water and Maracuja juice, and taking it easy;)